2016 Tonner Convention Day One

Meg was eager to take her first long trip with me. She had to settle for sitting in the front passenger's seat after I explained I needed to be the one to be doing the steering.

I didn't get to Columbus in time for the afternoon registration, so the first event was the dessert event at 7:00 PM. The doll featured here was the DeDe Denton doll. There was a DeDe Denton doll centerpiece which one person at a table could win a chance to buy. Each attendee also received a basic DeDe. Half of the dolls were blond, half were brunette. Interestingly, the doll's name is spelled DeDe everywhere, except on the box we received the doll in, where it is spelled DeeDee. DeDe comes on Tonner's 17" athletic body. She is the granddaughter of DeeAnna Denton, whose story was that she was the socialite heiress daughter of a man who'd made his fortune selling Denton chewing gum. I'll be taking pictures of the doll I received soon; she's going on eBay, as I don't want her. Nobody at our table wanted the centerpiece doll either. Actually, my table is interesting. Everyone at my table is attending her first Tonner convention, except for our hostess. There is also one guy who seems to have been to other events. The person to my left used to be a dealer, apparently, back in the days of Betsy McCall and Magic Attic. She also collects American Girl, but misses Pleasant Rowland's passion for the line. The person to the right is a fan of Tonner's Wilde Imagination products, and doesn't really know much about his Tonner doll range. The grandmommy, I mentioned to the former dealer, and another woman at my table, your adventure of finding a Magic Attic doll in your backyard!

The centerpiece doll was very nice. Just not anyone at my table's cup of tea.

The theme for the evening was "sparkling white." I wore a white tee, and dressed my Tyler in white. When people saw me taking my Tyler out of my bag, they were confused and thought she was the event doll. One of the things I like about Meg, who also came along as my travel doll, is how so many Mattel Barbie and family clothing pieces fit her, so she's easy to find clothes for. She wore a Teen Skipper camisole and blouse, with the denim pants she's worn before.

Here's a couple of pictures of the room where we had dessert. I assume we'll be having all of our meals in here.

The last event of the evening were a couple of videos, and a slide show. We got to see Robert as the anchor of DNN, the Doll News Network. He talked about the new Barbie bodies, merely presenting the pros and cons. He also talked about the Lammily doll line. Some of the attendees were surprised when I assured them that the more, um, controversial accessories of the doll line are real.

Tonight was also the night Robert gave an overview of his 25 years as a doll maker. Here's one of his first displays at Toy Fair.

Here's what I believe he said was the first vinyl doll he produced.

He also talked about how well dolls with a famous story, such as Alice in Wonderland sell, and talked about his various licensing deals.

I only have one quibble, which is the way we got dessert. Tables went to the dessert line, in a group, one by one. We were one of the last tables to go up, if not the last. By the time we got to the dessert table, most of the plates of desserts were completely cleaned out. Robert also started the door prize portion of the evening while we were in line.

The best things about the night, from my point of view? Each child under 12 got a doll as a door prize. I'm not sure what doll they got, though. Either it was not announced, or I missed hearing about it in the hubbub. In a not related to children category, they were not stingy with the champagne which was served with the dessert. I'm not a champagne drinker, but I think it speaks well of an event when food and drink are plentiful. At least in this case, the drink was. One advantage of our table was also that we were right next to one of the stations serving ice water.

I already picked up a few things in the sales rooms, and we got a few nice things with the registration materials. I'll probably do a post showing my total "loot" when I get back from the event. I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow's events bring.

At Long Last, the Liebster Award

Presto tagged me for this award ages ago, and I feel guilty, because I've had blogger's block lately. I also have no idea who to tag for this. Eleven people is a lot to tag, and most of the bloggers I know have already been tagged for this. So I'm going to answer the questions, finally, and let it go. :)

1. What kinds of toys got you into collecting and customizing? 
Barbie got me into collecting, when I started buying them as an adult. I don't really do customizing, yet. I'm actually seriously considering passing off painting to my youngest daughter. She does a fantastic job painting miniatures for Pathfinder games, so I think she'd be a natural. I do have a Belle doll that has had part of her lip paint rub off; I keep meaning to make this my daughter's first doll project. :)

2. What's the coolest way you've repurposed something to work on/with one of your projects?
Oh dear. I haven't really done this, either. At least, not as an adult. As a kid, I had the Sunshine Family dolls, and they were all about making sofas out of milk cartons and dressers out of matchboxes. I've turned bookcases and shelves into diorama roomboxes as an adult, but lots of people do that.

3. Sonic or Mario?
Mario! Although my daughters regularly smoke me at MarioKart.

4. What do you do to find inspiration?
Since my doll projects involve sewing, I look at all kinds of clothes, from historic to modern, for real people and for dolls. My Pinterest account is mostly dedicated to clothes for inspiration.

5. What time period would you most like to live in, other than the modern one?
The turn of last century. There were still beautiful, elaborate clothes, but things I like having, like indoor plumbing, were also becoming more common.

6. When has a project just made you give up? Why?
As far as sewing projects, I've given things up when I try to create a pattern for something over and over, but can't get it to look the way I want. I've also tried knitting a blanket for a doll bed, and given up on that three times. One was when the pattern wasn't written correctly, and it took me several tries to realize the pattern was wrong, and not me. By that time, I was sick of the whole thing. One was a lacy blanket that was enjoyable to work on, but every time I made a mistake, I couldn't figure out which row was which when I unraveled. Lastly, I tried a pattern where I just couldn't get past the first few rows without making a mistake. I'm using the wrong yarn or something, at least for me, I think.

7. What's the most versatile tool in your arsenal?
Well, my sewing machine, definitely. But when I have to do hand sewing, my best go-to item is not a tool, but a book.

 Not only are there all kinds of stitches in there, but the directions are just right for me!

8. When has a project surpassed your wildest expectations? How?
I don't know that I will ever make anything that surpasses my wildest expectations. I'm a perfectionist, which means I can always look at something and say, "I could have done that better." I'll show you a picture I made for a contest, where I wanted 16" Gene to look like she came from 1907. I ended up happy with this one, because I thought the silhouette and general style were pretty much 1907. I drafted the pattern and made everything myself, including the hat.

9. What's your all-time favorite movie?
The Wizard of Oz. And somehow, doll manufacturers do seem to come up with some unique takes on the movie costumes, now and then.

10. What's a skill you want to learn someday?
Painting plastic furniture. Especially the extra touches that make an item really pop and look realistic.

11. If you could live in a fictional universe, which one would you pick?
Does Narnia count? I mean, Earth-as-we-know-it is part of that universe, but Narnia is its own place.

If for some reason I missed you being tagged, and you want to play, email me and I will give you eleven questions!

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!

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?

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.

A Brief Non-Doll Interlude

Since I talked about my daughter's Homecoming dress, I thought I'd show you how it turned out.

 

This pre-ruffled fabric turned out great for the 20s look. It gave the movement and visual interest of fringe without me having to sew on yard after yard of fringe. Also, she didn't have to worry about pulling off strings when she sat down. We found the headband at Claire's (teenage girl heaven.) It's meant to be worn like a regular headband, but she wore it down to get the flapper feel.

Here's my other daughter.

 

She already had the dress and shoes (actually the shoes used to be mine from before she was even born.) We added the black feather boa from JoAnn Fabrics, a black sequined headband and black feathery clip on hair piece from Claire's, plus the big earrings. We ended having a lot of fun with the theme of A Night at Gatsby's, even though most of the other girls just wore the usual dresses, and the high heels they took off the minute they got to the dance. But we've never been afraid to be different, and it made us happy, so it was fine.

One last picture: since I will be sharing some of my sewing for dolls here, I will also be including some pictures of my sewing area. I don't have a whole room, but I do have the back part of Mr. BTEG's and my bedroom exclusively for my sewing stuff, which is still nice. I took a picture of my sewing table with both leaves out. I usually have only the right leaf out, because as you can see, the window is completely inaccessible with that leaf on the left hand side open. But I needed the extra room to cut out the stretchy knit fabric for the dress without having excess fabric hanging down the side and messing up the cutting.

 I'm going to make this week easier on myself, so you should see some doll stuff soon.

Pre-Mattel American Girl Samantha

Meet Samantha! She is the only American Girl doll I own, and she was made in Germany for Pleasant Company, which I guess makes her a little bit special. My guess is that I received her for Christmas of 1996. I could take pictures of her body, but it would probably make more sense for me to borrow my daughter's Samantha and show comparison pictures. In the meantime, I will say that my Samantha's body is relatively chunky compared to more modern dolls. I purchased Nellie's Spring Party dress for Samantha, and it is rather tight. In fact, I can't get the Velcro completely shut.

Picture courtesy of American Girl Wiki

 

Elegant Blogger Award!

Beastsbelle was kind enough to give me an Elegant Blogger Award. Thank you!

This award originated here. And as a nominee, I have to answer twelve questions.

1.  Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging about dolls because I wanted to start my own conversations. I can't afford a lot of dolls right now, so I'm sharing photos of what I currently own, and giving my own opinions on what I can see of new dolls. I think it also helps if one has her own blog "home," in interacting with other bloggers.

2.  What is your fashion style?
At the moment, pretty boring. If I had the budget, I would be Victorian/Edwardian inspired.

3.  What is something your followers don't know about you?
That I used to homeschool. Mr. BTEG and I ended up not being happy with the parochial school where we had our daughters enrolled, and our local school district was in a state of academic emergency, so homeschooling it was. I think my greatest achievement there was teaching my youngest, the Dancer, to read, because she had made up her mind that she could get through life just fine without ever learning. Last year in eighth grade, she tested above high school level in reading.

4.  What is one of your blogging goals?
To learn to take better pictures of my dolls. Also, to meet more fans some of the older doll lines that I like.
 
5.  Where is your favorite place to shop?
For dolls, online. Mostly eBay since I buy older things.
  
6.  What would your ideal amount of followers be?
I would just like my followers to be people that truly enjoy some of what I post. And that occasionally commented. Commenters can make a blog so much more fun.
    
7.  What are your talents?
Sewing, mainly. I knit, but I'm mostly still satisfied with smaller pieces such as dishcloths. I'm working on a doll size blanket that I would like to finish soon. First I have to find one of the needles that I managed to lose! I would also like to learn more about drawing, and that would include some fashion drawing.   

8.  Are you a leader or a follower?
Definitely a follower. I don't have the physical presence to be noticed, nor do I project myself well in person. However, I will step up if there is no one else to do it. I served as a Girl Scout troop leader for a year so my eldest could stay in Girl Scouts.

9.  What is your favorite quote?
"Good night comb,
good night brush,
good night nobody,
good night mush."
-Good Night Moon   

10.  Do you have a favorite book or book series?
I wanted to live in Narnia when I was in grade school. I read those books over and over again. I still enjoy reading Agatha Christie off and on. Right now I'm interested in history and biographies of some of the people from my favorite time periods, such as Queen Victoria and Tsarina Marie Feodrovona.

11.   Out of all the synonyms for elegant, which would you describe yourself with (smart, dressy, stylish, graceful, or fine)?
I love being dressy when I have the occasion. I wish I could go to an event that required a tiara. :)
 
12.   What is your favorite flower?
I adore the smell of lilacs. Pansies are my favorite to look at.

Now I have to tag twelve people. Oh dear.

Ella Kay at A Tiara a Day
Lots of sparkle!

The co-bloggers of The Fashion Doll Review
Many elegant dolls

Michelle at The Creative Doll
Creates lovely doll fashions

Melissa From My Little Hole in the Wall
Takes vintage doll costume drawings and brings them to life.

And um, yeah. That's gonna be it. Three out of the four I've linked are probably going to think I'm a crazy blog stalker anyway, since I haven't commented there before. But enjoy the ones I *have* linked!