What's up with the girls?

I haven't mentioned my 18" girls in a while . . . well, they are excited to be going back to school and to see their friends.  They have new comfortable outfits suitable for sitting on the floor or at a desk and for moving around on the playground. My good intentions of sewing spectacular clothes for them were supplanted by the lure of the golf course, so I did some Etsy shopping. Here they are - all dolled up and posed in Annie's wing chair: Molly, Eva, and Marie-Grace are standing, while Caroline and Nellie sit.

Two outfits were chosen from Circle C Sewing (the navy/pink stripe and the pink/white dot) and the other three were purchased from Unending Treasures. I was pleased with the construction of all of the pieces, but I am not wild about the velcro closures that are standard issue on most 18" doll clothing.  The stuff gets caught in the dolls' hair. Sigh. But I understand it's done so little girls can dress their dolls easily. 

Just a FYI, there are vendors on Etsy who make couture and period clothing for 18" dolls - aimed at adult collectors - gorgeous garments in fabulous fabrics with real fasteners - and the prices rival those of adult clothing. Some of these garments are spectacular. But back to reality . . .

Once the clothes arrived and were tried on, I had to readjust my plans for which gal would wear what.  I bought the navy stripe for Eva, but she has such broad shoulders (from Cross-Fit), the top was way too snug. And it was borderline on the AG girls. Actually, this top would fit only Caroline well - her Madame Alexander body is slimmer than the three AG gals and Eva's Our Generation shape. So Eva wears the confetti outfit, which fits her body but not her tomboy personality. However, she loves the lime green leggings and her fish necklace.

Speaking of necklaces . . . Nellie is wearing her original American Girl heart necklace, but the other girls didn't have necklaces so . . . I made one for each of them using some supplies I unearthed from my short-lived jewelry-making phase. The beach-themed necklaces add a bit of pizazz to the outfits - Eva's is fishy, Caroline was partial to the sand dollar, Molly chose a scallop shell and Marie-Grace liked the starfish. I did have some supplies remaining and made a few additional necklaces with magnetic closures that I'll be selling. Exactly where, I'm undecided. :-)

Sweet Caroline

Nellie

Eva

Marie-Grace

Molly

Cheers til next time!

A New Girl in Town

My birthday happened on Easter this year and a present came to my doorstep from Texas . . . from me to me.   Surprise!

Meet Marie-Grace Rousseau Gardner - an archived American Girl doll.  I fell in love with her face and the beautiful color of her eyes. She is truly unique since Marie-Grace is the only AG doll who wears this particular face. Pictures of the eight face molds and the dolls wearing each one can be seen HERE.

Marie-Grace and her friend, Cecile Rey, appeared together in 2011 and were archived together in May, 2014. I've read that it was the shortest tenure of any AG historical dolls.

The accessories for Marie-Grace include a straw hat, a fan, and a gold locket.

Marie-Grace is the twelfth historical character of the American girls, representing New Orleans in the 1850's.  Her father, Thaddeus Gardner, (Thaddeus, the name of both my dad and my brother) is a physician who has hung his shingle in numerous places since leaving New Orleans after the deaths of his wife and baby son when Marie-Grace was a toddler.  They have moved back to New Orleans and Marie-Grace hopes they will stay. She and Cecile Rey (the eleventh historical girl) meet at singing lessons and become friends. Their adventures are told in a series of nine books.

Cecile and Marie-Grace - New Orleans belles

Here is Marie-Grace after I liberated her from the box. American Girl dolls are packaged well with protective hairnets and are fastened to the box with twist ties and foam sheets. I think she is so pretty.

Marie-Grace has l-o-n-g hair . . . longer than any doll I have ever handled . . . along with some little tendrils of curls at the sides. Braids wrap across the back of her head and in case you are wondering, her hairstyle is going to remain that way.  I would not have the slightest idea what to do with it all, having spent 95% of my life with short hair and not having daughters. Nor can I imagine a young girl (or a frustrated Mom) having to deal with all that hair . . . the scissors might have to come into play.  Perhaps that's why the longevity of Marie-Grace and Cecile was only 3 years?? Take a look at Cecile's hair. . . sausage curls.  Beautiful to look at . . . but we all know how little girls like to comb doll hair . . .

Marie-Grace's dress is pretty but just OK. It is not spectacularly put together - notice the non-matching plaid at the back seam (in the hair picture) which drives me nuts. I've been able to match plaids since I was ten years old. There are pantaloons rather than a slip and she is wearing knee high socks under white and black boots to resemble black shoes with spats.  

Her accessories were included in the purchase (a big deal in the doll world). The straw hat is well made and I've determined from seeing the picture of Marie-Grace with Cecile, that I put it on her backwards. Oh well, next time.  The gold locket is pretty but the fastener was difficult for my large hands to maneuver. And the fan . . . well it is just an extra piece, I guess, because it's New Orleans and ladies used them. However, it can't be held by the doll and the loop on it is not large enough to fit around her hand to dangle from her wrist. As I said, an extra piece.

The only negative to my Marie-Grace is that her limbs are not as tight as those of Molly and Nellie so she doesn't stand well or hold a pose.  She was obviously NRFB (never removed from the box) so there is no way anyone could have known that. I will have her joints tightened but I'm not ready to send her off just yet to the AG Hospital. She'll be supported by her sisters for now.

Marie-Grace does need a few things for her wardrobe so I'll be going through fabric in my stash to see what might be fashioned into some new things for her and for my other girls. For any sewists out there, JoAnn's has a deal on Simplicity patterns this week -  5 for $5.00 . . . and there's a separate doll fashions catalog on the pattern browsing table.

Back L to R: Nellie, Marie-Grace, Molly
Front L to R: Eva (Our Generation) and Caroline (Mme. Alexander)

Aren't they just fabulous? There is something to love about each of them.

Cheers!

The Girls

Earlier this year, I became smitten with 18" dolls.  A friend was involved in planning an American Girl doll tea party at the library and I became intrigued.  I remember my Mom buying an American Girl doll and accessories as a Christmas gift for her one granddaughter twenty or more years ago, but I wasn't interested at that point.  I had boys, so Christmas in my house was books, hero action figures and things with wheels. Dolls were alien in my world.

To satisfy my curiosity, I did what every librarian does and combed the web for information.  In addition to the genuine American Girl doll website (now part of Mattel), there are sites, blogs, online marketplaces, outrageous auctions for retired dolls and retired outfits, how-to's and DIY's for rescuing well-loved and unloved dolls (and even changing them into boys!), spare parts (arms, legs, bodies, heads, wigs), clothing and shoe patterns, handcrafted couture (and not so couture) garments for sale on Etsy, and (a surprise to me) doll snobbery. It truly was captivating and became my version of the "Housewives" programs. I learned more about 18" dolls than I ever anticipated.

Of course after all this research, I couldn't not have my own girl.  My favorite historical American Girl doll is Molly McIntire - I think because she looks so cute in her glasses and I've needed vision correction ever since I couldn't see the blackboard in Miss Chapman's 3rd grade classroom. But I wasn't ready to part with the big dollars needed to bring Molly home because, of course, she is "archived" and only available on the secondary market (translation:  eBay).

Caroline, the first

So what did I do?  I purchased a Madame Alexander "Favorite Friends" doll titled "Sweater Dressing" from an online purveyor of toys and named her Caroline. Her face is just beautiful with blonde straight hair and blue eyes (two different blues, but that's OK).

However, I still yearned for Molly. So I hunted, read descriptions, watched, unwatched, followed and after several weeks I found the perfect Molly on eBay. She was "Buy It Now" (I really didn't want to bid), complete with accessories (score!) and in NRFB condition ("Never Removed From Box" in doll collector lingo). So I took the plunge and she was on her way to Connecticut. She arrived and I was in love. I was very excited that Caroline had a friend to keep her company.

Caroline & her new friend Molly

One fateful day I was shopping in Target and wandered through the doll aisle.  Now, if you are not up on 18" doll info, you most likely don't know that Target carries the Our Generation line of 18" dolls. Some purists refer to them as AG knock-offs (the snobbery I mentioned), but I think they have their own charm, as well as being one-fifth the cost of an AG doll. Yes, you guessed it. I brought Eva home that day - she called to me from the shelf and I answered.  She has reddish hair that is pulled back in two enormous ponytails, brown eyes and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. I just love the freckles and her confident presence. She joined Caroline and Molly on the bed in the guest room. So then there were three.

Molly, Caroline, & Eva dressed for Fall

We all know that three is not a good number for girls (remember Middle School?) so I thought about finding one more girl to even the number.  I did some research and decided to look for Nellie O'Malley, another archived historical AG doll with a face that is different from Molly's. (There are 8 different face molds, FYI.)  I found Nellie pretty quickly on eBay at a fairly low price, read the description and bought her.  What's the saying - you get what you pay for?  This Nellie was a huge disappointment. She smelled of tobacco smoke, the accessories noted in the listing weren't in the box, her dress was crumpled and she had abrasion marks on her face. I was not happy. So back she went to Texas.

Nothing would do but to embrace the challenge and find another Nellie. The hunt was on and a week or so later another Nellie was on her way to CT - a NRFB find with accessories and storybook.  Not smelly, with a crisp dress, all accessories intact, Nellie arrived in perfect condition. She has shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, dark blue eyes and freckles across her nose. She is sweet and lovely. The girls hang out and enjoy doll life.

And that's the way it is - the story of my girls.  A friend told me that if I had grandchildren, I wouldn't have these girls.  One never knows . . . . they are just my cup of tea right now.

Nellie, Caroline, Eva & Molly dressed for Christmas

Break out the extra blankets . . . the thermometer here in Eastern CT reads ZERO degrees.  Cheers!