Bethg Josefina outfit

Are you missing something? Perhaps clothing for your Josefina? Visit the Ebay store bethg456573vr...you won't be disappointed!

Penny found this Ebay store during a random search for Josefina handmade clothing. There are a lot of outfits that seem to rotate in and out of this store-and many of them are for Josefina!

What caught Penny's eye for this outfit were two main things- a) it had a green skirt and green is not often a color used in Josefina clothing and b) some lovely long pantaloons were included with the outfit! Also included were a blouse and sash.

Josefina stood still long enough for us to snap some photos of her wearing this outfit. She wouldn't put up with getting her hair done because she wanted to try on the next dress. However, the photos still give you a good idea of the beauty of the outfit. This seamstress used some really sophisticated detailing on the sleeves and the pantaloons. Another great addition to the collection!

Beckys_cottage Josefina Outfit 2

As stated in previous posts, this year has been dedicated to expanding the sections of our collection which are lacking. This includes handmade goods for our friend Josefina. Her family is fairly wealthy, so it makes sense that she has a larger wardrobe.

This outfit, being modeled by Jess below in a slideshow, is the second purchase from Ebay shop Beckys_cottage. A truly lucky lucky find. It includes a head-scarf, skirt, blouse, sash, and necklace- again 5 pieces like the other Beckys_cottage outfit. Very generous for the price. Craftsmanship is superb and this seamstress has a real gift for Josefina clothing. Sure we could spend 6 months searching for retired Josefina outfits on Ebay- or spend 20 minutes hunting and find a treasure trove of great handmade Josefina clothing! So happy we found Becky's Cottage!

Nsaffen Sage Regency Dress

Another interesting Etsy find this month was Nsaffen's "All the Little Things" shop. Here we found a Regency/Empire period dress with a combination of two beautiful sage-colored fabrics. Sundari is modeling it for us below in two pictures.

This dress got Penny to thinking about making an Elinor Dashwood Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen character doll. Not like we need another doll on the Wish List- but it would be nice to have a Regency period character. She could be our first doll to come from England, in the storyline sense. In reality, we all come from China. Heehee.

Well one of the Wish List dolls is a Felicity that will get an eye-swap so she has brown eyes instead of green. (Yes, it is possible to switch AG doll eyes if you know what you are doing.) So maybe Felicity will become Elinor! Do you think it will be confusing to have both an Ellie and an Elinor in the same house?

Anyway, back to this nice dress. It is a really pretty design and I particularly like the lace accents around the neckline and the skirt. I look forward to snooping in Nsaffen's shop for new AG items!

AnnaKristine Irish Dreamer Costume

While combing through the Etsy doll clothing listings we happened to find this "Irish Dreamer Costume" from the Etsy shop AnnaKristine. The store banner says "Pemberley Couture" and they specialize in full-size human historical costumes that look pretty darn awesome. Of course, we don't need those here because we'd rather fill up our closet with doll clothing. But they sure do look cool.

Kit is modeling this outfit- which came with the bodice you saw in the Jeanebob4 Designer Dress posting. We turned the bodice inside-out this time to show off the lovely plaid fabric. The vest does seem to be reversible. To complete the outfit, it goes over a dress made to look like a blouse and a skirt.

What is the ethnic origin of the last name Kittredge? Is it Irish? Scottish? English? I tried to Google it, but couldn't find any clues. Maybe the AG books say the ethnic origin and I haven't read them closely enough?

Whether or not Kit is Irish, we like to think she has put on this costume so she can go to an Irish Heritage Festival near Cincinnati and report on it for the nightly paper she creates for her father. Quick, let's pack up the notebook and pencils and hit the road!

Melody Valerie Blue Summer Dress

Last but not least from the Melody Valerie Couture March 27th releases is this "Summer Breezes Dress" being modeled by Kit. Ok, so the dress is obviously not from the 1930s and is probably a contemporary design. However, I'd like to think it might work for the 1940s.

The Etsy store listing for the Summer Breezes Dress features the model "Lisette" wearing the dress. Of course, in reality, she was originally the AG Emily doll. Hence, the reason I seem to be associating this dress with the 1940s. Once we get some 1940s dolls in Badger's Wood, maybe this dress will belong to them.

Penny does own the AG Molly doll but she lives with her mother in another state. This is why she is never shown in our photo shoots. She is keeping grandma company. But our Wish List does contain the Emily doll and two dolls that will become Linda Rinaldi and Susan Schapiro (Molly's friends). So someday we'll need a whole bunch of 1940s clothing for our 4 girls.

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah! The Summer Breezes dress is made out of the softest blueish periwinkle fabric I have ever touched. Kit wanted to keep it on long after the photo shoot was over. (She was petting the soft fabric.) With the double-layer skirt portion of the dress and the large white appliqué bow, this dress is yet another example of the unique designs coming out of the MVC studio.

Kit says we have to all go out and have a summer picnic soon. Little does she realize it is still 34 degrees outside!

Melody Valerie Yellow Spring Dress

Here is our second spring acquisition from the Etsy store of Melody Valerie Couture! Jess is modeling "The Dainty Dots Dress" for us in the two pictures below.

As you can see it is a light yellow fabric with tiny white dots. The dress, like the Precocious Party dress, seems to be a contemporary clothing design- i.e. something a modern girl would wear today. Since there are 6 modern dolls living at Badger's Wood, it's ok we bought so many dresses, right?

One of the best things about Melody Valerie Couture is the lack of velcro. Now there is nothing wrong with velcro, we love it too- but it is nice to have a smooth finish in the back of the dress with the invisible zippers that MV Couture uses. It makes the dresses very similar to the type of party dresses the humans buy for themselves!

Melody Valerie Green Spring Dress

Welcome Spring!

Well, spring hasn't quite sprung here in Badger's Wood but Melody Valerie Couture has just released the spring/summer line on March 27th. Please visit the Etsy shop "MelodyValerie" if you are interested in any of the spring/summer dresses!

Also, according to their March 27th release announcement there will be a surprise on April 3rd in their Etsy shop...I wonder what it will be? Another new dress? A free monkey with every order? Ok, probably not the second one... but the possibilities are endless!

Here we have Sundari modeling "The Precocious Party Dress in Apple Green" in the slideshow below. This dress is also available in pink- but there are only 2 of each dress available, I think. I guess that means there may only be one green one left now? Hmmmm.... I could be wrong.

Because these are limited editions, Penny snatched up the 3 dresses she wanted only a couple hours after Melinda listed them. She is like the Etsy version of "The Flash." And once again, we are thoroughly impressed with our Melody Valerie purchases!

Wulang55 Zoo Animal PJs

Last but not least for today- zoo animal PJs from Ebay seller wulang55 being modeled by my little sister Maggie.

Here you see zebras, elephants and pink giraffes frolicking across a field of soft yellow flannel. The perfect accents are the bear-shaped buttons down the front of the shirt. In addition, on Maggie's feetsies you will see tiger slippers purchased from Ebay seller releaserain. I thought they matched well with the zoo animal PJs!

Those of you who know Penny will be surprised to see a bit of pink in this outfit. Penny does not typically buy pink doll clothing- as she recently admitted to Terri of Etsy's terristouch. The one purchased item that stands out in my mind is the pink Addy dress from The Dollies' Dressmaker. But it was in the style of Addy's Kite-Flying Dress- so now we know why she bought it!

In regards to these PJs Penny said that the pink giraffes were subtle enough for her taste. Plus, now Maggie has some awesome PJs to wear to sleepovers! Who is ready for a pillow-fight?

Dollies' Dressmaker Green Addy Dress

I know you have all been waiting for my grand appearance- and here I am! Tada!

Fantastic and beautiful Nora Demington is modeling another dress that was purchased for Cassie. We already have several dresses in this classic style of Addy's Kite-Flying Dress, but none that are green! We managed to hunt down this Dollies' Dressmaker dress and couldn't resist it.

The floral fabric pattern sort of hides the "pleating" of the bodice, so we took an up-close slightly blurry shot in order to give you an idea of what the fabric and pleats look like. The green and gold coloring certainly gives us ideas of grand Christmas Eve parties out on the Conrad Jameson ranch.

At some point Penny needs to stop buying dresses in this style.....heehee.

Dollies' Dressmaker Purple Plaid Outfit

Ah ha!

Finally we have Cassie herself modeling one of her new cosmopolitan outfits. This purchase from The Dollies' Dressmaker website is also modeled on Addy's retired school dress, just like the previous post!

It is a prime example of the shorter-length skirt that I just discussed in comparison to Keepers designs. When Penny saw this outfit for sale on the DD website, she thought that it was a light blue plaid fabric. It is difficult to tell in the photos, but once we saw it in person it is clearly a purple plaid fabric. It still looks kind of blue even in our photos! I can't win! Oh well. I like the purple quite a bit.

So here we have the same set-up of skirt, jacket and blouse. An added feature of The Dollies' Dressmaker version is a sewn-on cameo brooch on the blouse. And again, it is nice to have a separate blouse that can be used for other outfits.

Keepers Green Addy Outfit

More outfits for Cassie!

While most of the Montana territory gold miners lived in tents, lean-tos, and other not-so-nice forms of shelter, Cassie's father was lucky enough to find a large amount of gold in Alder Gulch and then build a small ranch for his family. We have to remember that most Montana territory "citizens" would not have had as much clothing as Cassie does!

This outfit, being modeled by my twin sister Ellie, is based on Addy's retired school outfit. However, Keepers designs her dresses to be longer than AG so the girl wearing them can be older and look more sophisticated. Other designers, like The Dollies' Dressmaker stick to the AG length which is appropriate for younger girls ages 9-10ish. We like both lengths at "The Doll Wardrobe" and buy both freely!

Penny is putting in her two cents on this one and remarked that when she saw the Ebay auction at the keepersdollyduds shop for this dress she knew she had to have it.

Her favorite things about this outfit: a) the minty green plaid fabric b) the long beautiful skirt c) the black lace decorations d) the sporty jacket that is fully lined and e) the blouse that can be used separately in other outfits. This is certainly the kind of outfit Cassie could wear once she becomes a teacher-in-training. I hope you enjoy the Photobucket slideshow of this Keepers purchase below!

Dollies' Dressmaker Gingham Outfit

Something weird has been happening with Cassie's wardrobe. We have bought her quite a bit of stuff over the last 12 months or so- from pioneer school dresses to work outfits and bonnets and aprons. But we have also purchased her some fancier "city" fashions, such as the Addy-style dresses from November 2008.

2009 has only brought more and more dresses and outfits that ooze "city" and "sophistication." Though we may be tempted to create a new character to own these outfits, or even purchase Addy- my sister Ellie thinks the best way to settle the issue is to expand Cassie's storyline.

So recently Ellie has sent Cassie off school in Nevada City of Alder Gulch. Some of the first schools for white children (non-Native Americans) were opening in the late 1860s in Montana. Cassie's family had gone to Montana to find gold in one of the big "strikes." Her father was successful in finding gold, so he could now afford to dress his family in nicer clothing- particularly for school. In addition, Cassie is planning on becoming a schoolteacher herself so she will need fancier clothing.

Here we have Samantha modeling one of these sophisticated Cassie outfits that Penny purchased from The Dollies' Dressmaker. It is a recently added design to the DD website. Honestly, it looks pretty good on Samantha as well and could almost trick us into thinking it is from the 1900s. But we will stick to the Addy-dating of the late 1860s. The outfit comes with a blouse and a black and white gingham jumper.

Terristouch Green Kit Dress

The second dress we bought for Kit came from Etsy seller terristouch. It is a similar design to a dress we bought in 2008 that was from terristouch and is yellow. But we liked this one as well because it is such an attractive green color. We added a ribbon across the waist for added contrast and to match the collar, buttons and Kit's "meet" shoes.

It's nice to have another blond in the household. We have a lot of brunettes and redheads, but Cassie was our only blond-haired girl before we bought Kit. Her cute little bob is really unique and one of the reasons Penny wanted to buy her.

We are currently lacking a nightgown for Kit, but most of her wardrobe has been fulfilled. We even have her coat on backorder...so whenever that order is filled she'll be ready for cold weather.

Meanwhile our non-existent Ruthie owns two coats! But they are both a bit too fancy for Kit. Ruthie is lacking most of her wardrobe, so that is one of the new goals for "The Doll Wardrobe": get Ruthie some more clothing! Oh, and find a Ruthie...

Dollies' Dressmaker Kit Outfit

Phew. We are about half-way through the current photos that have been uploaded to Photobucket. Not to say we are half-way through all the outfits we have bought recently, not even close. But at least we are working through the pictures we have ready...

This is what happens when you shop on Ebay and you don't post on your blog for a month and a half.

Ok, I'll stop blithering now. Where was I? Oh, right. Kit has joined us, and we realized we don't have a lot of 1930s outfits from homemade sources. So we picked up two new dresses for Kit.

First we have this Dollies' Dressmaker blue ensemble composed of a dress, a crocheted hat, purse and stuffed Scottie dog toy. I was thinking this was more of a "Ruthie" style outfit. But once Kit put it on, I was convinced it could work for her as well. Especially when she is heading to downtown Cincinnati to do some window-shopping.

You can tell we also recently acquired the Pleasant Company Scenes and Settings books from Ebay. They are retired backdrop books that were created for Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly. Behind Kit is the Samantha ice cream shop...1900s not 1930s...but it still looks cool.

Mattimillinery Gypsy Costume

Hmmm. So next we have this Gypsy costume from Ebay seller mattimillinery, as you can see in the pictures below. The outfit came in 3 parts- the dark green vest, the cream under-dress and the red over-skirt. It looks pretty fantastic on Mary with her dark reddish-brown locks.

When looking at it, I do see a gypsy. But I also see a work outfit from the early American period. Actually, I specifically associate it with outfits worn at Plimouth Plantation or Old Sturbridge Village. I have been to both places for school field trips.

Hence, we have given this old-fashioned outfit to Mary Royall so she can go play with the horses in the Royall family stables without getting her nicer frocks dirty. I sort of imagine it as a dress her mother used to play in as a girl and it was handed down to Mary.

I'm sure all those historians out there would argue with my loose interpretation of fashion- but let's just use our imagination...

Mattimillinery Colonial Gown

Mary Royall appears again in a brand-new Ebay purchase from the seller mattimillinery. If you haven't caught on by now, we got a lot of stuff from Ebay this month... (cough cough).

In the photos you see the dress paired with the Keepers lace cap. The dress did come with a cap and shawl but I thought it would look cool with the lace cap instead. This is what happens when you put an eleven-year-old in charge of costume arrangements for the photo shoots...

I have to say we were really impressed with this gown and it is one of the fanciest dresses Mary owns. You don't often see doll clothes seamstresses using such thick brocade and woven fabrics, even though they are somewhat more "historically accurate." They are gorgeous fabrics and in such a beautiful combination here. But I bet they are difficult to work with.

Meet Mary Royall!

Ok, so in the last post she was Ruthie Smithens but now she is Mary Royall!

In previous posts you may have realized that Penny
1) has a definite tendency to buy colonial dresses
but
2) does not have a colonial period doll!

Mary Royall is now going to fill that void. Her character comes from a John Singleton Copley painting of the Royall sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, created around 1758. The exquisite oil painting now lives in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

From the MFA website "[Copley's] portrait of Mary and Elizabeth Royall is even rarer for showing two children, the teenaged daughters of Isaac Royall, of Medford (near Boston), Massachusetts, one of the wealthiest merchants in New England..."

(There is more on the website, but I didn't want to infringe on any copyrights....Feel free to visit www.mfa.org and search for "Royall"!)

So instead of Mary Royall being forever trapped in an oil painting, she has come out in doll format to have fun in the "real" world.

Here we see her in a Dollies' Dressmaker blue striped work gown. Penny has wanted this gown for awhile but had a difficult time justifying it's purchase since we already have 300000 colonial gowns but no doll. But now we do have a doll! Maybe someday we should get a doll to be her sister Elizabeth? Hmmmm...more dolls....How crazy are we?

Meet Kit and Ruthie!

So there was this $5 shipping code from AG and well, we just had to use it! Best Friends collection ordered!

There seems to be a slight shift in the form of the classic AG face mold, so Penny thought we should start buying all our Wish List classic face mold dolls before the old version is gone. At the top of the Wish List for classic looks were Kit and Ruthie...so voila! They have now joined us in Badger's Wood!

To explain what is happening in our Photobucket slideshow below: First we took pictures of Kit and Ruthie in their original "Meet" outfits. Then we switched their outfits to see if Kit would look good in Ruthie's dress and vice versa. For those of you who have read the AG Kit and Ruthie books, you know that Ruthie is supposed to have brown hair and eyes. The AG doll matches the movie actress instead of the book illustrations.

The AG Ruthie doll was not speaking to us as a real "Ruthie." The grey eyes, though beautiful, just weren't matching our Ruthie clothing.

So at this point, Penny made an executive decision. Ruthie Smithens was given a new name, identity and time period. Kit is now left alone in the 1930s. Will we find a new Ruthie?

Jeanebob4 Designer Dress

Continuing the Saga of "What We Found on Ebay," we turn to Ebay seller jeanebob4. There is a variety of interesting items for AG dolls in this shop, including this designer dress being modeled by Stella. For aesthetic purposes we added our own black bodice, but the basic design is a full red skirt and attached white blouse with puffy sleeves. Also included was an awesome full-length petticoat.

Overall, it is very nice outfit and definitely well-made. However, we have yet to figure out how to use it! The Ebay listing referred to it as "Tyrolean"- in other words an outfit from the Alpine region of Italy/Switzerland. We certainly get a European feeling from the dress.... however, none of the Badger's Wood dolls are from Europe!

We can use it as a fun costume. Perhaps since we already started an "international costume" collection we just can add it to that? Or maybe we should figure out which one of us should secretly be from the Alps? Hmmmm.......

Wulang55 Mulan Costume

During the Great Scouring of Ebay of '09 we found seller wulang55. We bought a pair of pjs, this Mulan costume, a white toggle coat and a white Victorian dress from this shop. The items ship from Hong Kong. But even though they are not "Made in the USA" they are still unique and exciting. Perhaps they aren't "homemade" like our other items here, but I thought we would include them anyways.

Here we have Jess modeling the Mulan costume. Yes, Jess has Japanese heritage and not Chinese. But we thought she would look cute in the outfit. A skirt, an elastic cummerbund/shirt, a jacket, a belt, a ribbon, a hair clip, a purse and a pair of slippers constitute this ensemble. A lot of stuff! Took me awhile to figure out what went where. Luckily, Jess was patient with me.

Keepers Cream Tea Gown

While browsing an AG-related forum for more information on the new Rebecca Rubin character, Penny discovered someone selling a Keepers Colonial Tea Gown! What a fantastic find!

We are so excited to have something created by Ebay seller keepersdollyduds from before we started collecting Keepers clothing. It's like traveling back in time!

Sundari asked to be the model for this dress. Since she got to try on Josefina's outfit she has been interested to try on clothing from different historical time periods. We are using another Photobucket slideshow because we have a lot of photos. This Keepers outfit includes a skirt, bodice-shirt, lace cap, shawl and shawl clasp. The lace apron is "built" into the skirt. The forum seller also included a matching hair ribbon for us!

As a side-note, some of book illustrations for Rebecca Rubin have been released on the web. So if you haven't seen them already- start searching!

Dollies' Dressmaker Josefina Dress

Ok, let's try to keep this steamroller rolling along and push forward with another Josefina outfit!

This one comes from The Dollies' Dressmaker website and may be one of a kind. I don't think they had a lot of this fabric available for dresses and had made some dresses for Felicity out of it as well. The fringed shawl also came with the dress. It is a simple regency period fashion design with a New Mexican twist and is quite flattering.

Stella is modeling the dress for us in another Photobucket slideshow and she looks ready to go to a fiesta in the village. Maybe she could stand in for one of Josefina's sisters? Let's grab that basket of tamales and head off to the Aragon house!

Beckys_cottage Josefina Outfit 1

March is almost gone! Boy, I'm really lax at doing these blog posts this month. Sorry for the lack of updates. Schoolwork has been taking up most of my free time.

Here in Badger's Wood, though we haven't been keeping our blog up to date, we have certainly been getting more dolly outfits. This month one of our goals was to acquire more outfits for Josefina. She owns a lot of the American Girl outfits, but as far as handmade items her wardrobe was rather slim.

In order to quest for more Josefina outfits we hit Ebay with the force of a hurricane. We were able to find some very nice things. Who knew there were so many AG seamstresses on Ebay?

Our first finds were at beckys_cottage at Ebay- we got two outfits from this shop. The first outfit includes a dress, a leather vest, a blue jacket, a wrap, and a necklace. Five pieces for a great price! And they are really gorgeous, with truly impressive craftsmanship.

Sundari is modeling the outfit this time around because Josefina was too busy trying on the other clothing we got her. She will appear later in the blog once she stands still long enough for us to take photos.

Photobucket has come up with a new "slideshow" feature to post photos on your blog. So we thought instead of scrolling for 5 miles down our blog to see all the photos, we might use it occasionally when we have a lot of photos for a post. Plus our Blogger account is quickly filling up our allotted space on the Blogger servers because of all our photos. Maybe this will help?