When it rains...

So with all my little jaunts into sewing I felt I should get back into knitting for dolls for a bit. It's always so enjoyable completing a project that much sooner (and with small projects for dolls you get that quite quickly). I thought I might try knitting (and possibly sewing too) for an 18" girl. My mother-in-law Joan has been sewing for them for years and though I may not have skills at her level I was feeling that I might give it a go, and I felt I could most certainly come up with some knitted patterns for them that would work. I decided on a Madame Alexander play doll. I liked the look of them when I was last visiting Joan, helping her with their hair and making them look presentable. It was great fun. The American Girl dolls are quite cute, but there was just something about the classic beauty of the MA girls that captured my attention and wouldn't let go, not too mention that they cost far less than an AG girl.

So with a bit of searching... careful searching as I'm on a budget, I looked for a girl I could clean up and get ready for dressing in hand sewn/hand knit clothes. I checked second hand shops first but had no luck, so I turned to Ebay and this is the girl I eventually chose...

I payed about $23 including shipping (like i said, budget). I think I got her so inexpensively because her left leg is shifted a bit forward, thankfully this did not interfere with her ability to pose in the least. Her hair was a bit of a rats nest (as I'd been informed it would be -- apparently MA girls have lovely soft hair, but without a bit of help it can become quite a mess. Quality-wise according to what I'd read they were as good - or better- than AGs but the hair... well, as I said I'd been warned).

So I got her home and after a clean up and a bit of futzing with her locks (including redoing her two little braids) I knit up a dress for her and here's the result.

I gave my husband the honor of naming her ( I always name all the Blythes) and he dubbed her Camilla, I've been calling her Cami for short. I had a friend called Cami once and I do think the name suits her.

Then something odd happened, a few days after Cami arrived I was at Thrift Town and I found this...

And yep, sure enough, she's also a Madame Alexander... I was delighted at the $5.99 price tag and snapped her up. Aaron named this girl Chloë. I cleaned her up with a Magic Eraser, got rid of all the nasty marks on her, and then went to work on her hair, and --OMG!!!-- her hair!!! If I thought Cami had it bad.... anyway, I knew I'd need to repaint her lips so I went down to Michaels to get lip paint and found this girl on clearance for only $6.99...

She's a Springfield girl... a knockoff of AGs. I almost left her there because as I said, I'm not as keen on the look of the AGs (though I've seen some really cute ones), but I figured at that price I couldn't pass up the opportunity to knit and/or sew for a slightly different body type. Aaron named this girl Tiffany. Right now she's just in Cami's dress but I'm going to come up with something just for her later. I think she was so inexpensive because her box was a bit bashed up and she had a black rub on her nose, Magic Eraser to the rescue! It doesn't show well but I added some faint freckles to her as well. I wasn't sure about her at first but she's terribly photogenic and I'm very pleased I got her.

Oh, here's Chloë all fixed up...

And here she is in a cute little outfit I made for her. I wanted something bright and springy, and as we're coming up on Easter I thought this fit the bill nicely. The lace gives it a nice touch I think, I may go ahead and put the patterns out there for others after I give it a more thorough going over.

So yes, I suppose when it rains, it really can pour. :)