Poll Tuesday: March 17th, 2015

You probably thought we were going to do another Grace poll...

But we decided to mix it up with a Samantha BeForever poll!

Surprise!

Okay, so it's probably really not that shocking....

The Return of the Prodigal Doll: Samantha Parkington

American Girl purposefully let the cat out of the proverbial bag 

on their Facebook account alerting the world that 

Samantha Parkington would be returning to their historical line this year.

So this probably isn't news to you.

Word on the street is that she might reappear from the Archival Vapor August 28th.

And she probably won't have Nellie in tow.

Other rumors exist that some of the current historical girls 

will be retiring this spring/early summer.

Which is a major bummer.

If they bothered to tell us who was reappearing -- 

why can't they tell us who is going away?

Samantha's reappearance will probably coincide with 

the rumored Historical Line Makeover. 

Which we don't really know what that will mean. :-/

But overall, her resurrection makes us roll our eyes.

American Girl said they were archiving dolls 

so that they could release new characters.

Sam is not a new character.

Not that we have anything against her.

She is awesome and cute and had some cool items in her collection.

But what will she look like now?

Will she be older? Wiser?

Less frooffy?

What will her collection consist of?

Will it only be her in one outfit and we should be satisfied with that?

Will she have multiple clothing items?

Will she have accessories?

Will she get one of those "Hair Styling" sets that AG just released?

Will she just come with $64 Limited Editions Outfits?

Will there be furniture?

I guess we should be happy that Sam is coming back, 

and that this means new historical stuff.

But we don't know what to expect.

And given the fact that so many historical collections 

have been nearly reduced into non-existence even 

without being officially 'archived,'

we wonder if she will just return 

as a craptastic version of her previous existence.

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.

Samantha's School Dress

Just like at Badger Woods, school has started here at Deer Crossings. Samantha was pleased to take a break from dreaded grey flannel and wear this brilliant blue school dress instead from the Doll Sewer. The outfit is complete with a hat and cape (not shown) for when it gets chilly outside (not yet here!). Sam had better hit the books, (pop quiz later).

Terristouch 1900s Purple Dress for Samantha

Welcome to September!

I hope the month has been treating everyone well so far... even if it is back to school time. ;) I can't say that I was too excited to return to school. Even though I got to advance a grade, it now means more homework for me. :P

Luckily for today's model she is retired and no longer has to go to school. Heehee. Yes, I am of course referring to Samantha Parkington who you see in this post. She gets to lounge about in the "American Girl Archives" all day and all night relaxing with our puppies and drinking pink lemonade.

Samantha was particularly excited this summer when she heard she would be getting a few new dresses from Etsy seller Terristouch. Today's frock is a beautiful dark purple drop-waist dress with a wide white collar with inset lace. My favorite part of the dress is the pleats on the skirt portion; they are perfect!

Our girl looks fantastic in this dark color, but there is also a light blue version still available from Terri. If you'd like to see it please click here. No matter the color, it is a wonderful dress with beautiful details. Also I think it could work for either Samantha or Rebecca's time period.

On Friday, I will return with the official introduction post to Signorina Connie Bonacorsi, our new 1950s girl!

p.s. As a side note, we wanted everyone to know that some new American Girl Merchandise will be released in the stores and online tomorrow Thursday, September 3rd. Keep an eye out for the new goodies! (I think Derek will be hiding Penny's wallet tomorrow at some point....heehee.)

p.p.s Do y'all like it when I start with a photo at the top of a post (like this one) or with all the photos at the bottom of the text? We have been trying something new this week and wondered what you guys think of it. Please feel free to comment on your preference. ;)

Anne Shirley and Diana Barry

While browsing the Etsy storefront of Terristouch I found a brown dress with a blue apron over it designed for AG's Nellie when she is still a servant. I passed it over because Nellie is not here in Badger's Wood and it wasn't speaking to me as an outfit.

Then I saw it again and immediately thought: "Anne of Green Gables"!!!

It is very close to the outfit Anne Shirley is wearing the day she comes into town (in the movie). Penny purchased it right away so I could pretend to be Anne Shirley. At the same time Penny found another Terristouch outfit similar to the type worn by Diana Barry (again, in the movie- if you haven't seen it, rent it!).

So for the pictures, I am pretending to be Anne of Green Gables and Samantha Parkington is posing as my "kindred spirit" Diana Barry. Best friends forever, as they would say nowadays.

Are the outfits convincing? Good enough for me! Let's go dye my hair green by accident! Oh wait, scratch that idea....