I managed to get Julie’s dress finished and listed on Ebay last night. I also got a bid right away. I think someone was waiting for something new from the 70’s. Julie didn’t disappoint. I took some nice pictures outside so you could see the fabric a little better. I hope this helps you see it’s not “bland” as my hubby thought. I should have taken him outside with me when I was taking those pictures to see if I could get him to change his mind, but I doubt he would… He’s a blue kind of guy! :o)
Anyway, the listing can be seen by clicking the picture of Julie at the right side bar or you can click HERE.
Here are just a few of the outside pics… then we’ll move on to the costumes…
This isn’t a costume, but it’s my favorite October dress made several years ago and shown on Lian.
Now, I have some pictures from Charlotte and her friend, Marika.
This was last year’s costumes…
…and here they are this year.
This next picture is Abby Rose (Charlotte’s doll) and Annie (Marika’s doll.) Abby Rose was the first Asian doll.
I found this picture of Susette on facebook and hope she doesn’t mind me sharing it here. This is what she said..
Sixty-two years ago tonight, I wore this red satin flapper ensemble, authentic top to toe, to the Episcopal Church Halloween Party. Hence the rolled-up paper pretend cigarette as a 15-year-old wouldn’t have dared carry a real cigarette in 1956! It was on loan from a neighbor whose aunt had worn it in the 1920s.
My sister, Cindy, was looking through her pictures and ran across these of us 3 kids when my dad was stationed in Italy. Cindy obviously was a witch. Bob was a hobo and I was the clown. The only thing I really remember was my dad cutting big feet out of cardboard to put inside my socks…
…and clearly I must have put on my own lipstick!!
It’s back to being our regular selves again…
Well that’s it for this last day of October.
Have a wonderful weekend!
I’ll see you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
Fun post today Jeanne! Yes, the outside pictures of Julie are really nice and show off the dress so well! Can’t believe we actually saw sunshine after all the rain we have had! Lian’s dress is a favorite of mine too!
Next, Charlotte’s pictures are so cute! I see that they were at the AG store having lunch! Your costumes are just darling, and I have never seen those. Did you make yours, Charlotte? My Molly really loves that nurse costume! Where did you get it?
Susette looks just perfect for her dance! I’d like to see her dress up like that again and have a picture taken! I bet she would rock that outfit all over again!
Oh my, your mother must have had a time getting the three of you all fixed up for Halloween, but like you say, you dad was helping too! I laughed and laughed at the pictures, and can’t believe how the 3 of you stood there so nicely while pictures were taken!
It looks like they had the three of you facing the sun, like my parents often did! So funny ! I guess Deb was a baby or not born yet? Do you remember that occasion, and did you go trick or treating there in Italy?
Had to laugh at that last picture of the three of you, you and Cindy staning so nicely there, and then your brother, so typical of little brothers!
Happy Halloween everyone!
Putting Julie in the sunshine made a big difference in how that fabric looked! It’s still beige, but it’s got more life to the color somehow. It sometimes surprises me, what a difference lighting can make in a photo!!
Lian looks gorgeous in that orange dress! I can see why it’s your favorite!
It was a nice surprise to see my pictures in your post! The blond doll in the first two pictures (nurse in #1 and clown in #2) is my April Eleanore, one that I bought at the AG Place store a few years back. I got out four of them, and set them side by side to compare. The eye color is a green, but I noticed some variations in the greens; the doll I chose has eyes that are a bit deeper of a green than the others had, and her face is a tad bit slimmer, too. The second picture was taken two years ago, by the way. It doesn’t look like we’re doing a Halloween lunch this year.
Fun fact about AbbyRose–her middle name is Lian! I’ve had her for over 20 years, I think. That picture was taken in 2016.
Susette, what a wonderful picture of you! And what a generous neighbor you had, loaning you that beautiful outfit!!
Jeanne, those pictures of you and your siblings are just precious! I don’t remember mom ever taking our pictures when we were dressed up for Halloween. If they did, they’d be among the stuff at my brother’s house now–I think he took the photo
albums home with him. (Just as well; I really didn’t have room, and I got other things.) But I don’t remember any Halloween pictures.
Tonight I made myself a mask with some scraps of Halloween fabric I had on hand, just in case we get any trick-or-treaters! Might as well make it fun, right?!
Dear Charlotte, I love seeing your dolls. They are so well behaved in the photographs, unlike one of my girls, whose name I won’t mention (laugh).
First, shoulder bag! I feel so seen. So heard. ♥️
Next, Halloween costumes! Part dolls. So cute. I would love to go to an AG store with one of my dolls. Going with a doll friend would be a dream come true! ♥️
Part kids. My Mom made us some fab costumes. I had a princess dress that started life as a bridesmaid dress. It was so princessy! And fancy. And perfect. Good memories. ♥️
Julia, your bridesmaid dress turned into a princess dress, brought back memories! I was a flower girl in my aunt’s spring wedding, and that fall, for Halloween, my mother turned it into a princess dress, complete with a Reynolds Wrap crown and wand!
I wonder how long it took for the lipstick to disappear from Jeanne? I can remember kids coming to school the next day with well scrubbed faces still sporting the color from that red lipstick decoration. 🙂 Wouldn’t it be fun to recreate that photo of the three of you standing in the sun in the same position, now grown up. 🙂
Love seeing all of the costumes. Happy Halloween everyone!
What a fun post! A real Gunne Sax style. When I see Julie’s hair I remember ironing our hair ( that was b4 curling irons!), the things we did for beauty.
Happy Halloween to all.
Julie looks wonderful in your outdoor pictures. Her whole outfit fits her era completely! The long dress, head piece, purse and choker necklace! Now I can’t get the word “groovy” out of my head!
How fun to see Charlotte and Marika’s girls in their Halloween costumes. It’s always fun to see other AMG collections is various scenes and outfits. Charlotte, you are lucky to be able to share the love of dolls with your friend, Marika.
This is one of the many reasons Jeanne’s blog is so much fun – sharing the doll world in so many ways.
What a glamor picture of Susette. And getting to wear an authentic flapper outfit. Love the hat and the pretend cigarette. I have an authentic cigarette holder in my costume box. It’s a smooth black slender holder and while I can’t remember for sure, it may have one or two beads on the side. It was a very dramatic little piece for a costume as is Susette’s stance is in this picture!
And Jeanne, your pictures are just a hoot!! So very precious! Had to laugh at the great job of lipstick!! The picture of you three is worth a thousand words.
I wondered too- does Italy celebrate at Halloween as people here in the United state do?
Lian’s dress is perfect for tail end of October. Love the orange print with the black lace.
Julie’s dress Is just lovely and the pictures outside really show it off even better. It is definitely my favorite dress I’ve seen for her, even including the others I’ve seen you make.
Lian looks so sweet in that dress as well.
Charlotte, your dolls are just adorable. You April Eleanore is so cute. I really like #21. Her eyes are supposed to be hazel, but I know a lot of them have more of the green in them, which, I agree, in much better.
Love the photo of Susette. She looks so elegant. I’ll bet that costume was just lovely.
The picture of Cindy, Bob, and you is just precious. I’m guessing Cindy must be the eldest and Deb is either an infant or not born yet. The lipstick is too funny. I wore bright red lipstick on two Halloweens, but I was a bit older. One year I went as a gypsy. i loved that costume. The other year I dressed as a 1950’s teen (1980). I was in eighth grade and it was the last time we went out trick-or -treating during my friend’s annual Halloween party
Dear Jeanne, what great photos.
I think the dress turned out nicely.
I am enjoying seeing Charlotte’s girls.
Susette certainly embraced her inner “flapper” in that photograph (laugh).
Your sibling photographs are so sweet. It is great that you still have these pictures. You and your sister look like twins.
I loved your pictures, the one of Cindy as a witch looks like me when I was young believe it or not! We didn’t celebrate Halloween when I was growing up, it has only started to be popular here in the last ten years but most older adults don’t like the kids trick or treating still. A lot of places have light parties for Halloween as an alternative. Sam and Ashley made the most amazing Dragon costume for Ashley this year. Sam designed it herself and Ashley did some of the sewing and a lot of the stuffing (for the ribs of the wings). Unfortunately it was pretty heavy when it was finished so Ashley couldn’t wear it for long but it looked amazing. I will send a photo.
I checked out the auction and saw that Julie had a bid on her. The dress is so lovely. Your workmanship is just wonderful as well as your designing.
I loved seeing Charlotte’s pictures. My poor girls have been neglected lately. Not sure where the time goes, I used to go out to work once, I’m not sure how I found the time for that lol!
So much to see here today. First, the outdoor pictures of Julie really show off her outfit and especially the color of her dress. Lovely ensemble.
Charlotte and Marika’s dolls don’t have to wear the same costumes every year? How lucky for them!. The costumes are so cute. I’m planning a dance recital for my dolls in the spring. Some costumes will probably end up being used for Halloween next year. My daughter was a dancer and we often used her costumes for Halloween. There were a lot of choices because her costumes ran the gamut from pretty to unusual.
Lian’s dress is absolutely adorable and, as always, she looks so special in it. I was showing my hubby yesterday the different sculpts for the Little Darling dolls. I went to Magalie’s site where she has the four on the same page so he could really see the difference. When I showed him my two dolls, he couldn’t really see the difference, but he could in the pictures. I have a sculpt #1 and a sculpt #2. I skipped #3 because it was used for the FF dolls and the one I have on the way from Magalie is a #4. If I’m able to buy another, I will go for the Sculpt #3 just to have all the LD sculpts. It’s sad to imagine that there won’t be anymore sculpts by Dianna. She left quite a legacy, but there was always more on the horizon to anticipate.
Susette’s picture is lovely. Very pretty. She just needed a classic car to stand in front of and the picture, being black and white, would have been easy to pass off as the real thing – if you didn’t look too close at the cigarette. I love the old classic cars of the 1920s. True works of art.
Jeanne, your pictures are too cute. We often took pictures of our children on Halloween but my parents never did. They were too busy getting us ready for trick or treat. We lived in Bethlehem, PA, at the time and Halloween was a week long festival for us. We lived in the new suburbs. We had several housing developments around us (what some call subdivisions). As we got older, we could go to developments other than our own and trick or treat there. We had many friends in other developments and it was actually on the way to our church which my sister and I walked often for Sunday School and choir practice. It was totally safe for us to be out by ourselves in the evening. Every day for a week we would come home from school, eat dinner and then my mother would create new costumes for us, sometimes store bought but most likely things like ghosts out of old bed sheets, hobos or maybe a scarecrow. Once she cut down her wedding gown and made me a bride dress and my sister a ballerina costume. My two younger sisters went out early one night with my mother, but mostly they stayed home and doled out the candy until they were older. It was a good time to grow up where neighborhoods were safe. A real “Leave it to Beaver” experience. We moved to a small town when our children were small to try to give them a lifestyle similar to what David and I had as kids.
He was raised in rural areas. Things were pretty similar here at Halloween until people decided they didn’t want to mess with it any longer and now we just have a community Boo Bash, which, of course, was cancelled this year. Maybe that’s why my dolly children did not care about costumes this year. They figured there was no place to go in a costume. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
What a very fun post! The outside pics of Julie made the very most of the fall colors with her dress. It was the perfect background. So glad you have a bid already.
The Halloween dolly costumes were so colorful, so cute,
The best were your pics as a little one on Halloween. Maybe being a clown wasn’t your first choice? No big smile but we’re you 3 the cutest? Loved the pigtails.
Have a fun weekend
You sure surprised me this time. My sister had that picture and I hadn’t seen it in 50 years when she gave it to me a few years ago. I never thought about the “stance,” Paula! Thanks, everyone who enjoyed seeing it. Wish we dressed up like that now. The pictures of your family are darling. That’s what Halloween is all about. So lucky we have the pictures to remember by.
Julie is beautiful in her time capsule dress. Lian is my favorite doll that I don’t have.
I love seeing other followers dolls all dressed up, especially in Halloween costumes. I just looked at pictures from years past this Halloween. No trick or treating in California this year per the governor due to the real life horror! Safety first.
Susette, did you do your Halloween doll display this year? I loved that great overlay spider/lace tablecloth and all of the fun props. Not one dolly is in costume around here. Bad me. 🙁
I didn’t take the time to dress them up either. Bless your heart for remembering, in the true sense, not the Southern. I’ll send a picture to Jeanne if she’d like to share it. Thanks 😊.
I love your huge cardboard clown feet — what clever parents you had.
Years (and years) ago, we had a neighbor who had been to college and learned how to make costumes for parade floats and other college events. She made her daughter a costume of a clown standing on its hands. It even made the local paper. It must have been hard to walk in and quite warm. I think it was a sort of slightly flexible paper mache. We had a costume parade and they put Sandra in the middle of the playground while we all formed a spiral around her.
Susette’s costume could be an inspiration for your next outfit — have you ever made a flapper costume? It might be fun or nice for the holiday season.. My mom had shoes like that — the height of sophistication in the 50s. Those were the first high heels my sister Linda wore. She was two. I don’t know how she walked in them, but she was going down the sidewalk to the front gate.
Hi everyone,
I’m going to have yo just put one comment on here tonight….busy day around here…and we ended up not having a farewell picnic for Beth, but a farewell drive by. It was wonderful but so bittersweet. We are giving her the scrapbook tomorrow at church.
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed the pictures today. It was fun for me too.
My day isn’t finished yet. But just wanted to pop in here and say hi…have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow…
Blessings,Jeanne
Hi everyone! Thanks for the nice comments on my Halloween pictures. I’ll try to answer all your questions.
Linda D., yes, I made the costumes–all three of mine. (Can’t speak for Marika’s doll’s though.) The nurse’s outfit was just a dress (Simplicity or McCall’s pattern, I think) that I made of white fabric. Her “pin” is a small, vintage button. (Back in the day, nurses often got a pin from their school to wear either on their uniform or on their cap.) Her cap is simply a rectangle of paper, folded into a nurse’s cap shape and bobby-pinned in place. It would be easy to replicate.
Julia, yes, I do feel fortunate to have a doll friend to do things like this with. We don’t do it very often, but surely enjoy it when we do!
Laura, thanks for the reminder that April Eleanore is #21, and her eyes were hazel. I wrote “hazel”, and then changed it, as I wasn’t quite sure I was remembering correctly! And I wish I could have looked up which one she was, but, sadly, this summer some minor flooding in my basement caused me to lose ALL my doll catalogs (including many years of AG ones!). They were in the path of the water. I’d been saving catalogs for over 20 years.
Anne, MY girls have been neglected this year, too! We had the house exterior painted, plus both my husband and I had some falls and other health issues. I’m finally starting to really get into sewing again, and it feels good!
Barbara, no, we have a number of costumes to choose from. I’ve made most of the ones I have; Marika has bought hers from various places. My modern girls plus Molly all have at least two costumes each. (Molly has a cowgirl outfit, for instance.) I have done a Lot of sewing for those girls! Can’t wait to see your girls’ dance recital coming up!
We had a grand total of 4 trick-or-treaters tonight. Last year we had 19. Back in the 1970s, we’d often have close to 100–and my grandparents, who lived near a school about a mile from us, would often have 200!! I was glad we had a few, anyway, and one of the adults was the sister of a boyhood friend of our son’s (who is 45 now). She and her late sister used to bring their kids every year; this year she brought her little niece (her own children are older, I think); it is little Mikaela’s first Halloween without her mom, so I’m glad Jenny was there to step in. She always asks to be remembered to our son.
Hope everyone on Daylight Savings time remembered to set their clocks back tonight!