AGFMB Member Special Feature: Tomi Jane

Have you ever felt like you found a treasure?

When we saw that AG Fans Message Board member Tomi Jane was selling two of her creations it certainly felt like finding treasure! It was so exciting! Tomi Jane has been creating wonderful handmade clothing for her AG dolls and displaying them on the AGFMB left and right. She makes impressive stuff. And when I say impressive, I mean impressive!

Please click here to see her flickr albums (they will knock your socks off): http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomijane/

So what did we manage to purchase for our dolls? Tomi Jane had created 3 dresses from one pioneer era pattern, one in blues, one in purples, and one in red and brown. She decided to offer up the purple and red and brown dresses for sale on the AGFMB. As you can see from our pictures below, we managed to get the red and brown one. It is amazing!

The dress is created from a pattern Tomi Jane drafted herself, and it has a yoked bodice, growth tucks, and cluny lace at sleeves. The apron features hand feather-stitching in red, which you can see up-close in one of our pictures. The shawl is soft wool, fringed, and hand hemmed. In addition to the dress, apron, and shawl, Tomi Jane was also kind enough to include a crocheted off-white wrap-around vest-shawl. It is close in concept to Addy's "heart-warmer"- a type of shawl that was popular in the mid-1800s.

Needless to say there was a bit of a conflict over who would get to model this one of a kind masterpiece of handmade dolly duds... but Alice won out because she is new here and hasn't had as many chances as Cassie to wear fantastic pioneer-era clothing. So we hope you enjoy our pictures below of Alice, her new duds, our Valentine's Day roses, and Alice's new wool toy "Thor the Sheep." :D

Thank you so much Tomi Jane for this magnificent ensemble. We love everything about it, but especially the rich, warm colors of the fabrics you chose. We look forward to seeing more of your creations!

Though she does occasionally sell her handmade items and/or patterns, Tomi Jane is currently attempting to create one version of every pattern she owns for her own AG dolls. So that is quite the task to keep her busy. Good luck with your projects Tomi Jane!!!

Numberonekitty AGFMB Special Feature

Got snow???

(CNN)

Well February is turning out to be a pretty bleak month in Badger's Wood and most of the United States- not a lot of sunshine but a whole lot of snow, snow, snow. So in order to beat the winter-blahs we wanted to return to our American Girl Fans Message Board Special Features and show off some of Numberonekitty's clothing creations. Why? Well, a lot of her pictures are taken outside, with green grass and/or plants in them. Yippee!

First we have a slide show of modern clothing.... dresses, tank tops, light blouses, shorts, capri pants and all with a bonus picnic!
Don't these pictures make you wish it was summer already?

Second we have a slide show of two 1930s dresses
being modeled by Ruthie and Kit....

Such beautiful dresses! And we love the colors.
We kind of wish the 1930s dresses from AG looked this awesome. ;)

Numberonekitty- Thanks for letting us post about these wonderful clothing creations! They are so fantastic and your pictures are perfect for this time of year! Thank you!

Heritage4 and LinneaAnne Now Have Blogs!

You may have noticed that December was lacking my Wednesday "AG Fans Message Board Member Special Features." My last one was for Thanksgiving time, I think.... Gee, I can't even keep track of my own posts. :P

But I wanted to start them up again as a continuing tribute to people's creativity, so here we are! And today's post allows me to inform you that both Heritage4 and LinneaAnne have started their own dolly blogs! Awesome!

Heritage4's blog has been around a little while longer, and it is a good place to see what she has created recently for AG dolls and stuff that is for sale. She just sold two dresses that were posted on there yesterday(ish). LinneaAnne's blog features her AG doll Piper and the first post was about her using a Liberty Jane pattern to create some doll clothing! Yay!

So want to visit Heritage4's blog?
Please click here!
Interested in what LinneaAnne's blog is all about?
Please click here!

To highlight their dolly creations and give you a taste of what you might see on their blog, we have included two slideshows (below) of some of the outfits we haven't posted about yet.

Heritage4's Slideshow
What do you see? Here are the descriptions, courtesy of Heritage4.

1. Red coat: This is a warm coat with red ribbon trim and decorative stitching. It was based on a coat that the doll Addy from the American Girl company wears.
2. Olive and red dress: This outfit is based of off the one that Maid Marian wears in the BBC "Robin Hood" series.
3. Purple, black and brown outfit: Another outfit that came from the mind. I started with a deep purple tunic dress and added to that a laced vest, black tights, and boots.
4. Black-brown dress and corset: This outfit was inspired by the imagination! A black print with a light gold design running through it caught my eye and I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind. I also added a dark brown corset to it.
5. and 6. Brown polka dot dress: This outfit is historically accurate and reflects the style of the 70's. It is made from several panels and a mandarin collar. The second picture is a close-up of the top of the dress. You can see the collar a lot better.
7. Yellow-gold ballgown: This gown was made for a customer who was in search of Halloween costumes. Together we decided that this outfit would be just about perfect for her.

And here is one bigger picture, for easier viewing.

All photos above are the property of Heritage4.

LinneaAnne's Slideshow

What do you see? Here are the descriptions, courtesy of LinneaAnne.

1., 2. and 3. Molly's birthday pinafore dress, done in pink and white. Goes nicely with Molly's recital shoes. :-) Modeled by Lotta, my AGOT #3.
4. Addy's Patriotic dress. I got that ribbon wrapped around a Christmas present, and right away I knew it would work perfect as her patriotic sash. The coloring in the picture is a little off, the dress is really a deep beautiful red.
5., 6. and 7. Addy's school suit. This isn't the best picture...the detailing on the front of the blouse is really there, I promise. :-)
In true spirit of Addy's school suit, I lined the inside of the jacket with scraps I found in my mom's sewing box. They are leftover pieces from dresses she made me when I was little.

And here is one bigger picture.

All photos above are the property of LinneaAnne.

Newer readers, you may now be wondering what is the AG Fans Message Board... please click here! It is for AG Fans 13 years old or older. Heritage4 and LinneaAnne are both members on this Message Board particularly known for their sewing talents. :)

Happy AGFMB Special Feature Wednesday everyone!

And thank you so much to Heritage4 and LinneaAnne for allowing us to post about them here and to showcase their creations. We hope this increases your blogs' net traffic, heehee.

Revisiting Numberonekitty AGFMB Special Feature

Food! Glorious Food!

No, this isn't a post on Oliver Twist songs... but rather a pre-holiday-ish post connected to the upcoming Thanksgiving feasties. Are you baking and cooking yourself? Or just dreaming of all the mashed potatoes and pies you get to eat? Either way, we thought it would be good to tempt your dolly's appetite with a slideshow of the dolly-sized food created by AG Fans Message Board Member Numberonekitty. All of the pictures you see in the slideshow below are the property of Numberonekitty!

What do you see below?
1. Breakfast- Fried Eggs, Toast, Bacon, Pancakes! (3 slides)
2. Miniaturized Pop Tarts Box!
Numberonekitty says: "Just scan, re-size and print and you can miniaturize almost anything!"
3. Pop Tarts to go inside the Miniaturized Pop Tarts box! (2 slides)
4. Miniaturized Lucky Charms cereal box and Brownie Mix box!
5. Eggs and Peach Slices!
6. Cucumbers!
7. Sliced Watermelon! (2 slides)
8. Potatoes!
9. Gherkins!
10. Baby carrots!
11. Pumpkin Roll!
12. Chocolate-Covered Ice Cream Pops!
13. Fruit Twin Pops!
14. Ice Cream Sandwiches!
15. Popcorn in a bowl! (2 slides)
16. Chocolate Chip Cookies! (2 slides) Numberonekitty placed Kit's chocolate chip cookie in the foreground of the first picture so you can get an idea of its over-sized nature. Numberonekitty's cookies are a better fit for AG hands!
17. Jelly Beans!
18. Peanut Butter Cookies!
19. Pseudo-Oreos! (2 slides)
20. Chocolates and Truffles! (2 slides)

Look at this dolly-sized feastie! Yum, yum!

Aren't these treats fantastic?!? Thanks for sharing your creations with us Numberonekitty! They are super-great!

And now I'm hungry.... What's for dinner Penny???

Next time in The Doll Wardrobe I'll finally share those pictures of the toys I got in Disney World.... once I manage to get some time to take those pics..... ;)

Revisiting LinneaAnne AGFMB Special Feature

Hello again and welcome back for another installment of the American Girl Fans Message Board Member Special Feature! We are returning to member LinneaAnne for a look at some of the clothing she has made for Ruthie. All of the photos you see in this post are the property of LinneaAnne.

Here is a breakdown of what you are seeing in the photos and slideshow below:

1) The blue dress with the very fancy collar was inspired by a dress that Ruthie wears in the movie.
2) The brown dress and coordinating hat was created by LinneaAnne for the AGFMB 2009 sewing swap. LinneaAnne explains: "I love the color (of the hat) with Ruthie's hair and eyes - it just brings out her eyes so well."
3) The pink, green and yellow apron you see below was created in a 1930s style.
4) The green, white and brown dress which you see as a close-up shot was made as a school dress for Ruthie and has a pleated skirt.
5) LinneaAnne also created a slip for Ruthie based on the pattern for Molly's slip.

And last but not least.....
6) The pink dress was adapted from a Bunny Bear pattern, but LinneaAnne omitted the sleeves from the design.

I would say Ruthie's wardrobe is now quite complete!
Awesome job LinneaAnne!!!

Fantastic! Everything is just so beautiful and the pictures are great. Thank you for sharing your creative doll clothing with us LinneaAnne! Join us next week for another look at what AGFMB member Numberonekitty has created for her dolls.

And next time in The Doll Wardrobe you will find out what I, Nora Demington, gathered as my souvenir loot from our Disney World vacation. Yes I got some more toys! Surprise... surprise. And I'll also start posting some more pictures from our vacation in a more organized thematic manner. :)

Revisiting Heritage4 AGFMB Special Feature

Here we are again, returning to Heritage4's
special dolly clothing creations!
Please enjoy this week's American Girl Fans
Message Board Member Special Feature!

Last time we looked at Heritage4 we posted about some of her historical creations. So for today we are posting about modern clothing. All photos in this post are the property of Heritage4. We begin with her highly sought-after waffle weave doll hoodies which you see in the top photo in this post and in the first four pictures below.

Heritage4 explains: "For this hoodie,
I wanted to use a print that had a younger look to it.
The fabric I found worked out
perfectly and feels so soft. "
I am digging these elephants!

Heritage4 says: "I spotted this fun fabric and knew it
would be perfect for hoodies.
A Steve Erwin inspiration no doubt."
Ooooo, alligators!!!

What does Heritage4 say about this hoodie?
"Goth is hugely popular for dolls and
I created this hoodie to capture some of that."
Yay for Goth doll clothing, yippee!

What's the scoop from Heritage4?
"This fabric is very interesting.
It has a smorgasbord of color and design.
It is just too much fun!"
So bright and cheerful!

Next we have a complete outfit being modeled by Jess.
Heritage4 tells us: "I wanted to capture some of today's trends
in this outfit. I combined a fun tunic top with
a black tee shirt and denim gauchos."

And finally we add on this lovely green dress which was
inspired by a dress Heritage4 saw in a women's clothing catalog.
"I drew up the pattern, selected the fabric, and this is the result."
Definitely the perfect dress for warm weather!
And aren't those flowers beautiful?!?

So many fantastic photos! Thanks again for sharing them with us Heritage4- I hope our readers enjoyed looking at them as much I as do. For our next AGFMB Special Feature we will return to the handcrafted dolly creations of LinneaAnne next week.

Wondering where you can find Heritage4 creations for yourself? She just opened an Etsy store! Click here to investigate it further. So far she has only listed one item (which we totally purchased right away), and she hasn't listed anything new yet. But keep checking back, she might list more things soon. :)

Later today, once I get myself a bit more organized, I will finally announce the 2009 Holidays Doll Giveaway. Is everyone excited???

AGFMB Member Special Feature: Mrs. C

For today's AG Fans Message Board Member Special Feature, we wanted to showcase something Mrs. C. (Donna Cotterman) has made but has never sold. This post is a little late, we know (sorry everyone!)....but we eventually got around to creating it. Too much work to do and not enough time for fun blogging. :( I can't say this school year has been the easiest one so far. Anyone else want to do my homework for me? :P

So if you don't know, Mrs. C. is a member at AGFMB and also sells her wares at an Etsy shop she just opened this summer. Check out her Etsy store here.

Like all fine artists, even seamstresses sometimes make something they just don't have the heart to sell. She explained to us, "Here is the one outfit that I haven't been able to part with. No, we haven't played with it ....just modeled and then tucked in tissue paper. I know that someday someone will enjoy this gown....but for now.... it's at the doll house."

The photos you see below are the property of
Donna Cotterman. She has shown us this pink
colonial gown in a variety of ways,
modeled by her Elizabeth doll.
Enjoy!

Doesn't Elizabeth look beautiful?

Please join us again on this Friday when we give you the second installment of our Oktoberfest Costume Extravaganza! We haven't yet decided which costume to showcase this week, so it will be a surprise!

And next Wednesday we will return to the wonderful creations of AGFMB member Heritage4 with some more of her awesome dolly duds. How exciting!

See you soon everybody!

AGFMB Member Special Feature: Introduction to Numberonekitty

Numberonekitty! Numberonekitty! Numberonekitty!

It seems like the type of name we should say as a cheer....
So.... Numberonekitty!

Welcome to the American Girl Fans Message Board Member Special Feature Introduction to Numberonekitty. As explained by Caroline, "Numberonekitty would love to sew for other people, but she hasn't yet settled on which serger she wants to purchase. She will be in touch with us on this so we can get the word out when she's ready to open for business." (We'll let you know if we hear anything more on this!)

Numberonekitty creates AG-sized food and lots and lots of very pretty doll clothing. So we thought that we'd show a little of both in each of our posts on her. All the photos which you see in this post are the property of Numberonekitty.

We begin with her crisp white apron that is being modeled by Addy.
Her pattern for the apron was modified from Samantha's pinafore.
Addy is such a beautiful doll! She is on the
Badger's Wood dolly wish list and Numberonekitty's pictures
remind us that we should get her soon. :)


For a modern outfit we wanted to show you Numberonekitty's
Nicki doll wearing one of her handmade tops.
She explains to us that "this is my version of a smocked
babydoll top- the kind which seem to be so popular
these days with young girls."

And last but not least we have some really awesome carrots

handcrafted by Numberonekitty! I am kind of getting hungry
just looking at this picture....

Thank you Numberonekitty for allowing us to showcase your
handmade AG-sized clothing and food.
They are truly wonderful!

Stay tuned for more Wednesday posts featuring the outfits and crafts of Numberonekitty in the future. For our AGFMB Member Special Feature next Wednesday we are going to sneak in a special surprise for you which only one other person knows about..... ooooo, I love secrets!

And this coming Friday we will begin our
Oktoberfest Costume Extravaganza!

What is this Oktoberfest thingy of which I speak? Well in order to celebrate the season of costumes and our Elephant Costume Giveaway, we thought we'd show you a costume every Friday in the month of October. We will skip October 23rd because that whole week we will be in Walt Disney World. But on October 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 30th we'll show you some of our costumes that we have squirreled away here in Badger's Wood- all new and never before seen on this blog!

Goodbye September- Hello October!

AGFMB Special Feature: LinneaAnne Intro

How slow am I in posting today?!?

Pretty slow.... I really need to write these things ahead of time and schedule them. Sorry for the delay everyone... I hope your days were less busy than mine. I still have homework to finish, eek!

So today's American Girl Fans Message Board Member Special Feature shows us some items from "LinneaAnne." All images which you see in this post are the property of LinneaAnne.

Caroline at AGFMB explained to us that LinneaAnne can't sew for other people right now, since she is a full-time college student. Yay for college! I hope she is having fun in school and taking cool classes. :) We also found out that LinneaAnne has been a fan of The Doll Wardrobe for some time now. How exciting! It's always nice to know that people enjoy the blog.

Have you ever looked at the American Girl outfits and accessories
and said to yourself: "I could totally make that myself!
And probably better quality!"

Well we don't say that very often over here in Badger's Wood because we just aren't very crafty people- but we are pretty sure that LinneaAnne can make anything American Girl makes and end up with a higher quality, homemade product. Just check out the pictures below to be convinced!

First we have LinneaAnne's own version of
Kirsten's birthday dress and apron.

Second up is the Sari doll which LinneaAnne created for her Kirsten.
Her caption reads "After over ten years of missing her, Kirsten finally
got her Sari doll. She's been partially finished, waiting patiently in my sewing box for a few weeks now. I stitched her hair and face on this morning, and Kirsten is so happy to have her." In this picture Kirsten does look very excited to finally have her doll. :)

Our third picture here is LinneaAnne's version of the
American Girl spoonbag for Kirsten.

And last but not least, we show you LinneaAnne's
version of the AG St. Lucia holiday buns for Kirsten.
She explains to us that, "Because my mom is from Sweden,
I grew up celebrating Lucia every year, and of course eating Lucia buns!
When I got Kirsten's set, I was disappointed...
they were the wrong color, and had no raisins!
I made my own out of FIMO, and added raisins on some.
(We always have a few without every year,
for those who don't care for them.) The rest of the set is original."

Your Kirsten doll is certainly well-supplied with
special handmade goods LinneaAnne!
Thank you for sharing your pictures and your talent with us!
Everything is just so wonderful and fun to look at!
Makes me want to pull out some FIMO and
start "baking" up some dolly goodies for myself. ;)

Stay tuned for more Wednesday posts featuring the outfits and crafts of LinneaAnne in the future. For our AGFMB Special Feature next Wednesday we will do an introduction to "Numberonekitty" - How great is that username?

And this coming Friday we will post about a Keepers Dolly Duds dress that we have given to Connie Bonacorsi, our 1950s teen.

Sayonara for now and have a great night everybody!

AGFMB Member Special Feature- Heritage4 Intro

So your first question may be.... what is AGFMB?

American Girl Fans Message Board!

Your second question may be.... who is Heritage4?
A member of the AGF message board and a fantastic seamstress!

Heritage4 is this seamstress's username at AGFMB and at American Girl Playthings Message Board. Talented at photography as well as sewing, Heritage4 is very willing to sew for others. If you'd like to contact her for a commission please message her on either of the boards or email her at heritage863@yahoo.com. As an interesting note, Heritage4 just graduated high school- such impressive achievements already!

So here is the first post in what will hopefully be a long line of AGFMB Member Special Features. As you can see, we will tell you which skilled seamstress and/or crafter we are featuring- one per week- and also explain whether or not she is willing/able to sew/create for others. Not everyone we feature has the ability to take on commissions.

And most importantly, the objects you see in the photos are not for sale. In addition, all photographs in these posts have been taken by these featured seamstresses/crafters and are their property. We have received special permission to post them here.

Any questions about this new feature? Please feel free to let us know!

To begin with, pictured below are two versions of a "Bluebell Dress" being modeled by Kit. The first two pictures are of the first version. This dress was inspired by a 1940's pattern Heritage4 saw while scanning through old pattern books. She explains that her version "...deviated a lot from the original idea as I added my own touches to it."

The picture below is version 2.0 of the "Bluebell Dress."
(Heehee... 2.0... I'm so funny...)
Heritage4 told us that "it has a different style for the main fabric than the first version has, but uses the exact same pattern."
They are both so pretty!

And the last photo for today's post shows her replica of Samantha's Play Outfit from American Girl. We own the original AG version over here in Badger's Wood, and we think Heritage4's version looks even better!
Just look at all those lovely ruffles on that pinafore!

Thank you Heritage4 for allowing us to share some of
your sewing work and photography!
And thank you to Dollduds/Caroline at AGFMB for this super-wonderful
idea and all of the hard work she is putting in
to make this idea a reality!

To our readers- stay tuned for more of these Special Features, including more dolly duds from Heritage4. This is just the tip of the iceberg people! Yippee!

Next Wednesday we will highlight some outfits created by AGFMB Member LinneaAnne! And coming up next from my little vinyl fingers, on Friday I will show you our new Ramona J. Dove (fka Ivy) in her school uniform courtesy of Etsy seller SewQT.