Dolls

I think there are ten dolls all together.

As in - We have ten. American Girl of course has many more than ten. And most of ours are stamped Pleasant Company on the back of their neck. Original company. American girl is Mattel.

They all live at my mom's right now. Year round. She sews for them.

My mom makes each one a new outfit for Christmas.

Notice that they are in period appropriate clothes. The modern girls are in modern clothes. The historic girls are in clothes from their time-ish. Sometimes these are copies of clothes AG (American Girl) sold for them. Sometimes they are patterns (McCalls, Simplicity, Butterick, etc). Sometimes my mom drafts her own patterns.

So the dolls each have their own wardrobe. Felicity, Josefina and Samantha (who all belong to youngest) would NEVER wear clothes that belong to each other or to the modern girls (Lanie, Chrissa, Kailey).

And on Christmas day, she (my mom) and our two girls have a very good time playing with them. They all get dressed up in their new clothes. Shoes and underwear are admired as much as the outer layers.

I take pictures.

My mom especially gets a kick out of the fact that the girls are 20 and 24. When she talks about this with friends and acquaintances, she is quick to point out - these are not little girls.


The retired dolls are here
https://www.americangirl.com/shop/ag/archives


The current historic dolls are here
https://www.americangirl.com/shop/ag/historical-characters-brand




Addy

Josefina

Felicity

Jacket and hat are AG (ebay), my mom made the skirt. 

 Kit

Kailey

Molly

Kirsten

Spoon and bag are AG (ebay), mom made rest. And we are still looking for the right red stripe for an apron. 

Samantha

Lanie

Chrissa

2018

Third doll wardrobe

So, to recap, it all started with my grandpa's gun cabinet. My brother was moving, did not want it, I got it when I picked up the roll top desk and the millstone.

My whole house is very attached to anything "family". If it has a history as a family piece, we make room for it.

The doll wardrobes have great economy of space. Tiny footprint in the house, hold a lot of stuff. And doll clothes are best stored on hangers.

My brother, yesterday, text, said "really cool re-purposed items!" and yes, they are.

Gun cabinets 2 and 3 were found on the Facebook Marketplace. 2 was more modern, and had covered shelf and drawer which worked great for youngest's 3 dolls. Felicity has a lot of hats. 3, like 1 was made by a grandpa and was old knotty pine.

This is 3 when it came in the house.

It has a folded sock under it to tip it back slightly because we did not quite trust it to stay upright. Very heavy glass door. So heavy that if you open the door, have to hold on to the case or the whole thing fell forward. L bracket on the top confirmed it had always been bolted to the wall.

This cabinet has no drawer. And only stands 5 1/2' tall.

We debated. Find some type of drawer thing to put under it? Just find a spot and get it secured to the wall won. We did not want to run any chance of it crashing over and the glass being broken.

After a bit of house scouting, a nook in our room was the perfect spot. Very little traffic. Fit perfectly.

These shelves are my next project. Middle's books are going there. 

It is at the end of a set of shelves, next to my closet, in the far corner of the room.

Two shims under the left side squared it and then the door opens and closes much better. Two L brackets pointed down, behind it, hold it firmly in place.

Then I thought I spelled something odd in the inside. Faint. But there. My mother's nose confirmed. We think just old wood that had been closed up for a long time.

Two coats of sealer. One coat of paint.

We closed up the room and opened the windows and slept in the other end of the house for the sealer phase.

The baskets that were on my shelves are now on top the doll wardrobe. And they help give it more substance, and hold doll things.

Shelves are nearly empty. Good progress on that this week.


UPDATE -

(That weird pile is genealogy stuff).

2nd doll Wardrobe, Christmas gift

I had been eyeing these all season at a local store, they were 75% off after Christmas and middle bought them for me. Took two trips to two different store locations to get them all. The best part is I can add plain red pieces if I need more (like plates for example) in the future. Or I can add plastic Christmas kid pieces later too.

My mom said it does not feel like Christmas unless she is sewing, especially doll clothes. Yes, she made all these outfits. Detail is exceptional. Really great. And each is in keeping with the doll's time, color choices and style. The two girls (23 and 19), my mother (76) and I (56) "played" with the dolls for hours on Christmas day. Dressing, doing hair, taking pictures. The pictures were all taken with my iPhone 7 in the light coming into the room from a french door with a west exposure. Really great, clear pictures.

This is Kirsten, American Girl. She belongs to middle. We have had her for many years. This is her St Lucia outfit (which is still the custom in Sweden). My mom made the dress. We got the wreath and socks, all American Girl brand, on eBay.

This is Molly. New to us, but an old doll (from eBay). She belongs to middle. The skates and fur pieces are American Girl (from ebay). My mom made the outfit. Yes, she embroidered the jacket.

Kailey. American Girl of the Year (2003). We got her from American Girl at that time. She belongs to middle. Kailey is a surfer girl. Middle has all the pieces that originally came with her. But that does not include a lot of clothes. Mostly surf stuff. This is the first outfit (dress and hat) that my mom has made for her. Shoes are from the original Kailey set.

Middle's Christmas presents from my mom. (She started sewing in June on Molly's skater outfit.)

Josefina. American Girl. Belongs to youngest who has had her for years.  This is a camisa, a skirt and a corset. Three pieces. And a lot of trim and lace and ribbon. This is very detailed and advanced piece. The shoes are American Girl brand for Josefina (from eBay).

Felicity. American Girl. Belongs to youngest. (from ebay). Very detailed. The gold is a skirt. The top is like a jacket that goes over it. The cape is "velvet" and has a hood. You can't see them in the pictures, but Felicity has dark red velvet shoes that match the dress perfectly that are American Girl.

Youngest's Girls. We have added Samantha to youngest's collection (old doll recently acquired from eBay). But Samantha did not get a dress this year. 

Kit. American Girl. Middle bought her for me, last year. Ebay. The shoes are American Girl. My mom made the outfit and hat, including the belt.

Addy, from American Girl. Mine. She and Kit are my favorites. My mom made this Christmas dress out of the fabric from a child's dress. The ruching on the bodice is from the original dress. The black is "velvet". The back of the bodice is black velvet also. 

We turned an old gun cabinet my grandfather made about 55 years ago, into a doll wardrobe. And yes, very pleased.

Doll Clothes

The dolls are ours, they were not included in Christmas boxes, just modeling for pictures. Laney and Chrissa, I think.

These are all clothes my mom and I made for cousin's girls for xmas. I have not seen the cousin in many years. I have never met his wife or girls, but they are going through a really hard time, right before xmas, and my mom and I wanted to do something.

Note under each picture (below) with who made what.

Also included were three pairs of underwear, one pair of shoes and a pair of socks (per box).

My mother made both dresses. They are exquisite. They take her about 12 hours per dress (handwork takes a long time). The bodices are self lined. Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

I made the dresses which are long sleeved, lined bodices and very simple. My mom made the jackets which are fully lined. Boots are ours, did not go in boxes. Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

My mom made the black dress and apron when she was first starting on the clothes. Then she switched to more sophisticated choices. So the black dress and apron were made by my mom more than a year ago and gave us a head start for this project. My mom made the dress and apron on the right last week. I had to convince her that the check dress was okay with the pattern apron. And it is really cute.  Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Fleece. Super simple. I made both coats. I made two more for our dolls too. Looking for ultra suede tan coat at Good Will to make same pattern for Josefina.. Fleece was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Fabric was embroidered (it came that way) so all I did was fussy cut. Vests are fully lined. Tops are knit. I made three more. Used different pants pattern for our three, slimmer cut. One set for our dolls. Two to save as future gifts. Denim and knit was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. I bought vest fabric.

We bought the hats. But I have made similar hats in the past. I made the jumpers but my mom did the handwork (snaps, we never use Velcro, too hard on doll hair). I also made the knit tops. I have another set of these cut out to make for our dolls. Putting zippers in the back of the jumpers for our two. Fabric was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Striped blouse, flowered blouse, and khaki skirt were from my mom's previously made reject pile. My mom made green skirt last week. So this set was pretty easy. My mom is going to remake the striped blouse fabric for our dolls. We loved the fabric, but hated this blouse pattern.  Fabric was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

I made 2 sleeping bags, two pillows and 2 sets of pj's. All very easy. I now use 26"zipper in sleeping bag, pattern calls for 30" but it looks better to have zipper only go part way. Waste bands are elastic with built in lace (JoAnns). .Fabric for pj's was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. I bought the navy flowered for sleeping bag, The rest of the sleeping bag fabric and the furry pillow fabric came from friend too. I bought the lace elastic, which really made the pj's bottoms easy and special.

Yes, picture is out of focus. My mom took it. 

The fabric stash from my friend made this all possible and very inexpensive. We just "shopped" in my mom's boxes. Sleeping bags and pillows are not in this picture. Impressive volume in boxes. Really great.