Actually, in this photos it would be meet Jenny and Mandy! Jenny has brown hair and Mandy has blonde. Above, I have them standing next to an American Girl Doll (named Panda) and a Heart For Heart doll for size comparison.
I was kind of appalled at how dirty they were when I pulled them out of storage! I'd previously let my daughter and many other kids play with them and guess I never looked too closely at them. So I washed them up, laundered their clothes and combed out their hair. The dresses they are wearing in photos are the ones they originally came in, tights shoes and all! All in pretty amazing shape considering they are all over thirty years old! Sadly, despite having owned nearly every ensemble made for the My Friend Dolls by Fisher Price in the 1970s and early 1980s, I now only own these original dresses and the clothes my Granny made me from patterns found in the boxes to the pre-made ensembles. Somewhere along the lines in my 20s, I discovered I could "get $10/outfit on eBay!" And I sold them all. Regret!!! Oh well, I kept the important bits, the ones made by Granny and the dolls themselves. Speaking of, my Granny kept the patterns and sent them all to me in my 20s as well! I may have to pull them out and try and sew some new clothes for my old friends! There was also a red haired My Friend made at time named Becky and a boy doll named Mikey who I really wanted at the time but I didn't get them.
Here are a couple of photos to show the difference in body types between the My Friend dolls and American Girl and then Heart for Hearts.
Sorry these are sideways, I thought I'd edited them to be upright but if I don't post them now, I might not make it back! Sure you busy people understand! Ha! So I may edit photos and come back and change but just in case, here they are.
And another photo from the 'Welcome Party' the dolls threw! Mandy and Jenny are going to be permanent residents now and so you'll see them more in the future.
Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!
Thanks for posting this! My Mandy was recently sent home with me from my parents' house and I was curious how her size compared with the American Girl dolls. You must have taken better care of Mandy's hair than I did. I still have darn near every outfit except for missing pieces like one argyle sock. Where did that sock go? I remember being sad about losing it 30+ years ago.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica! My pleasure! Mandy was my favorite doll as a girl and I played with her endlessly... I had same problem as a girl only the "thing" I lost was one of my dolls yellow rain boots. I was so upset when I was a girl that it got lost! Hope this finds you having a great day!
DeleteI have 3 granddaughters, ages 8,8 and 13, all American Girl doll fans but who have inherited their mothers' My Friends Mandy and Jenny. They are now beginning a sewing class and I think those simple patterns would be so fun for them to use for clothes to be adapted to the American Girl dolls. Where can I get copies of the patterns?
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to get patterns as well. I plan to make some clothing. I would love to get some shoes for my dolls.
DeleteHi Dear Readers,
ReplyDeleteI managed to find some of the patterns my Granny sent me back in the day... However they've all already been 'cut up' into pieces because she used them to make clothes. In fact, one of them still has the fabric attached of an outfit she didn't get a chance to finish... So... I am not sure how I'd share them with you but I've been considering perhaps just scanning in the pattern pieces and then they'd be able to be printed? Not sure? Thoughts?