bitty not-quite-twins

[celticdragonfly]

One of the previous occupants of this house got the American Girl book and doll catalogue, and it still comes here. I will admit to a secretive pleasure in going through it, a combination of revisiting my childhood (and why didn't they have these cool books and dolls THEN? I suppose I wouldn't have had them anyway), and gleeful future plans of introducing my babies to these books when they're older, and probably one of the dolls. And accessories. Man, those are cute.

(Maggie, hon, I'll be willing to be led by which historical American Girl interests you the most, but the modern Surfer Girl one is Right Out. There's a whole bunch of reasons why we moved away from California, dear.)

Anyway, it isn't just the American Girls stuff anymore, their marketing has expanded all over. There's the Girls of Many Lands, the modern stuff, baby dolls, and a pair of twin baby dolls. The baby doll comes in all colors, the twins are only a girl/boy pair, blonde with blue eyes.

Then I realized, good gods, I have the Bitty Twins. Or at least once Jamie's hair grows out a little, I will. They're close enough to the same size.

(Whoa, thunder outside. Maggie says "Uh-oh!")

The same family got an amazing children's clothing catalog, called The Wooden Soldier or something toylike like that, with amazing matching kid outfits - so if I won the lottery, I could even dress Maggie and Jamie in cute coordinating twinlike outfits. Not terribly likely, but I admit I also read that catalog with wistful pleasure.

Comments

[indigodye.livejournal.com]

American Girls are awesome. I had Samantha, and I took her everywhere with me, had all of the outfits, etc. But, when I was a kid, I could buy her a violin, books, even a horse.. but now, you get them facial kits, hair styling stuff...

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

What? You could get them all that cool stuff, but you can't now?

I suspect you must be a good bit younger than I am, I didn't think the American Girls had been around all that long.

[indigodye.livejournal.com]

Im 20, and I first discovered them when I was 8.. theve been around for a while.

I think you can still get all the stuff, but I just think its taken a turn.. it used to be get hobbies, learn, read books, but now its give yourself a facial, curl up your hair.

Ive found some really cute patterns out there for knitted sweaters for them, too. :-) So you might want to check it out.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Ah, at that point I was... lemme see, 23.

And yes, I've been visualizing knitting (and other crafts) for the dolls someday.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Hey, you can still get a horse - it's under Felicity's accessories. Haven't seen any outfit resembling a riding outfit.

[indigodye.livejournal.com]

I got her riding habit when I got Samantha. And now its going for a pretty penny on ebay!! Who knew!! If you can sew and want a pic of it, let me know.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Josefina has a riding outfit, but I can't see how she could ride in that.

Dolls of your childhood

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

Grammy sent you Sasha for your 4th birthday, and Gregor came a year or two later. Both had fab hand-made clothing (until the housekeeper stole the clothing). They were as expensive in their time as the American Girl dolls are now. Sasha and Gregor are no longer made - keep them as collectors drool for same. I thought they were really neat because their heads were "people scale" so it was easy to make them stand up on their own.

Re: Dolls of your childhood

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I remember Sasha and Gregor! (But I hadn't thought of them for some time) They were COOL. Was there a story to them, a background to the names or anything? I didn't know that was what had happened to their clothes.

You mention "keep them" - um, last time I remember seeing them was at your place, I think on the piano? I guess I'd had the impression that my niece and nephew were claiming them. No?

Re: Dolls of your childhood

[meerkat1.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid... I had the "SunShine Family" instead of Barbies. It was a very "earthy" family... all natural ya know... but the best part was that instead of selling lots of "accessory packs" everything came with little "craft books" of ideas so you could *Make* your own furniture and decorative touches for the house, garden and pottery shed etc. out of old thread spools, yarn, match boxes, popsicle sticks, Elmer glue and scraps of cloth etc. I got interested in so many creative crafts though those toys/booklets. And learned to hand sew to make the curtains etc. Not to mention learning the concept that "trash" could be remade into useful things. It was really great.

AG's

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

LilPouncer likes Felicity.

It is a sore spot with me there isn't (yet) an Asian American AG heroine.

All the books start with a nine-year-old in a year ending with four.

I think a Vietnamese AG heroine in 1984 would be interesting. A boatlift survivor, the English speaker for the shards of her family struggling in the new land ...

But I suppose 1984 isn't sufficiently "historical" for the publishers.

Re: AG's

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

1984 probably isn't sufficiently historical, no. But hey, go ahead and suggest it to them!

The way they're branching out into other areas makes me think they may have closed the American Girls line.

But then, the kid and the doll don't have to match - my niece (black) liked Kirsten. I can see where it would be good to have the option, though.

Re: AG's

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

Most of the major pattern companies have clothing for this size (18") dolls as well. The Vogue ones, for example, are more the fantasy 1800s Little House on the Prairie elaborate lace and ruffle 'look' and are rather difficult as all the pieces for the dresses are so small.

My daughter just turned 10 and has had a Target knockoff of an AG for several years that she just loves. I'm encouraging her to learn to sew by pointing her to suitable simple clothing patterns for her 'Hannah,' but she hasn't jumped on the concept yet. Right now she really wants to learn to knit...

Re: AG's

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Hey, yay that she wants to knit! I know there are doll sock patterns out there, and one of my other comments mentioned sweater patterns for dolls. And for simple starts there's always doll blankets. Or tablecloths.

Re: AG's

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

A very bad place:

http://www.americangirl.com/

I love Felicity. And y'know, Felicity has a straight Tudor style corset, and Addy's got a hoop skirt...

I know. My bad.

Re: AG's

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I've been poking through that site for a bit, yes. Josefina has a loom, didya see that? A working one!

Re: AG's

[meerkat1.livejournal.com]

I would think there would be plenty of "historical" Asian girl story potential, set on the west coast over the last 150 years. All those "China Towns" aren't recent additions. Not to mention in Hawaii.