My Collection Part Sixteen: American Girl Felicity

Yes, Felicity finally arrived. I'm not going to do a thorough review, just some remarks.

I saw complaints online about re-created Felicity's hair and her pin curls. She certainly does look... odd. Her hair should should not be pulled so far back; it should be covering her ears. I'm afraid her hair is done the way it is because she does not have as much hair as original Felicity did, but I'm going to try to adjust her hair anyway.

Her shoes are single-lasted, which means they are made to fit either foot. This enabled the shoes to be traded off between feet so the shoes wore more evenly and could be worn for longer. She also wears a shift and the thick stockings that you see. In real life, they would be wool. They do feel soft and woolly.

Her accessories included:  her garter ribbons to tie to the tops of her stockings

a brocade purse, handkerchief and coin called a bit

and her round cap and coral necklace. Felicity looks a bit better wearing her cap. Her coral necklace was supposed to be for "good luck." I remember reading about children all the way into the 1860s wearing bead necklaces whose stones were supposed to afford certain gifts to the wearer. Unfortunately, I can't find anything specific right now. I'm guessing the practice was at least due in part to a much higher rate of child mortality.

A little card was also included to explain the origin of Felicity's coin and why it was called a bit. I think I recall bits coming from Spanish doubloons, but maybe dollares were also called doubloons?

I was in grade school in 1976, the year that America celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of its founding. That year, our school picture had us holding a small replica of the Liberty Bell, and sometime around 1976, my class at school also made horn books, used by children for centuries to learn to write their alphabet, among other things. Felicity learns from a horn book in her second story, and Pleasant Company had one for sale for her doll. That interest in the Colonial Era from my childhood may be why I have always found history in Colonial America interesting, although not my favorite era. I'm glad to add Felicity to my collection, and wearing what I think is the most historically accurate "meet" outfit.

While looking up photos of vintage Felicity's hairstyle, I read something interesting. Apparently, Felicity was the first doll that Pleasant Rowland got the inspiration to create, after a visit to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. However, Goetz, the company she went to for her doll making, was only making dolls with bangs at the time, and Felicity would absolutely have not worn bangs. So Rowland created some other dolls first, including Samantha. Bangs were not popular anymore during Samantha's era, but it was conceivable that she would have had them, at least.

I have a big project that I'm working on little by little, which is where my time has been going. I'll only tell you that it involves a trip to IKEA. :)

Total dolls: 70

I Bought American Girl Felicity

but she is backordered until at least September! I don't know if demand exceeded expectations by Mattel, or if they all take this long, although originally, I was told I would get the doll sometime in June. Anyway, I know that the quality will not be as good as the old dolls, but the original Felicity is as expensive as all get out. I want this original style Felicity because of her dress, which is much closer to authentic colonial prints than the purple striped dress that replaced it, or the blue and yellow monstrosity Mattel produced after that. These new "original" American Girl dolls also come with their accessories, which I wish I had for my Samantha.

I would also like original Kirsten and possibly original Josefina, but Felicity is the one that I wanted the most. Since I won't be charged for Felicity until September, at least one more of the other two might make its way into an online shopping cart.

Since I don't like putting posts up without pictures, here is a picture from 2005 of my daughters and I at American Girl Place in Chicago. Mr. BTEG did an eight month consulting gig in Chicago from 2004-2005, and the girls and I went out to stay with him several times. I was homeschooling then, so it was nothing to drive out there for a week or so. The Dancer's Bitty Baby is sitting at the table behind her. She could have spent hours in the Bitty Baby section of AG Place. The Eldest brought her Bitty Baby and her Like Me doll.

My Collection Part One: Mini American Girls

Since Chris and Rachael are both sharing pictorial records of their collections, I decided to jump in too. It's something that I ought to do anyway, and it will be an easy photography option when I am otherwise uninspired.

I decided to start with the mini American Girl dolls. They are 6 inches tall, and are tiny versions of the regular 18" American Girl dolls, and their friends, who also had dolls for a short period of time. I think I'm in the minority, but I prefer the soft bodies that my mini dolls have, like the 18" dolls. At some point, Mattel changed the minis so that bodies are all vinyl. Most of the American Girls' stories start with them being nine years old, and later on show them celebrating when they turn ten. There are several more mini dolls out there; these are the ones that I own.

This is Felicity, and her friend Elizabeth. Their story starts in 1774. Although they are friends, Felicity's parents are Patriots, while Elizabeth's are Loyalists, which leads to some tension in their friendship.

Felicity's dress changed when Mattel re-introduced Felicity to the doll line. I think the original dress was much more period accurate in its print choice. Elizabeth is wearing a dress from Felicity's Christmas story. She and Felicity are invited to the governor's mansion for a dance lesson along with other well-born girls. Mini Felicity in her Christmas dress was also released, along with several of the other mini AG dolls. You'll see an example two dolls down.  

This is Caroline. She lives in New York state, on the coast of Lake Ontario. Her father runs a shipyard, until he is kidnapped by the British, during the lead up to the War of 1812.

Caroline's dress is pretty accurate to her time, with the high waist and simple trims. The dress on my mini Caroline is a little strained in the bodice, though.

Meet Josefina. Her story starts in 1824, where she lives in New Mexico. She has recently lost her mother, and her aunt comes to live with them, bringing new ideas.

This is the dress from Josefina's Christmas story. Josefina's meet outfit is Hispanic style, with a loose blouse, gathered print skirt and woven belt. Her Christmas dress is more in line with European fashion of the time, although she also wears her black headscarf, or mantilla, to Mass. The 18" doll also came with a hair comb, and Josefina wears one in the pictures in the book. If you look at this extant 1820s girl's dress, you can see how accurate Josefina's dress is.

At one time, this dress could be seen at Vintage Textile. The image survives on Pinterest, and although all the images link back to Vintage Textile, I couldn't find the dress anymore on the website.

Here are Cecile and Marie-Grace, from 1853. They were unusual in that both were main characters in their stories, and also friends interacting in the other's life. Each girl had her own Meet book, and then two other books of her own, making for six books total. Both girls have to help their family and others around them when a yellow fever epidemic hits their home city of New Orleans. Cecile also faces challenges as a member of a well off, "free people of color" family, when most black people in the United States at that time are slaves. Marie-Grace has lost her mother and recently moved to New Orleans with her father, feeling overwhelmed in the big city.

Many collectors agreed that mini Marie-Grace's face is... unfortunate. The solid pink straps on Marie-Grace's dress are called bretelles, and they come off much better on the 18" doll than here. Cecile's dress is also pretty accurate, although in real life, the white center of her dress could have been tightly pleated in "fan front" style, and she probably would have had at least one more velvet bar across the bodice.

This is Kirsten. We meet her in 1854, when she is moving to Minnesota as a pioneer from her home in Sweden.

Kirsten's uncle, aunt and cousins have settled in Minnesota before Kirsten's family. Kirsten receives this "American dress" from her cousins pretty early on, to replace the traditional dress Kirsten wore from Sweden. Since Kirsten's family is not well off, her dress is simpler than those of Cecile and Marie-Grace. The 18" doll's dress is more accurate, having a slight gather in the bodice at the waist. Kirsten's looped braids don't translate to the mini doll very well.

Here is Samantha. She lives in New York state in 1904, with her grandmother, who is wealthy. Through Samantha's eyes, we see all the new things that are changing the way people live, such as automobiles and the telephone, and new ideas about things such as votes for women and child labor.

This outfit is Samantha's meet dress from her original story. Bangs weren't in fashion for girls in 1904, but the rest of her outfit is perfect. Don't get me started on the clothes the re-released Samantha doll wears.

This is Ruthie. She is the friend of Kit, who is the main character of the stories. They are facing the Great Depression together in 1934. Kit's dad has lost his job, while Ruthie's father is still employed.

The cut and print of Ruthie's dress is just right for the 1930s. My Ruthie's hair is unruly.

So here's an introduction to my collection. I hope you don't mind that it also turned into a mini-lesson on historical fashion, but that's right in my wheelhouse. My interest in historical fashion is what attracted me to American Girl dolls in the first place.

Total dolls: 9

October Instagram Challenge Day 3: Candy

When my sisters and I went trick-or-treating, the first thing we would do when we got home was dump all of our candy on the floor and sort it out. I don't remember us doing a lot of trading, although I've never liked chewing gum, so I'm sure I gave that away. But having our two girls above dump out all of their candy would have involved me making up a lot more miniature candy than I wanted to, so these two youngsters are already digging through their bags and trying to make trades. Fiona, the redhead, is wearing Mini American Girl Felicity's dress, and the brunette, who needs a name, is wearing Mini American Girl Kirsten's dress. I made the orange bag, and the cloth bag, which is supposed to be a pillowcase. Mr. BTEG and his sisters always took pillowcases trick-or-treating, and I remember him saying that they would fill multiple pillowcases. Those were glorious times, when we kids were old enough to go trick-or-treating by ourselves. My sisters and I didn't fill up pillowcases, but it was fun running around the neighborhood after dark, trying to hit as many houses as possible. We made sure our daughters had fun Halloweens too.

Lottie Pony versus LORI Horse

When Battat's LORI brand for 8" dolls came out with horses for their line, I decided to buy one to see what it was like. Then I decided it was natural to compare it to the pony that Arklu has produced for their Lottie doll. I completely reviewed Lottie's pony here. This will be a short review of the new horse, and some comparison comments. For brevity, I named the Arklu Welsh pony Merlyn, which is the Welsh word for pony. The name Elinor appeals to me for this new horse, so that's what she'll be called.

Elinor is an Andalusian horse. I've read that gray is the most common color for that breed of horse, so it makes sense that she is that color. Andalusian horses are also popular for dressage and jumping, so an English saddle is correct here too. From my reading, Andalusian horses are a prized breed, originating in Spain. It was a favored mount of European royalty and nobility. I just think she's pretty.

Now that we've introduced Elinor, let's talk about my deboxing experience. Merlyn only had a few twist ties, and she was free. Elinor had plastic ties around three of her ankles holding her to the box, and her tail was connected by a rubber band to her rear left leg. There was also a rubber band around her tail where it comes out of her body. There was a zip tie around her "waist" securing her to the box, and a plastic tab sewn into her mane; the ends of the tab were sewn to her saddle pad and bridle. I had to cut the zip tie with small wire cutters, and it was easiest to use the cutters on the leg ties as well. That seems excessive to me. Not every house has wire cutters just lying around.

Merlyn's box had a little blurb talking about her personality; Arklu gave her the name Seren. It also talked about how Lottie and Seren are friends, and how Lottie takes care of Seren. Considering Battat was so specific with Elinor's breed, there is nothing on the box about the breed, nor about personality or care. I think Battat dropped the ball here.

Now, let's do some comparisons between Merlyn and Elinor. When I reviewed Merlyn, I used a Stacie doll as she was the best size match among the dolls I have. Since Elinor was created for 8" mini dolls, I'm using Felicity here as my human model, since she's the horse lover of the historical AG dolls.

Here's Felicity riding Merlyn, and Elinor. Felicity does not look too out of place on Merlyn, except that the stirrups are too far down. From the outfit I have that was made for Lottie, she seems to have proportionally longer legs than the dolls that I have. Stacie's feet were awkward in the stirrups since she wasn't built to ride a horse. But at least Merlyn comes with stirrups. I also like the color of Merlyn's bridle and saddle, as being more realistic. And the furry saddle pad on Elinor, which is underneath the purple pad, reminds me more of Western style tack, as opposed to English.

I think Felicity is a bit too big for Elinor. And keep in mind, Elinor is supposed to be a horse, while Merlyn is a pony. LORI 8" dolls live like adults, with their own car, house, etc., so I guess a horse would a be a better size for them? Only Elinor looks like a pony when Felicity is riding her. If they weren't so specific about the breed, I could pass it off, but calling this equine a horse just seems silly. I looked up some pictures of Andalusian horses on line, and they look *much* larger in comparison to adult humans.

While Merlyn's box talked about Lottie feeding her apples and carrots, no accessories besides tack came with her. I think a toy bunch of carrots or an apple would have been cute. Elinor does come with a few accessories: a pail, a brush and a sort of grooming mitt. There is also a horse trailer and stable by LORI sold separately, which come with more accessories for horses. The stable includes a bucket of carrots and a bucket of apples! I don't know why I have this obsession with horse treats. :D

If you go to the web page for the stable or the horse trailer, there is a slide show where a few of the pictures show a doll wearing this mitt. Supposedly then, it will fit on the LORI dolls' hands, but not on Felicity. The way her thumb sticks out makes it impossible to get the mitt onto her hand.

I think the bucket is a bit small, but that's not a major issue.

One last thing about Elinor alone; she has her brand name on the upper inside of her rear right leg. While I suppose it wouldn't matter to a child, if you were thinking of her as a horse for a doll display, you can see the mark easily when she's just standing. Admittedly it's hard to see in most of the pictures I took.

Okay, now let's look at Merlyn and Elinor mane to mane, and tail to tail. First let's look at them from the side. Having Elinor's left front leg raised makes her unstable. I'm also not sure that her other three hooves touch the ground evenly; she was rocking a little bit on her feet while I was taking pictures. Having Felicity on her back also made her unstable.

I think looking at these two head to head really emphasizes their size differences. Elinor has a forelock, while Merlyn does not. Merlyn's eyes stick out just a bit oddly, while Elinor seems to have a thick head from this point of view.

Elinor seems to have a thicker mane than Merlyn.

When I wrote Merlyn's individual review, I pointed out that the hair in her tail seemed rather sparse, especially since it also comes out very easily. These pictures show that.

On the other hand, Elinor has a large opening where her tail comes out, and I'm not sure of the reason for that rubber band just past the opening. There was a rubber band on the outside of her tail, as I believe I mentioned above. I suppose that was to help keep the tail from being too fly-away.

Both these horses have issues. Merlyn's biggest drawback, I think, is the relative sparseness of her mane and tail. Elinor's is the realism of her tack, plus her size, if she is truly supposed to be the horse breed they say she is. The accessories Elinor does come with don't thrill me, and I think Battat could have had some description on Elinor's box. Merlyn has no accessories but at least we get some verbage about her and how Lottie takes care of her. I think the first choice on which horse to get would be what size doll you want to ride her.

Probably the next biggest factor would be availability. While Seren/Merlyn seems to no longer be for sale, there is a new Welsh pony, and a pony set that also comes with a Lottie doll, which I think is a good idea. Still no buckets, brushes or treats. Arklu will ship to the UK (of course), Ireland and continental Europe (EU), and the US. Shipping appears to be free to all of these places if you spend over 50 pounds, dollars or Euros. Lottie does have some cute things, but I also reviewed a Lottie dress in my review of Merlyn, and Lottie's clothes would definitely be a problematic fit for a lot of other dolls, just so you know. There were some stores that sold Lottie dolls in the US, but I don't know how many of them do still. The one specialty toy store in my area that I know sold Lottie products closed over a year ago.

LORI seems to only be available in the US, and only at Target stores, that I'm aware of, so that's not an option for a great many of you. :( On the other hand, if you do live in the US and also want to get the LORI horse trailer and/or stable, the LORI horse would be the one for you. At one point, there was also a LORI palomino horse, but I don't know if that one is still for sale. The LORI website only shows Elinor, and a Camarillo horse, which I might buy if I see her in store. I think her tack is much prettier than Elinor's.

Do any of your dolls like to ride?

Happy Fourth of July!

I don't really have what's necessary to set up any special Fourth pics this year, so I decided to go with mini American Girl Felicity. She is still a short time away from living through July 4th, 1776, but many events have already happened during her lifetime that will pave the way to the Declaration of Independence.

I want to do a post on my mini AG girls at some point, but I have some other things I want to work on first. I hope that all of you have a happy and safe weekend, including my non-American readers. :) I hope that Americans all have a great holiday!

Happy Fourth of July!