My First American Girl......

For many years I've wanted to see an American Girl doll in real life.  But I never had....until now that is!

I've never liked dolls with a fabric torso and I dislike it when the cloth shows at the neckline in certain outfits, but I really like the Josefina face sculpt and their little legs, which I think are very cute.  I've looked at photos on Flickr, Pinterest and Ebay, sorely tempted but always put off at the thought of that fabric body.  Finally though I decided to give it a go and look for one to adopt.  I didn't want to spend too much money in case I didn't like her, so I decided to look again on Ebay and see what was on offer.

After a lot of research, I decided to bid on a secondhand Josefina being sold by someone in the UK.  I was fortunate enough to win the auction for a reasonable price and the doll arrived last Monday.  She appears to have been made by the Pleasant Company, probably before the company became a subsidiary of Mattel in, I believe, the year 1998.  I forgot to take a photo of the company name on the back of her neck, but will do that if it makes her easier to identify, because I'd love to narrow down when she may have been made.

Immediately on arrival,  I noticed that she was smaller than I expected....I'd sort of imagined these dolls as 'bigger' although I knew they were 18 inches tall!   I realised too how these dolls would be popular with young children as Josefina has a very squishy torso, I should imagine she'd be great to cuddle with.

So Josefina arrived.......

 she had a cute face with some surface dirt and a few scuffs......

And some white marks behind her pierced ears......

And a bit of glue residue in her hair......

And she had the most awful wig!  It felt really crunchy and dry, so that had to come off.

I removed it with great difficulty, it was glued on very securely and took a lot of tugging and a bit of swearing :) before finally I got it off her head!   You can see the surface dirt and scuffs better in the photos below, as well as the residue left behind by the wig.....

She has a very cute semi profile though......

Below, you can see what looks like additional glue has been applied to her head, just in one place, which makes me think a repair to her wig has been done at some point in the past.....

I love her profile and the colour of her vinyl.....

Here she is after a good scrub with washing up liquid.....you can see that I didn't have any luck removing the wig residue, it's stuck on very firmly! 

Despite the wash, obviously the scuffs remain.....

She has these sparse looking eyebrows drawn with individual hairs......

I haven't photographed her body but it does have a couple of clothing dye stains on the fabric, these were disclosed by the seller though, so no surprises there, and they'll be covered by her clothing anyway.

Once I'd put her head back on again (not too difficult as she has a string that tightens the cloth torso around the base of her neck) I looked in my wig stash for a suitable wig in her size.  Unfortunately, despite my massive amount of wigs, I really only had this one that fit her properly......

And I don't think it suits her at all!!!  So after washing and conditioning her original wig, I replaced that on her head but with the parting off to one side.  I then trimmed the horrible dry ends and put it into two bunches......

And dressed her in a dress I made from an American Girl pattern....I don't think it's her 'style', I'd prefer her to wear something more modern, but it fits....and looks OK for now, until I can make her something more suitable...... 

And finally we have a bit of sunshine!

Conclusion:  Well it's still early days, but so far I do quite like her.  I especially like her face and legs, which have always appealed to me from photos of American Girl dolls, plus I have a new appreciation of her little teeth and her profile.  I still don't like the fabric torso as I feel it's very limiting, but if I can always use patterns that have a reasonably high neckline, like the dress above, then that would be just fine.  I don't like this wig on her but having searched on Ebay, most of the wigs I've seen are very 'full' with too much hair, I'm sure that's NOT the look I'm after, so I will keep looking.

I'm glad I've not spent a fortune on buying my first American Girl, but admit that I'm still tempted to buy a new one at some point!  (Honestly, there's really no hope for me, is there!!!!)

Before I sign off, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Farrah Lily of Cozy Comforts and Dolls, for all her help in my quest to find an American Girl doll to bring home! 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx