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

LORI Camper

I first noted the existence of the LORI camper, made by Our Generation for their 6" doll line, back in August of 2015. Our Generation is a doll company that makes lower cost (and quality) 18" dolls, like the American Girls. They also make extra clothes, accessories, and even roombox playsets. With the popularity of the mini AG dolls, Our Generation also began to make mini 6" versions of their bigger dolls. Then they introduced the LORI line, which makes 6" dolls of better quality, at a higher price point, and also lots of accessories, like outfits, cars, horses, a stable, a dollhouse, individual room furniture sets, and the camper below (or caravan for my friends outside the US.) :) Speaking of the US, LORI items only seem to be available at Target stores in person, although LORI also has a presence on US Amazon.

I'd wanted to buy one fairly soon after I saw it, but I kept putting it off. I finally decided I'd better buy one, since who knows when they're going to stop being produced, so I'd like to share a few pictures, now that I've gotten it home. I do wish I'd bought one back when the exterior trim and interior seating and beds were blue. They're now pink.

The camper comes with everything you see inside, plus another pot and a frying pan, cooking utensils, and a set of dishes and silverware for two. Most of those items have also been included with one of the cookware and food accessory sets, if you've seen that. The kitchenette drawers and doors open, although the doors under the kitchen sink are kind of warped. I'm thinking the doors can be fixed, or replaced. Also functional are the cupboard doors just under the roof of the camper, but they only open in pairs, so there are only two doors, and not four. The camper is exactly suited for the 6" doll, but since I don't have a LORI doll, I'm substituting mini American Girl Ruth, friend of 1930s character Kit Kittredge. She's the most modern era mini AG that I own. According to the American Girl website, the mini dolls are 6.5" tall, while LORI says their dolls are 6" tall. I think Ruth looks great in there anyway.

The small silver bar above the kitchen sink contains a light, which can be turned on by the tiny button you may be able to see on the right of the light. I forgot to get a picture of the camper with the light on. :(

I suppose the color scheme doesn't matter in the long run, since I really want to revamp this camper. I'm currently trying to think of a theme that I would like to use. Oddly enough, I haven't seen many pictures of this camper at all online, much less inspiring ones. Maybe mini doll collectors have moved on to other things, but this could still be used for other types of dolls of this size. Someone on Flickr took progressive photos of how she started with the LORI dollhouse as a shell, and almost completely broke it apart and put it back together with additions, using it for her miniature family and furniture. One person on Flickr did an impressive upgrade of the camper, using a Route 66 Western theme. She also added her own lighting. I also found one person who left the interior mostly the same, but did add her own bedding, and cushioning and pillows for the corner seating, plus a few decorations. And here's a second one with just new bedding, seating and curtains.

If I redo it, it's definitely going to be more of an overall transformation, like the Route 66 version. I may do something similar to what she did with the overall wood look, only make mine with more of the look of a rustic cabin. Buffalo check blankets, snowshoes, that kind of thing. It would take some research, but I have a vague idea, if I wanted to go that way. There are also lots of people who have done creative things with DIY camper kits, like the kind that you can buy at AliExpress. I feel that those ideas would be useful, because those kits are not very large, so you're also trying to make a lot of a small space. For all that LORI calls this item a "glamper," this really doesn't have the space or amenities that a lot of real-life big campers do.

When I was adding the links to this post, I noticed that the same person who changed up the LORI dollhouse, also made the Route 66 camper. I guess that really shouldn't surprise me, but it is even more of an indicator of how little creativity with these pieces is being shared on the Internet. The same person also did some pretty racy stuff with other dolls in another Flickr album; you have been warned if you go looking around her photo account. Lastly, one weird note: the table in the camper was originally the same fuchsia pink, and was spray painted to match the color of the wood-look floor. One good thing about this camper is the floor and table already have that wood look and an actual textured wood grain appearance, which I think would look great repainted.

Does anyone else have a home on wheels for their dolls? Do you yourself like to camp, in a tent or a camper? Or do you not vacation anywhere that you can't call room service? ;)