Busy Sewing and New Listings on Ebay!

I have been busy sewing for the past few days, and managed to crank out 14 new doll dresses!  Yes, FOURTEEN.  I don't know why I do this to myself.  But somehow, I figure if I'm going to be sewing some doll dresses, then I may as well cut out a few more and sew them assembly-line style.  This time, I even made coordinating, reversible headbands.

 

The four dolls above are my newest listings on Ebay, and are all so sweet!

 

First up, this Pottery Barn Doll by Gotz:

I think her name is Marianne.  Isn't she cute?  She is much more slender in her torso than the other dolls, so the little A-line dresses that the others are wearing were just too big for her.  So she got a sweet sundress that I originally made for American Girl dolls, but ended up being too tight for their bodies.  I actually made three of these sweet sundresses in different fabrics, and none ended up fitting the dolls I had them intended for.  Grrrrrr.  I hate it when that happens.  If I would have taken a moment to check the fit of the bodices, I could have avoided this scenario.  But whatever.  This dress looks sweet her, so it all worked out, I suppose.

 

The fabric is a light green with cherries sprinkled across it.  So cute.

 

She has long, silky, rooted hair.

 

Next up is this Precious Day Collection Doll, also by Gotz:

 

Such a sweet face

 

And she has the most lovely, rooted hair--thick and wavy!

 

Another Gotz...this time it's a harder-to-find Little Sister Doll, LILY:

Isn't her expression so serene and beautiful?  Sometimes this mold is referred to as the "Mona Lisa" face.  I can see why.

 

 

She has the loveliest, long blond wig

 

And last, but not least, is this American Girl of Today doll by Pleasant Company!  And yes, I found her at Goodwill a couple of months ago!  I almost passed out when I saw her in the toy aisle.  Goodwill usually pulls these dolls to sell on their online auction site, which is why you almost never find them in the stores.  But I think this one slipped by because she is not marked American Girl, but rather "Pleasant Company" on the back of her neck.   

She looks just like Samantha, I think.  She might have been number "16", but I'm not sure.

 

She's in beautiful condition

 

Her hair is dark brown and wavy, and a bit shorter than Samantha's.

 

Here she is in her original outfit, complete with tights, velvet flats, underwear, blouse and jumper.  Everything is tagged "Pleasant Company".  I've tried to find the name of this outfit, but haven't had any luck so far.  There is an American Girl of Today logo on the front of her velour jumper.  Does anybody happen to know anything about this outfit?

 

Four little cuties, all looking for a new home.  Honestly, I won't be sad if they don't sell, because then I can enjoy them for a bit longer!  However, my dolly population has become seriously out-of-control, so something has to give.  Here's a link to the auctions:  http://www.ebay.com/sch/dotsydoodle/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

 

I will be listing many, more dolls over the next several weeks, so my sewing machine will be getting a good workout with all of the dresses I'll need to sew.  I just can't let a dolly go to a new home without a nice outfit, now can I?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotz Doll Restoration

Remember this little waif?

I found her at Goodwill last month and snatched her up immediately.  I love these Gotz dolls.  I'm not sure what her name was originally--some are called "Sarah" and others are "Hannah"--but they have such sweet faces.

 

While her body was in great condition, her hair, unfortunately, was not.

 

This is what it looked like after soaking in fabric softener for a couple of days and then getting towel dried.

 

Here you can see the hair that has been combed and treated with the hair straightener (on the left), and the rest of the hair that is still a snarly mess.

 

This is what a section of hair looks like after I comb it out, but before I straighten it.

 

And here is that same strand of hair, after I've run the straightener over it several times.  See how nice and smooth it makes it?

 

Hair completely combed out and straightened.

 

I just barely trimmed off a bit of the ragged edges.  Here you can see how many layers her hair had.

 

I decided to set her hair on rollers to get some of the curl back that she originally had.

 

And...voila!  Here she is all gussied up in her new dress with her once again, pretty hair.

 

This looks like a dress and a pinafore, but it's really all one piece.  I love the colors.

 

Bodice closes in back with snaps under decorative buttons.

 

Isn't she adorable?  I'm always amazed at how different these little orphans look after a trip to the "beauty parlor", and getting something pretty to wear.

 

And yes, I tried this dress on my new Gotz Classic Kidz Louisa, and it fit her perfectly as well.

 

 

We have been snowed in for the past couple of days, and tonight we are getting hit with freezing rain on top of the snow.  I can't say that I am unhappy about that; on the contrary, I have rather liked being holed up inside, puttering around inside my sewing room and "playing dolls".  The kids, of course, have enjoyed everything associated with the snow, especially sledding.  They have yet to build a snowman--I'm hoping that happens tomorrow before it all melts away.  I love snowmen.

Tonight I will work on the finishing touches of a pretty, little coat I started for an American Girl doll a couple of years ago, but never finished.  I will sit in front of the cozy woodstove while I sew on buttons, and think about what my next project will be.  It's a good day!