Thrift Store Fun!

 On Thursday, I found, not one, but two American girl dolls at the thrift store.

One was American Girl # 26, and the  other was Kaya with a hair cut.

This post includes a picture of a doll head without its body.

A New T-shirt

 I also made a T-shirt out of my old shirt.

This is what the original shirt looked like, actually. It was just a long sleeved T-shirt, but dressy enough to wear to work.

I used the Trendy T-shirt pattern by Liberty Jane. 

I just drafted a longer sleeve pattern by adding the length of the sleeve from the Suzy M Studio Boatneck Raglan dress.

I got a really good series of pictures of Mara wearing this shirt. It was like she was a real model posing for me.

I feel like it's a whole mood.

I think I might have just enough of this shirt left to make one more doll shirt. I think this time I will use short sleeves or 3/4 length sleeves to change it up a bit.

I think this is a cute shirt, it was easy to make, and someone will definitely wear it come fall.

Red, White and Blue Skirt

 This skirt took me less than five minutes to make.

That's because all I had to do was add a seam.

So, obviously, I didn't make it from scratch.

It was actually originally a skirt for a baby. I found it on clearance for $1.

I just had to add a seam to narrow the waist by about four inches, and voila, a new doll skirt.

I think it's a fun look.

The red elastic at the waist is wider than I would have chosen for an AG doll, but it really works.

It would have been a lot more work to make something like this from scratch, and the material would have cost more, too.

I don't make a big thing about dressing my dolls for the Fourth of July, but one of them will be wearing this next year!

Felicity T-Shirt

 I used the 35th anniversary designs in the Create Your Own T-shirt maker to make this Felicity T-shirt.

I absolutely love it and I have about six more designs that I want to make with the 35th anniversary designs.

It looks so cute on Joss!

If you made a shirt as a tribute to one of the historical dolls, would you put it on the doll in question, or as a different doll?

I think it would be weird for Felicity to wear a T-shirt, because she's solely historical, and weirder for her to wear a shirt with her face on it.

So Joss got to wear it, because I think Joss would be a big Felicity fan. They are both impulsive girls who love the outdoors.

Pattern Review: Suzy M Studio Boat Neck Raglan

 Another outfit that I made from my old shirt!

This one is from the pattern Suzy M Studio Boatneck Raglan. The pattern is available on Etsy.

The pattern has more variations available than I realized before I printed it out!

The variations include long, 3/4 and short sleeves, as well as Asymmetrical, Sharkbite, Above the knee or High-low dress.

I think the Asymmetrical dress might be my favorite, actually. 

Because I was trying to get as many outfits as I could from my shirt, I used the Above the knee dress pattern.

I made the skirt a bit longer than the pattern calls for, so it actually hits Jess at the knee.

I used the long sleeves because dolls never have enough long sleeved clothes. 

I  also felt that these colors are great for fall clothes.

This dress is a more sophisticated look for an older doll, maybe a teenage doll.

I usually consider my dolls to be ten years old, but what the hey, I was in the mood for this pattern.

This was very easy to make, and I definitely would be open to trying other variations from this pattern someday!

Rebecca's Spa Day

 Well, Rebecca was one of the AG dolls that I was never going to buy. I'm just not a big Josefina face mold fan.

I was re-reading Frances Hodgeson Burnett's A Little Princess a few years ago, and I thought about customizing Sara's doll Emily. And Rebecca is pretty close to the book version of Emily. I don't remember what she looks like in the movies, I always prefer the books.

So I decided if I could find a really cheap Rebecca, I would have a go at customizing her.

I found this Rebecca for $30. She was naked, I already had this dress because I loved it so much.

She needed some attention.

I did not take any before pictures. It was late, and I was eager to get started.

I sprayed her hair with braid spray, brushed it out curl by curl, and finger curled it. This made a huge improvement!

I used magic eraser to clean all the marks off her face. She had a lot of little pink marker marks.

I then used non-acetone nail polish to remove the nail polish on her fingers and toes.

She still has pink marker in two places. There is pink marker on her ears, which is hidden by pierces ears. And she has pink marker on her fingernails, which was under the fingernail polish.

I am pretty sure that this is the same pink marker that was on her face, but because it's in a crevice, I haven't had luck removing it with the magic eraser. I also wonder if somehow being under the nail polish sort of sealed it on.

I might try using benzoyl peroxide on them, but these don't actually bother me much.

Overall, she has cleaned up very nicely so far. I want to eye swap her with light blue eyes to make her Emily. Emily is described as having blue-grey eyes, so I decided light blue will be closest.

I just need to find the courage to try this!

The only reason I am considering it is because Josefina molds are the easiest ones to eye swap. Jess molds are the hardest to eye swap.

We will see what happens.

A Little Princess was published in 1905, so Emily's wardrobe would be closest to Samantha's. I am thinking of still giving her some of Rebecca's dresses, like the one she is wearing.

Pattern Review: Bonjour Teaspoon Taylor Regatta Dress

 My mom wanted to use this old shirt of mine as a rag to wax the car.

I had to rescue it. I love the colors on it. I also have a fond memory of holding my co-worker's baby while wearing it, and the baby was was mesmerized by the shirt and kept patting it.

I was worried that the print would be too big for dolls, but actually it looks great. It has larger designs and smaller designs o it, which I think helps.

This pattern is the Bonjour Teaspoon Taylor Regatta dress.

The skirt uses a lot of fabric, so this dress used up a lot of my shirt.

This was easy to sew, but I think it's a rather sophisticated look. I also think it works for several ages, whether your dolls are younger or teenagers.

I am really pleased with this pattern, and would be up for making it again in a different fabric. It's rated as an easy pattern, and I concur with that.

Knits are not always easy to sew, but I find that sewing knits that are re-purposed from human clothes work better than sewing knits that are bought from a fabric store. They seem stiffer. I also think it helps to use larger stitches with knits.

I got several pieces of doll clothes out of this shirt, you will be seeing the other ones.

MCM 2021 Update

 The sale this year looks really complicated.

I might not be able to get a ticket this year, but I will try.

I think some people might be put off just by the number of hoops they would need to jump through.

Important American Girl Benefit Sale Update

We're eagerly preparing for the 2021 American Girl Benefit Sale. As a reminder, this year the sale is online. Pickup is in person—no shipping.

As we stated in previous updates, inventory is significantly limited this year. Doll prices and item limits are being announced BEFORE tickets go on sale this year to help you make the most informed decision about entering the ticket lottery.

*Updates to the Ticket Allocation Process*

To ensure that tickets are distributed as fairly as possible, we're implementing a new system with TWO lotteries, one to offer winners a chance to buy a ticket and another (just like in years past) to assign shopping times to ticket holders.

Ticketing timeline and process

* August 25–26: Ticket purchasing lottery sign-up opens. A form will be sent out by email and posted to the AGBS website and Facebook page. Fill out the form (at no charge) to enter in the lottery to be able to buy one AGBS ticket. The entry form will open by 11 am (CST) on 8/25 and close at 11:59 pm on 8/26. The time of day you fill out the form WILL NOT affect your chances of receiving a ticket. Only ONE entry per person will be accepted.

* Aug 27–30: Tickets on sale to lottery winners. Every person who enters the ticket lottery will be notified by email on 8/27 if the lottery selected them to buy a ticket or not. Those eligible to buy a ticket will have until 8/30, 11:59 pm (CST) to follow the included link and pay for their ticket. A ticket costs $12 and you may only buy ONE ticket per email/household. All ticket sales are final and no refunds will be given.

(Note: Only tickets sold to those individuals selected by the lottery as eligible purchasers will be honored. Anyone not selected in the lottery who uses the link to buy a ticket will have their order refunded minus a $4 per-ticket handling fee and may not be eligible for future sales. Let's keep this fair.)

* Sept 1: Shopping times assigned by lottery. Shopping times will be randomly assigned to all purchased tickets. Results will be sent by email to all ticket holders.

* Sept 1–8: Ticket transfer window. If you discover that you cannot use your benefit sale ticket, or if you purchased a ticket on behalf of someone else, you may reassign your ticket to another person using our MyAGBS website. This process will be similar to last year. Please note that it is against our policy for tickets to be resold for more than their original purchase price and that all trades are done at your own risk.

* Sep 13–Sep 24: Shopify site account verification window. Every email address associated with a ticket MUST have an online account verified with our Shopify website BEFORE the benefit sale. If your account is not verified you will NOT be able to shop during the benefit sale. All ticket holders will be sent instructions as to how to verify their account and must do so by 11:59 pm on 9/24.

* Saturday, Sep 25, American Girl Benefit Sale online shopping. Further info on shopping procedures will be provided in future updates.

* Saturdays & Sundays, October 9-24, in-person pickup at our new warehouse in Middleton, Wis. After the sale, every shopper will have the opportunity to select from available pickup times. You will also have the option to designate a proxy to pick up your order for you. Further info on pickup procedures will be provided in future updates.

*Doll & Accessory Limits and Doll Prices*

Purchase limits: a total of THREE dolls and TWO accessories per ticket holder.

Dolls include all 18" dolls, Create Your Own, Bitty Babies, and Bitty Baby gift boxes. Each ticket holder may only buy THREE dolls total. For example, you could get two Truly Me dolls and one Create-Your-Own doll for a total of three, OR you could get one Truly Me, one Create-Your-Own, and one Girl of the Year doll for a total of three, etc.

Accessories include furniture, pets, clothing, and other miscellaneous items and will be individually priced. Each ticket holder may only buy TWO accessories total.

Doll prices will be:

* $60 for Truly Me dolls

* $120 for Create-Your-Own dolls

* $70 for Character Dolls (historical dolls, Girl of the Year dolls, contemporary characters)

* $40 for Bitty Baby

* $60 Bitty Baby Gift Set

As in previous benefit sales, we cannot guarantee the selection that will be available when you shop. Individual items will sell out throughout the day, sometimes very quickly.

A more extensive list of items and prices will be announced the Thursday before the sale. As with previous benefit sales we cannot confirm the presence of any specific item before the sale.

We are setting these limits so that every ticket holder can be sure of having the opportunity to buy up to the posted limits. Since the ability to purchase a ticket is not guaranteed and the limits are low this year, we advise against planning a trip to the sale that involves traveling a long distance.

*Bonus Book Buy*

As with last year, please know that items are NOT reserved in your cart until you check out. Items may sell out while you are still shopping and will disappear from your cart. You will want to shop as efficiently as possible.

As we know that this doesn't leave much opportunity for browsing our extensive collection of American Girl books, we will be offering a special Bonus Book Buy after the main sale has concluded. All ticketholders will be able to log back in again and shop for books. (Tip: American Girl books make for a great donation to your local Free Little Library, school, or community center.)

Exact times and log-in details for the Bonus Book Buy will be sent out to ticketholders before the sale.

Thank You!

Ruby Red Siblies Sydney

 I bought Ruby Red Siblies doll Sydney.

I have been looking at the Ruby Red Fashion dolls for a while now, but they are so expensive!

At half the price, the Siblies are easier to justify.

Hanna  is my favorite Ruby Red Fashion friend, so I got Sydney.

I am definitely going to change her name. 

I have a great-uncle Sidney who fought in WWII, so I don't really like it as a girl's name.

The doll is posed in the box to show off her joint, but it looks very uncomfortable to me.

The Siblies are twelve inches tall. However their heads are bigger than Barbies, and their bodies are sturdier.

They may be only half an inch taller, but they feel like a bigger doll than Barbie.

I took her outside to show off her posing!

This may look like a simple pose, but it's so lifelike.

She can wave!

She can sit!

She can party! (and stand!)

She can look!

Okay, you get the idea. The Siblies can do a lot of posing!

They don't have wrist or ankle joints.

The one drawback in posing is that the knees do not stay fully bent unless you hold them down.

They are really pretty dolls, and I like the clothes they come in.

I think that they are easier to play with and more affordable than BJDs, and much more poseable than AG dolls.

I really like the Siblies!