MCM 2023 Price List

 The MCM sale confirmed today that there will not be any CYOs.

"Also, just as an update, we do NOT have Create Your Own dolls at the sale this year. (We normally don't confirm or deny the presence of any item at the sale, but given that we'd had quite a few in some recent years but we were not given any this year, we wanted to clarify.) As a reminder, all of our inventory is overstock or returns from American Girl."

Here is the price list: https://madisonchildrensmuseum.wordpress.com/2023/06/21/american-girl-benefit-sale-prices-limits/

• Truly Me Dolls, $55
  
• Named Dolls (includes Historicals, World by Us, etc.) $60
  
• WellieWishers Dolls, $40
  
• Bitty Baby Dolls, $40
  
• Bitty Baby Doll + Accessory Sets, $50

Accessories may cost anything from $5- $50. There is no information on what accessories or outfits might be there.

Upcoming MCM Benefit Sale

 This weekend is the last ever Madison Children's Museum Benefit Sale with AG dolls.

I am sad about this. We are speculating that this is the last one because of the bad attitudes of shoppers at the online sales, combined with AG's new, less generous return policies, which means less dolls to sell.

It will be held in person at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. This is the first time and the last time it will be there. Hopefully, it will be more comfortable.

My advice for attending MCM has all good points to think about, however. You can find that blog post at this link.

Striped Sunset Dress

 This striped dress was made from a  girl's dress at the thrift store.

I really love the colors. They remind me of sunset on a beach. I wanted to use it to make a beach dress for Joss.

I used the 123 Mulberry Street Drop Waist Pocket Tee Dress 18" Doll Clothes Pattern yet again for this one. 

This is one of my favorite doll dresses right now. I think it's pretty, and also sophisticated.

I know, I probably need to use more variety in patterns. And I will!

Rainbow Dress

 This dress was made out of a toddler's dress that I bought at the thrift store for 30 cents. 

It had stains on the hem, but I was able to work around that.

I know that the ombre rainbow look is popular right now, and I mean to gift it to a certain little girl. 

This is yet another dress made with the 123 Mulberry Street Drop Waist Pocket Tee Dress 18" Doll Clothes Pattern.

I have used this a lot. I like the practicality of making a dress with pockets, and it's a nice modern dress.

It was quick and cute.

The fabric was fighting me on this one, I do not know why. It was sort of fighting the sewing machine. 

I did not mean for the hem to have that ruffly look, but it's cute and it look like I did it on purpose. I'm just accepting it the way it is.

And it's done on time for Pride Month! Yay!

Pattern Review: Liberty Jane Leggings

 I bought a pair of toddler leggings for 30 cents from a thrift store. The leggings were an orange stripe that made me think of Halloween. 

I used the toddler leggings to make some AG leggings. I used the Liberty Jane Leggings pattern and followed the pattern to make ankle-length leggings.

It was a super- easy sewing project. Each leg is one pattern piece: you cut two of this piece. For something like this, which is striped, it's great because the stripes wrap around the outside of the leg.

You cut a third piece of fabric, which serves as the waistband with elastic in it.

It's super easy to cut out and sew. I recommend it.

It's early now for Halloween, but I am ready!

Pattern Review: Liberty Jane T-Shirt Variations

 I recently visited a thrift store that had baby clothes with slight flaws for sale for 30 cents each. The clothes maybe had a stain or had the former owner's initials marked in them. I bought a few pieces and turned them into doll clothes. The prices just don't get any better. 

This was a onesie made by Baby Gap. There was only enough fabric to make one piece of clothing. 

I knew what I wanted to do with it. I used the Liberty Jane T-Shirt Variation pattern from Pixie Faire to make a T-shirt with puffed sleeves.

The pattern was easy to follow and did not take long to sew. I was vey pleased with it.

I do like flowery, girly doll clothes, but this has a classic look that works well with modern clothing.

A friend said that the fabric reminded her of Liberty of London, which I thought was a great compliment.

Adding Wefts to Doll Wig

 This was inspired by someone on Facebook who posted about adding colored wefts to the existing wig of an American Girl doll to give a more interesting look.

I bought hair clip-ons on Amazon that were attached to barrettes. Most of the colors available were neon and hurt  my eyes. I bought the pink because it wasn't neon.

I had found this Just Like You 32 at the thrift store for $35. I decided to use her because I wasn't attached to her at all, and I thought this was a low-risk project. 

Honestly, there have been so many blonde haired, blue eyed dolls throughout my childhood, that they are not my favorite anyway. It was rare even to find a brunette doll, and that made me excited because I am brunette.

I took the hair clips and used an embroidery scissors to remove the clip part. This left me with just the wefts of hair.

I did not remove the wig from the doll's head. I just lifted up sections of her hair. There are wefts sewn in rows on the wig. I hand sewed the pink wefts in between the existing wefts of the wig, while it was still on the doll's head. I went all around the doll's head in a row. This took four wefts.

I tried adding wefts to her bangs as well so that they would have some pink, but that just did not go well. The added weft stood out stiffly at an angle and did not incorporate. I was able to remove it again.

The rest of the wig looks good, I think. It's a subtle look, which is what I was going for.

The wefts were longer than the rest of the wig, and I had to trim them. That was scary for me. I do not think of myself as skilled at cutting hair. But I did it, and I think it looks fine!

I think if I had a hair iron, it would help integrate the old and new hair a bit if I flat ironed it all together.

I am pleased with this project. I am trying to come up with a name for this doll. She has more personality now.