Summertime Sewing for the American Girl Dolls Part 1

 I've had a goal this year to slowly - or quickly, as time and energy permit - start to burn through some of my stash of fabrics. My dolls would be thrilled, as they are kind of like the shoemakers children - they never have any shoes, or clothes, in their case! I've tried to make myself not buy any more fabric until I use up a lot of what I already have. It is HARD. I love buying fabric. It's not really that I just want to buy something. Fabric shopping is an experience. It always smells so good around bolts of fresh clean fabric. There's so much inspiration being surrounded by bolts of fabric. And that's where my problem lies. I have many, many plans, and just not time to actually bring many of them to life!

Last year I had a goal to make all of my AG dolls Christmas dresses. That didn't really work out as I didn't give myself enough time to take much of a dent out of my goal. This year I plan to start much, much earlier. But not during the Summertime. No, no! Summer is the time to FINALLY get into my 4th of July fabrics. My fruity fabrics. Fabrics that just scream SUMMER before I can start to relish the soothing tones of Autumn. 

During the early part of the Summer, I used the Keepers Dolly Duds 1920's pattern to make 3 dresses. I made 2 in the blue floral - once for myself and one to give to a family plus one in purple and pink for the same family member. I adore Keepers patterns. These turned out looking so nice! They are not a quick sew - it can take a couple, or 3 - hours to complete one. But it is well worth the effort! I need to make one more for my other 1920s doll. I just need to pick the color scheme that I want for Eddie Mae. 

Next, I used this pattern - I believe from American Heritage - to use up the scraps of the purple and pink. Something went horribly wrong. I must have used the wrong pattern piece to cut the waistband as once I finished the dress and put it on the doll, it is 2 inches too narrow to fit the doll! This is why you should always have a model on hand while sewing. It's something that I know full well, but neglected to do. I know it isn't the pattern. I used it many years ago for several dresses and it turned out very nice. (I only lengthened the skirt 1/4" to roll the hem.) Unfortunately, I have zero fabric left. So I'll have to figure out how to fix it. But, I figure that is a job for a much later time. 

My next project was getting into my stash of 4th of July fabrics that I had bought a couple of years ago. No, most of this isn't historically accurate, but I do think the country look of it will make for fun outfits for my historical dolls. I didn't get very far into this particular project. I still have 2 prairie dresses to make as well as 3 or 4 colonial dresses. (Only 2 of the dresses will be for my own dolls.) Whether I get to them or not this Summer, we shall see. The remaining fabrics might go back into the stash for next year.

What I did do, was finally get into this wonderful red, white and blue stripe that DOES work perfectly for MaryEllen. I bought it several years ago and just hoarded it protectively, so it didn't get wasted on the wrong project. Instead of using any of the patterns that I bought - none were suiting me for MaryEllen's dress, I decided to just try making my own. I don't make my own patterns as often as I used to, and I'm truthfully out of practice sewing and drafting for AGs. Thankfully, it turned out great! The dress has 2 looks to it, and fits my doll's personality perfectly!

MaryEllen's dress is to blame for my abandoning the 4th of July project. Not only did I finish it on the 3rd (or 4th) but it set me on a 50's kick. I had other fabrics that I had been hoarding for my 50s dolls, just waiting for the perfect idea to come along. Since I made my 50's pattern that I was very happy with, I just decided to use that to make these beautiful lemon dresses for my dolls! 1 of the lemon fabrics I had had for awhile, and the other was a more recent purchase. (Earlier this year, I admit it.) I had forgotten that I already had lemon fabric on hand (it's so easy to do that!) and since I am a sucker for fruit fabrics, I bought a whole yard of it. I'm so glad that I did! This gave me the fun of designing 2 different lemon themed dresses for MaryEllen and my #61, Clara. When the weather turns less scorching, I will make a matching bolero jacket for each. 

And that left me with 1 more 50s MUST MAKE for the Summer. My strawberry and cherry gingham fabrics! I just adjusted that same 50's pattern that I used for the other dresses, and this time, I simply added short sleeves. I had a lot of fun adding the red ribbon to them, as well as the red buttons. Sometimes when a design comes together, it can be really exciting! The only thing that I wish that I had done for these, was to add a sash. I don't enjoy sewing them, but they do add a neat period correct detail. It isn't necessary, so I decided to save myself the trouble.

I do have a couple of other Summer friendly things that I would love to make for my 50s girls. I have some chicken fabric that I plan to make  into blouses with coordinating pedal pushers. And I have 1 more cherry print fabric that I should use for Clara, since she never got a dress when MaryEllen got her 4th of July dress. But, truly, these girls can wait for more clothes as I have other dolls in much more need of clothing!

Hopefully, I will have a Part 2 for Summertime Sewing for my dolls, but we will have to see!

America Girl Doll Nicki and Isabel are coming home!

 

I've been excited about the new 90's twins ever since I heard the rumor, how ever long ago it was at this point. I had thought - like many of the other AG collectors that they would have been the early 90's. That was such an exciting thought! And when I found out they were 1999/Y2K dolls, I was briefly disappointed. But, it was only for a brief moment. I honestly think it was a better call to go for the end of the decade than any earlier. The dolls themselves I thought were cute, but I was offput in the beginning by the so called "angry eyebrows" and those dreadful painted on eye lashes AG is now doing on all of the newly released dolls. Eventually though, the dolls, "angry brows" and all, grew on me. Like, really, really grew on me! I spent some nights looking at reviews of people who got the dolls. The painted on eyebrows didn't actually look that bad on them!

I've been doing yet another massive collection overhaul these last few weeks. Maybe its only been 2 weeks. I have no idea. But when I say massive collection overhaul, I really mean massive collection overhaul. I won't go into it all in detail right now, but suffice it to say that I now have quite a bit less of my overall possessions. It feels good. 

With my AG dolls, I had had it whittled down to 18 dolls for a little while, so AG wise, my collection didn't change all that much. I did bump off 4 dolls, intending to keep my number at 14. I was very pleased with the extra room on my AG shelf, where I could space my dolls further apart and I still had some room leftover over. That just wasn't meant to be. 

Friday night, around 11:30 or, I placed my order for both of the twins. :D It wasn't an impulse buy. I thought long and hard on it. And I figured, why not? I have the space. The money from things I will be selling will more than pay myself back. The dolls just came so vividly to life that not having them would have been sad. I have them renamed and their personalities, styles, etc. are all mapped out. I cannot wait for them to get here!

Hopefully AG will get my order out tomorrow. I might not have them for a week plus since I didn't want to pay $20 more dollars to speed up the shipping. I can be patient and wait for them though. They will be so very worth the wait!

And while I am waiting, I can plan more. I've already spent time looking at late 90's fashions. I'll be setting up a pinterest board for inspo pics for each dolls. Sydney (formerly known as Nicki) and Amber (formerly known as Isabel) will have styles like their cannon dolls. Alt/skater for Sydney and preppy for Amber. Already I know I have to make cargo pants and those wide leg skater pants for Sydney. Amber is a little less developed fashion wise, but I will have a lot of fun planning out extra clothing for her too. 

While I normally would have been worried that a later historical (1999 is historical, lol) period wouldn't quite stick with me, I have no worries with these. I thought I would have jumped at the 80's collection and gave it the best effort I could, but it just didn't stick. I had a doll put into that period a few weeks ago, and I just could not attach to it. The latest I have (or had, hee hee) is the 50's. But these dolls hold so much nostalgia for me that I know I will absolutely love them. And will have a hell of a lot of fun with them! 

Now, I am off to pinterest!