Christmas Dress for Nanea

 I decided that Nanea needed a Christmas dress. I am surprised that AG hasn't made one for her.

I wanted to make a green one to go with her eyes.

I found a green plaid fat quarter with snowflakes in my stash. It was perfect!

I used the pattern Keepers Dolly Duds Nancy and Mary Jane pattern. I didn't add the scallops. They would have been lovely, but I wanted a simpler project. I will make them next time!

Oddly enough, tackling a simpler version of this pattern makes me more confident in tackling a more complicated version later.

I am very happy with the finished version. Nanea can match with the other dolls wearing a Christmas dress now!

I think this dress goes well especially with Molly's and Addy's Christmas dresses.

It is so dark this time of year. It makes it more challenging to take good pictures.

Pattern Review: KDD Sweet Summer Days

 I need to start sewing again!

I started with Keepers Dolly Duds Sweet Summer Days.

Yes, I consider it a hilarious and wonderful joke that after I sewed all of the Keepers Dolly Duds patterns, three more were released.

I am happy to have more wonderful patterns to sew!

I made this dress in yellow gingham. Having learned my lesson the last time I sewed this dress, I lined the skirt so that it wouldn't be see-though.

Nanea gets to wear the dress. It looks great on her! I was sewing this on a rainy day, and the dress was like a drop of sunshine.

If you are not into the midriff gap, Forever 18 Inches Country Diva is a pretty similar pattern.

I'm excited to be sewing again! I'm less excited about winter approaching, but oh well.

1940s Spring Dresses

 I made two new dresses with Keepers Dolly Duds Forties Fashion.

This is a pattern that I have used before. I felt tired and did not feel like interpreting a new-to-me pattern.

 

Also, this pattern makes a very pretty dress. 

One of these dresses will be sent to a friend who has a Molly. The other one is going to a friend's granddaughter.

You can see at this blog link the dress that I sewed before by using this pattern.

Update: My friend sent a picture of her daughter's doll, Sylvia, wearing this dress! ! Thank you to my friend and her daughter for letting me share this picture!

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Bodice Details Dress

 I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Bodice Detail Dress.

I thought that the dress had a distinct 1940s look. I chose this poppy fabric because of the significance of poppies in memorializing WWI and WWII.

However, the pattern description says that it is a 1930s dress. I will also admit that the poppy fabric has kind of a 1930s flour sack look to it.

Soooo I am going to say that this dress could be for either the 1930s or the 1940s.

I really love the colors in this fabric. It just looks joyful to me. I think I would like to make a doll quilt from the fabric that I have left.

I found the pleats for this dress really challenging. Not only was it pleating, but the pattern piece for the skirt was curved. Pleating on a curve was tough. I think I made the pleats slightly too large, but they are uniform, so I don't care.

If I ever make this dress again, I may just do a gathered skirt, or used a pleated skirt pattern piece from a different pattern. This once, though, I wanted to do it the way the pattern was written. I am stubborn that way.

This pattern had three sleeve option, including long sleeves. I love that. I love doll clothes with long sleeves.

I usually automatically choose the long sleeve option if there is one. I chose shorter sleeves this time, because I was thinking of it as a dress for Nanea, and she lives in Hawaii. The fabric also looks like spring time to me.

Merry Christmas from Nanea!

 Whenever I do snow pictures for Nanea, I assume that she is visiting her father's parents and that she is SO EXCITED to see snow.

I love Nanea, and I love Emily's snow suit, so I just can't resist taking snow pictures of Nanea, even though she lives in Hawaii.

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Setting Sail

 Today is Pearl Harbor Day. My great uncle Ralph served at Pearl Harbor on the USS Macdonough.

By coincidence, Nanea got a new outfit today.

I made Keepers Dolly Duds Setting Sail. I love nautical clothes and sailor collars!

I think that maybe this pattern is meant to be 1950s, but I feel like it works for Nanea. After all, her meet outfit includes shorts. She would probably wear capris.

My favorite part of the outfit is the hat! 

Isn't it weird how trying a new thing can be intimidating? Last year, I realized that I could sew doll coats, and I made tons of them and was surprised that I could easily do this. Now I feel the same about doll hats.

This hat was so quick and easy to sew, and it is so adorable! I love it!

I do feel like the buttons that I used were slightly too big. I cut them off a blouse from the thrift store.

It is hard to find buttons at AG scale, and even harder to find five of them that match. Hardest of all seems to be small white buttons. It's easier to me to find them in color at Joann. They don't seem to make them in white.

The blouse is slightly loose on Nanea, even though I did all the the cute, tiny little tucks. It's fine, though.

I did not do the eyelets on the capris. I have had trouble adding them in the past, it would be more things that I would have to go out and buy to make it work. The capris are plainer without it, but it's fine.

I am very pleased with this outfit, and glad that I could finish it by Pearl Harbor Day.

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: Picture Day by All Dolled Up

 This is a pattern by All Dolled Up.

I do not think that the pattern is currently available for purchase: the pattern designer went out of business, came back and is now on etsy, but I did not see this pattern on etsy. The etsy shop is at this link.

I stocked up on patterns before they went out of business the first time.

This dress was inspired by a vintage 1940s picture that I saw of a dress that looked like this, in red and white. I thought, I have a pattern that looks just like this!

It was straightforward to put together. It is not lined, which feels weird to me, but there's no way to line the bodice without also lining the skirt, which would make it hang badly.

I will admit I did not read the instructions at all, because my laptop at home needs a new battery.

Kit's Beforever shoes are perfect to match with this dress!

It's a cute dress, and now I want to make it in more colors. Red is just not my favorite.

Hawaiian Quilt for Nanea

 I made a Hawaiian quilt!

I have always loved Hawaiian quilts, but I never thought I would make one, they are so intricate.

The Connecting Threads website sold these pre-made 16 inch appliques for quilts.

I ironed it onto a background, stitched around it, and voila! A stunning quilt!

I love it, and I plan to make more in different designs.

These appliques are made by Aloha Quilt Designs, and can be found here.

They are Nanea approved, and the perfect size for a doll quilt!

More Doll of Color Month Pictures

 Here are a few more pictures that I have taken this month.

My Asian and Pacific Islander dolls

Kaya

Melody

I didn't realize that Josefina's notebook has writing in it, in both Spanish and English. It's so special!

I really should have looked at it more closely before now.

I can't decide which picture of Josefina at her loom I like better. I wish I could have taken this picture inside, though. That would have made better sense.

They are all such pretty girls. I am loving these pictures.

Nanea's Accessories

I always think that the AG accessories are overpriced. I do wish I had Felicity and Samantha's original accessories. Otherwise, I don't care about them and rarely buy them.

I did recently get Nanea's accessories at half price, which is about what I am willing to pay for them.

 Nanea's accessories include a shell necklace, a letter from Donna, an ID card, three dollars stamped with Hawaii, and a pouch for a wallet.

I don't like the necklace. You can only see what it is meant to be up close. From any distance, it looks like cheap plastic.

I like the bag, which is made of the same fabric as two of her outfits.

I think that the letter, the ID card and the wartime dollars are very cool, but they don't justify the price of the set.

They are also very easy to lose or damage.

I am happy to have this set, but I am really glad that I didn't pay full price for it.

Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls

 I was lucky to find these Nancy Ann Storybook dolls at the thrift store.

These dolls are five inches doll. Mine are bisque; some of them are made of plastic instead.

I took this picture with mini Nanea to show the scale.

These dolls were made from 1936-1965, so the size and their age makes them perfect to be dolls for Nanea or Maryellen.

Their faces were hand painted to give them character. I like to think about how I am holding something that someone made over 50 years ago.

You can read more about their history here.

Their arms can move up and down. The rest of the bodies, including the head, torso and legs, are all one piece.

The heads are slightly tilted forwards, which annoys me that they look down and not straight ahead.

They look really cute with Nanea!

Their shoes are painted on. The dresses are a lot longer than their feet, which strikes me as very impractical. Even if they are dolls.

I have to be careful posing them with Nanea, because they are breakable.

They look cute with her, though.

I think I might name them Lily and Donna after her friends.

Pattern Review: Keepers Dolly Duds Forties Fashion

 I made the Keepers Dolly Duds Forties Fashion pattern for Nanea.

I do love the Keepers Dolly Duds patterns. I have decided that I really need to go through and sew the patterns from this brand that I own and haven't made yet.

Anyway, I love this dress for Nanea. The colors make me think of the Hawaiian sunset.

Poor Nanea looks like she is wondering what she is doing in the snow wearing only this dress!

The little details on this dress make it feel special, but it was not too difficult to sew.

I chose to use ribbon instead of sewing fabric into a narrow tube for the decoration. 

The sleeves have very pretty decorative details.

I enjoyed making this dress, and hope to make the other view included in the pattern before too long!

Nanea at the Beach

 I was able to take Nanea to the beach to get some pictures. 

Here she is, enjoying the beautiful view.

Looking for a relaxing spot!

Here she is enjoying the sun. I love her shadow!

Ready to swim! The wave came right up to her feet for this picture.

It was a great day at the beach, and I like the pictures I took!

Doll of Color Month

 September is Doll of Color Month on Instagram.

There is a new topic every day to encourage you to show off your dolls of color.

I am not going to follow every prompt, but I did try to follow some of them.

This led to taking some group pictures, which are very hard to do!

I am not totally happy with these pictures,but they do show the dolls I wanted to show!

All my dolls of color

Summer days

Hi guys, I took some pictures of a few dolls outside yesterday.
I wanted to share these.
I am also on Instagram, my name there is igsbeth. Feel free to follow me there!

The pandemic has meant for me, among other things, less freedom to take pictures of my dolls and take pictures of them.

I am also going to have much less Internet access than usual for the month of July.

I have a couple of posts pre-scheduled, though.

It may be quiet here, but I will be back when I can!

I may be more active on Instagram for July. It's faster to post a single picture than to do a whole blog post with commentary.

 Nanea and Mele! Nanea's lei was a gift from Inky's Mom!

 Joss and Murph are picking raspberries.

 Addy climbed a tree!

 Close up of Nanea

 Kit is looking for ripe raspberries. If she picks enough, she can make jam!

 Mara climbed a tree!

Another picture of Joss.