My Tolly Tots 18Inch Doll Collection... So Far... An Update...

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends


I've decided to try and update my 'My Collection... So Far...' posts gradually as I get the time and photos taken. Since I just had a few of the Tolly's out for the recent amazing new-in-box clothing ensemble sets I got on eBay, I figured I might as well just make a 'My Collection' update of them.

That's all of them! I'll try and get back here later to link you to where they all came home to the Doll House. Time to herd the cats get the kids up and out the door for school!

Have a great Wednesday!

XXOO

Heather

My Collection of Our Gen & Tolly Tots and Journey Girl Dolls... So Far....

Hi Doll Friends!

So as I mentioned in my last post I decided to do updated group photos of each of the different 'kinds' of dolls I have. I knew if I were going to do it, I'd have to just pull all the dolls off the shelves and photo them in the outfit they are currently wearing or it'd never get done. If I tried to make them all match, I'd have to leave the project in my will for my daughter to do I imagine. Haha. So when you see some of them in their PJs or whatnot, don't judge ok? They were literally dragged out of their beds. (Kidding! They just got stored that way after sleepover scenes)

I decided to start wtih my Our Generation Dolls formerly known as Battat. As you will be able to see, since my last post about my Our Gen dolls, my collection has grown since then. Also, a few of the dolls have been re-named or re-wigged although I'd have to go check the old posting a little closer to tell you which ones.

Whats funny is I set up a 'backdrop' and then set up all the dolls... Then I realized that the spot I'd set up the backdrop that had seemed so perfect, um, well, I had no room to get far enough back to take the photo. Oy! I knew if I took them all down after spending the half hour (more?) setting them up, I'd never do it so I just did the best I could with somewhat weird angles. So, sorry for the rubbish photo angles!!

 

My Our Generation Dolls names are:

Back row (Left to right): 

 -Jamie J (redhead with purple gym outfit)

 -Bernie C (Short haired brunette with purple headband) *Customized 

 -Ashley D (Blonde boy in camo) *Customized

 -Handra D (Brown hair in Micky mouse hoody)

 -Vito C (Blonde boy in middle in gray) *Customized

 -Hector P (Brown haired boy with blue shirt) *Customized 

 -LaQuela B (brown hair girl with pink headband) 

 -Mike (brown haired boy in yellow shirt) *Customized

 -Judy D (Blonde hair in beige vest)

 -Mo' B (Brown hair in white tank top)

Second row from back:

-Courtney S (Short haired blonde with pink bow) *Customized

-Katie G (Brown hair in Minions sweatshirt)

-Buffy S (Blonde with pony tails)

-Shantea W (Reddish hair in red shirt)

-Florence W (Red hair in pink)

-Sean C (Curly honey colored hair in black dress with flower)

-Holly D (Long brown hair in red scarf)

-Brandi K (Black hair in black dress with cats motif)

Third row from back: 

-Becky H (Reddish brown hair in pink)

-Stepanie A (Blonde in flowered dress with grey shrug) *This doll is a 15inch Battat Little Friend

-Cyndi B (blonde in green yoga jacket)

-Stef K (Red hair in blue top) *Also a 15inch Battat

-Jenndeck C (Honey blonde in burgandy scarf)

Front row:

-Grace V (Honey blonde in blue vest) *Customized

-Annie B (Red curls in flowered dress) *Customized

-Jordan A (Dark hair in black and white stripes)

It seemed genius when I put it up because I did it in a space in my doll room where I wouldn't have to take down the whole living room, kitchen, dining room "Great room" I have set up in the lions share of my doll room. Except with this many dolls crowded into the scene, there was no room to get far back to take such large group photo. Oh well.... Better this than nothing and I'll set them all up again soon. 

Since I took them all out grouped together I am going to put a lot of my dolls away by 'kind' now so that then when I do photo shoots I can just pull one doll of each 'type' and 1) have a variety of face sculpts and such in each scene and 2) rotate the dolls more regularly... I try to take them all out once a month or so and change their clothes and brush or fix their hair but sometimes it doesn't happen as often as that. As you may can tell since some of these dolls have Summer clothes on and it's December already! Time flies!

I put all of the OG's away then moved the backdrop to a space where I'd have a bit more room to take photos! Lesson learned! I decided to pull out one of my very favorite kinds of dolls. Tolly Tots! My very first 18inch doll, gifted to me by my daughter when I got into sewing for dolls, was a Tolly Tot. Between that and how well they are made if they were still being produced they might just be my favorite kind of 18inch doll but given that you can only get them on the secondary market, I don't like to say that because I don't want to recommend a doll that isn't really even readily available. You can generally find them on eBay but not everyone likes to shop that way.

My Tolly Tot dolls are:

-Adam D (Ash blonde/gray hair in gray jersey) *Customized

-Holly D (Blonde with American Flag on shirt)

-Electra C (Gray/purple hair in owl sweater)

-Sasha C (Brown hair in red/blue PJs)

-Rose C (Brown hair in pink)

-Dakota C (black hair in black Addidas outfit)

-Josie D (Auburn hair in pink shirt 

-Jean Luc P (bald boy in striped shirt) *Customized (head from Tolly Tot baby doll)

Next come Journey Girls and Espari dolls. I group them together because I think of them as basically the same doll line... Their bodies are identical and face sculpts very similar. I love both types and am have the Limited Edition set of them on my wish list to my husband this year. 

My Journey Girls are: 

Back row:

-Lauren S (Blonde in pink boots)

-Emily Anne C (raven hair in red jacket) *Customized Espari doll

-Roseanna D (Brown highlighted hair in red/blue knitted poncho)

-Hemalayaa B (Black hair in Peanuts hoody)

-Adilyn A (Black hair red sweater)

-Susannah O (Red hair blue nightgown with pink flower)

-Portia B (Black hair in blue nightgown with frogs) 

-Carissa D (Blonde hair in Hello Kitty shirt)

Middle Row:

-Pam D (Brown hair pink shawl) *This is an Espari Doll from Barnes & Noble

-Carlene S (Black hair in OG Lettermans jacket)

-Aliyah A (Black hair with red barrette) *also an Espari doll

Front row: 

-Karen H (Reddish brown hair in red striped shirt) *Customized 

-Scarlett B (Dark brown hair in pink vest) 

-Stephanie D (Red hair in brown jacket) *Customized

That's all for now friends!! I am planning on doing more different 'kinds' of dolls but it's a bit more time consuming than you may imagine. The Journey Girls and Espari's are still in same poses because I ran out of steam.... I meant to take a few more angles but then got pulled into other things (non doll related stuff sometimes makes itself a priority... Eh?) and didn't get back to it. So I'll take a few more angles before I take them back down to put them away. 

Till next time!

XXOO
 Heather

Fancy Spring 18inch Doll Dress Upcycle Project!

Greetings Doll Friends!

Spring is almost here!! Time to pull out the pretty Easter dresses for the dolls! Oh, what's that you say? You don't have a pretty Easter dress for your doll? No problem! If you can get your hands on a newborn or 3month sized baby dress in a pretty spring floral print and, in a few short stitches, you'll have an dress for your doll just in time for Easter Sunday!

Here are the two I made! Both dresses only took about an hour to make, start to finish. Admittedly I have been sewing since I was knee high to a grasshopper and have honed my skills pretty well but honestly, if you can sew a strait seam, you're all set. 

Here is the first dress I used. I. Love. It! It's a Laura Ashley and I've adored her dresses since I was girl. Sure you can't imagine that, me, loving frilly Laura Ashley dresses? But yes, I love it! I knew going in it would be bit more work because it's too long to just use seam line as is on a doll... That smocking made it worth it though! So I plunked down my $1.49 at Goodwill, brought it home and set to work!

First I fit the dress on the doll, much like the procedure in other Upcycled doll dresses in the past. I am getting to where I am learning about how big the dolls are and can kind of eyeball the sizing but until you've made a few, you always want to fit onto doll.

Got to working too quickly on this one because I was excited about it being done and forgot to take as many photos as I should've As you can see in this photo, I figured out where I needed to make my seam (see under the arm hole of dress, there is a white seam? That is my sewing lines. I fitted it on doll, pinned it at the right place in the arm hole and then literally just took a ruler and made a line down to make my pin line. See the red line on the top, from under the arm hole? That's the line I made and I pinned and then sewed right along that same line. Then I measured again to determine how long it should be and hemmed it up. When hemming, one of the button holes ended up being covered with the hem, so I simply made a little hole in that spot to allow the button to come through, if that makes sense. 

Here is final dress. I didn't cut off the bottom to hem and might should have as it makes the skirt a bit poofy but my daughter said she liked the look and far be it from me to not pull stitches out when she is happy and I am happy enough, right? 

Here is dress on Saige. I always try to have an American Girl Doll model the dresses too because body types are a bit different and so many people ask "How does it fit on an AG?"

Here is dress number two! It's just perfect for Easter with it's bright colors! This one had several layers to it, it was lined... Which can seem kind of daunting but really isn't that big of deal as long as, when you pin it, you make sure all the layers are laying flat with one another! This way you won't end up with puckers in the cloth when you turn it right side out again!

So, as you can see, I followed same procedure as above, making a line down from arm hole and sewing down that line. Since this one was so many layers, zig-zag stiched it to make sure all layers stayed in place. Then I turned it inside out to make sure I liked how it looked (because if I needed to rip out stitches, I didn't want to have to rip out two layers!) and then turned back inside out and zig-zag stitched it again. As you may have surmised from other posts, I like my doll clothes be very durable in the hands of little girls so I finish off seams very particularly! It's not necessary though, so if you just wanna sew it once, it would be fine I am sure. 

So, now that I've made my seams, I turned it out and fit it on doll. The extra cloth makes it look a bit strange on the doll but it will give you one last chance to make sure it fits before you...

Hold your breath and cut off the extra fabric past the seam. Leave a generous seam allowance! Better safe than sorry I think. 

Here they are!! All ready for a Spring Party!! They've gotten all bathed and primped in our new Doll Bathroom! If you didn't see the post about that, you'll have to check it out!! Just click here: 

Doll Bathroom

So that is it for my latest doll clothes upcycle! To think it all started with one jeans leg skirt?! I was hooked! I made doll clothes with my Granny as a child and to get a dress it was seemingly hours of pinning patterns and pinning hems etc... So to have a dress nearly make it self, it's just too much fun! I digress but my whole objective to show you how totally do-able this is! You can do it! If you mess up a few second hand baby clothes in the meantime, it's a small price to pay for learning to make a snappy wardrobe for your dolly! Remind me to tell you of the gorgeous smocked dress I totally ruined myself not so long ago... I kept it, hoping to give it a re-think but I suspect it is toast. So, it happens.

I have to run because, alas, the real world never lets me stay long enough in the Doll House...
Thanks for stopping by!! See you next time!