Classic Summer

 I love all of my dolls. But I feel almost a sense of awe when I handle Felicity and Samantha and the items from their original collection.

They are so beautiful, and I love them so much. I wanted them so much as a child, and I feel so lucky that I own as much as I do.

I am so glad that I was careful as a child not to lose pieces like Felicity's sash and lace cap.

I recently went to sale where I was thrilled to be able to acquire Samantha's doll pram and Felicity's summer hat. So naturally, I needed to do a photo shoot!

Beautiful Lissie

I thought it would be funny to have Samantha pushing mini Samantha in the doll pram. 

In fact, I am displaying the pram this way in case it falls, so that her porcelain doll doesn't fall and break.

Squee!

I'm including this picture because you can see part of the top of her hat.

Do you have any very favorite American Girl or other doll items? What really makes you go, "Squee?"

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from Samantha, Felicity and Addy!

Apple picking

 Felicity and Kirsten are celebrating autumn by picking apples!

Favorite AG Dolls

 I really should downsize my American Girl doll collection.

I am reluctant right now to sell even the dolls that I am not very bonded with, just because AG keeps making changes like putting an imprinted star on the dolls' foot.

Some dolls, however, I would never part with.

My two childhood dolls are Anne and Felicity. They are so special. They aren't going anywhere.

I am very careful with them and their collections. Each has a dedicated wardrobe that they don't share.

Anne, in particular, as an original Girl of Today #6, is super rare. She sold online recently for a thousand dollars. That makes me even more careful with her!

Fun Fact: Anne is named after Anne of Green Gables.

Samantha is the doll that I wanted as a kid and couldn't get. She's the first one that I bought as a newly minted adult.

Mara Frances is the first custom that I made, and she has such character. She always makes me happy.

I am also very attached to my Create Your Owns. They are all Jess molds. I love the Jess mold and I like to see more variation that AG makes with this mold.

Danielle is the first CYO that I designed (of two.) I love her! She has glasses and hearing aids.

Aurelie was the first CYO that I got at MCM!

Nadia also came from MCM.

As did Fern.

And Steffi.

Phryne Valancy is a 1920s CYO that I designed myself.

I adopted Cora from the mom of Super Inky!

I really want to do a group photo of my Jess mold CYOs some day!

I am also super attached to Girl of the Year Joss Kendrick. I really love her face mold, and I love that she is hearing impaired like me.

I am also falling more and more in love with Claudie lately. She has the sweetest face.

These are probably my top dolls, but they are almost all special to me in one way or the other. 

More Summer Photos

 Here are some more summer doll photos.

These photo feature the historical dolls! Well, some of them, anyway. I spent hours taking doll pictures and still didn't get all of the dolls changed and photographed.

That's certainly a first-world problem to have. It's not really even a problem- I spend as much time on the dolls as I find enjoyable. There's no point in making it into a chore.

Do you think that Josefina grew these flowers in her mother's garden? I certainly do!

Samantha is enjoying life at Piney Point.

I am always so careful with Felicity's sash in her summer gown. I try not to get any creases in it! I am also super careful with her doll.

Caroline is also enjoying the garden. 

Nanea is having a picnic! I love her lunchbox, and was glad I had a chance to use it.

It's really hard to get her to hold her sandwich!

Kit is on the lookout for news stories.

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Colonial Day Dress

 Felicity is my first American Girl doll and so very special to me.

And yet I have never sewn anything for her until now.

This is because I loved her original collection so much. And partly because I saw so many badly made handmade colonial dresses.

I have finally sewn a gown for my girl.

I used the Keepers Dolly Duds Colonial Day Dress pattern.

It was very easy to follow.

I had a specific fabric that I wanted to use, but first I made a practice dress from the pattern from this thick dark evergreen fabric that I bought secondhand. I am not sure exactly what it is, but it feels and drapes beautifully. It made a very nice dress.

It also pairs perfectly with her red cloak. I have been wanting a more every day winter dress she can wear under her cloak besides her classic blue dress. This is perfect for that.

Having made the first dress, I felt confident in cutting into the very special shimmery fabric that I was saving for a special fabric.

It's brown that turns sort of copper when it moves. It's stunning.

It's also a bit on the slippery side. As a result, I am not quite happy with how the decorative ruffled bits came out.

Maybe no one else can see the mistakes, but I can, and they are driving me mad.

This also pairs well with the cardinal cloak.

I don't blame the pattern for the problems that I had in making the decorative parts of this dress. It's all me and my lack of experience in working with certain fabrics.

Still, I think I will make a plainer version of this gown with this fabric so I don't have to stare at my mistakes.

I hope I have enough fabric after that left to make a dress for Phryne Valancy, who needs a fancy wardrobe as well.

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.

Felicity's Wardrobe: Felicity's Rose Garden Dress

 I suspect that with the 35th anniversary release, everyone is re-discovering their appreciation for the original meet dresses.

In my totally biased opinion, Felicity's Rose Garden dress is one of the best of the meet outfits, and it helped me to fall in love with her.

I had to choose between Felicity and Samantha as my Christmas present, and I knew that Santa would only ever bring me one American Girl doll. I chose Felicity.

It's such an elegant dress with its rose garden print and ruffled sleeves.

I'm so glad that Felicity is my girl.

Reading an American Girl Classic

 The American Girl 35th anniversary is making me, and many others, feel nostalgic.

It inspired me to take pictures of my dolls reading the American Girl books together with the mini dolls.

As usual, Molly is not my jam, so she gets left out.

The other original five AG dolls are all represented here.

It's just such a classic moment, I think, a girl reading with a doll next to a tree.

And I am proud of the four glass eyed mini dolls that I own. It's a very intentional small collection, and one that I love. I think they are very cute.

American Girl of Today #6, Anne, reads with Felicity Merriman.

American Girl of Today #2, Meg, reads with Kirsten Larsen.

Girl of the Year Kanani Akina reads with Samantha Parkington.

Girl of the Year Joss Kendrick reads with Addy Walker.

 

Girl of the Year Jess McConnell reads with Josefina Montoya.

Thrift Store Find: Mattel Felicity

 I have been very lucky at the thrift store lately.

I heard that thrift stores are getting a lot of donations as people are cleaning their houses, having been stuck inside them so long.

Be that as it may, this weekend I found a Felicity at the thrift store for $12.00.

Her hair was messy, although not really tangled.

She had marks all over her.

Her elastic is loose.

Her worst flaw is that she is missing eyelashes on one eye.

She also has this white, chalky substance all over her face and hairline.

So I went to work on her. 

I cleaned her with water and a toothpick, then rubbing alcohol, and the magic eraser

The magic eraser made the most difference, but it did not remove all marks. 

The mark that bugs me the most is a pink dot on her chin.

Here she is after my cleaning efforts:

She looks a lot better. I was even able to rescue one of her pin curls.

The missing eyelashes are pretty noticeable to me, even in pictures, but more so in person.

She's definitely a Mattel Felicity with laser green eyes.

I haven't decided what to do with her, and luckily there is no rush. I am still looking for the perfect wig for thrift store find Miranda.

I really don't care for the laser eyes, even if she had all her eyelashes. Maybe I will try an eye swap at long last. 

There can be no lower stakes project than a $12 thrift store doll, especially when nothing would ever make me replace my original Felicity.

I just hesitate to do anything that could damage a doll. This doll is a mess, but she has been loved, and that does make her special.

My other thrift store find this weekend was four small Wedgwood plates for $4 each. I really am having a streak of ridiculous luck.

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.

Felicity's Wardrobe: Felicity's Traveling Gown

 I rarely put Felicity in her purple gown.

I bought it when it was a limited edition gown called Felicity's Traveling Gown, and I was really annoyed when they turned a limited edition gown into her new meet outfit. I felt like I had been cheated a bit.

Plus, I don't think lavender is Felicity's best color. I do like it as a color, just not on Felicity.

It's a pretty gown, though!

When I put it on her, I was surprised to see the details. I remembered that it had real embroidery on it, not just printed on the fabric. I had forgotten that it had tucks in the bodice.

Anyway, I wanted to put her in a spring dress, and this made a nice change from her pink birthday gown.

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