Just wanted to make a correction… Laura mentioned something about me baking those little square cakes and decorating them for Rebecca’s wedding… I wanted to make it clear that I didn’t bake those little cakes. My secret is to use Little Debbie Fancy Cakes… they are delicious and fresh tasting and the perfect individual size for decorating… :o)
I found myself in the toy aisle at Target today, after returning something… (It’s my JOB, you know… I had to look at the dolls!) I was floored at ALL the OUR GENERATION dolls they carry. They were ALL new faces to me and some of them really caught my eye! Some were cute, some were adorable, some reminded me of someone I knew, and some were just begging to come home with me…
Let me show you what I mean…Remember, if you click on the pictures to see them larger, just make sure you aren’t in the middle of writing a comment or it will disappear… Still have to get that figured out…
Some are $24.99, some are $29.99, and the ones with LOTS of accessories are $34.99.
Did you know there were SO many?
Want to see my three favorites? They were SO sweet!
I would have taken individual pictures of each doll, but I wasn’t alone in the aisle… and other people were wanting to look… if you haven’t been to Target lately, you should go check them out…
Now this a perfect lead in to a couple of pictures Anne sent me… She was watching the Great British Sewing Bee and saw their demonstration on machine smocking. She has the Our Generation dolls and decided to give it a go. Take a look at her first dress… it’s very cute…
AND… I did a little bit of sewing today. I bought a pair of Matelasse curtain panels and the casing at the top was too wide to suit me… I like a header on my curtain tops… so I stitched an inch from the top edge and ran my new black rod through it… much better… BUT the fabric is much thicker so they tended to cover too much of my new window on the sides. I decided to have my hubby put up the new brackets 3″ farther out than the old ones…
They were so full and thick, I needed to figure out a way to hold the gathers in place, and this is how I did it. Using each panel, I scrunched up the curtains on the rod so they looked like I wanted them too. Then I flipped them to the back side and measured each panel from end to end and cut a piece of elastic that long… I tucked under about an inch of the elastic and then folded it back on the backside of the curtains and pinned it with a large safety pin… I then did the other panel on the other end. This kept the curtains from spreading out and one side being wider than the other… Here are a few pictures of what I mean…
Those black tags were cut out so they wouldn’t show through.
…and then how they looked when I hung them up… I snapped a picture before I even straightened out the header.. but I think you get the idea…
I have them pinned at the bottom…they were 103″ long and needed to be hemmed.
Still lots to do, but I’m getting things figured out…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, I was last to comment on yesterday’s post, and it looks like I’m first to comment on this one!
Oh, goodness, I would Never have thought to use the Little Debbie’s cakes like that! What a great idea!! Will have to keep that in mind the next time I want to do something “fancy” with minimal time to do it. And the beauty is, you can do as few or as many as you want!
Now, as to all those dolly pictures, all I can say is, Somebody is going to Target!!! Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next Monday. We shall see. From the pictures, I think my favorite at the moment is Kinsie (second picture, second from left). But I will have to see them All, you know!!
Anne, your doll dress turned out very cute, and I love that fabric!! Thanks for sharing the picture.
What a clever way to control the fullness at the tops of your curtain panels, Jeanne! We just have draw drapes for most of our windows, and lightweight curtains in kitchen and bathrooms, but I will have to keep this idea in mind, should the need arise.
An update on the swap outfit I’m making: this is actually the Test garment, so will not be the one going in the swap. It’s a Wellie Wishers pattern, and I decided on a couple of changes: 1–I will use 1/8″ elastic and narrow the casings; the 1/4″ elastic just seems too thick. 2–Instead of applying Velcro, as the instructions say, the tunic has enough ease that I am turning under 3/8″ on each side of the center back opening, stitching them down, and then sewing snaps on. Next up is the leggings. Stay tuned!
HI Charlotte,
I hope your Target store had Kinsie there for you! I just looked online at the Our Generation website and there are MORE girls on the site that weren’t at Target. I had no idea there were SO many… I thought there were maybe 10 different dolls. Boy was I wrong!
I hope you got more done on your prototype Swap outfit. One of these days I’m going to have to “try my hand at sewing!” :o)
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
Very few O.G. dolls at Target today; I did see a lot of accessory sets, though.
I will have to check Target’s website…or go to the one further north!
What a lot of dolls at Target! I don’t get to Target very often, maybe twice a year, but I do sometimes look for toys druing the holidays for the granchildren, which is getting less and less now, because they are getting older and not into “toys” for younger children. But it is fun to see what’s out there and to catch up of what’s the “thing” now!
Before I bought my granddaughters an AG doll, I got them each a My Generation doll. The one difference in them, is the MG doll had rooted hair and it was terribly hard to keep looking nice. Do they still go that route with hair? Another difference is I don’t see much of a smile with the OG dolls,, but that might change. I always liked the AG smile, and still do! But yes, I think OG dolls are much easier on the pocketbook, especially if you have several ittle girls to buy for. Thanks for showing us all those dolls! Who knew?
Anne the smocked dress you made is lovely! Wish I could do that! What I would like to know is who is that pretty doll wearing the purple old fashioned dress in the backgrond, with a bustle?
Jeanne, I thought those little cakes were from Little Debbie, because they looked similar to some I bought previously!. That’s a great way to go when pressed for time, and still want pretty!
That’s a great save on the curtains to keep them even, especially since you don’t have to open and close them all the time, since you have the blinds. They are transparent enough yet, also substantial, to give the that wall a point of interest.
The doll at the back is one of my OG dolls. The outfit I made last year using a pattern from Pixie Faire.
Now you know my full name lol. I clicked on the wrong one! I forgot to add that as far as I know the OG dolls have rooted hair and yes it is much harder to keep nice however I have restored the hair on all the second hand dolls I bought by spraying carefully with water and using a wide toothed comb very gently
Hi Linda,
I don’t get to Target very often either…it’s about 25 miles away and seems just a bit too far to just go check something out… but I sure did enjoy the dolly aisle yesterday! They were all very sweet dolls. I think they have improved them dramatically!
I believe the Our Generation dolls have rooted hair… Since the dolls were in open front boxes, I could feel their hair… It didn’t seem too bad, but wasn’t as thick as AG dolls wigs.
My hubby isn’t terribly fond of buttercream icing, so he scooped off the decorated part and just ate his cake plain… they are great little cakes and very tasty! :o)
I thought I wanted sheer curtains, but when I saw these and they were on clearance, I decided I’d give them a try. They hang wonderfully and I like how substantial they look next to the window… I’m going to try and get them hemmed before I go to bed…
Thanks for the Anniversary Card, too, Linda… you were so kind… I didn’t know you could find 40th Anniversary cards… it was beautiful…
Rebecca and Karn called us this evening… they seem to be doing great!
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow, the Our Generation dolls are coming…. š I presume that Target is stocking up for the holidays now because of the possible toy shortage later. Everyone best high tail it there immediately. And if you don’t have a store near you, Target online has everything available and you can take your time looking. š Only thing is, I haven’t seen the smaller little sets of accessory items available online. I have a lot of those because they work for the smaller dolls too. Thanks for sharing the latest Jeanne. Definitely need a Target run.
Anne’s sweet machine smocking dress turned out great. Love the sleeve smocking too. And the border print fabric works perfectly. Good job. š
I definitely like the bedroom curtains hung up higher. Looks great. Not sure why elastic was needed to hold the curtain tops in place? Wouldn’t it stretch out? I was thinking a piece of ribbon or binding would also work? There must be a reason. Clue me in here please. š I really like the black rod. Every room needs a touch of black, as the decorators say. š
We had dry lightning last night which did have just a few sprinkles. I about jumped out of bed when a loud one vibrated everything. Fortunately, there were no fires that I’ve heard about yet. Everyone was on alert believe me.
Still plugging away on the three outfits I’m working on. I think the problem is that I keep changing my mind and adding things. Today, the lining is coming off so I can add a collar to one. That is after it receives a decorative stitch. š
HI Joy,
Wasn’t it fun looking at all those Our Generation dolls? I could have spent more time there looking at each and every doll, but I was on a mission and had to leave. I sure enjoyed knowing they were out there… and it probably IS a good idea to get one if you are thinking of getting one… once they are gone, they truly might be gone.
I didn’t even look at the accessories… but I did notice how many things there WERE… my goodness, everything imaginable.
A piece of binding or a ribbon would have worked just fine on my curtains too… I just didn’t want them tight… and the elastic held them in place but gave me a little bit of play… I’m hoping to get them hemmed this evening… then I can cross “curtains” off my list!
Sounds like your sewing doll had lots of ripping and redoing… I have almost forgotten what that is like… but I’ll be back soon… still so much stuff that needed to be taken care of. Rebecca and Karn are coming back next weekend to get all her furniture and TONS of boxes…
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
You know, I was wondering how they were going to ship/manage all of the furniture, boxes etc. How nice to see them again so soon, and I’m sure Reuben will be thrilled. š
I may have been the first of us to get to Target. I was there at 8 am and bought ones with brown hair and will go later to the Target thatās 2-1/2 miles in the other direction to find some more. I always donated to the Marineās Toys for Tots but it was ordered stopped in 1017. They used to load trains that were empty and going back which stopped in needy smaller towns and shared toys for Santa to deliver. Hopefully Toys for Tots will be restored.
I was trying to figure out how you got the underlying icing on in that pattern. Nice play. Iāll have to try one. Itās just me but I liked the curtains down lower. The room is really coming together. Iād buy a mannequin and have it wear the blue anniversary dress for an accent piece. Again, thatās just me. Ha, ha.
The smocked dress is really cute. Life is too short for me to take on smocking at my age but wish I had. Joy, we had exactly the same thing here with our weather. I had my usual reaction: Someone is rolling in their trash cans. Then someone must have been taking a picture with a flash outdoors. Finally more thunder and then that same jump-out-of-bed clap of thunder. No rain! But thatās Southern California if you donāt live in the mountains.
Thereās a darling free pattern on Pixie Faire today to download.
I’m going to go check it out right now…
Aww… how sweet of you to get some dolls for some “wanting” little girls, Susette. Aren’t the dolls just the cutest things. I looked on their website and there were MORE that weren’t at Target… There must be over 75 different dolls. If I HAD to pick one, I’d have to go back and study each one as I went down the row… I even saw one online that caught my eye enough to be in my top 5! :o)
My bedroom is too small to have extra stuff but your idea of a mannequin sounds fun. I’m trying to be smart about what I put in there… Cindy is helping me from all the way in PA! :o)
Thanks Susette,
Blessings, Jeanne
I do remember you saying how to use the Little Debbie cakes but no matter what they were such a bright and yummy dessert. Iāve looked back at the wedding pictures several times and all the details made such a pretty wedding and reception.
The Target dolls are really cuteā¦I wish my granddaughters were still playing with their AG dolls. Instead they are looking at cars! Time goes too fast.
Anne your smocked dress is so sweet and looks awesome on that cute doll. We are to get a smocking lesson at our next doll clubā¦canāt waitš
Nice job on the drapes Jeanne. They were 103ā long? Wowā¦all that extra fabric.?ā¦.now you could make a valanceš¤
Off to work on my LD swapā¦.hoping it all comes together todayš¤
HI Kathie,
I have to agree with you , it was a very pretty wedding. I’m so glad I had my sisters there to help with the decorating!
It’s kind of a sad thing when your daughters and grandaughters grow out of the dolls stage, isn’t it? I remember when Rebecca was all about princess dresses and then she was over it and wanted to wear store bought stuff… :o(
Well, my walls in the bedroom are 8 1/2 feet tall, (102″) so there really wasn’t much left over… I moved them down about4 1/2″ from the ceiling, and I think I ended up with about 6″ to hem at the bottom…
Not much happened in my bedroom today… I worked at the Food Pantry and then we had a call from Rebecca and Karn and talked for quite a while… there is a huge parking lot community Yard Sale tomorrow at the SIU Arena, and I plan to go. I hope I can find the few missing things I’m dreaming of…
Thanks Kathie,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, wow, there were a ton of dolls! It looks like they are naming them by going through the alphabet. “M” is for Millie and “S” is for Sienna.
I have one that I got several years ago but I cannot remember her name and I cannot find her box.
I think your curtains look lovely.
Anne is certainly talented with her sewing. Who is the little doll in purple behind the OG doll? I like that outfit.
HI Dorothy,
Yes, and “C” is for Candice and Carly and Cambi, and D is for Dina and Daveen and Delphia! The Our Generation website had SO many dolls, I was floored!
Thanks for the compliments on my curtains… I don’t think I have ever had store bought curtains… at least I can’t remember any… so I’m enjoying these! They really are nice to look at and touch!
The doll in the purple bustled dress is one of her Our Generation dolls. She showed her a while back… I might have to show her again…
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I didn’t realize those cakes were Little Debbie. Now this might come as a surprise, but I’ve never bought Little Debbie or Hostess., never ate them as a child either. My mom and grandmother baked and I learned to bake at a young age. I think I’ve used a mix once for an angel food cake. i find from scratch actually faster..
What a wonderful variety of dolls OG has available. They have really stepped up their game in accessories as well.
What a sweet smocked dress, Anne. I can also see your exquisite purple ensemble in the background. Loved when you shared that one. You are so talented.
You curtains look very nice, Jeanne. I’m sure you’re anxious to start adding all your little thrifted goodies.
HI Laura,
Well, I’m not sure if the Little Debbie cakes could compete with your homemade ones, but they ARE mighty tasty and always so fresh! They almost melt in your mouth.
I need to go back to Target just to look at the accessories… I never got a chance to look at what they had… I just knew there were lots of little boxes of things below the dolls… and the dolls had my attention… It was fun looking at all the different ones. I was imagining being a little girl and having to decide which one she wanted… It would have been hard to choose one.
I am excited to get my room in order… the wedding took up too much of my time and I was wanting to look for things to finish it up. Tomorrow I’m going to a HUGE yard sale on the SIU Arena parking lot. It’s always a fun place to go and see what kind of treasures you can find there…
Thanks Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks Jeanne for clueing me in on the Little Debbie cakes. I grew up on TastyKakes in PA and nothing has ever compared to them. But they are hard to find and if I want them I have to order online. So it’s nice to know the Little Debbie cakes are good and I can buy them locally.
I’ve never bought an Our Generation doll but I do buy a lot of their accessories on eBay. My schoolroom set-up is OG. My granddaughter just bought an 18″ doll from Wal-Mart. It is a “My Life As” doll. Her doll is pretty and I understand that Madam Alexander has been involved with doing the sculpt.
Your drapes are pretty and the use of elastic was very interesting. I would have never thought of it. I have curtains and valances and use blinds so I don’t have to worry about anything needing to be straightened out between laundering.
Anne’s smocked dress is darling. I love the fabric. I’ve had instructions for years telling how to use the decorative stitches on the sewing machine to do smocking but still haven’t tried it.. And I have embroidery designs now that do “hand embroidery” designs like bullion stitch roses. Haven’t tried that yet either. I really must spend more time in my sewing room.
HI Barbara,
You’ll have to give the Little Debbie cakes a try and see what you think. I like how light and fluffy they are and always so fresh…
I was thinking your schoolroom was an OG one… I saw one on Ebay…at least I think it was the schoolroom.
I was just looking at the My Life As dolls the other day in Walmart. They only had about 7 different dolls. I think that’s why the Target aisle caught my eye so much… SO MANY DOLLS!
Well, now that you have weeded out and organized your whole house, you might find time in your sewing room to try something new and different… My sewing room is a disaster right now… still flowers and burlap, and jute and all the tubs Rebecca pulled out and looked in are still not put back the way they are supposed to be… She was looking for something new every day it seemed…
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
I have the school room. But, I found it through Facebook Marketplace and it was very inexpensive used with all the accessories. š I was just looking a few minutes ago and saw several things I would love to have. The good thing is that since it can be local, no shipping. They even show where they are located in town. Pretty neat.
Hi, everyone!
Jeanne, I wrote Joy last night wondering if anything had happened in your world because I never got yesterdayās post, even late. She replied this morning saying there was one late yesterday. I checked my junk, trash and inbox. It wasnāt there. First day I didnāt get it at all. I did get todayās. Strange. I have come to count on reading this every day. Itās like an ice cream treatā¦like a Peanut Buster Parfait!
Soā¦I was pleased to see you were back working on the bedroom to bring that project all together. Very nice, interesting things you and your sister found. (Thanks for telling me which sister was which.)
Smart idea about using the thick elastic to keep the bulky curtains under control to where you want them to be. Thicker black rod, very nice. Someone mentioned a valence which I sort of endorse to cover that wall space between the top of the rod and top of the window, but then, you donāt see the āpunchā of the black which is nice. Very pretty fabric!
Loved the pictures of the little cakes (who would have thought?!?!) and they were perfect for the color theme. Beautiful Rebecca. So awfully sorry her brother wasnāt there. Enjoyed hearing more about Karn and his motherā¦.and baklavaā¦.
Anne! My goodness, that was your first try at machine smocking? Wow! Good for you, and I love the fabric. Your doll looks mighty proud of her new dress. Good to hear that Covid is getting back under control in your country. I guess folks in your country think more about their country and the good for all fellow citizens than we do here, so sad to say. Makes me cross as an old bear. Thanks for sharing your pictures because that was fun! Congratulations!
Oh, man! Look at all those dolls in one aisle!!! Just mind boggling, and many of them are really very, very attractive. Iām happy to hear Susette buys these to donate. Jeanne, your choices would be mine, too. Well, no more big dolls for me. These RRFFs have me obsessed and the collection growing exponentially. Well, they are just so fun and pretty, nice size, easy to dress, and I am enjoying the newer ones coming with removable wigs. It is so fun that size 8-9 go on so nicely without a struggle. Too often I get grumpy trying to get a wig to stay on a LD. Big, fat boo on dressing struggles!
Charlotte, I read your note describing your swap outfit. Will you be making that top open all the way down in the back? I have found that I am so appreciative of sewers who do that with the clothes I buy. Too often that opening in back is pretty small and a pain to get on without pulling some stitching. Looking forward to the end project.
Think Iām about caught up now. Hope everyone is having a good day and no lightening strikes.
Sally
HI Sally,
If you miss a post, you can go to the “Recent Posts” along the right sidebar if you are on a computer…and at the bottom of the post if you are on your phone. That way if you miss anything, you can just click on the post you wanted to read, and it will come up…
If I could find just the right thing, I might put something in the space below the rod and the window…
Rebecca and Karn called us this evening and we talked a long time… they are getting ready for an antique sale in a nearby town… They were working like crazy finding things to sell and figuring out their tables and “setup!’
You are so right about the RRFF dolls taking up less space than the AG or OG dolls. I’m glad you are enjoying your dolls… They are a fun size and it’s easy to want them all! :o)
Thanks Sally,
Blessings, Jeanne
Sally, I didn’t get the Post yesterday either, I had to log in using the day before’s post then click on ‘Recent Posts’ where the new post was sitting at the top.
We do seem to be getting on top of this outbreak but it was amazing how fast it spread. It is really, really tough on businesses but they do get financial help from the government. Our experience (collectively) from the first outbreak here in 2020 was that economically the fast, complete lockdown was the best model for recovery. This time, in spite of being fed up with lockdowns almost everyone sees it as necessary. Our PM helps to get us onside by calling us the “Team of 5 Million” and always, always ends her broadcasts with “please be kind”. Funnily enough having to wear a mask in every enclosed space seems to have caused more protests than the lockdown itself. It is mandatory but some people seem to forget that and abuse and threaten staff when they insist that one is worn. Judging from the number of cars in the car park at Spotlight (there is also a big electronics retail outlet on the site as well) people have been champing at the bit to spend their money! Sam went to KMart (which I think is owned by Target) and decided against going in as the queue was so long. There are only so many people allowed in the store at any one time though I am not sure they were sticking to that at Spotlight, there were a lot of people inside and it was very hard to stay 2 metres apart especially if you were looking at the same products!
Thanks everyone for the kind comments on the little dress. I am trying to make a little girl’s dress at the moment but having finished all the smocking I realise it is gathered much too tightly and doesn’t have the lovely soft feel of the doll dress. I don’t think I will be able to unpick it so may have to start again! I quite like the effect of the stitches I used though. I guess it will become my sample piece.
Sorry I wasn’t able to stage the photos very well, it wasn’t fine enough to go outside. The doll in the background is one I shared some time ago. There was too much work in it to give that one to Ashley! I had considered selling it but I don’t think there are the collectors in NZ like there are in US and trying to sell on e bay was a bit daunting.
Sam sent me a video at midnight last night because the rain was coming down in sheets. Couldn’t see it of course but the noise was terrific. I didn’t get it till this morning when I was just saying to the dog (well to myself really but don’t want to be heard talking to myself) what an absolutely glorious morning! Sunshine, blue sky just lovely. I had better get moving and take the dog for his walk. Have a great day ladies
HI Anne,
It’s funny that you and Sally never received the posts from yesterday, but glad you figured out how to retrieve it!
I think your little smocked dress was very sweet. I tried machine smocking once or twice, but I’m trying to remember if I took any pictures of it.. It certainly is faster than regular smocking and I’ve seen some dresses using it that were really wonderful.
I hope you somehow managed to use the smocked piece you did first…and didn’t have to start over… I know what you mean about picking those stitches out… it goes back and forth and over and over so it’s really quite the chore to pick out the stitches.
I hope tomorrow is as lovely a day as your yesterday was! The temp was slightly lower today and it was a pretty nice day here too!
Thanks Anne,
Blessings, Jeanne