As I was working on Nellie’s dress a few days ago, trying to get it right from the picture, I was thinking back on a few copycat creations I made that actually DID turn out pretty well. Nellie’s won’t go down in history as being ONE of them, though.
Want to see a few I’ve made over the years from catalogs and pattern books?
Let’s start with one for Elizabeth… this picture came from a 1974 pattern book I own.
Next is one for Molly from a little fashion magazine from 1945…
This next red dress for Molly was in a Sears Catalog from 1944…
Look at this price…. $2.98!!
I was digging deep into my archived pictures so the quality isn’t the greatest…
This one was called Cheerful Checkmate… for Molly…
This was a dress pattern I made for myself while in high school in the 70’s. I always loved my dress and thought Julie would too…
Here’s an oldie but goodie for Kit…copied from the Sears Catalog…
The pictures below are from the page above… Can you tell which dress I copied?
This was my debut dress for Julie when I first received her…
Here is another one for Molly from the Sears catalog…
This was a dress for my “first” Molly doll…
Here is the same dress in my “Patriotic” version…
There are more, but that will have to do for today… I hope you enjoyed them…
See you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
There is a pair of Nellie’s beige shoes here https://www.ebay.com/itm/Light-Beige-w-Gold-Flower-Accent-Dress-Shoes-for-18-American-Girl-Doll-Clothes/202096029592?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225074%26meid%3Dd0a3963299be4603a2e6ddcd1ad159a2%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D264616773257%26itm%3D202096029592%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DAmerican+Girl&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A96f9edc4-ffd5-11ea-a41e-8e0bb6599916%7Cparentrq%3Ac99cf7031740ad397ea0b28ffff85498%7Ciid%3A1
and here
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Doll-Shoes-fitting18-in-American-Girl-Doll-Beige-Shoes-with-Fancy-Embroidery/333137360613?hash=item4d9088b6e5:g:1XUAAOSwkKBbHzgZ
I see that 2 pairs were sold in the last 24 hours, which I put down to Jeanne’s influence.
Thanks for showing the first dress, which is one of my long-time favorites, and Julie always likes to see herself on the blog. The pink paisley fabric is so soft and pretty in person.
Is the new dress not yet on Ebay? Our leaves are just beginning to fall — are yours? I keep thinking that Nellie needs to be outside walking to school, but I’m a little worried that Simon might get jealous and steal her.
I have a new AG — Stacy — and a very pretty dress I bought on Etsy some time ago. It’s one of those dresses that are lovely but manage not to look good on anyone. You guessed it — it looks great on Stacy. She’s a #28 with dark eyes, medium skin, and light brown hair parted on the side. She reminds me of the girl in the photo. I wonder how she’d look in beige.
My 18″ girls saw your ebay tip yesterday and picked up a pair of “the” shoes. They go with everything, they said. Think the poor things are giving me a hint as they only have a couple of things to wear. 🙂
Congrats on Stacy.
We so must keep these girls away from the computer. Every day something knew arrives I knew nothing about. Yesterday Gracie and Natalie saw the shoes and had to have them. This morning bright and early they were up following Jeanne’s link. They were afraid they would not get the one pair left, but there turned out to be four. The girls each wanted a pair, but I told them they’d have to share. Now they are looking at fabric and patterns to see what would go well with the shoes. Next it will be drawing straws to see who gets to wear the dress and shoes first.
I asked the seller if she had more of the shoes and she found 3 more pair to add to the listing… I told her I had shown a dress on my blog using those shoes and she was thrilled that several of you bought from her..
I wondered where those extra shoes came from.
She just told me she currently had 4 on hand. It may havd been an old listing that she forgot to update when new shoes came in…
Hi again Marilyn
I have found myself recently looking at #28 too. She is a very pretty doll. Congrats on Stacy will be a great addition to your collection!!
No, Nellie’s dress hasn’t been listed yet. I have a birthday celebration tomorrow that will last for several hours so I can’t get it listed Sunday…soon though…
Thanks Marilyn
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, yes, I remember those!! My favorite, of course, was the black/white one for Elizabeth, but I love Molly’s second dress (red print with rows of rickrack) almost as much.
As to who’s up next, Gigi is quietly asking me to remind you, you haven’t done anything Ten Ping-sized for a while, and that her (Gigi’s) favorite color is pink! LOL
HI Charlotte
Gigi always reminds me about making dresses for Ten Ping. Doesn’t she? :o) Always a pink dress…
Blessings, Jeanne
Yup. That’s my Gigi! LOL
I truly enjoy looking and marveling at your detailed work, Jeanne. Your details and care make such a difference in the final version.
Blessings.
Thank you Becky,
Even though the dresses were repeats, I’m glad you enjoyed seeing them again.
Thanks for your kind compliments!
Blessings, Jeanne
All of the dresses are wonderful repos, but I do like the last red/beige/blue print dress the best. It is so pretty. Seeing the catalog photo of the girl models with their hems above the knee reminds me of my childhood. When my dresses hit that length, it was time to let down the hem to cover the knee again. Boy am I old. 🙂
Thank you Joy,
Oh, Joy, you aren’t old…old ladies don’t play with dolls…YOUNG ones do!! We’re ALL young ladies!!
Blessings, Jeanne
I remember all those dresses too! Molly certainly had a lot to choose from, and I wish you could be my “personal” seamstress for Molly! I do love the dresses you made for Julie too! Those are the kind I made mostly, since the 70’s were my time to sew! Loved the A-line dresses!
You managed to fit the clothes so well! I remember getting school clothes at the beginning of the year, and having to get them a size bigger than what I really was so the there was “growing “ room! I really don’t see mother’s doing that today, or letting hems down! I don’t think they would even know how! But oh, that “line” where you would see where the hem used to be on a dress! I didn’t like that at all! Silly me, since I never had hand-me-downs, because I was the oldest of 4 girls!
Congratulations on your new girl, Marilyn! I think she would look great in beige!
I was the oldest of four girls but I ended up with hand-me-downs from an older cousin (5 years older) and later an aunt. Unfortunately they were all so out of style by the time I got them. But I had to wear them anyway. My parents saw all the hand-me-downs as money in the bank. Being “in style” was not something they thought about. They lived during the Depression when they were glad to have anything to wear. About letting out hems, in PA when I was growing up we had “Spring” coats. Usually they were part of our Easter outfits. The plan was we would get more than one year out of them but in that time we did grow. So my mother lengthened the sleeves and the bottom hem and then bought really pretty braid and sewed it over the line. New look, no lines.
Barbara, not only was I the oldest of four girls,but also the first grandchild on both sides! Nothing but new for me! However, my son did get some hand me downs from his older cousin, just fancy clothes things, since little boys aren’t too careful with their clothes.
The braid trick on your coats was genius!
You are soooo lucky. I got a new dress for the first day of school each year and that was pretty much it until I learned to sew. Speaking of little boys and their clothes, I used to call my preschool son Sean Wreck-a-Wardrobe. He used to think it was funny when he saw me arrive at daycare to rush to me by sliding across the tile floor on his knees. You can imagine what that did for his pants, especially the fleece ones.
Barbara, I always bought my son (born in 1975) Toughskins jeans (Sears). They had reinforced knees and were made of heavy denim. Loved them! One year he was an almost perfect size 9 (Yes, they had boys’ clothes in 7, 9, and, I think, 11 back then), so I bought, I think, 3 pair at the start of the school year. He outgrew them by Thanksgiving, and I had to buy all new size 10s!! LOL
On the other hand, I grew so slowly, sometimes Mom would get or make me something new simply because we were sick of everything I had!
I think Rick rack was the trim most often used by us to hide that crease or fade line when I was growing up…
hi Linda,
Molly got so many dresses from me because if all the 40’s catalogs and fashion magazines I have.
The pink dress for Julie with the white dots is so simple, yet it’s one of my very favorites in the group today.
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Julie’s velvet dress is gorgeous! I’m a sucker for any velvet but yours had that metallic stripe. FAB! Didn’t you also make a similar dress for Julie in a windowpane velvet? The pink 70s dress like yours is also very close to one I made and I have always wanted to replicate it. Molly’s dresses with the full skirts are always so cute. I love all the bright happy colors too.
The blueberry muffins I made for breakfast were tasty. However I think I over mixed them as they didn’t raise very much about the edge of the muffin pan. Oops.
Tomorrow after church Dad and I are going to have lunch with the couple that were on the right in my picture. They live out in the country. I was there a few years ago when they were still working on their house and lived down the road. They moved in over a year ago and I am eager to see what they have done.
Hi Julia,
That black velvet didn’t have a metallic stripe…it was a windowpane burn out velvet…little 1/2″ squares…
Oh what a beautiful array of dresses. I really love “Cheerful Checkmate”, but they are all lovely. Amazing what you can do when you can see the front of what you are trying to copy. I used to do that with clothes for me after I started to sew and I did some of it for my daughter’s clothes – until she reached junior high and then it was blue jeans and t-shirts only. Not a whole lot of creativity in making that. I couldn’t even paint the t-shirts anymore. Bummer.
Linda D. mentioned A-line dresses. I love that style even today. I was in Stein Mart the other day. I used to buy online from them but you can’t now that they are going out of business so I decided to drop by and see if anything was left in my size. There is one on the way back from the grandkids. While I was there I looked at the kids clothes. I found two of the loveliest dresses for little girls. They were A-line dresses made in waffle piquet. One was yellow and one was pale blue. The yellow one had a wide cotton Cluny-like lace going down the front. The blue had lace around the neckline and down the front. Very simple but precious. I would have bought them for my granddaughter but I could only find them in 6/6X and that is too small. But I can do the copy-cat thing.
I haven’t done any sewing this week and I have a couple dolly girls who are reminding me daily they need fall clothes. And several want outdoor winter clothing so they can go sledding on their new sled. Guess I’d better get to it.
Hi Barbara
I still remember making that Cheerful Checkmate dress, trying to get that apple shape just right!
I have always loved copying dresses from a picture or an illustration and don’t plan on stopping…
With phones nowadays it’s easy to snap a picture of something to copy it later…
Thans Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
I remember seeing those dresses as well. I like Molly’s royal and green plaid and how you gathered the plaid on the skirt. It makes a nice little detail.
Kit’s little school suit is very cute and Molly’s “patriotic” version of the dress with the ruffled collar is my favorite of the lot.
As to who is up next, well I’d like the “AG Party” to continue – Felicity, Addy, Kirsten, and Samantha are all calling from the dolly shelf… I can hear them. LOL
Hi Laura
I liked that little ruffled detail on Molly’s plaid dress too…just a little something different…
Looks like you and Joy both like Molly’s patriotic dress the best….Molly’s smiling…
I haven’t decided who is up next, but I’ll keep my ears open if I hear any chatter from the dolly shelf…
Blessings, Jeanne
The black dress for Julie was my all time favorite. You could make a living making hundreds of this dress and sell them on ETSY – of course they wouldn’t be OOAK.
there’s an idea — make several of the dresses and put them in your etsy shop for us.
Hi Debi,
That black dress still seems to create quite a stir after all these years…
I’m glad you are a fan of it too.
Blessings, Jeanne
Since I am fairly new to this blog I haven’t seen any of those dresses before but it was lovely looking at them. You are so talented Jeanne. It does make a difference when you know what the dress is supposed to look like. I loved the blue one best it was so beautifully made. I have some patterns for little girls dresses that I used for one of my grandaughters, she was born in 2000. The styles hadn’t change a lot from the 40’s by the looks of your old pictures, just the art work. Very different now though.
I have finished everything for the Christmas quilt except for the hand sewing and the embellishments and made a good start on the Challenge quilt. I like the way it is shaping up. Not sure if I explained what the challenge was but this year it is 20/20. It has to be a quilt, 20 inches square (exactly, no variation) and we have been given a list of 20 items that have to be included. Some are relatively simple like colours and a button but we have to include a circle, a square, a triangle and a hexagon and a number and a word! It has been a bit organic and sort of gets changed as I go on. I have pretty nearly done the landscape and am working on a garden now. With a sheep who has broken down the fence and is eating the flowers in the garden. They both have to be finished by next Saturday so I can deliver them on Sunday. The prize giving is on Tuesday (not that I have any expectations but I did win a prize once, a long time ago) and the exhibition opens on Wednesday. We only have the exhibition bi annually so have been on tenterhooks hoping we would be able to hold it and wouldn’t be in lockdown. Everyone puts so much work into it that it would be devastating if we did have to cancel especially at this late stage. But of course, that has been the reality for a lot of people this year. Keeping our fingers crossed anyway. Someone else has tested positive after two negative tests whilst in isolation. Fortunately this one is considered to be historical and not infectious. Hope they are right.
Please send pictures of your quilt creation. It sounds wonderful!
Hi Anne,
It really DOES make all the difference in the world to have a clear picture of what you want to copy.
Your challenge quilt sounds very neat…I do hope you’ll share a picture of it when it’s finished.
I think it sounds fun, but they can take forever to do….I’ve seen quite a few at the Paducah.
Kentucky Quilt Show…I think it’s the largest quilt show worldwide.
Thanks Anne,
Blessings, Jeanne
I love all your creations Jeanne! The fabrics and details in every outfit are always so beautiful. You know how much I loved the black velvet Julie dress! My Mom sewed all of my school dresses. I know I had one made from this pattern but it wasn’t black velvet. Looking forward to seeing more of your creations.
Hi Nora,
Thank you for or kind comments on my dresses. I like looking at my 70’s pattern book and thinking about all the dresses I made when I was in high school.
Thanks so much
Blessings, Jeanne
That was a fun post. I guess I liked them all but I don’t remember seeing the blue and beige one before. Love the jacket and pleated shirt on her. The red one from 1944 is a real classic too. What is it about a full skirt that is so flattering. Do manufacturers not want to use that much fabric anymore?
That was a darling picture of Rebecca you posted on Facebook’s Daughters Day😉
Have a good Sunday!
Thank you Kathie,
I’m glad you enjoyed looking at some previous doll outfits and saw one you hadn’t seen before…
Yay…someone who agrees with me about full skirts vs skimpy ones…
You had some pretty girls in your facebook picture too!
Blessings, Jeanne