J-Dolls in Fashion Fever

After so long lamenting that the good old days of Fashion Avenue and Fashion Fever are long gone, imagine my surprise! I bought two Fashion Fever outfits off of ebay, only to find that just one clothing piece actually fit my Fashion Fever Teresa! I have to wonder now if that was often the case. But even though the tops were way too small on Teresa, they did at least fit my J-Dolls, so it wasn't a total loss. And the purses are cute. The outfits also came with sunglasses, but they are not being modeled today.

Here we see Lindsay modeling her new top. It's made to look like a blouse with a v-neck, long-sleeved shirt over it.

I love the purse that goes with it. No, it doesn't open, but the way the handles look vaguely like vines of plants is cool.

Next we have Melanie showing off her new top. It's meant to look like a gold tube top with a peach sleeveless overblouse, or at least I think that's the intended style.

Her purse doesn't open either, but the little zipper pull is a nice touch, even if it's not connected to a zipper. It's nicer than it appeared in the box, anyway.

Here Melanie models the short lacy jacket that goes over her top. I think the two shades of peach look nice together.

And lastly, here are our two models sitting on the bench that seems to be a favorite place for the girls to soak up a little sun on these fall days.

The skirt is an attempt at making a J-Doll skirt that didn't quite work out, and the shorts are from Mattel's original Stacie. They're a little short, but I don't have a lot of pants or skirts for the J-Dolls to wear at the moment.

I'm sure at some point Fashion Fever Teresa, or at least the denim pants that came with the peach tops, will make an appearance. I've ordered a couple of more Fashion Fever pieces, so we'll see if any of that actually works with the belly button body.

Fashion Fever Doll, and a Fashion Avenue Outfit

Today I have pictures of a Fashion Fever Teresa in her original outfit, and a regular doll on a Shani body, who is wearing a Fashion Avenue outfit.

I love the Teresa face mold

I love the Mackie mold as well, although her lips are an interesting color.

I understand why some people prefer fabric purses to plastic ones. However, I much prefer Teresa's purse versus the one this Fashion Avenue outfit came with.

I like the positioning of Teresa's hands as well, although perhaps one should have been palms to side. These rather remind me of Monster High and Ever After High hands.

Here Teresa stands up to show you her whole outfit, including those shoes! I could never walk in those things, even in my size! :D

I forgot to get a good picture of the buttons on her cardigan -- the edges keep wanting to turn inside out. But you can see the threads sewing them on. :)

The pattern of this sweater really makes it special. Mattel could have gone with a plain stitch, but they didn't. The knitter in me admires the tininess of it.

The same thing goes for the waffle weave of this shirt. It makes the entire outfit a stand-out.

Lastly, the dolls model some doll-sized storage bins that I bought at Michael's. They were $1 each. I also saw them at Office Max. I would imagine they're in other stores as well.

 

Tonner Doll Wizard Of Oz Designer Collaboration

Stratos at The Fashion Doll Chronicles posted on a project wherein Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Tonner Doll Company, Inc. worked with famous designers to create new looks for Dorothy, Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West, from the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz. The dolls are being auctioned on ebay and will benefit Habitat for Humanity's "There's No Place Like Home" campaign.

The one I like best is the Reem Acra gingham evening dress with train, but I love that Byron Lars' Dorothy is carrying a water gun. :-)  He also did a unique re-imagining of Dorothy's ruby slippers.

Madame Alexander did something similar in 1999 with its Celebration of Design Collection for the 21" Cissy doll, only those dolls were mass-produced. I can't find any information about that collection online to share with you, however.

Would you buy a OOAK doll created by a famous designer if money was no object?

Doll Show August 24, 2014, Strongsville, OH

Since I've recently developed a heightened interest in doll collecting again, I decided I'd like to attend some doll shows. When I lived in Columbus, OH, there was a big one there once a year that I went to a couple of times, but that was about fifteen years ago. I found a few doll shows coming up that are relatively close, so I decided to check some out. The first one I went to was last Sunday, at the Holiday Inn in Strongsville.

The first impression I got was how very, very young I felt... and I'm not. I'm closer to fifty than forty, but I think just about every vendor and shopper there had at least a few years on me. No minors at all, that I remember. I mean, a toddler could have meant behavior issues, but an older girl out with her mum would have been nice to see. Who am I to talk, though; neither of my daughters are interested in dolls anymore. They were never overly interested in dolls as little girls, either.

There were all kinds of dolls there, although I think antique dolls were the most represented. They were all far out of my current budget, and I'd want to do some research before I purchased a doll at show; if I am going to spend hundreds of dollars on a doll, I want to be one of the types I like best. Also, I'd like to make sure I'm paying an acceptable price.

As far as the more modern dolls, there was just about everything there, from vintage Barbie to American Girls. Some older Kewpie dolls. Tonner stuff was very lightly represented, although it amazed me how much better some things looked "in the vinyl" than they appear online. A few items from lines that haven't been around for a while, like a Willow and Daisy outfit. Some older Gene stuff. A few Sashas. Only one woman was selling home-sewn garments, mostly simple dresses for smaller BJDs and some things for Tonner's Ann Estelle size 10 inchers. Not much at all GI Joe or superhero related (I know some of my online friends collect these.) :-D A few tables of what I can loosely describe as "junk." Older things that weren't necessarily all that popular or valuable when they first came out. There were some pretty steep discounts on that kind of stuff.

Final impression: how unserious some of these vendors seemed. Yes, I got there a little late in the day, with only a couple of hours left until closing. Still, several sellers seemed more interested in talking with their friends or other sellers than noticing customers. That put me off even asking questions. Often times, the chatters were even blocking part of the table, so I couldn't see all of the merchandise. Not a good way to sell your stuff! Judging by what some vendors were saying, sales don't seem to have been as good lately as they have in the past. I'd put that more on a changing market and possibly fewer younger collectors than completely on any unprofessionalism, though. I was actually going to buy a doll, but I thought the price was a little high for a doll without the box. So I asked the woman at the table if she had it. She told me that she was only a friend of the seller, and that the seller didn't usually have boxes. The friend then looked perplexed, pulled out a Tupperware tub from under the table, slid it back underneath, then said again that the seller usually doesn't keep boxes. So that was that. Since she wasn't the owner, I couldn't even try to negotiate for a lower price. I'm not a box collector, but it's still nice to have the original box for a collectible.

So speaking of buying, I'm sure all of you are thinking, "Did you actually buy anything? Where's the loot?!" Well, I did buy some things but they may not be very exciting if you aren't interested in sewing for your dolls, or dressing them historically. Still, here are the pictures!

I got Samantha's kimono robe for $10. It is tagged Pleasant Company. Wrinkled from being folded in a bag, but it's hand washable, so that should mostly fix it up. There were a few other older AG historical pieces, but most of them were white, and I could not tell for certain if there was any dinginess to them based on the fluorescent lighting, so I let those go.

Then, since I didn't buy any dolls, I spent money on fabric and trims instead, plus one antique pattern magazine. The Delineator was a woman's fashion magazine, put out periodically by the company that sold Butterick sewing patterns. They are relatively inexpensive to buy now, and I think were targeted at the home sewer and not just the upscale women's seamstress, so they are a good representative of what was in style for more everyday people.

The wine-colored material is a silk. It might make a Christmas dress for mini Samantha, and I'll have plenty for other doll clothes. Cotton voile is a very light cotton. I've heard it might be good for lining. I don't know how well that will work out, but the only other very thin cotton I saw was cut in yardage more than I wanted to spend. I've never worked with voile before, anyway, and I should know a little something about it, since it was used often around the turn of last century. I was tempted by some striped cotton dimity fabric, but that's used for summer dresses.

The trims I just thought would be nice to have. The red, white and blue one will be nice for Fourth of July, Flag Day, Veteran's Day type stuff next year. That was inexpensive enough, and different from the normal red/white/blue ribbons, to be purchased now. Insertion is always useful for the turn of the century seamstress. The teal velvet ribbon I thought will look gorgeous on a dress of a slightly different teal.

I know some of you have talked about doll shows that you've attended. Anyone else have any experiences that they want to mention? What do you look for at a doll show?

I Need Ideas!

Remember how I talked about some of the pieces I was keeping as my daughters give up most of their childhood Barbie doll collections? Well, I have two more pieces to show you today, and I'd like ideas from you on how best to spruce them up for adult doll display.

The first piece came with some Mattel Disney Cinderella set, as you can see by the cardboard backing still in place. I'm not even sure what this type of furniture would be called if you saw it in real life. A side table, maybe? It's not useful for much besides decoration. I would have put this in the pile to pass on except that I like the rose and silver details. Of course, I'd have to repaint those if I repaint the whole piece some more realistic furniture color than pale blue. Anyone seen any real furniture like this? If I do repaint it, should I paint the roses a single color or maybe go for more depth using shading (if I thought I could even accomplish this)?

I also wasn't sure I was going to keep this hutch, until I saw what Cheryl did with hers. Now I think I'd be crazy to give it up, especially since mine still has all the pieces.

The problem is, I've never been much of a paint artist, or necessarily creative making things "out of nothing," as it were. I suppose I could produce something to replace the oval piece at the top that has the "Princess" banner on it, using poster board or foam core and some beads. What I'm really debating is what to do about the doors. They're see-through, but shaded purple, which would probably not match any attempts to non-Disney Princess this hutch, and I don't know what kind of paint to use on this type of plastic.

To be honest, I'm a little scared of taking on either of these projects! Previous tries I have made to repaint Barbie furniture and give it non-Barbie colors has not ended well. I've looked up many tutorials online, but I'm still afraid to take the next step. I'm trying to convince myself that if I had any inspiration on how to decorate these, it might motivate me. Thoughts?

Mini American Girl Josefina

I first got started on AG 6 inch minis when some of the dolls got clearanced down to $10. I originally picked Caroline, and rapidly worked my way up to seven minis! Today, I'm going to highlight Josefina, because I think she is my favorite of the minis that I own. My next mini AG post might just show the rest of the dolls that I have. This one focuses a bit on body type and poseability as well.

This Josefina is part of the AG 25th anniversary special-edition series of mini-dolls. Each historical main character doll was produced in a new outfit, generally the holiday dress of each doll. If you want to see all of the dolls together, Doll Diaries has a good post on the whole set. It also looks like each doll came with a mini book of her holiday story, where applicable. So Josefina is wearing the dress from her Christmas story, along with her lace mantilla. The only differences are that mini Josefina has no hair comb, and her pantaloons are simply pull-on drawers as opposed to the 18" version, where the pantaloons are attached to an undershirt type garment.

While I am an amateur student of historical fashion, the Regency period is not my favorite (Josefina's style is late Regency.) From extant examples of girls' fashions from this time period that I have seen, though, Josefina's dress is wonderfully perfect for her era. From the fabric print and color, to the high waist, to the slight puff to the upper sleeve, it's very stylish. Josefina's mantilla adds the touch of her Spanish heritage to her costume. Lastly, she has gold hoop earrings just like her 18" counterpart.

Her face also looks nice in profile.

Her hair feels silky soft. I'm not planning on ever taking the braid out, because I doubt I'd rebraid it this nicely again.

Here she is without the dress. Fortunately the huge tags lie nicely under the dress and don't show. Her mantilla is tacked onto the front of her head with a few stitches of black thread, so that is staying on, at least for now.

Her white socks go almost up to her knees. The pantaloon legs are so tight, that it was a bit of work to get the socks pulled up nicely again once I pulled the pantaloon leg back down.

The mini AGs have a cloth torso, like the 18" ones do, down to the tie at the back of the neck.

Her dress is very nicely finished on the inside. I'm impressed that they were able to serge the armseye of such a small sleeve, or it might just be a fancy overlock stitch. I neeeed a sewing machine with a better finishing stitch than a zigzag.

The cloth torso does have its drawbacks, but the way her legs are attached allows Josefina to sit in a fairly ladylike manner.

She also has what I consider a fairly good range of arm motion for such a small doll. Her arms can also be spread out facing forward, but not very far, or they can be raised up over her head.

Although I understand that AG was trying to cycle out the older dolls before they introduce the new line, I wonder if it was a mistake clearancing them from $24 to $10. They're worth more than $10, but now I'm not sure that they are worth $24, having gotten some so cheaply. They're probably worth close enough to that amount, though, that I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you like it. Honesty compels me to add that I have gotten most of mine from eBay and I don't think I've paid full price for any of them, including Christmas Josefina. These dolls are a great and well-made addition to any collection of small dolls or American Girls.

J-Dolls Maroseica Street

This is probably the first time I have been majorly disappointed in a doll. I recently bought J-Doll Maroseica Street, although I hadn't played with her much. At last, I'm able to review her, renamed as Mari.

So, I read a review of Mari at the Doll Grotto. From that I expected that her shoes might be an issue, even though Heather said shoe problems were unusual. But sure enough, Mari's shoes were falling apart before I took them out of the bag.

This does not bode well.

 And the shoes fell to even more bits after I took them out of the bag. They're useless.

From Heather's review, I also learned that Mari's black underwear might stain. It did, but this is the best picture that I could get of the stained part. Basically it's right along the seam between Mari's bum and her hip joint. Not bad, but just another problem.

Mari herself is beautiful, and the reason I bought her was because her red hair and green eyes are unusual, maybe even unique, in the J-Doll line.

Mari's body came wrapped in plastic, and the foam pieces holding her arms up from the box were stained, so I did have warning that her outfit might stain. She hasn't worn it since I took her out of the box; I dressed her for this review. She has a black net petticoat trimmed with silver lace, but it doesn't do anything for the dress, and I never got around to taking pictures, for reasons you'll see soon.

The dress itself is unusual but not unattractive. It's made out of a green suede-type material, with sewn on lace, beads, small metallic looking decorations and narrow chains.

Heather's review warned that the trim around her doll's sleeve frayed, and mine did as well. The other sleeve didn't have a problem only because that hand popped off easily, so the sleeve fit right over the arm. I had thought that the left hand didn't pop off, or at least not easily.

Another problem was that this dress kept wanting to fall right off of Mari. And the Velcro closure in back did not fasten for the entire piece when I tried to shift this so it was covering her chest more. Like they hadn't measured in her chest when they put the Velcro on. If it wasn't for the fact that the otherwise detached sleeves are sewn by a small seam to the side of the bodice, the dress might very well just slide off.

At this point, I was going to put on Mari's headpiece and take some pictures of her in the dress and headpiece. But then I discovered that after wearing the dress for about only ten minutes, the dress was already staining the doll, so I pulled it off quickly.

Below is the damage done to the arm; when I took Mari into the bathroom to try to get the stains off with a Magic Eraser, I discovered that her left hand was also slightly stained as well. But when I went to scrub that, I discovered that it did indeed pop off, and it went right down the drain! :O I'm hoping Mr. BTEG can rescue it out of the trap when he gets home.

Here's Mari wearing the headpiece. I didn't get any more pictures because the headpiece fell off when I tried to rearrange her for another picture, and I was pretty tired of the whole thing at this point.

Heather tied the headpiece's ribbon in front, under the doll's chin. That might be more stable, but since this doll was named after a Russian street, I thought perhaps they were going more for a look like these headpieces worn by Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nicholaievena. As you can see, there is a veil in the back and you can also make out a ribbon bow. Without the matching dress, Mari's headpiece is not very exciting however you arrange it.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olga_%C3%A9s_Tatj%C3%A1na_in_court_gown_1913.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Olga_%C3%A9s_Tatj%C3%A1na_in_court_gown_1913.jpg

Heather said her J-Doll had three looped-up braids; mine has four, two on the sides and two in the back. I might redo this style if I get inspired with another idea, but it's fine the way it is.

So this is the first doll I am going to have to give a overall bad review for. Mari's shoes disintegrated, her underwear stained, and her dress stained. What can she wear that headpiece with, besides the dress it came with? Her stockings, like other J-Doll stockings, don't have any memory stretch to them, so they'll very likely start sagging after a few times of being taken on and off. So what you get is a doll, and a pretty uninspiring black net petticoat which I had to use a seam ripper to get off because the petticoat doesn't come with any fastenings. So basically, you get a doll. Even after knowing ahead of time that there might be issues, my doll ended up with more problems than Heather's did, since mine can't even wear her dress for pictures. I'm glad I paid less than Heather paid for hers, and if you're interested in one because you like Mari's face, I wouldn't pay more than $20 for one.

Update: Mr. BTEG succeeded in retrieving Mari's hand.