I’m visiting my sister and thought I would just leave the comments open for someone to ask a question and you all could answer it… I’ll do the same thing tomorrow so be thinking of a question you’d like to see some chatter about.
Also there can be several questions… not just one…
Thanks everyone,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hm, I posted, but something happened, so here goes again.
Since I’m still up, I’ll ask the first question:
How did you find out about Jeanne’s blog? And how long have you been subscribing?
I first learned about her in 2012, when we both subscribed to the same yahoo group and she shared a link to one of her doll outfits on ebay. I didn’t subscribe right away, though–that didn’t happen until Sept. 2014, and I’ve been here ever since.
Next?
Hmmm, I found her from an Ebay listing numerous years ago but I subscribed last year so it has been about a year and a half.
Good question!
Hope everyone has a good day!
Take care —
I stumbled on the blog one day while searching for information on American Girl dolls. I am very new to them and it was the first one I visited. I was super impressed with the content of her blog and her amazing sewing skills. I knew this was a place where I could learn and be inspired.
Thanks for the super question.
Great question. I also found Jeanne through an eBay listing and have enjoyed the Blog ever since. I think I regularly read it for over a year before I ever made a comment – blogs were new to me.
I look forward reading 1st thing every morning as long as schedule permits and I have never been disappointed. Like Sandra says, we learn and are certainly inspired. I started reading for the Doll posts but as in life things have evolved and I feel like we are all family in a way.
I recently received my 1st Little Darling and I have a few questions. She has longer hair that needs to be gently styled but I don’t know what kind of comb or brush is best. Any suggestions?
Hope you are enjoying your visit Jeanne.
Dear Leigh, hello. We have a Little Darling group on the ning website. You can join and ask all kinds of questions. Aren’t Little Darlings beautiful!
Hi Dorothy, thanks for the information I will have to look into that.
Yes, LD’s are so sweet. I waited a LONG time but she is worth it – I smile every time I look at her sweet face.
Ditto what Dorothy says (I’m part of that group, too). For the moment, though, if your doll’s hair is quite long and fairly straight or maybe just wavy, a small wire-bristle “doll hair” brush (such as what American Girl sells) will work well. If her hair is super curly, I would be extra-careful in any kind of combing/brushing efforts, or the curl could get more relaxed than you’d like it.
I’ve also used a comb with fairly wide-set teeth at times.
When combing or brushing a doll’s hair, start at the bottom and work up. You don’t want to hit a big snarl (of course, if you’re careful with your dolls anyway, you probably won’t) at the top of it. It’s better to just carefully ease it out from te bottom first.
As I used to tell little girls when I worked in a doll store, your doll’s hair won’t grow back, so you have to be careful and cautious! 🙂 Hope that helps.
Hi Charlotte, thanks so much for all your doll hair tips. I never thought about starting at the bottom but that makes a lot of sense. So right about the hair not growing back :0)
I first learned of Jeanne via another doll message board. Someone had posted the link to one of Jeanne’s postings on how to sew a button on with a flower design. That was probably around 3 or so years ago. I’ve been an avid reader and admirer of Jeanne and her work ever since.
Have a good day, all!
I was cruising through Ebay looking at AMG dolls and also looking at outfits. I caught the bug for those dolls and their clothes and accessories. I came across one of Jeanne’s outfits and if memory serve’s me correctly, I purchased it. I was in love with her Civil War dresses and couldn’t believe how well they were made. I think I’ve been visiting Jeanne since late 2014 or early 2015. I’m not positive which. I have several of her outfits and they are so cherished for the talent and beautiful creativity Jeanne always designs.
Plus who could not love Jeanne, her family, her faith and all her wonderful blogs.
I think I bought one of the outfits on Ebay and may have said something about how happy I was to have won it in the message section of PayPal and Jeanne wrote back and mentioned the blog. It’s been great sharing her life ever since. I think one of the early blog entries featured a Kit or Molly dress in red print with a black collar, but I can’t remember the year.
On the Little Darling hair, I use one of those plastic pick combs (handle on top, widely spaced teeth). Speaking of LD’s, what size wig do I need to buy? Two came with my doll and both are too big, though one at least stays on. And what wig company do you like best?
Hi Marilyn. For the wigs, sometimes a silicone wig cap helps. Others sometime actually take in the wig a bit. It seems that the wigs vary in size even though you’re ordered the right size. Another trick is to take a silicone ear plug (they are also used to secure doll eyes inside the head) and place it on the dolls head and then put on the wig and press so it holds. It will stay in place but is easy to remove to change wigs too.
I was new to AG back in 2007, and started finding out about EBay shortly after. I’m not super at remembering dates or years, since time goes by so quickly now, but I had a Molly doll,and was looking for clothes for her. I happened upon an outfit for Molly that was sewn by,you guessed it,…..Jeanne! I do believe I bid, before I actually knew how bidding goes onEbay,and of course, I lost out. I remembered reading about her, finding. Out she lived in Carbondale, and thought she was probably one of those “stuck up, fancy sewers” who only catered to fancy, stuck up buyers! How wrong I was!,
I also belonged to AGP
T, and saw that she, too was a member, soooooo, I wrote her, and got back the sweetest reply! We started writing a bit on AGPT, and then she mentioned she would be starting a blog, so I had no hesitation on joining. So I have been here since the beginning,and am so glad I am! The highlight of our friendship is when I got to meet Jeanne earlier this year in person, and found her to be just like she is in the blog, a delight to know!
My question to all of you is, did you have and playwithdolls when you were a child, or is it a “new” thing? I have been a doll lover all my life!
Hi Linda! Thanks for asking!
Oh, yes, I had and played with dolls as a child. My dad was a pastor, so there wasn’t a lot of money for big, fancy toys, but mom and dad made sure I had some dolls–a small rubber baby was my favorite, and I cried when I had to give her (and all her paraphernalia–I even had a portable bathinette and a “sterilizer” and bottles for her!) away when we moved to Seattle. I was in 9th grade, and hadn’t played with her in years, but we were moving, and mom said I had to get rid of at least one doll. The others came with me, though–a “big doll” with a magic skin body, a baby doll with cloth body and vinyl head and hands, and my “best” doll, a 14″ (I think) Ideal walking doll. Mom had made clothes for all of them! I also had a number of those little plastic storybook-type dolls, and those all came with me, too!
I rediscovered dolls when my son was almost 4, and I bought him a Baby Brother Tender Love for Christmas and made a wardrobe for him. A couple of years later, I bought myself a life-sized all-vinyl baby doll, and bought clothes from the thrift store for her. But Cabbage Patch Kids are what Really kicked off my interest in dolls again! My son wanted “a bald baby boy” when he was 8 or 9, so I did get him one, and decided I liked them too! So he ended up with 3 or 4 of them, and I ended up with…..too many to count! From there I’ve gone to American Girls, dolls by Julie Good-Kruger, the newer Mary Hoyers, Leeann, and of course Little Darlings.
Hi Linda – another good question (even thought I am a day late!)
I always loved dolls. Received a beautiful Madam Alexander baby doll with blond hair and a soft body. She came with a beautiful white gown – I think it was suppose to be a christening gown. My Mom made her a sweet night gown and matching robe. Unfortunately, at some point I decided she would look better with shorter hair (wrong!)
Then I received little miss Revlon and a box full of the most beautiful handmade clothes from my Aunt Dorrie. Later Barbie took over complete with the huge fold out cardboard house. I still have all my dolls and made my daughter clothes for her girl doll. She wasn’t as crazy about dolls as I was and sadly her daughter never cared for dolls at all :0( I had so hoped to sew for my granddaughter but that just didn’t happen. I stumbled upon the AG dolls on eBay and then found Jeanne’s blog and through all of you I have rekindled my love of dolls. Thank you all
You know, I’m not exactly sure how I found the blog, but I must have been looking at AG clothing and found one of Jeanne’s lovely outfits, and then from there noticed the blog. I haven’t been reading as long as some of you, and I really don’t know how long it has been, but I have certainly enjoyed seeing Jeanne’s creativity not only in making dolly dresses, but all of her other interesting projects and life in general.
As to the proper dolly comb to use, everyone I’ve spoken with recommends a wig brush. One of those with metal tines so as to not make the wig frizzy. AG recommends them for their doll wigs I believe too. I wonder what Jeanne uses when she makes those wonderful styles for her girls?
Were there dolls in my childhood? Yes. I had quite a few including babies, walkers, and then Ginny/Muffie dolls. I also liked my stuffed animals and combed several almost hairless. I quit playing with dolls in third grade. Then after retiring, somehow got back into the dolly world, starting with AG’s. If you look around here, you’ll see quite a few different types. My likes keep changing. Too bad they all don’t wear the same size shoes. I would save a lot of money. 🙂
Hope your visit is going well, and you have found time to do a little thrift shopping.
Dear Charlotte, thanks for kicking things off!
I learned about Jeanne last year. I was up until the wee hours puttering around. I think I typed in “doll blog” or something in a Google search.
I am having so much fun sharing life stories and doll stories with folks all over the world.
Pure joy!
I found Jeanne probably the spring of 2013. I was just beginning my search for retired Samantha and Felicity items and was hunting on eBay. I believe it was an accessory set of Felicity’s that was what I was currently hunting for. Well, along with that particular items a gorgeous Regency dress came up modeled by Elizabeth. It had a train and everything. I clicked on the listing because it was so pretty. I join AGPT a couple months later and Jeanne posted one of her creations there. I discovered she had a blog and joined to read it. I then let her know who I was on PT. Linda and I connected over there as well then. 🙂
I had one doll at home as a child, a Madame Alexander baby doll. She had a soft body, and sleep eyes, but molded hair. I still have her and she’s very special. My grandmother sewed quite a few dresses for her as well as babydoll PJ’s etc. I have all the outfits as well had about nine other dolls, some with hair and some with molded hair and one of those Barbie styling heads. They all stayed at my grandparent though. and never came home. Maybe because we lived in an apartment I played with them there after school each day and on the weekends when we came for Sunday dinner.
Dear Laura, me too on several things! I had Madame Alexander dolls also. I had the little 8 inch ones. I also had a baby doll but her body wasn’t soft. I still have her but I don’t have the original little ones. I have a collection of 8 inch MAs now.
I had dolls that I kept at my grandmother’s house too! I have no idea why other than it was fun to play with them there. I kept Chatty Cathy and Kissie there. I still have them.
I am enjoying the stories of the group. Doll people are the best!
What fun answers to Charlottes questions. Loved reading every one. I found Jeanne after falling in love with Little Darlings . It’s searching for them and found her on eBay. I think it may have been her first year and loved her dresses which led to the blog and reading it every day,….. I make myself do the boring or spam or necessary emails first then treat myself to Jeanne’s blog
I had and still have my childhood play with dolls except for one. I have Tiny Tears, Betsy Wetsy, Madame Alexander, Patty PlayPal, Fashion Doll (not Barbie) and more than I can remember right now. I still have all their clothing including ones that I made with my grandmother. Then I was gifted my sisters when she realized that she would never be having a girl to pass them onto. So I basically have two of most of those as we always received the same items for Christmas. The only doll I don’t have is a German Doll that roller skated that a uncle gifted me when I was 7. Her skates stopped working so mother tossed her in the trash. Grrr! All our dolls had the works…clothing, prams, high chairs, bathinette’s, etc. My father was a carpenter and built us cribs, beds, dressers, table & chairs and a hutch. All the clothing are in a doll size steamer trunk.