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

Curls for Brodie...

I had a spare couple of hours today so decided to make up a second lambswool wig, this time for Brodie my Iplehouse BID.  When I ordered her, my plan was for her to have curls but so far I've not seen a wig that I like enough to order.  So I decided to make my own using my tutorial that I posted  here .

The second piece of lambswool that I bought from FUNwithTROLLDOLLS
is dyed the same colour but the curls are slightly looser and are shorter too, at 3 inches in length.  The skin also has a sewn seam in it, which isn't a problem when making a small wig, you just work around it or place your pattern so that it runs through where it won't cause a problem.

I had to make a pattern as I'd not made a wig for Brodie before, so I did that using exactly the same method as previously except that I was more careful not to flatten or damage her applied eyelashes (basically I just left the cling film a little loose across her face.

This time I also decided to cut the finished wig into a chin length bob as I didn't want her with long hair.

And here is the finished result.  Brodie is enjoying playing with her new 'hand' puppets that I got for my dolly kids in IKEA.  The size of these 'finger puppets' is just perfect for dolls to use as hand puppets!

And she can even fit her sailor hat over the top of her curls!! :) 

I hope you've liked seeing Brodie's new hair 'do', I'm really pleased with her new look....I love her cute face and think the curls really suit her :)

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy what's left of the rest of the week!


  

A change of wig for Fiona....and dolly nudity!

Fiona is my Little Fee Ante by Fairyland in South Korea, and I have had her since 2008 when she came to me secondhand from California. 

Fiona/Ante is approx 25cm tall, normal skin, resin ball jointed doll.  The Fairyland dolls have about the best joints for posing that I've ever come across in my 9 years of collecting BJDs.  I don't think another company has yet come close to achieving the posability of these dolls to be honest.  I remember being amazed at the company's photos when they were first released and wondering if it was really possible to get them to hold such great poses, but yes, they can indeed hold great poses.  I thought I'd share some of those old photos with you which are from the Fairyland website.....warning dolly nudity!

The dolls also have magnetic wrists and ankles so that their hands and feet can be removed for easy dressing, as well as magnets placed inside the resin on their backs so that they can wear little resin wings and on their heads so that they can wear horns!!  You can also purchase additional hands, such as pointing fingers and little fists, as well as different faceplates such as 'winking' or 'sleeping'!

A funny little story about a lovely friend of mine who sadly has since passed away, and her Little Fee's magnetic hands.  My friend used to knit and sell on Ebay and one day she wrote to say that she'd lost her dolls hands, she'd looked high and low and couldn't find "the darn things"!  I made a few suggestions because I'd also had occasion to lose mine.....had she checked the metal legs of the ironing board?  Her buttons tin?  Anywhere metallic near to where she knits?  Yes, she'd checked all these places but they'd failed to turn up so she got onto the Fairyland company and ordered another pair.  A week or so later, she received an email from an Ebay customer in America to say that she loved the cardigan that she'd just received having won on Ebay, but did my friend know that there was a Little Fee hand in each of the sleeves?!!!!!  Mystery solved!  So although the hands don't usually just fall off like that, they have a little notch that keeps them in place, they'd obviously got snagged on the yarn in the sleeves and gone off with the cardigan!!!  It's always nice to have a pair of spare hands though, isn't it! 

Standing up straight showing the jointing system from the front:

 

And from the side, I love this pose because it's so like little kids stand when you tell them to "stand up straight"!:

And from the back:

A cute little pose:

Sitting down nicely, a typical child's pose whilst sitting on the floor to play!

 Another cute pose:

Standing on one leg:

A great TV watching pose!

Playing leapfrog with a friend!

Awww Little Angels!

Well I got a bit sidetracked there, didn't I!!  But I know that there are some friends who follow my blog, who, although they don't collect bjds, are still interested in them and their posing ability so I thought I'd share. 

So going back to Fiona, every now and again I change her wig to give her a new look and a new lease of life.....and nearly always change it right back to the original again.  Today she is wearing this pale blond one but I'm not sure that it's actually 'her'......I think this sort of short wispy style but maybe a darker blond?

Fiona is wearing a very simple summer dress which I made for her last week, the bodice is lined, and the sleeves are not inset, so it took me no time at all to produce and yet I think it looks really quite nice on her!!! :)  She's added her white leatherette summer sandals too!  Next time I would make it shorter in length though, I prefer to see children in shorter dresses so that they can run about and play without the extra fabric getting in their way! ;)

Well I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into Fairyland Little Fee dolls and their posing....and of course seeing Fiona, she, for me, is definitely a keeper! :)

Have a great week!!

Ellie has a new wig....

I'm one of those dolly people who, when I find a look I love on a particular doll, I often keep that look for a long time.  So when Ellie came to me last May wearing her default wig, I really loved the colour as I felt it suited her perfectly and the style, once I'd cut some of the length from the curls, was just 'her'! 

However with time and handling Ellie's wig has become quite untidy, but not the 'designed' untidy that I like, so I've been trying other wigs on her.  I found this unworn wig in my wig box and tried it on her.  I thought it had potential but being slightly longer than I planned for her, it just didn't 'sit right' with me.  So I decided to style it into two plaits....and now I LOVE it on her!  I added some very fine silk organza ribbons and think it really suits her....what do you think?

(Sorry for all the photos, I just love this girl and couldn't choose which photos to post!) 

My second Kidz n Cats makeover....

I received this Kidz n Cats Elise just a couple of days before I left for my holiday in the UK, so only now, having finished a big sewing commission this week, have I been able to take a few hours to give her a makeover.  I liked her pouty face when seeing her in other people's photos, but when she arrived I wasn't sure if she was for me in her default state, so was itching to get started.  The only thing I did do before going on holiday was to remove her wig, which was very 'synthetic' and what a palavar that was, it was glued on sooo firmly, that it took me ages to remove and left me with very sore fingers!

So here she is as she arrived:  I didn't like her spidery eyelashes and bright pink 'lipstick' lips!

Here she is with all her makeup cleaned off and eyes removed, first layer of sealant applied,  all ready for a new look, scary eh?

 I have given her a whole new look.  I've used the positioning of her original eyebrows but made them thicker and darker, gave her new thicker dark eyelashes, new glass eyes and a complete new makeup:

However, I felt that her lips were too dark and shiny, above.  I used semi-matt on her lips but I think it's too glossy, so I redid them and made them more 'matt'.  I wanted to get away from the 'lipstick' look not gain it again just in a different colour!!  The wig and eyes above looked good on her but the eyes are oval shaped and wouldn't sit right in her sockets, so I had to go for my second choice of eyes, round glass ones in a golden hazel tone, shown below.

I wanted a 'sun-kissed' blushy look, I hope I've achieved it without her looking unnatural!

Below she is wearing a wig that was sent to me by my friend Joanie in California.  It's a bit too small for this girl's head but I don't have a lot in this size.  I love this colour on her though, so might invest in something else in a similar colour.

I am much happier with her pouty face now that she looks more 'natural'.

Because the wig is too small, it tends to stick out a bit at the sides, so she's borrowed Emilio's Dolly Doodles beanie in the hope that it'll flatten her hair down a bit!!!

I think I might keep her name as Elise as I think it suits her.

Now all she needs is an outfit of her own!!!