Wow, that Lottie is a small girl! Would you like to see what doll I found that could wear her outfit?
Here she is, your blast from the past, Miss Holly Hobbie!
(Actually, I think this might be Holly's friend Heather, but we'll stick with Holly.) Holly is a six inch vinyl doll from some time around the 1970s. As you can maybe see, there's a bit of a ripple on the front of the dress. I'm not sure if that's a fitting issue, or a sewing issue. The dress closes up fine in back. The weird angle the dress takes below the Velcro closure, I'm guessing is because Holly has a bit of a bottom, and I don't know if Lottie does.
Holly actually has quite an appropriately proportioned little girl body.
Holly was also able to put on Lottie's jacket, although the sleeves are rather long. She's wearing her own shoes and stockings, because Lottie's shoes and tights just won't fit Holly.
I'm gonna party like it's 1979! What? |
Lottie's left shoe on the left, one of Holly's shoes on the right |
In length, the tights seem best suited to another of Barbie's sisters, Stacie (older body.) Stacie is 8" tall. However, Lottie's figure must be much thinner than Stacie's, because there's no way Stacie could get those tights on.
Here's a picture of the back of Lottie's dress packaging. I don't know if the jacket would fit Lottie more like the illustration shows. I also included a closer view of extra outfits available to buy from Lottie's manufacturer, Arklu. There's a sticker at the place where it lists where the outfit was made. That suggests to me that they've changed the location where outfits are made, since the packaging was printed. No, I didn't think to take the sticker off.
Here's a picture of Holly and Stacie standing next to each other, to show the difference in height.
Did you notice that Stacie's outfit looks very much like an English style riding outfit? Yep, that's another reason I was motivated to buy Lottie's pony. A few months or so ago, I bought a couple of riding outfits Mattel made many years ago for the Stacie doll. Actually, this doll isn't strictly a Stacie, just has the Stacie body. She's Anne of Green Gables, from Mattel's When I Read, I Dream series. We're going to call her Fiona.
The jodhpurs are made of a stretchy material almost like tights. They have patches at the inner calves and the knees, where there will be a lot of wear. Jodhpurs originally had extra material around the area of the outside of the thighs, to allow for room to maneuver while riding. With today's materials that have built-in stretch, they can be made to fit close to the body. I put the jodhpurs on over the tights that Fiona was already wearing, just because I didn't want the bother of taking them off. I was happy the pants fit that way. I couldn't get them tucked in the boots, but I don't know if I could do that without the tights either.
And our first glimpse of Fiona and her pony! Arklu gave the pony the name Seren, which means star in Welsh. Seren is a Welsh mountain pony. I'm not overly fond of the name Seren, so I renamed her Merlyn, which means pony in Welsh, according to the internet. I might use the name Merry.
For some reason, Fiona manages to rock this wine-colored jacket with her red hair. |
Having a top that closes with a tab seems common with Lottie boxes |
Very easy to get her out! Hooray! |
The packaging gives a good view from three sides. |
Lottie is apparently only 7 inches tall, so she is probably more appropriately sized to the pony than Fiona is. Here's a picture of my daughter when she used to ride, standing next to the pony she rode, who was owned by the stable. His name was Peter Pan. Like Seren's description, Peter Pan was very stubborn. My daughter was 13 in this picture, so many years older than Lottie is meant to be. My daughter is very short, but that's why she was given a pony to ride. :)
I'm sorry; I didn't want to take Merlyn's saddle and bridle off for these pictures. I'd like to keep the plastic pristine for as long as possible. However, I did get some shots of how they are attached.
Looking at this picture now, I wonder if the reins can be separated from the bridle. |
This is a view of Merlyn while she is lying on her side. |
Merlyn's body is largely split into two even pieces, left and right, down the middle. Her chest is largely two pieces also split left and right, and there are separate pieces inside of the top of her front and hind legs.
Some pictures of all of Merlyn's body. The left side is her near side, the side a rider mounts. The right side is the off side. The white part of her legs is called stockings.
I think Merlyn's mane and tail are pretty thin for hair brushing play, especially since some hairs are falling out on their own. It's difficult to see the dark hair on the dark body, but here is the mane and tail straight on.
We're looking directly at Merlyn, although she can't look at us well from this position, if at all. I'm not sure exactly how far a horse can see from each side. |
The reins are not long enough to make them fit in both of Fiona's hands. It's likely rather dangerous to only hold them in one, but it's the best she can do. Good thing she's a doll. |
Like Lottie's riding outfit, Fiona's comes with a prize ribbon, although only one. In the picture below, you can see why I don't want to mess around with Merlyn's bridle and saddle. Stress to plastic can cause discoloration at the stress point.
I don't know what real English style riders do with their prize ribbons. I clipped Fiona's on Merlyn's reins. My daughter hung hers from the string holding on her rider number.
Daughter is 12 here |
Fun fun! I'd been wondering about the Lottie's horse - it's too bad about the thinness of the mane and tail, but aside from that, he looks like a solid sidekick.
ReplyDeleteI've never soon those Holly Hobby dolls before, but the face looks vaguely familiar to me...
Arklu did do a good job with Lottie's pony. I can see Lottie's young owners taking Lottie and Seren on all kinds of riding adventures.
DeleteThere were similar dolls produced about the same time as Holly, based off of someone else's illustrations. Betsey Clarke, I believe was the name.
I finally got to see Lottie dolls in person recently at a Hallmark in Columbus. I don't know if other Hallmark stores carry them or if that was an independent thing. Lottie was cuter in person than in the pictures I've seen, and she does have some nice stuff. Try a Gymnast Stacie or Bicycling Stacie on the horse. The legs are jointed and I'm pretty sure they can spread out sideways enough to sit them on a horse.And of course, the outfit will fit, but it will be a bit looser on the thinner bodies of the jointed Stacie dolls. And Kelly? She's lurking somewhere, waiting to make a comeback...
ReplyDeleteI imagine a jointed Stacie body would work fairly well. I'll have to consider adding one to my group.
DeleteI do have to buy a card for an upcoming event. Maybe I'll stop by our local Hallmark.
Hello from Spain: I really like your doll with the horse. Great kit. Also your daughter is lovely-. Nice photos.
ReplyDeleteMuchas gracias, Marta. I am glad you like the pictures.
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