Merry Christmas from Mara

 Mara looks so snazzy in this outfit! She is ready for the holidays.

Autumn Leaves

 I took some dolls outside to have pictures in the autumn leaves. I was in a highly visible spot, and I got a bit worried about being out in public with so many dolls. I wasn't very creative with the posing, but the pictures are cute!

Anneliese

Evette

Mara

Evette. She looks quite startled in many of the pictures for some reason.

Anneliese

Mara

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. 

Summer Photos

 Summer is going by way too fast. I did manage to get some pictures of my dolls enjoying the sunshine while it lasts!

I was pleased to find these Madame Alexander mini dolls of Elphaba and Galinda at the thrift store. I knew that they should belong to Kavi!

I thought that the green blouse and the purple shoes were a nice nod to Wicked as well. 

I wish that AG would release a dress that Kavi would wear when her grandmother takes her to see Wicked.

Both Sylvie, my custom JLY 32, and Steffi, one of my CYO Jess molds, enjoyed some quality time with their dolls. (Here is a link to the post where I customized Sylvie.)

Mara, my custom Kaya, climbed a tree. (Here is a link to the post where I customized Mara.)

Angelica, my JLY 26, found some flowers that perfectly match her dress!

They are forget-me-nots, and I grew them from seed. Definitely growing some more next year.

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.

Logan's Performance Outfit

 I wasn't interested in Logan's performance outfit when it was first released.

I didn't like that AG had used Kaya's sculpt for a boy doll, and I really didn't like Logan's character.

When I recently bought Logan's performance outfit, it was because I decided that it had good mix and match potential, especially for my two dolls who don't wear dresses, Ellie and Mara.

Really, the whole outfit has good mix and match potential. Nice boots, nice jeans, grey T-shirt without any graphics AND it has long sleeves, leather jacket.

The outfit as a whole looks really good on Mara! She looks cool! Better than Logan, haha.

My only complaint about the outfit is that the jacket feels very plastic-y. I am hoping that this means it will not fall apart after a few years like Molly's aviator jacket.

Mara at the Park

 Mara's outdoor adventures continue.

I got to take her to my favorite park, which has the loveliest backgrounds for doll pictures.

I just love this picture of Mara and mini Luciana.

I need to photograph my mini dolls more.

This brick path is lovely.

Yes, there 's a caboose in the park, too!

We had a fun day.

Mara Takes a Hike

 Mara loves the outdoors, and she had a really good time on this hike.

Unfortunately, her short legs meant that my arm nearly fell off carrying her.

She looks so cute, though!

It's nice that the weather allows us to be outside again!

Eleventh Doctor Coat

 I made the coat of the Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who.

This one was really tricky to get a fabric that would work for it.

I was happy to find a small tweed patterned fabric at Joann. It might be easier to make the plum colored version of the coat, actually.

I used Simplicity pattern 8111.

For the other two Doctor Who coats I made, I added pockets. I didn't add pockets on this one, because the fabric was thick and hard to get the pattern to match up. It has tabs to looks like pockets, and one of them is too low and needs to be adjusted.

I DID add patches on the sleeves!

I think it's cute.

I really liked this coat and its fit. I may make the pattern in some other colors as well. 

It just sort of flares gently at the bottom, and I love it.

Here is a group picture of the Tenth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor and the Thirteenth Doctor.

I want to make the rest of their outfits, but right now I am VERY happy with these coats.

The blog post about the Thirteenth Doctor's coat is here.

The blog post about the Tenth Doctor's coat is here.

Pattern Review: Simplicity 8111

 I made the Tenth Doctor's Coat from Doctor Who. Finally!

I have had the pattern for ages.

Then I actually sewed this several months ago, but didn't have the courage to made the buttonholes.

I have added the buttonholes, and it's done!

Mara is modelling the coat here.

As you can see from the sleeves, I used a blue lining to match the Doctor's coat.

I added real pockets instead of just decorative tabs. The Doctor has to keep his screwdriver somewhere!

It has a kick pleat in the back of the coat.

This picture shows Mara's feet, so you can get a better idea of the length.

I felt that with this coat's construction, it needed to have real buttonholes and I couldn't cheat by adding velcro instead. You could put snaps under the buttons, but they would be visible when the coat hangs open.

I am really pleased to have this coat in my collection, and I made it myself! An accomplishment for me.

Here is a link to my blog about the Thirteenth Doctor coat.

Mara at the Park

 Mara was able to go hiking at one of the state parks recently!

It was a warm day, so she was comfortable wearing short sleeves.

She enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage!

More Dolls of Color Pictures

 As mentioned before, September is Doll of Color Month on Instagram.

Here are a few more pictures that I took for prompts for Doll of Color Month.

Beautiful Addy

Mara Frances

Josefina at her loom

Meritaten