Hi everyone,
I noticed in the comments today that Marilyn mentioned she had written something about each dress she had bought from me in the comments on the 2 days when I showed her dresses, but somehow they had disappeared. I felt so bad for her going to all that work and then poof…nothing to show for it…
So I did a little investigating and I found all her comments from Day 2 of the Dolly Slide Show. I thought it was only fitting to post them for her. I’m so sorry you did all that work and then thought they were gone… but somehow we have them now! I’ll pick one picture of each dress and then what Marilyn said about it…
Blue Regency
I bought this before I had Elizabeth, but when it began to look like I’d live, I promised myself Elizabeth as a reward, as Felicity was my reward for surviving cancer. Now if I only had Jeanne’s gift for arranging hair.
Molly’s red dress
I don’t have Molly, but brown haired Lindsay looks great in this. I think of red as belonging with brown hair, possibly because red was the favorite color of my brown-haired sister.
Green jumper
Nellie thinks this is her favorite outfit ever. She wears it with tights. I especially love the embroidered blouse fabric. Typical Jeanne — nothing is ever plain — there’s always a special detail. And her red and green do not equal Christmas.
Julie’s coat
I was looking for Ivy to be my Asian doll when I realized it was really Julie I wanted. I remembered that Jeanne had one she had been selling and her dolls are always clean and in great shape, so I wrote to see if she was still available. Jeanne sent me a truckload of pictures and described in detail anything that could pass for a flaw. Her Julie was by far the best I’d seen, and I was happy to get her.
She was mailed on a very cold day — we were both having freezing weather, and Jeanne didn’t want Julie in the cold with no clothes, so she made her a fur coat. Poor Julie kept getting stuck in cold distribution centers, while we hovered over our computers, sending each other worried emails. We thought she’d freeze or be lost forever, but she did get here and was quickly dressed in a wool skirt, a white turtleneck, boots, and her coat and hat. I was considering renaming her, but she looked so much like Julie Christie that she stayed Julie.
Plaid skirt/black vest
I wanted this outfit so much that when I was outbid, I asked for a duplicate, and Jeanne made me one. Have you ever seen a nicer Christmas dress?
Sisters set
I gave my goddaughter Isabella Isabelle, the blond dancer, and her grandmother gave her Josefina, so this set was perfect for her and she loved it. I loved the beautiful way it was packed — it looked like a treasure.
Turquoise
It’s hard to beat this one. It’s as pretty as Blue Diamonds on Day 1. Some things are extra special, and this, and the next one, qualify.
Victorian Elegance
Samantha usually wears the turquoise dress. To my surprise, it’s Julie who looks stunning in this dress. I gave her a second braid and use the headpiece to join them, and groovy Julia becomes elegant Julia. She’s very convincing.
Apple Butter
Anyone would love this dress, and everyone wants it. Cecile usually gets it, but Samantha grabs it whenever she can. Neither seem like “brown girls” — I think it’s the white that makes it suit them so well.
Willa in Purple
I did, in fact, buy Willa, now called Willow, for my great niece, who looks remarkably like her and is a truly remarkable young woman — pretty, smart, talented, thoughtful, and kind. She came with a purple and white print Jeanne Marie dress and stayed with my sister until her owner was old enough to appreciate her. We joked that my niece would be the first paleontologist fashion-designer in the Senate. She’s outgrown dinosaurs, but I’m teaching her costume history.
Autumn Splendor
Before the 1920s, sleeveless dresses did not exist, at least for day wear. Evening dresses were designed to display shoulders, but not the upper part of the upper arm. In about 1890, formal evening dresses had fairly wide decorative straps, but court etiquette still demanded bare shoulders, so ladies just temporarily moved the straps to off shoulder. Jeanne added the pretty sleeves so that Marie Grace stayed in fashion.
You will notice that I like brown.
Prairie Rose
Another brown dress. I don’t have Kirsten, but Kit and Lindsay both time travel to wear this dress, which looks nice with both brown and blond hair. I have liked all of Jeanne’s Kirsten outfits and would have happily had all of them, but there’s something about the autumn colors of this one that especially appealed to me. I was right — it is beautiful on every doll I’ve tried it on.
A missing dress. We’re missing what I think of as Elizabeth’s watercolor dress — white and peach Regency. I think it was one of your favorite fabrics.
(I FOUND IT MARILYN!)
Marilyn mentioned this dress seemed to be missing. I knew exactly which one she meant and looked it up… She bought it back in 2005 and YES, YES, YES… it WAS one of my favorite fabrics ever!
I gave it a few extra pictures because it was left out the first time.
I’m sorry I don’t have any comments for the other dresses, but I sure do appreciate all of Marilyn’s comments and why she bought the ones she did! I always love knowing what it was about one of my dresses or outfits that make someone bid on it and ultimately win it! Thanks for a little glimpse of how it worked for you Marilyn!
Now, an update on Emmie’s overalls. I have them all finished, with the exception of cutting off the leather straps to a point. I wanted to make sure they weren’t too short when I add the top underneath. Here are a few pictures of what they look like now. I just leaned Emmie against my background as she didn’t want to stand so well in her bare feet.
I think it was Mailyn who guessed the top stitching was rust and I think Rosemary guessed brick… well they were both right. It’s not red, it’s the same thread I used on Ten Ping’s overalls. It’s rust…or maybe rusty brick! :o)
I only had one piece of leather that was the right color… fortunately I had some more metal buttons and buckles… this time in bronze.
The back is much nicer on this pair of overalls…
Here she is with nothing under them…
…and here she is with the blue and white and rust print pulled through a little bit to mimic a blouse.
Well, that’s it for today!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Thank you, Marilyn, for commenting on each dress; I really enjoyed reading your thoughts about why you chose each one, and what you liked about it, etc. Congratulations, too, on beating cancer and then recovering and being able finally go home from rehab–and for rewarding yourself in the best way possible, with dolls!!
I do have Molly, and since day one, “her” color has been red. My Molly has many red things, such as a sweater and hat, dresses that have red in the prints, etc. I tried making her a lavender dress for Easter the first year I got her. Like a good girl, she wore it for me–once!–and then informed me that “Lavender is Your favorite color, mom, not mine!” Eventually I gave it to a friend for her doll, and, after my friend died, the dress came back to me. It is now April Eleanore’s, and she absolutely loves any and all pastel colors, so she is very happy with it!
Marilyn, your comment about liking brown brings to mind my grandma; brown was her favorite color! Even her living room furniture was brown!
Jeanne, thanks for finding and posting the “missing” dress. I remember that fabric–so pretty!–particularly because I think you also made a Little Darlings dress out of it–shown on Lian, I think? Really gorgeous.
Emmie’s overalls are coming along nicely, and I do see now that the topstitching is more of a rust than a true red. I do like that print with the overalls, although I can see the points of others about having a “younger-looking” print or fabric, too.
Today I met a friend at Quality Sewing up in Everett, and brought my quilt along. My friend Kayleigh (who, years ago, was one of my little 4-H girls, and who now works there) was working today and rushed to greet me when she saw me coming! Anyway, after Robin got there, the three of us were trying different colors. Robin and I were thinking maybe red, but couldn’t find the right one. Yellow? Maybe. And then, Kayleigh put a particular green next to it, and that was it! I still have to wash the fabric and make my binding, but once I get the binding done, I’ll take some pictures and send to Jeanne, if you wish (even though it’s not doll-related…).
Oh Charlotte, please do share your quilt.
I have made doll clothes in the past, but started quilting in 2016 after my mom went to Heaven. I am participating in a sew along
called Under the Maple Tree. My progress has been slow but I will try to catch up.
You could google that quilt name with Rachel LaBour or it might come up as Rachel Hauser.
I loved seeing what Marilyn wrote about the dresses she bought! It certainly gave the dresses a story and personality all their own! Oh yes, I do remember that last dress, so pretty, and truly a work of art! Lucky Marilyn, and thank you, Jeanne, for including her comments today.
I was always wondering about those leather straps, why they were so long, but now I see that they will be cut off after you figure out how long to make them, and have them cut to a point. The bronze buckles and buttons are perfect and the back looks really nice! Maybe a cute headband tied into a bow would look cute in Emmie’s hair, similar to the ones you made recently to go with that jumper and shorts combo, in the material from the blouse.
Ahhh, cooler weather has just made an appearance! Finally weather to go with all the pumpkins, mums and Halloween decorations that seem to be popping up everywhere!
You have the front we should be getting Friday. Our humidity will drop drastically with dew points in the 40s in some areas so our lows will be in the 60s. But we’ll still be in the high 80s or low 90s. We hit the all-time high for October the other day at 96 but didn’t come close to the all-time low which was 46. I’m not quite ready for that low just yet. Nothing is predictable about the weather here at this time of year.
Dear Marilyn, firstly, I am very happy you survived cancer and you are among the living. I am sure you endured quite a mighty battle and I love that you won!
Your dolls are beautiful, I love all of these dresses on your girls! Super sweet staging/modeling done. Jeanne thank you so much for sharing these and we can go back and see more, easy!
Jeanne, this outfit is moving along splendidly, I love the overalls, they are snazzy, I love the metal details. All of that is very nimble and fiddly but the result is exceptional
Cooler weather here too, I am glad. I think I added at some point last week, I am looking forward to all of the bugs/insects/spiders to just go away and find warmer climes or just ….. dieeeee.
Lantern Flies. Do you have them in your locale? Here in Northern Virginia they are silly looking small flies in Spring, they are small and undetectable but wowie, by September they are huge. The good thing is they do not bite.
here are the details on these pesty pests. https://www.fws.gov/story/stopping-spotted-lanternfly-its-tracks
Happy Wednesday every dear one.
No, Rosemary, no la tern flies around here, but we are now being invaded by stink bugs trying to get inside before the cold weather arrives. They are all over the screens, and will bite or sting. Plus they don’t smell very good either! Maybe we could trade?🤣
Whoops, it went through before I could even finish, or proofread!
That is suooosed to be lantern. As you probably know, I’m in St. Louis!
I’m getting tired of dealing with mosquitoes. It hasn’t been too bad this summer, but I always seem to get at least one in the house that won’t let me alone. They are so small you don’t even feel them land on you till it’s too late. I know what lantern flies are but I don’t think we have them here. We have Love Bugs instead. They show up twice a year during mating season and are a mess. They get all over your car windshield and the front of your car. They travel in pairs, if you get my drift and hence the name, and you cannot hope to avoid them. But they evidently don’t give much thought to survival of the species since the mess they make on cars says many of them don’t make it through the mating ritual.
Loved reading Marilyn’s dress descriptions. Thanks for finding them Jeanne.
Now, Emmie looks like she just hopped out of bed this morning. She is such a cutie! Her outfit is swimming along and so perfect for fall’s cooler days. Looking forward to seeing the finished blouse with the overalls too.
Since it was so hot again yesterday, we drove down to Lowe’s to check out their wood. Well, they had out their Halloween decor, of course, and all Christmas, as well. We had so much fun trying out all of the animated decorations. I won’t go near the Halloween stuff, way too scary, but the Christmas was fun. I spotted a little lighted doggie that looks just like Winnie next door. It came home with us. I’m going to put it on our front porch and see how Winnie reacts when she comes running over for a milk bone treat. 🙂
Anyway, we got to the wood department and started going through the wood to find what we needed. Other person had checked and found that Lowe’s prices are actually lower than those at Home Depot. Therefore, the trip there. And we were delighted to find at check out that Lowe’s allows their military discount on wood. Home Depot does not. So, price was lower and then discounted as well. That made it worth the trip. Now, we hope to get the wood pieces all painted before being cut to size so we won’t have to do all of that tedious rail painting. Guess you know what we’ll be doing today. More deck work. 🙂
Hope that George is doing well. How are those new chickens from the spring? I’m still jealous of those cucumbers George grows. I had exactly one this year. Most everyone I’ve talked to said the same thing. Not a good year here for cukes.
Joy, I replied to your message of yesterday. I did it there so I could remind myself what you said. I would most likely forget by the time I saw today’s. So was Other Person in the military? What branch? Cukes here this year were great. We had days of cucumber sandwiches. Sure do miss them.
Yes, other person had to go to Vietnam, way back when. He was in the Navy and on a ship off the coast there.
That’s great that your cukes were successful. 🙂
I had a cousin who went to Vietnam. He was in the Army. He has a plethora of health issues today because of Agent Orange. Fortunately Other Person was stationed on a ship offshore. I dated a man before I married David who was in the Marines on the Kitty Hawk so he wasn’t in the jungles either. Thank OP for his service for me. I wore a POW/MIA bracelet during Vietnam. There is a wonderful website now where you can find out the status of the person whose bracelet you wore. Sadly my soldier did not come home. He was a helicopter pilot and his helicopter was shot down toward the end of the war.
Dear Jeanne, thank you for sharing the lovely photos and Marilyn’s commentary.
I love the beginnings of the new Little Darling outfit. It will be so pretty when it is finished!
I really enjoyed Marilyn’s comments! She showed how much she loved each one of them, and even got Jeanne to make the Christmas one she didn’t get.
Thank you for finding them, Jeanne.
Well, yesterday I received a letter from the people who send me my teaching retirement money. They wanted me to fill a form to prove that I am still alive!
I guess they have to make sure that the recipient is not now a husband or others after the retired person has gone. We tried for hours to fill in the info they wanted but could not even get my email accepted. We finally got someone to help today and they sent forms to my email that I could print and send.
I hope I did it right, and they will believe me. I can understand they get worried about their money when the recipient is 86 years old.
Jeanne, I am loving the progress on the latest outfit. Keep it going!
I guess you need to check up on things today when you find people that are 120 years old or older still collecting Medicare and Social Security. So glad you can tell them you’re still alive and kicking.
Just lost another VERY long comment. Let’s see if this goes through.
Marilyn, you probably know, but to be safe, left click on your mouse and highlight what you’ve written. Then, right click and hit copy. Then it is saved. If your post doesn’t go through. Go to your new post and drop it there by right clicking anywhere in the writing area and then click paste. Your post will then be there to try again. I’ve also found that the posting is very slow. So, wait before doing anything to see if it slowly appears. Just trying to help. 🙂
Knowing this has saved me hours of rewriting.
I totally adore Emmie’s new overalls. I think the blouse is going to be great with them. Looking forward to seeing what additional items will be added.
Thanks so much for finding and posting Marilyn’s comments. She has acquired a lovely wardrobe of Jeanne Marie originals for her dolls. It was a fun read and seeing the lovely outfits again was definitely an added plus.
So, I went back and read your yesterday’s post. And yes we do have the Epson. So, I will read it again and see what we can do. Other person hasn’t a clue and it is in the office so I have to walk across the house to see what has printed. A royal pain. Other person is so cautious about the amount of anything that is printed that it seems like it couldn’t be out of ink yet, but I’ll have to operate and see if I figure it out. Thanks so much for the printer tips. 🙂
No problem. I still haven’t got around to doing what I need to so it will scan. I just take a photo of what I want to send and send things as attachments that way. I can’t understand why they’ve made scanning so complicated when they say it is a printer/copier/scanner. Maybe I need a newer model. LOL
I really enjoyed viewing the AG outfits and the lavender dress and shoes on the Wellie Wisher, named Willow! I have two Wellie Wishers and the AG Samantha, which was a gift years ago from my three daughters. Always wanted Kirsten, but then they discontinued her and you could only find used ones online. I think they brought Kirsten back for awhile, but of course, everything is more expensive today and my retirement income can only go so far what with today’s cost of living.
Had a crown put on one tooth yesterday and I will be paying on that for two years, with two more crowns looming in the future. So sadly, my “fun” purchases are curtailed. But I’m ever so grateful for my fabric assortment and the old-western romance and Amish novels from Better World Books that were kept, because I can’t remember most of them and can re-read them now as “new” stories! Karen Witemeyer, Deeanne Gist, Shelley Shephard Gray, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Lori Copeland, and Lauraine Snelling are some of my favorite authors.
Jeanne…I emailed you yesterday with photos of the “Cat” dolls I made for two of my daughters for Birthday gifts. They started as “stump” dolls so that eliminated the need to make legs, which wouldn’t show under long skirts anyway. One doll though does have high-op button shoes sculpted and added to the bottom of the stump doll, so the shoes will show under the long skirt of that one. My inspiration for making these dolls was a book titled “Whimsical Elegance, the Costumed Dolls of Helen Cohen”… my daughter’s are cat lovers and I loved creating dolls so it was a perfect match of doll and sculpted cat heads (ordered from online)! My daughter’s loved them and keep them on display year-round, with my youngest daughter (who has 10 cats!) including hers with her Halloween witches I’ve made in the past!