Doll Photos

 I am trying to take more pictures of my dolls! I try to spend five minutes a day now changing an outfit or taking a picture in the backyard. It helps. 

I don't have to wait to have enormous amounts of free time to do something with the dolls!

Jess looks gorgeous in everything. She is the Doll Most Likely to Be on Cover OF Vogue and Then Become a Therapist.

I got Gwen's dress at the thrift store for $14! I love it so much!

I am not sure which dress this is that Danielle is wearing, but it's giving me 1920s vibes.

I'm going to put it on Claudie and Phryne Valancy too,

Joss is ready for summer!

I think that the Squishmallow looks like Jip and would be perfect to pair with Samantha's modern dress.

Speaking of which, here is Astrid modeling Felicity's modern dress. I love it. I want all four of them at this point.

I am just concerned about how difficult it will be to repair them when the elastic wears out.

Saige and Sam are modelling Cowboy Cool, as always. 

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Nancy and Mary Jane Dress

 I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Nancy and Mary Jane pattern in full!

I used a version of the pattern to make Nanea's Christmas dress, but that didn't have all the scallops.

This version has the scallops!

I always feel when I make scallops that they could be more defined.

These aren't the best and aren't the worst.

But it's a pretty dress, and I am happy that I tried to make the pattern!

I love this fabric. So pretty!

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: Keepers Dolly Duds Pretty Pilgrim

 I posted about sewing the Keepers Dolly Duds Pilgrim Boy pattern and turning it into a folk costume from the German city of Braunschweig.

I also made the Keepers Dolly Duds Pretty Pilgrim pattern and made it into a female version of the Tracht costume originally worn in Braunschweig.

I am going to post the caveat again that no one dresses like this anymore! It's a historical costume.

This is actually not the first time that I sewed a version of the Braunschweig Tracht, but it's the first time that I have made it in American Girl size.

I made a Wellie Wisher sized version before, using the Keeper's Dolly Duds Spring Dirndl pattern for Wellie Wishers. You can read that post here.

So there are multiple options for sewing your own traditional German's girl outfit.

The Pretty Pilgrim pattern has a lot of pieces. I made a chemise, a neck ruffle, waistcoat, apron and petticoat.

I did not make the coif, because the headwear that goes with the German Tracht is more like a pillbox.

I think that the end result is adorable, and I love it!

My German boy and girl look really cute together.

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Sunday Stroll

 I finally finished Keepers Dolly Duds Sunday Stroll!

I had a spot of trouble with this one. I had almost finished it, when I had some trouble finishing the bottom of the jacket with the ruffle. The lining of the coat and the outside did not match up, so I must have made a mistake cutting somewhere.

I had to set it aside and calm down so that I could do a good job of solving the problem.

The calming down period ended up lasting three weeks. This was longer than I had intended, but I had family visiting me.

I chose solid red, because I thought it would match nicely with Christmas outfits and possibly some non-festive ones as well.

I chose cotton fabric because it would hold the shape of the jacket. Something like velvet wouldn't work as well on this one, in my opinion. Plus, making the ruffle out of velvet would not work.

I was going to make the bonnet solid red with  a solid red ruffle. I then realized that it was going to look like something out of The Handmaid's Tale. So I added lace around the brim and a red and white ruffle to soften the look.

The back of the jacket is just as cute as the front!

I may try this pattern again someday and see if I can do a better job. For now, I am so happy to have it done!

'Tis the Night Before Christmas

 'Tis the night before Christmas and Astrid is ready!

Are you?

Caddie Woodlawn's Fourth of July Dress

 In September, I wrote about the trip that I made to the Caddie Woodlawn house this summer.

I finally made Caddie's Fourth of July dress, the version in the illustrations! It is from the book "Magical Melons," also retitled "Caddie Woodlawn's Family."

I used Keepers Dolly Duds Megs Ball Gown pattern. I did not add the collar, as it was not in the illustration.

I think there is no way that Caddie, one of eight children, had such a fancy dress for the Fourth of July. Her mother knew she might ruin it. But I wanted to make the dress from the illustration anyway.

There's no way it would have had lace, either. I decided to add the lace because I knew white on white would be very subtle.

I was lucky to find a ribbon at the right width to use as her sash.

Here is the Woodhouse home in Wisconsin! It's so beautiful. I wish I lived close enough to visit more often!

Here is the illustration in the book of Caddie's Fourth of July dress.

I have to say that I thought the Meg's Ball Gown pattern looked intimidating, but I found it very easy to sew. I am so pleased with it.

I may just leave this dress on display from now until the Fourth of July!

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!

Disney Bounding!

 Disney bounding is the idea of subtly dressing like a Disney character. 

You don't want to copy the character's look, like with cosplay. You use the character's color scheme and accessories to hint at your character.

Disney bounding came to be because adults cannot dress like Disney characters in the park, so there is no confusion about who the official Disney employees are.

I haven't Disney bounded myself, but was inspired by someone making Disney bound outfits for her AG dolls in a Facebook group that I am in.

I like a creative challenge. I actually have the patterns to make the Disney princess dresses for AG, which I bought on sale in case a little girl in my life ever wanted them. I think that's Simplicity 5705 or 1581, if you are interested.

This is more creative to me, to make an outfit that suggests something without copying that thing.

I used Simplicity pattern 8072. It's cute, it's retro, it's easy to make. Actually, I had an issue with the dresses being a little too wide, and was carefully making them narrower for a better fit.

The first one that I made is Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I just made the yellow dress from Simplicity 8072, and added a rose made of ribbon that I have been saving for years for the perfect project.

This dress is so super cute, and I think it definitely reads as Belle. 

Accessories could be more roses, or a stack of books? Or a purse that looks like a book?

I dressed Joss as Belle because of her brown hair and eyes, and I left her hearing aid on.

Hearing aids are important. Those of us who are hearing impaired would not leave the hearing aid off just because we are dressing up.

The next dress that I made is Ariel from A Little Mermaid. I made a purple dress with teal accents.

Then I found some teal buttons and added a row of those.

I like this one too! 

Astrid, who is Truly Me 61, is perfect to bound as Ariel, with her red hair.

I think this one is easy to accessorize. Seashells, fish, maybe a necklace with a music note.

I want to glue a seashell to a hair clip or two and accessorize her that way.

I really like this outfit as  Disney bound, and have more ideas for Disney bounds using the same pattern. 

Disney bounding is even cuter when you have a group of people with the same theme!

Disney bounding does not have to be retro, but I was looking at pictures of Disney bounding at Dapper Days at the Disney parks, pre-pandemic, for inspiration. The pictures that I saw are on the wonderful Epbot blog. Here's a link to their pictures from Dapper Day 2019. It's lovely eye candy.

You can see the dress I made previously from this pattern in Simplicity 8072 here.

More spring pictures

Here are some more fun spring pictures!

Samantha Parkington

Felicity Merriman

Astrid

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Spring Dirndl

The daughter of one of my friends portrayed Young Anna in the play Frozen.

I was inspired to make a doll sized version of her stage costume, which differs from the one in the movie.

I used the Spring Dirndl pattern by Keepers Dolly Duds.

I first put it on Marie Grace because she looks most like my friend's daughter.

I then put it on Astrid, who is Just Like You 61, because Astrid has red hair like Anna.

Last, I put it on Kirsten, because Kirsten is Swedish Girl and she doesn't have a dirndl of her own at my house yet.

I felt like Kirsten wore it best. This is probably at least partially because it fit Kirsten best. It was a bit wide on Astrid and Marie Grace.

Also, I always feel that Marie Grace has a neck that is slightly shorter than the other dolls, and she doesn't look as well with a collar that stands up.

I was surprised to see that this outfit is all one piece. I expected the blouse, skirt and vest to be separate pieces, and they were not.

This has its benefits. I am going to give it as a gift, and the pieces won't get lost. Also, the skirt won't fall down and expose the doll's midruff.

I could have altered the pattern to make separate pieces and decided not to.

I will admit that I wasn't 100% certain that the green fabrics worked together, but I was using what I had on hand that most closely matched her outfit.
Ultimately, I think it works.
I also think that with dirndls you can be a bit more creative in color combos than with some other clothes.

The pattern was slightly more challenging than I expected.
This might be because I was feeling tired and unwell. I was actually sick in bed the next day.

I would definitely make this pattern again, and I am sure that it will go more easily next time.

MCM T-shirt

The Madison Children's Museum Benefit Sale, had T-shirts for pre-order for the first time ever this year.

Astrid got to model the shirt first. She is from a past MCM sale, so that makes sense.

The doll sized shirt has a grey background with the words Dolls Doing Good in pink and teal letters.

I only got the doll sized shirt.

I am rather proud of how I managed to accessorize the shirt.

Surprisingly, the shirt has an American Girl brand tag on the side. We were not expecting that!

I am very happy with the shirt.

I just wish that the words were positioned slightly higher on the shirt, to make it easier to keep them visible when tucking the bottom of the shirt on.