Disney Animator Dolls and Their New Dresses!

Remember a few posts ago, when I said that I wanted to draft a pattern for these 16" Disney Animator cuties?  Well, I finally did!  Here's what I came up with:

 

Belle, Snow White, and Cinderella are all wearing the same basic dress, but with different embellishments made to the bodices and hem lines.

 

 

And here we have Boo and Rapunzel, modeling their versions of this dress:

 

Each dress has only three, basic pieces:  a bodice front, a bodice back, and a skirt.  A second bodice front and back are used as a lining.  Snow White and Rapunzel's dress do have one more pattern piece--a template for the scallop design that runs along the bottom of their skirts.  If you look closely, each scallop is adorned with a little bow.

 

I think Snow White's dress is my favorite.  I just love the colors, and the white scallop at the hemline tacked up with little, red bows.  So cute!  I also used vintage, rayon seam binding to add the band across her bodice top.  I think these colors compliment her complexion so nicely.

 

Sweet Belle in one of the simpler dresses--the bodice top and skirt hemline both feature contrasting fabric trimmed with rickrack.

 

Cinderella looking darling in a pretty blue which really brings out the color of her eyes.  It is trimmed with vintage lace across the bodice and hemline.

 

Spunky Boo from Monster's Inc...how cute is she?!?  I wanted to make her dress look like it had a pinafore, so I sewed the purple polka dot contrast fabric onto the floral bodice fabric to make it look like a pinafore top.   I added a hem band from the floral fabric to the  purple dots to make it look like an apron skirt.  The "pinafore" edges are trimmed with rickrack.

 

Shhh...don't tell the others, but I do believe that Rapunzel is my favorite of the Disney Animators.  Her expression is just so pensive and endearing.  Her dress is identical to Snow White's in design, just with different fabrics.  It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the contrast pink fabric has shimmery, pink, polka dots against a pink background.  The yellow, floral fabric is one of my favorite, yellow prints in my stash.  So pretty and feminine. 

 

All of these dresses open completely down the back for ease in dressing.  They close with a narrow strip of hook and loop tape.

 

These dolls and their dresses are currently for sale on Ebay.  ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/201962472809?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 & http://www.ebay.com/itm/201962466071?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 ) I have them listed with a Buy it Now price, since summer sales are notoriously slow.  I'm hoping these little ladies find new homes soon, since my doll/sewing room has become overrun with all these waifs I bring home from the thrift stores!

 

These are really, very sweet dolls.  I think the Disney Animators did a wonderful job of capturing their personalities.  My only complaint with them is that their hair can become messy and matted VERY QUICKLY if not handled correctly.  Which is kind of sad, since these dolls are marketed for children, and we all know how much little girls like to brush their dolly's hair!  I so wish that Disney had used a better quality of hair for these dolls.  Every Rapunzel I have ever bought (and I've bought a lot of them) has taken me HOURS to detangle her hair.  Crazy!  But the end result is so pretty.  Speaking of end results, have you seen some of the repaints that artists are doing on these dolls?  Amazing!  Here are a few I pulled from Pinterest: 

 

 

 

 

 

Look on Pinterest or Google, and you will find many, many more of these dolls with repainted faces and even re-wigged.  The end results are nothing short of amazing.