2026 American Girl of the Year Doll Raquel Reyes

 Normally I don't post about the new American Girl - Girl of the Year dolls. However, I happened to see an ad for the 2026 doll, carrying a bag that said Piney Point. Hm, Piney Point, I said. That's the same place where Samantha Parkington spends her summer vacation in her book Samantha Saves the Day. Well, that's because... Raquel is Samantha's great-great-great-granddaughter!

You can tell that AG took some inspiration from Samantha's Meet Outfit, with the checked dress and bow, and the necklace with the locket. I wonder if that is supposed to be Samantha's original locket? I regret to inform MoonGirl that Raquel's clothes are mostly pink, with some purple. But then Samantha's favorite color was pink, so maybe that is in honor of Samantha too. Raquel's storyline seems to be that she attends a family reunion at Piney Point. In Samantha's book, Piney Point is where her grandmother owns a vacation cottage, and where her parents tragically lost their lives in an accident on the lake. Samantha is curious about a small island in the lake where she and her parents liked to go when Samantha was a baby. Unfortunately, Samantha's parents perished returning from the island, so Grandmary doesn't want to talk about it. Samantha and her Aunt Cornelia's younger twin sisters, who are staying with her, go to the island, but get stranded. When they are rescued, Samantha tells her grandmother how beautiful the island is, and how it would be nice to honor her parents' memories by visiting the island. Grandmary agrees that they should visit together.

I have mixed feelings about this doll. Samantha is my absolutely favorite American Girl doll, largely because she represents my favorite time period in fashion history. I completely disapproved of the changes that they made with the BeForever line. They even got rid of Samantha's original meet dress, which Raquel's outfit here is based on! However, it might be interesting to see when and how Samantha is referenced in the story. Since this is a family reunion, there will be many more descendants there, and we might get some stories about Samantha when she grew up. We may even get some stories about Samantha's friend Nellie and Nellie's sisters, since they are adopted by Samantha's Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia, when the girls are orphaned. I also hope that this doll will increase interest in Samantha, and we might get some of Samantha's older items re-released. I already saw that they have re-released Samantha's original birthday dress set, and now they have released a Samantha in her original dress, with accessories. However, the doll is $175! Also, I would like the accessories only, since I have an original Pleasant Company Sam, but not her hat, purse and locket. It would be especially nice since a locket seems to feature in Raquel's story. Here's Sam's page, if you want to check out some other new items I haven't seen before.

Is this the first time that American Girl has made a generational doll connection like this? I'm not really up on the dolls much since Mattel took over, but I think this is the case. I have to wonder why this is so. Maybe the whole Girl of the Year doll has been getting has been getting a little stale? When MoonGirl has revealed GOTY dolls before, she's also added how many fans have said, "Oh, we're getting another doll who is blond/dances/likes pink/etc." This is a fresh idea, and it might bring interest from old time Pleasant Company fans to Raquel. I mean, here I am posting about it, and I usually don't care about the GOTY releases. I will add that Raquel learns how to play pickleball at the reunion, which is a new activity I don't think we've seen before.

Kirsten and Addy have also gotten outfits re-released, and Addy also has a brand new accessories set. It seems like Mattel is trying to drive interest in the older historical dolls again.

What do you think about this new twist to an AG line? If you're a fan of the historical dolls, which doll would you like to see get a descendant? Or would you rather not see it happen again? Do you hope the historical dolls get some more attention?

My Collection Part Eighteen: Reproduction Depose Jumeau

I've mentioned a couple of times that I like antique Jumeau dolls, which were produced in France. In my mind I identify them with the early 1900s, although information I've found online says Depose Jumeau dolls in particular were produced around 1886-1889. However, Bébé Jumeau dolls were produced into the 1900s, and I think they look similar to my reproduction doll, so that's probably why my mind has always seen them as turn-of-the-century dolls. I've wanted a Jumeau doll for a very long time, but original antique dolls usually cost in the upper four figures, which is way beyond my budget. When I saw this reproduction Jumeau at the recent doll show I attended, for a very good price, I knew that she was meant for me. :)

Her head was made by doll artist Sylvia Butler in 2008. She is on a 10.5" composition body. I thought that meant that the body was 10.5 inches tall, but no, the whole doll measures around 10.5" tall. She is wearing a mohair wig and has glass eyes. She came with a pair of shoes, and a pattern to make her a slip, drawers, and stiffened stays like girls would have worn around that time. There is also some white fabric, narrow pink ribbon and some lace to make the items.

The slip/chemise that my doll is currently wearing was made by me from a pattern that I bought online. Lucky for me, this doll can wear the same patterns as the Bleuette doll, who started out as an Edwardian doll. Bleuette was associated with a French magazine for little girls called La Semaine de Suzette, or Suzette's Week. Bleuette dolls were available for little girls, and every edition of the magazine contained a new pattern for the doll. From February 1905 until at least January of 1960, new patterns were available for Bleuette. Some copies of the original patterns are available online due to the kindness of people scanning them in. The scans aren't generally precisely sized, however, so some other people have started with the magazine patterns, tailored them to the correct fit, and sell them. I think there are also Bleuette patterns people have drafted themselves. Anyway, there is a wealth of patterns available for my doll.

Here is the back of her head. It is marked "Depose Jumeau 3" which is the particular mold. Then on the side is inscribed "S Butler 2008." It looks like there is also a month, but I am not entirely sure what number it is. It looks like a 1, though.

She has holes for earrings, which was common for dolls of the time. There are lots of antique or antique-style earrings available to buy now. You can also see that she has a taped-on Styrofoam pate in the open spot on her head. Pate means "top of the head," and many antique dolls have a head with the top open like this. Cork pates were used at the time these dolls were first made.

Her body is strung, and doesn't always stand and pose just right. Of course, dolls of the time were never meant to be a fashion doll that stood and posed, just a doll for a girl to carry around or re-dress, or put to bed, etc. I just bought a new ring light for photography, so I thought I'd try it out with this post. Here's a picture of my doll taken with the three light modes that it has: cool, mixed and warm. Or maybe it's cool, warm and mixed?

Here is the back of her slip. It is more tightly gathered and has an extra ruffle to add fashionable fullness to the back. Oh, and this pattern is based on a La Semaine de Suzette set from 1906. The pattern also includes drawers and quilted stays. This slip is only pinned in the back because this is a basic muslin test piece that I made from the pattern. The modern pattern directions suggest you finish the neck and armholes with lace, or a rolled hem. Ooh boy, it's been about twenty years since I tried sewing a rolled hem by hand, and I wasn't too great at it back then.

I've also learned that if I want to I want to have the edges of one of these garments pinked, like you can see on her slip up above, I might want to use my vintage hand crank Singer Pinker. I am not too good with cutting out a longish straight line with my pinking shears alone.

Here's a closeup of her face, and pictures of her shoes.

The edges of one of the ribbon shoe-ties are fraying already. I need to get that taken care of. Her shoes are a bit big, but she is mean to wear stockings underneath. For anybody who has done sewing for an antique or antique repro doll like this, where did you find the material for stockings, and what type of material do you use?

What do you think of this dresser and chest with my doll?

They were made by Pleasant Company for their Angelina Ballerina doll line. I bought these pieces second-hand back in April of 2014! Now I need to make her a bed. I'm thinking of trying a Cricut pattern that I bought.

I am absolutely in love with this doll, and so happy that I found her. Now she needs a name! I want a name popular from the Edwardian era for her, but I also want it to be special, so I've been doing some thinking for sure!

What types of dolls do you like? Do you have or want any antiques, somewhat newer dolls like original Barbie dolls or Miss Revlon, or is it only modern for you?

Total dolls: 77

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

My Collection Part Two: American Girls

I plan to intersperse collection photos with other blog posts, but these photos were easy to take, so I decided they would come next. I have a human-sized photography light on order, but it's being held up due to current virus issues.

Samantha is an original Pleasant Company doll, but she wasn't made in Germany, like the very earliest AG dolls were. Caroline is a Mattel doll. I have taken some detailed comparison pictures for people like Farrah, who were interested in the little differences between the Pleasant Company and Mattel dolls, but I'll put those at the end. If you're not interested in the minutiae, you don't need to read that far.

Quick historical note, Pleasant Company was started to help girls learn American history. I remember reading that the books were actually supposed to be the focus of the collection, and the dolls and accessories were additions, to help girls "act out" the scenes from the books. There were even girl-sized outfits that matched Pleasant Company doll clothes, for further immersion.

Samantha was released in the 80s, but I think I received Samantha for Christmas from Mr. BTEG in 1997. Eldest got her Bitty Baby (by Pleasant Company) for Christmas that year, though, so it's possible that I might have gotten mine the year before and started getting Pleasant Company catalogs then. I bought Caroline in 2015 when it was announced that she and her collection were going to be retired. Something about her had appealed to me ever since she was released, but her being retired made me finally buy her. Most of you are probably pretty familiar with this type of 18" doll, since there are so many other similar dolls that have been produced. American Girls have stuffed, cloth bodies, as you can see by looking at Caroline's neckline. In general, Pleasant Company dolls have more stuffing than more current releases.

A closeup of Samantha. I wish that if she had to have bangs, they wouldn't have been so long and thick. I've included a shot of her with her bangs somewhat pushed aside, so you can see part of her eyebrows.

And Caroline. She has slightly less of the whites of her eyes visible, which I think makes the biggest difference in their expressions?

I had to take a few pictures of the girls with their mini-versions, especially since I just featured the minis in my last post. Originally, Samantha did have a matching hair ribbon in her hair, but it was sewn in, and at one time I dressed Samantha in a different dress, so I had to remove the original ribbon. If I sewed the ribbon onto a bobby pin or narrow hair clip, Samantha could wear it again. Just one more thing on a long list. :)

As you can see, the two doll sizes are *very* similar in their outfits. My 18" Samantha came wearing drawers like I show on mini Samantha, but the elastic is shot in those, so 18" Samantha just wears her tights. Of course, the real Samantha wouldn't have been wearing tights, but I forgive Pleasant Company this, as knee stockings might have gotten loose at the top pretty quickly. Period garters would have added a lot of expense, and difficulty dressing the doll. Not to mention, the garters would have been attached to a stiffened sort of sleeveless undershirt with shoulder straps, like a corset, but unboned. That would make for more expense, plus American Girl dolls did not give completely accurate attention to undergarments, which is acceptable for me. The American Girl doll Felicity doll did have ribbon garters to tie her stockings around her knees, but those are far more simple.

I love having both of these dolls in my collection. I have some of Samantha's accessories and furniture, but nothing of Caroline's. Someday I would like to find Caroline's accessories second-hand. Her straw bonnet is the only thing I think that I would have a hard time making myself.

Now let's get to where these two dolls are the most different: their eyes and eyelashes. Honestly, they aren't even that different here, at least on my pair. People enjoy comparing dolls from different eras, though, so here are some pics.

Samantha's eyelashes are obviously sparser and rougher looking. Neither doll has ever been played with by a child, so I think that makes for a pretty even comparison. I'm not aware of my Samantha ever losing any eyelashes. The iris decal looks about the same for both girls, which was probably a wise choice by Mattel. No point in differentiating these dolls from earlier ones in more ways than necessary.

As you can see, Caroline's eyelashes curve up more at the ends. Samantha's look more realistic to me, though. As far as touch, however, neither doll's eyelashes feel softer than the others. Caroline's *eyebrows* are brush strokes, whereas Samantha's are a straight line. Caroline's are more realistic, but I don't think Samantha's are bad.

One last very small difference, and that is in their teeth.

Samantha's teeth are painted further up underneath her lip. Her eyes and teeth are not as white as Caroline's, but that could be partially due to aging. Samantha is over twenty years old!

Total dolls: 11

American Girl Doll Caroline

I got my American Girl Samantha doll in the mid-1990s. I loved her clothes, accessories, and time period. I never got the opportunity to pick up many of her accessories, since that was also when we were starting our family. And Samantha has been the only 18" girl doll that I have owned ever since. However, I found myself attracted to Caroline Abbott, who was released in 2012. After only three years, she's being archived, so I had to buy her now, if I was going to. And so Samantha finally got a friend.

One of the things that I liked about Caroline was her curly hair. The curls are not stiffly gelled, and so there's some frizzing of individual hairs not part of a curl. Stiff hair can be annoying, but I imagine this hair would not fare well with rough play.

When I part her hair, the back of the wig looks matted. I haven't investigated this too much yet, because I don't want to mess up her hairstyle. I could have sworn that I bought an AG wire hair brush at some point, but I can't find it. I know I need to get a proper wire wig brush to care for her  hair.

Here are Caroline and Samantha together. Caroline stands better than Samantha does, possibly because she does not have the overstuffed body of the Pleasant Company era. You have to balance the weight of Samantha's head against the weight of her torso, and balance both of those onto her legs, which weigh much less comparatively. Also, Caroline's limb joints seem stiffer. I don't know if that has to do with Samantha's age, or slightly different manufacturing. In any case, that also helps Caroline stand better.

A comparison of the new and older faces. The eyes look different to me. There is less white showing in Caroline's, which may account for it. Also, Samantha's eyebrows are solid lines, while Caroline's are feathered. Also, if you look at the picture below, you can see that there is a gap between Caroline's neck, and her stuffed body.

Samantha's neck and body come together much cleaner. Is this gap common with the newer AG dolls? If you have a newer AG doll, does she have this gap?

One of the things which drew me to Caroline specifically was her outfit. It's fairly true to her time period of 1812, and for some reason, it really appeals to me. Mini Caroline is also one of my favorite minis. Here is Caroline holding Mini Caroline.

One of the advantages that American Girl has in making clothes for the mini AGs, is that they have a factory where they can order things like a smaller scaled version of the ribbon sash around Caroline's waist. Looking closer, though, the eyelet embroidery on the hem of the girls' pantaloons looks to be the same size, although Caroline's is a lovely bright white. Poor Mini Caroline's fabric looks yellowed in comparison. And here's a short few paragraphs talking about the difference between pantaloons and pantalettes. I'm not sure if these specifics applied as far back as the Regency, but I'm using them here.

One of the things that I wish had been done differently with Caroline's story was having it take place somewhere besides New York state. This is not only because there are now three AG historicals who come from New York (the other two being Samantha and Rebecca), but because Lake Erie was home to an important naval battle during the War of 1812, that being the Battle of Lake Erie. If you are from the US, you may recognize a famous quote from this battle, by then master commandant Oliver Perry: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Caroline's story does revolve around her father's shipyard, but there was also a great deal of important ship building in Erie, PA. I'm biased myself, because I love Lake Erie and its history, but really, AG, we did not need another doll from New York state. :)

In Cleveland, the War of 1812 and Commodore Perry are still remembered, in various ways. :)

Here's a question for you: if a historical doll's history was set in your home area, what notable period of time could she live in? Cleveland was important in the industrialization period of the mid to late 1800s, and many of these industrialists lived at various times on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Known as Millionaire's Row, it was at one time called the most beautiful street in America. Our girl's story could focus on a specific industrial advancement, or even touch on monopolies. (!) Or maybe in the mid 1900s, an American Girl's father could be involved in medical advancements at the Cleveland Clinic. Tell me your story ideas!