Design Lessons from Play Wonder Part Three

Hola!

So we got some good poll ideas and "questions for us" from our last blog post -- but feel free to keep 'em coming -- we'll post the answers and the polls soon, but not for a couple more days. So you still have time to comment on that blog post: http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2012/06/questions-for-you-questions-for-us.html

Today we return to the Target Play Wonder doll clothing we purchased recently

and Maple ties it into her "Trends to Sew" posts.

So this is Maple here. Whattup peoples.

Warning: Longish Post.

Arista and Kenna are modeling the previously-discussed outfits for us (see Part Two), with two additions -- the jean jacket and the tan hooded vest. We actually turned the vest inside out and used the purple striped side. (We liked how it looked better, haha.)

Things to note for design purposes

1) Don't mess up the jean jacket. 

It is apparently easy to do. This one has little structure and detail. 

All it really has going for it is the denim flower. Which might have been awesome if it hadn't been so huge.

Light blue denim is actually "back" so this color should work, but it doesn't because it is low-quality faux denim that doesn't do the job.

We actually own Liberty Jane's Founder's Day jean jacket pictured below -- so we know a good doll-sized jean jacket is possible (though this one was not "inexpensive").

Check out these human examples for sewing inspiration. Hopefully Cinnamon will release a jean jacket pattern for y'alls soon, and you can start experimenting with this classic fashion staple yourself.

Madewell's Goldrush jacket

Old Navy

Urban Outfitters

Fashionista Jean Jackets from Yes Style

Our favoritest-est-est jacket eva

We want to order this one so badly....

And then rule the world!!!

And we also want to order the guy pictured in this jean jacket....

We don't need to order the clothing (though they are super-cool). 

Just the guy....

_____________________________

2) Vests are difficult. 

They are like the Advanced Biochemistry of the Fashion World. 

Many clothing companies just make dress vests for men only and stay away from female vests. They are challenging. You have to go trendy or just go home.

This item doesn't work very well. 

The stripes help it to be quirky, but the shape and design don't do the doll any favors.

Look to Urban Outfitters for youthful trendy ideas.

Patchwork denim

Steal the men's dress vest, just cut it for a woman

Crochet it up baby!

Talk about a dramatic look

And trot on over to Nordstrom's Juniors department for 

a jean jacket/vest combo style that can really pull an outfit together.

But don't do what Play Wonder did. :'-(

Fashionista Vests from Yes Style

And because we couldn't resist adding him in....

My Korean boyfriend sporting a man's manly vest.

Can't you see the desperate look on his face?

"Where's Maple???" he is thinking, "She is going to be late for our date tonight!"

Though he would be thinking that in Korean, of course....

A girl can dream, can't she?

_________________

We recommend trying these doll-sized patterns to attain your vestie dreams:

The Cascade Vest over at Liberty Jane Clothing

http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com/2011/10/cascade-vest-and-jacket-pattern.html

LJC also has several other vest patterns available.

And at All Dolled Up: Sarah's Vest, available as a sold item and as a pattern

http://www.alldolledup-dollclothes.com/patterns.html

Okay, that's the end of today's Design Lesson.

Come back next time for some blog post on something awesome from someone..... oh wait, from us. Yes. Come back soon for something awesome from us,
here at The Doll Wardrobe Blog. ;-)

Play Wonder Target Doll Line

Sup peoples! Yesterday we showed you some bits and pieces from two doll outfits we purchased at Target and today we are going to talk about the new line just a little bit more. And as we said before, we'll show you the complete outfits on AGs in a little while.

So we read about the new line on the AG Playthings board. Then Beast's Belle did a review of a boxed Play Wonder doll, which you can see here: http://nevergrowupdollguide.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-on-new-dolls-at-target.html. We thought they looked interesting -- the clothing more than the dolls themselves. But still cool. The day after, Phoebe posted about one of the PW outfits on an AG: http://lovethatdoll.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-outfit.html. And we were surprised to see that the clothing fit Emily pretty well.

A month later (we are always late with these things) we share our info with you. :-)

So we did go to 3 Targets before we actually found the stuff. Not all Targets are very good about stocking their shelves nowadays. :-( But the one that did have the PW stuff had a ton of it -- more than you see online. But here are the online pics from the Target website (brightened by us to really show you more of the true colors) -- we didn't take pics in the store.

The dolls they show online....

As you can tell-- very much 1980s-revival layered fashions with a lot of pieces to the outfits.

The dolls are cute. We aren't gaga over them -- we like their outfits more than the dolls themselves. ;-)

The outfits they show online... first two are the ones we bought.

And again, there was more in that Target than you see online. FYI. There were two price-points for the outfits, $13.99 and $16.99 (we think) -- but all of the ones you see online are the $16.99 outfits. The dolls are $34.99. Not too bad given the fact that you get a rather complex outfit with each one.

So our first reaction to the outfits were -- "Wow, that is so much stuff for totes less than AG charges!!!" Which is true but these outfits don't come with any shoes - just the ones on the dolls. They do have shoe sets sold separately though. We aren't totes sure if the PW shoes would fit AGs.

Our second reaction was -- "Some of these pieces are really cute!" A lot of the outfits had two or three pieces that we really, really liked -- but in general the entire package wasn't completely made of win. For instance, the two purses we got are kind of over-the-top flashy/gaudy -- but we liked the rest of the outfits...soooo..... yeah, we now own the purses too.

Third reaction -- "Almost every outfit has a bit of pink --- but its not too overwhelming."

Fourth reaction -- "While the quality of our handmade stuff is better, this stuff is pretty good." From what we were looking at most of the outfits were good-quality. In general, the knit fabric choices are pretty awesome. The other types of  fabrics -- cottons and synthetics, less so. For instance, the green and blue skirt we got -- very thin fabric. The dark grey jacket -- also thin fabric and the white velcro is visible when it is open. And again, the bags are kind of cheesy -- the blue one we got definitely looks cheap.

But we'll show you real life pics of that stuff soon.

As far as comparing it to Battat's Our Generation -- we only own two OG outfits personally. And they are also a mixed bag -- some pieces from them are made of great fabric and have perfect design. Other pieces feel like cheap fabric. And the OG shoes are just not attractive at all.

From our standpoint, we like the PW outfits more because they are more trendy, with darker colors, and they are specifically designed with a ton of pieces for mixing and matching, and creating new looks. The tags even show you a couple different "looks" you can make with just one outfit. We'll show you those tags in that post we keep teasing you with. Haha.

So personally, we think PW is better than OG.... but that might just be because the entire OG section is  a block of pink.... pink everywhere and on everything.... sigh.....

Let us know if you have any questions! Oh and let us know if you want to see our two PW outfits on specific dolls. :-)

Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! Part Seven

Well Maple found out that people have actually been reading about our hunt for treasure and that they seem to like it. So she insisted on being more involved in the actual posting process. Which means that as we were picking photos to be included in this post, she kept saying "And that one. And that one. And that one."

So we have way more pics in this post than the others and we made a couple slideshows for ease of use. It's all the same outfit -- Maple just liked the way she looked in all of these photos. Le sigh.

Today's outfit is an amalgamation. There is your big word for the day. Her blue tie-dye jacket is from Karito Kids Piper's "Meet" outfit. Her shoes are Lira's normal Wellington boots (which as you can tell Maple favors). And the rest of her outfit is from Target.

Target now carries a "PlayWonder" or "Play Wonder"?.... line of 18" dolls, clothing and accessories in addition to their Our Generation line. Everything we saw in the store actually says Madame Alexander on the labels, so you can pretty much guess which company is actually making the toys.

There were a lot of outfits in the (third) Target we went to in order to find these clothes. We bought two outfits and meshed the pieces together for Maple. Her purple tie-dye tank top, purple skirt, gray zebra leggings, and hairband are all from these outfits. We'll talk a little bit more about the new line tomorrow and then post more about the outfits we bought later on.

As you can guess, we did manage to get out of the maze of bushes that was "Smuggler's Cove." After wandering aimlessly around some more, Maple remembered that her cellphone has GPS in it. So we just told the phone to tell us how to get home. It took awhile, but we got there. And once again, Penny seemed unconcerned that we were home so late. :-/

The hint we found in the last post said:

Begin at Fort Black

Go 50 paces Northwest

Until ye find 

The Ruins of Ol' Seawall

Follow its path

As far as ye can go

But beware

Fate is a tricky lass

It may take more than one journey

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maple asked.

"You probably don't really want to know," I answered.

The next day we did as the hint said: found the seawall ruins and walked the length of them -- which was a rather painful walk in scrubby plants and on a slippery slope of sand. We didn't see a single hint. So we walked all the way back along the wall, carefully looking on top of and under every stone. Nothing.

And then it started to rain. So we had to call off the search and return home.

It rained all the next day. We stayed inside and tried to do an iron-on project. "Tried" being the operative word. We'll post about that event soon.

On the third day, the skies cleared (somewhat) and we tried again.... like the hint told us to. I think this whole thing is just designed to make us walk a lot.... Here are more three shots of Maple posing along the wall and a slideshow....

Eventually I found the hint laying gingerly on top of a stone.... 

Towards the end of the wall, of course.... 

That was not there the last day we looked.....

Maple informed me that she wasn't climbing up the "hill of muck" to pose with the hint and that I had to bring it back down to her. Yay.....

Two pics of Captain Maple with her hint and a slideshow.....

Today's witty dialogue probably would have been us arguing about her posing at the bottom of the sandy hill instead of closer to the actual seawall ruins and where I found the hint. But I think we were too tired from walking to argue. Or perhaps we are just getting along better? Nah..... that can't be it....

Stay tuned for Part Eight of Maple's Pirate Treasure Hunt! 

Only two more parts to go!!! 

Will we find the treasure???

Oooo, the suspense!!!

p.s. The blue jacket is amazing and seamstresses should really
think about making them to sell in their shops. :D