Amazing Addy Thrift Store Find

I found a Molly wearing Addy's prototype dress at the Salvation Army, the one that never has anything good, that looks like the land of lost hopes. 

The one in walking distance from my girlfriend's apartment, so I joked that we are going to have to start taking romantic walks to the thrift store to look for AG stuff. 

Anyway, it took me a couple of months to take a picture.

I was absolutely thrilled! 

I sill need to get a picture of Molly. She is all cleaned up, but she still has loose limbs.

I have had some amazing thrift store finds in my time, but this one is definitely one of my best.

Addy's School Dress

 I also bought the re-release of Addy's School Dress.

I was especially excited to get her special pin for winning the school spelling bee!

I am happy that American Girl is releasing its classic outfits again, and so is Addy.

This is Beforever Addy. It fits her very well.

I need to see how it fits my Pleasant Company Addy as well. 

Thrift Store Find: Addy's Prototype Meet Dress

 Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment in a town about 30 minutes away from me.

Several hours after the appointment, I had an ASL class in the same town.

I decided to not spend time and gas driving back and forth after my doctor's appointment. 

Instead, I visited several of my favorite stores in this town.

Since I had plenty of time, I decided to stop by one thrift store that I never find anything at. I thought maybe I would find some small accessories to use in the doll house.

To my utter surprise, I found Wellie Wishers Emerson for $7 in among the kid's toys. She had her dress and boots and everything.

I was even more surprised when I found Molly in the collector dolls section. Molly was very dirty and had messy hair.

She was marked at $5.

And she was wearing Addy's prototype meet dress.

I knew what it was immediately. I have seen one in person before. One of my friends has it and showed it to me.

I couldn't believe it.

I circled the store several times to make sure that I hadn't missed anything, then I went to check out.

I still can't believe it.

I don't know how I have such good luck at the thrift store. Living in Wisconsin probably helps, since we had the MCM sale for many years. 

Wow.

I thought for sure I would wake up and find that this was all a dream.

Happy Birthday, R!

 Today is my friend's birthday!

She really wanted a Jane Eyre dress by Pemberley Threads for her Addy. We are ignoring the 20 years' difference between this 1840s dress, and the year Addy lived in, 1864..

I asked what color she wanted, she said purple, and here she is.

It goes very nicely with my cute little irises.

I think this is a great pattern. It looks elegant and is easy to sew.

The bodice was a little loose on my Addy, but better too loose than too tight. Her Addy is an older one who is likely chunkier anyway.

Here is a gorgeous picture of her Addy wearing the dress!

Perfect for Easter!

KayandMay Civil War Dresses Part Two

 So in this post, I shared a dress that I made from the KayandMay Civil War dress pattern that I wasn't 100% happy with.

I re-made the dress with the same fabrics and a different, longer skirt.

I also made a second dress with fabrics in different colors.

Here they are. I am happier with this set of dresses. They are cute.

I used JLY 61, Astrid, so that I could model both dresses next to each other. Astrid sometimes moonlights as Civil War-era Caddy Woodlawn, anyway, so she already had period boots on.

Addy has first claim on both dresses, however. She is spoiled rotten, as she should be.

Pattern Review: KayandMay Civil War Dress

 I saw a dress made from the Kay and May 1860s Civil War Dress pattern made by someone in a Facebook group.

I thought it was really cute. I really liked the sleeves and the square bodice. The belt was also unique among doll patterns that I have seen.

The pattern was affordable, so I was happy to buy it and give it a try.

I ended up not being very happy with the skirt. I felt that the skirt was the right length for a 1950s dress, but too short for a 1860s dress.

I also felt that the way the hem was curved made it harder to hem it neatly.

I think that the skirt should be about two inches longer than it is. You can see the dress sewn to the original pattern in the picture above.

I made a second, longer skirt, that could be worn under the dress that I had made. This gave the skirt three tiers.

I wasn't really happy the way it looked. It didn't look like it was planned, because it wasn't.

I did not give up on this pattern.

I have made two more dresses, in which I used the bodice pattern and a skirt that I just cut as a rectangle about 25 inches wide by 8 inches long. I gave up on making the skirt tiered.

I will share the other dresses I made from this pattern when I have a picture of them. I still think it's a cute pattern, but I am annoyed by the skirt debacle. 

Happy Galentine's Day!

 Happy Galentine's Day from Addy and me!

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Beth pattern

 I have made the Keepers Dolly Duds Beth pattern.

This is one of four Civil War Era patterns by this designer that are named after the sisters in Little Women.

It's kind of fun for me to be making a pattern named Beth- because that's my name!

Ironically, I guess, it is the last of the four Little Women themed patterns that I have completed.

My version of Jo's Writing Dress

My version of Meg's Ball Gown

My version of Amy's School Jumper

This is a very pretty pattern. No complaints about my namesake!

It does need buttons down the front still. 

It has a lot of pretty details, including tucks on the skirt.

I saw a post on Instagram that historical people wore more brown than we give them credit for in our AG collections. So I'm like, okay, here's a brown dress!

I found both fabrics at a thrift store. I think that they go well together, and that the tiny print is perfect for dolls clothes.

This fabric would also work for a 1970s outfit, I think. The 1970s were very brown.

I'm really happy with this outfit, and it also nudged me into changing Addy out of her Christmas dress.

It would be fun to make all four Little Women dresses in coordinating fabric. That would be a project for the future!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from Samantha, Felicity and Addy!

Pattern Review: Keeper's Dolly Duds Amy's Jumper

 I was gifted some beautiful Christmas fabric. I have been using it to make many different doll dresses.

I am posting the dress made from Keepers Dolly Duds Amy's School Jumper first, because it is the first time that I made this pattern.

The colors in the fabric made me think of Addy's American Girl Christmas dress. Of course, that is a classic that can never be replaced- but this dress is lovely too.

I was so intimidated to make this pattern! It looks so complicated!

But it was beautifully easy to make. 

Unusually for KDD patterns, the blouse and the jumper are two separate pieces.

I love this!

This means that you can reuse the same blouse and match it with lots of different jumpers.

It also means, if you are low on energy, that you can make half of the outfit and still have a finished piece to show for your effort.

I actually ended up hating the red embroidery that I used on this blouse. It reminded me of a mariachi band, which is just not the look that I was looking for.

So I will be making another, plainer blouse to use with this jumper. I didn't put buttons on the front of the blouse because I disliked it so much. It is so hard to find buttons in the right scale.

It would be easier to make this pattern with fabric that isn't striped. I went to great effort to get the stripes to match up on the front of the jumper.

I really loved this pattern, and now I want to make lots of different outfits using this!

Hairstyle for Addy

 My friend found a second hand Pleasant Company Addy this year, and then a few months later, I found one too! 

We are joking that our dolls are twins and we need to have a get-together with the dolls.

Anyway, I thought that the way she did her Addy's hair is SO CUTE, and she kindly took a special set of pictures just for me to share on the blog.

She pointed out that it's very close to Kirsten's hair, but I don't care. I love it!

I'm also VERY partial to Addy's Beforever hair style. Addy just has great hair to play with!

Thrift Store Find: Addy Walker

 This weekend, I had my best thrift store find yet.

The store has three places where I sometimes find AG: a shelf where more expensive items are displayed, a shelf where porcelain dolls are piled, and a shelf where play dolls like Cabbage Patch and Our Generation are piled.

The porcelain doll shelf was really full, so I was pulling dolls out and looking at them just to be thorough.

On the bottom of the pile was this beautiful Addy, and she was marked as $3.99.

I grabbed her and I ran straight to the checkout. I did not breathe until she was stored safely in my trunk.

I think that the collection of an adult doll collector was donated to the Goodwill. Most of them were porcelain. Addy was on a stand like the porcelain dolls and was priced as though she was one of them.

Addy is a Pleasant Company doll. I think from the way that her wig is made that she is a first edition. I think she has been sitting on a shelf untouched for all these years. The elastic in her pantaloons gave out, but that's normal with age.

A Tale of Two Addys

One of my friends found a Pleasant Company Addy for $25 earlier this year. She lives further south than I do, so when we found out that it was snowing here today, she suggested that we take pictures of our Addys enjoying different weather on the same day.

Here is my Addy:

Here is hers:

I think hers looks like she has sunburn across her nose!

I am really in love with my Addy and so happy. Now I have two Addys, Beforever Addy and Pleasant Company Addy!

Pattern Review: KDD Jo's Writing Dress

 I made a dress with Keeper's Dolly Dud's pattern Jo's Writing Dress, which is sold on Pixie Faire.

This is my first time using the pattern. 

I used some reproduction Civil War fabric that I meant to use for a quilt. After ten years, I decided it was fair to use it for a doll dress instead. The fabric pattern was from a collection associated with Clara Barton. It has lines of music written on it and shields that say "peace."   It's mostly red with some gold accents. It's perfect for a dress for Addy.

The pattern was easy to follow.

One thing that I did not realize from looking at completed dresses from this pattern is that there is a ruffle where the sleeves meet the bodice. I think it would be better to make this ruffle a contrasting color, because otherwise it does not show up well. The ruffle could also easily be left off if desired.

The pattern calls for the stripes on the sleeves to be set at a diagonal. I chose not to do this.

It's so dark this time of year that it is difficult for me to take a good picture.

Addy's classic Christmas dress is still a classic and has a part in my collection and my heart. I think this one is pretty special too.

I am very happy with this pattern and would make it again. I also look forward to making the other "Little Women" patterns by Keepers Dolly Duds.

Meet Claudie

 I got Claudie! I ordered her on release day, but it took me a while to take pictures and longer to post them.

Claudie is really adorable. I love her sweet face mold.

I am glad that there is a new African American historical, and that there is a 1920s historical.

I love her meet hat, I had one like it, minus the ribbon, in college. I still have it, actually.

Addy was happy to welcome her.. Addy is like a protective big sister to Claudie, even if they are from different eras.

I wish that Claudie's book hadn't ended on a cliffhanger, with unresolved issues. I thought that was silly, since it's not a thriller or anything.

I love Claudie's meet outfit, and I like that her black Mary Janes will go well with other dresses.

I am going to remove her painted eyelashes eventually, but I wanted to enjoy her as is first.

I strongly recommend Claudie if you are thinking of getting her!

Doll of Color Month

 It's Doll of Color Month on Instagram! 

It's always fun to see diverse dolls being celebrated.

I have taken a few pictures to post so far: 

My Native American Girls

My African American Girls

These are the dolls that I got from the thrift store in the last year! Yes, Felicity is not a doll of color, but I thought as a group, they fit the theme of "diversity."

Beautiful Addy

I look forward to seeing everyone's #docmonth posts!

The Sublime Six

 The recent release by American Girl of its first six dolls in their original outfits hit me right in the feels.

I have five of those dolls, all but Molly.

I made sure to get the original dresses for each, although I don't always have the accessories.

I was inspired to change my five into their original meet outfits and take a group picture. 

All of these but Addy are the Pleasant Company dolls.

I just think they are beautiful, and they hit me right in the nostalgia feels.

I really used to memorize their catalogs.

So this release makes me very happy.

I don't think I am going to buy any of the re-released dolls myself. Money and space are an issue.

I am just really glad that the dolls are now available for everyone who wants one, everyone who wanted one as a little girl.

American Girl 35th Anniversary

 American Girl has done a release for its 35th anniversary.

There are limited edition released of Kirsten, Samantha, Molly, Felicity, Addy and Josefina- the original six dolls.

They are wearing their original meet outfits and come with their original accessories and books.

I am very happy to see this release and how popular it is. I idolized these girls and memorized the Pleasant Company catalog.

I don't think I am going to buy any of them. I own Kirsten, Samantha, Felicity, Addy and Josefina and their original meet outfits.

I briefly owned a Molly but she is just not for me.

I was excited to find out that the Create Your Own T-shirt now has a theme called "AG 1986."

It includes graphics for the original six girls that hits me right in the nostalgia feels.

However, one of the graphics is terribly racist. It is a graphic for Kirsten and features a log cabin and the words "Settlers Gonna Settle."

This graphic does not acknowledge that settlers were on land that was stolen from indigenous people.

This graphic is hurtful to those of Native descent. American Girl should remove this graphic immediately.

Update: They fixed it already by removing the caption and leaving the graphic as just a log cabin! 

That's a really fast response from AG! They have been known to take months to fix an offensive graphic in the CYO section. Kudos to them.

I do really enjoy the other vintage graphics from the "AG 1986" theme and have been playing around with them.

I am sorry that AG had to spoil their release in this way.

Felicity

Addy

Addy

Kirsten

Samantha

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Samantha

Addy

Kit

Pattern Review: Addy's Nightgown

 I made Addy's classic nightgown from the Pleasant Company pattern.

I used real flannel, and it's very cozy for the freezing weather we have been having.

This is the second time I have made this pattern.

The first time was years ago, and one of the sleeve bands was too tight and didn't fit over her hand.

This time, I realized something that I am not sure I noticed last time.

The button placket is made by making a pleat from the front bodice piece. I have never seen this kind of construction before, it's a bit odd. It's so easy to cut a small piece of fabric and make the placket separately and not risk messing up the measurement of the bodice. 

Also, I  added a quarter inch to the bodice back to make sure that it could close easily, and I think that this was a good decision.

So this pattern has a few potential shortfalls, but it came out okay.

It doesn't have buttons yet. I don't have any white or clear buttons that are the right size.

I will wait till it's warmer and I can go shopping.

I am glad that I finally re-made this pattern, because I have wanted to for years. 

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Civil War Dress

 My Addy has a very nice wardrobe, but she needs more clothes with long sleeves.

Winter is long and cold!

I was very happy to make the Keepers Dolly Duds Civil War Dress.

This dress looks so lush and complicated.

It is a one piece dress, but it looks like it is made of two or three different pieces.

The dress was actually easy to sew. It takes a lot of steps, but everything came together beautifully.

I would say the most difficult part for me was the sleeve cuffs. It just needed patience.

I am really happy with this dress. I want to make it in lots of different colors!

I think Addy is happy too.

I will also make the apron some day.

I would definitely recommend this pattern for sewing for Addy.