Forever making myself the Newsies merchandise I want to see in the world: Katherine and Sarah as American Girl dolls.
Disney's Newsies and I go wayyy back. Dolls and I go back even further.
Thus, I present to you: Sarah Jacobs in AG doll form.
For Christmas my sister surprised me with a 'fixer upper' Lea she and my mom found at a flea market, and while cleaning her up I thought she would make a lovely historical outfit model. One thing led to another before I found myself having dug through my fabric stash and determined to make her an 1899 girl! I also have a recently rehabbed TM 13 that I think would make a lovely Katherine Plumber (I made one of her dresses a while back but I would like to redo that project).
Her blouse is a sort of satin shirting, skirt and waistband are quilt cotton, and her shawl is a cut of a nice and soft knit material. Here she is photographed with my old prop newspaper (from the tour of the stage version of the musical) for backdrop.
One last doll sized Catholic stuff post for the night!
Does anyone else have these freakishly small statues in their house or is just me? I know I got the crucifix, St Joseph and Child, and Our Lady of Grace pieces at a Christian book store, but the Mother Teresa (?) was something my mother had around and gave me when I was little. I’ve seen similar items on Catholic supply websites (often in bulk, however) as well as Etsy, if anyone’s wondering.
Nellie, resident Jesus lover, is happy to have these in just her size! Her favorite is Mother Teresa, but if we’re getting technical here, St Teresa was actually born six years after Samantha and Nellie’s story takes place. So it’s cool to note that they would be around at the same time, although on different sides of the planet!
Olivia modeling a fancy party dress I whipped up for a family friend’s daughter. Pattern by me, materials from Joann. I hope she likes it!
Meet the newest addition to my sewing model lineup! This is a Pleasant Company marked Samantha that I got off shopgoodwill for $10 when she was listed for parts-seeing as she’s missing an arm. Having just seen Toy Story 4, I was feeling very sentimental and couldn’t imagine this doll being anything but loved in the future-so I bid, won the auction, and I cleaned her up. As it turns out, she was in great condition physically apart from being an amputee! Her other limbs were surprisingly tight for an old doll, and she was just dirty with messy hair. As cute as she is with just one arm, I’m probably going to send her to the AG hospital in the future as I’d like for her to have both arms and that’s the one repair I can’t do myself. (Her arm is missing, not just detached)
I’ll most likely be changing her name-we have a Samantha in the house already!
Her dress is made from two fabric quarters from Joann and a scrap of white quilt cotton I had. I LOVE the little sailboats, and was looking for a quirky pattern comparable to Olivia’s strawberry dress! She’s also wearing a little key around her neck-which is a charm I found in an old tin of beads.
Super excited to have this lovely young lady at my sewing table!
Hey, AG tumblr! I thought I’d do a little post with all my sewing models/dolls from my childhood!
These aren’t all the young ladies that were apart of my growing up-my little sister inherited most of my collection. I held onto the ones that I was most attached to; I plan on keeping them in as best condition possible and passing them down when I’m a cool old grandma. But for now, they sit in my room and occasionally model for sewing projects.
They’re pictured in order of age and in their meet outfits. ‘Samantha’ (quotation marks because she’s actually an AG of Today), Nellie, Jess, Elizabeth, and Olivia (originally Isabelle). All of them are from before I hit my teens, except for Olivia, who I bought earlier this year from shopgoodwill.
Let’s start an introducing your dolls party! Reblog and show off your lovely little pals! I’d love to meet them ✨
Olivia is excited for Easter this weekend... while our household celebrates for religious reasons, we still love a good bit of springtime enthusiasm!
I made this dress from the leftovers of the Eliza gown, as well as some trim from the clearance bin at JoAnn LAST Easter! I used the whole spool of ribbon on the waistband, sleeve bands, and hem.
Olivia modeling a new design of mine-considering putting this pattern up as a tutorial. It’s fat quarter friendly!
Any thoughts?
Also, here are the little details I love most about it-the scrunched up straps and the bow 💕
Warm up doodle turned full color drawing of my gal, Olivia.
For those of you who don’t know, I sew things in doll sizes and needed an American Girl model that wasn’t one of my childhood little ladies. (My oldest is 18 and I’m just afraid of messing with her too much as I’m totally planning on passing these dolls down as cool family heirlooms) I found Olivia, originally a GOTY Isabelle with an irreparable bad hair day, on shopgoodwill, fixed her up, and made her some new clothes. I named her after one of my favorite One Direction songs when it played on shuffled while I was deciding on her name. She now models most of my prototypes and completed outfits before I send them off to friends and family members; grown-up doll collectors and little kids alike.
Jess is modeling her new Eliza Hamilton dress that I whipped up last night! I fiddled with a pattern I had previously drafted to get the bodice shape. I also covered six regular 1/4 in buttons to match the ones the original dress includes, which was literally the hardest part of this entire project. The rest was smooth sailing!
Olivia is modeling another prototype for Etsy. I haven’t sewn a blouse/skirt combo in a while, and had this RV fat quarter in my stash for ages, so I paired it with some coordinating cream cotton. Not my finest work, but it’s a start!
All buttonholes are functional, and the skirt closes with a hook and eye in the back. Oh, and the pockets are real too, because dolls totally need places to store stuff.
Thoughts?
Another set of photos of this lovely young lady to formally introduce her as...
Olivia!
I was debating names that had been suggested to me while sewing this dress until Olivia by One Direction came on shuffle, and I looked at her and knew it was right. (The 1D part also proves that I am a very predictable person lol)
I’m working on patterning for my hopeful Etsy as an excuse to sew dresses for this gal.
This fabric has been in my stash for at least a year-it’s a fat quarter I got at Walmart for like 50¢ on clearance after the Fourth of July. Glad I finally found a use for it!
Looking for name suggestions for this lovely young lady. She came to me as an Isabelle with an irreparable bad hair day. I cleaned her up, gave her a brand new wig, and made her a new dress. Still deciding on what time period she’s from... maybe she travels throughout history 😂
The dress is made from materials I got at Walmart, and the wig is from Amazon. I found her on shopgoodwill for a very good price. All eight buttons on the dress are functional, as well as real pockets, and a lined bodice. The dress is a bit busy for the eyes but I really like the concept of it lol.
A few pics of this lil dress before I wrapped it-one last Christmas present dress for my little sister’s dolls!
This one was made entirely from materials in my stash. I’ll do a better photo shoot once she opens it, but I like how this one came out. I used magenta thread for everything, including the buttons and their holes, just to add a touch of color to it. I think it would cute with a matching magenta crinoline, or maybe some colorful shoes, but I don’t have anything on me at the moment. Maybe another time!