Ren Makes Stuff

I made Addy some bloomers.

I’ve always loved the idea of sewing some of the Samantha outfits from the book illustrations and/or movie that were never made into doll clothes, so this weekend I made the play dress from the original “Meet Samantha” illustrations!

Although a blue version of this outfit was officially released (which is where I got the pinafore for the picture), I just love this original black and white version.

Thankfully, despite the crazy weather, the cabbage patch is coming in nicely.

I have always liked the idea of making Nellie her own versions of some of Samantha’s outfits, so I spent the last few days making Nellie her own Meet Samantha dress.

It’s silver instead of gold but it adds a nice little piece of jewelry for her (made out of a basic lobster clasp, some chain and a charm I found one day at work)

I did not buy this doll, and I do not shop for dolls in this size or configuration. I bring this up solely because the AG 14.5" Modern Era dolls are getting compared to other similar lines lately.

This is Olivia, whose head mold screams "knock-off," though I lack the expertise to tell you if she's knocking off American Girl or My Twinn. Her eyes look a little ditzy here because she's leaning back in my cart -- the shelf configuration at Former Rite Aid Dollar Tree gave me nowhere near eye level to stand her upright. She also does have all of her eyelashes -- the glare was bad.

DO NOT GO TO THE WEB SITE LISTED ON HER BOX. It redirects multiple times through Chinese sites and ends with what might be a 403 error in Chinese. Seriously, don't do it.

Olivia has a biography in English and Spanish. Her dream is to be a ballerina. Her first recital is coming up, and she gets to wear a pink tutu (not included). There are more words, but it's repetitive.

Olivia has four friends, none of whom were at this Dollar Tree.

This one is mine. Her name is Abby and she's one of the second generation ones with articulated limbs. I did repaint her lips and eyebrows because they were just NOT working for me - her lips were bright pink and her brows were too dark for her hair color. (Current version on Amazon doesn't have bangs.)

Here's what she looked like before the repaint:

And she really does have the most interesting eyes:

As a kid I had one of the earlier versions, with the 3/4 vinyl limbs and stuffed body. She came stuffed and with no clothes. When I got her out years later her hair was disintegrating and falling out of her head.

This iteration looks basically like what JoAnn's had most recently, although I think the boxes are different. The outfit pictured on the back with the mint tunic/top and the black and white leggings was one of the first 18" doll outfits I got... probably 10 or so years ago when I started collecting 18" dolls.

slop has no place in fandom, or anywhere