2022 World Doll Day - In Honor of Dorothy in PA

Technically, yesterday was World Doll Day, but I didn't get a chance to celebrate it until today. World Doll Day was started in 1986 by famous doll artist and collector, Mildred Seeley. It is a day to share the love of doll collecting by giving a doll to "someone special." It is promoted by the United Federation of Doll Clubs, although you do not need to be a member to take part. I especially wanted to give away a doll this year in honor of a blog commenter, that many of you know, Dorothy in PA. Dorothy very kindly spent a lot of time last year getting me signed up as a member of UFDC, as an independent member. This is my way of honoring her time and effort.

Sadly, there aren't any little girls in my immediate circle anymore. So I gave a doll to the daughter of someone I am friendly with, who works at a restaurant that Mr. BTEG and I like to eat at. I've met the girl a couple of times; she is a little cutie and will be turning three next month.

The Girlfriends line is sold at Meijer, if you wanted to know. Thank you to Dorothy in PA for being a great doll friend!

A Lovely Gift from Down Under

Last week I got a wonderful gift from Rachael, a package of doll dresses and accessories that she made herself. She asked me what my favorite color/historical era was (blue/about 1900-1909) and made three dresses and accessories that fit Tonner dolls with the Marley body. Fortunately for me, I have three dolls with that body, so each girl got a new dress! They're beautifully made, lined, with an underskirt, and use press snaps. No Velcro in sight!

The first dress is a blue sateen, decorated with lace and a ribbon rose, with a grosgrain ribbon sash. It's gathered at the front in the perfect 1905 way.

Next is a plaid dress made of shirting material. It has a yoke and an inverted box pleat.

It also came with a matching necklace

 

And a detachable collar. 

Lastly, another dress made of shirting material, with a yoke and a box pleat.

 This dress came with a stylish belt

Another detachable collar

*And* a "locket" pin with a velvet ribbon.

Please excuse Dorothy's blue ribbons. They're so perfectly factory tied still that I don't want to take them off.

And here's a group picture.

 

Antique style calls for black and white photographs, so here are some black and white versions of my pictures.

Rachael also sent me this fun notebook that came with a pen

And the pattern pieces that she used to make the dresses. I forgot to ask, though, Rachael, are seam allowances included with the pattern?

I am so thankful for the new doll clothes. It was so nice of Rachael to make them and send them to me; it's cheered up my November.

So Barb, you ask, why has it taken you so long to put up a new post? Or maybe you're not asking, but I'm going to explain anyway. About mid-October all three of the Evil Geniuses here came down with a cold (Mr. BTEG did a test for the other stuff, that came back negative.) It wasn't horrible, but it was the kind that saps your energy. You feel okay lying or sitting down, then you get up to do one thing, and your body reminds you that you're sick. After that, it was hard getting energy and enthusiasm back, plus I was frustrated by a big project I've been working on that got put on hold while we all were sick.

I'm going to wait to reveal all of the big project, but here's some of it. I told MC about a month ago that I am out of storage space, and I pretty much am, until the Dancer moves out. For the time being, though, I'm perfectly happy for her to live here, as she's saving up a lot more money not having to pay rent. Mr. BTEG, though, decided to move his dresser out of his and my bedroom, because he doesn't really use it anymore. That opened up a lot of space for new storage! I need the Dancer and Mr. BTEG to put some more furniture together, and I'm busy moving stuff around. I do have a couple of "easy" things that I could post about, so hopefully those will be up soon.

In the meantime, I couldn't wait to get up pictures of my dolls' new clothes, and how nice Rachael was. Maybe if shipping is better next year, we should organize a Secret Santa gift exchange among any doll collectors we know who wanted to participate. Or we could make sure stuff was ready to mail out in October. :)

P.S. Mr. BTEG read the comments and colored one of my pictures sepia for me. Thank you, honey!

American Girl doll color guard uniform

It's been crazy around here lately. My oldest daughter, the Musician, had marching band camp all week. My youngest daughter, the Dancer, had a private pointe lesson. The girls were both involved in social events before school starts. I was sick all week, and to top it off, we only have one car in the family, which can make running around an issue. So here is a uniform I made for the friend of the Dancer, for the friend's birthday. Said friend has wanted to join the high school color guard since about sixth grade, so I made this uniform a couple of years ago. This year, friend is finally in high school and color guard! My daughter's AG Girl of Today agreed to model before we wrapped the uniform up.

It was a bit of a challenge making the flag look proportional, but I was happy with it in the end. The Dancer's friend was very happy with it as well.