Bicycling Outfit II (RETIRED)

[Laura Isabella]

Released in 2014 under the BeForever branding, and retired in 2018.

Proper young ladies wore dresses in Samantha’s day—except when they rode bicycles! Samantha loves the freedom of this outfit, which includes: Houndstooth-checked bloomers, A pretty white eyelet blouse with long puffed sleeves, A wide straw hat with a grosgrain ribbon, Removable gaiters to help keep her legs from getting dirty, A pink hairbow to pull back her long locks.


Samantha's Bicycling Outfit
Item# BKD33
Includes
Houndstooth-checked bloomers
A pretty white eyelet blouse with long puffed sleeves
A wide straw hat with a grosgrain ribbon
Removable gaiters to help keep her legs from getting dirty
A pink hairbow to pull back her long locks

Grade A-



Samantha's outfit comes with an embroidered blouse, houndstooth-checked bloomers, gaiters, a hat, and a pink bow for her hair. I love the little pleats on her houndstooth-checked bloomers.



The embroidery is adorable! I can overlook any historical inaccuracies for something this darling. One such potential inaccuracy is that the teal border at the neckline is actually elastic! However, the blouse is striking on Samantha and really compliments her coloring.



I did have some concerns with the gaiters. While I love the pearlized buttons, I am concerned the felted material might not hold its shape with repeated play. The fit was very tight on both gaiters and required a strong arm to get the velcro along the back sides to meet. Adding to my frustrations, I kept snagging the velcro on her tights.



Her hat is adorable as well, if a bit gigantic. It is a nice outfit variation if one wants to swap out the pink bow (which is also cute) for this second look.



I love this outfit! It was the top of my list for Beforever Samantha, and in spite of my disappointment and frustration with the gaiters, I think this outfit is well worth the price. I give this outfit a very confident A-.

More pictures and discussion of this outfit can be found on my blog here.

[steph6467]

I agree with Laura Isabella's review and had the same concerns about the felt gaiters. I love the top and bloomers, though.

Overall: Worth the price, A- with credit taken away for the cheapness of the felt used for the gaiters.

I did a video review of this outfit. I don't have Samantha, so I used Avery (MYAG 55) for my model. There are additional photos at the end of the video.

[starwenn]

I've been looking for the original bike bloomers for my PM Samantha for ages. I was thrilled when I saw these! On one hand, they are very cute, as noted above. I love the real embroidery on the blouse and how nice and soft the checked bloomers are. However, it's also been noted that the gaiters are cheap felt that probably won't last for very long in play and are difficult to put on. Actually, the entire outfit is tight as heck. I had to struggle to get the bloomers over Sam's legs and the blouse over her arms. It looked cute when it was on, but keep that in mind if you're buying it for a PM doll.

I never thought Sam had enough hats, so I was happy to get this one! It's hard and well-constructed and should stand up to a lot of play. And as someone who can't tie bows to save her life, I'm glad they've started putting the girls' ribbons on scrunchies. (This one looks cute with her meet outfit as well if you didn't get the bow for that.)

Even with the aside, this is still a darling outfit and is recommended for people with Mattel or BeForever Samanthas who missed out on her bike bloomers the first time.

[Grammy Carol]

Well, thankfully, I have more than one Samantha, because my white bodied Sam, doesn't like showing her white body at her neckline. "Sigh"… Also, it was all I could do to pull up her knickers over her bottom since there is no placket, only elastic. Another "sigh". I ended up putting the outfit on without stockings because she had been wearing her proper under things including her garters to hold up her stockings. Hmmm.

I guess WB Sam will stick with the pre-Beforever faire and let a newer Sam wear the Beforever stuff.

[cheshie04]

I think this is a cute outfit. It fit Mattel Sam just fine. The bow took a minute to arrange so that it would sit properly. The gaiters work with the plastic mary janes, but feel interesting. Good outfit. I have no clue where to store the hat now.


Mod edit to remove broken image links

[dragonflybg]

I bought this outfit with Nellie in mind and I think it looks great on her.  I love the top and bloomers.  The bloomer material is really soft.  The embroidery is pretty and the colors are springy.  I think it's nice that it came with a hairbow and a hat, though I'm not sure how much I'll end up using the hat.   

I do agree with other posters that the gaiters may not hold up very well. 

[Jamirae]

I bought this outfit when it went on half price sale. But I just can't reconcile Samantha wearing it. Nellie, maybe, but I don't have here or want her.

I was a teenager in the early 70s and there was a short period of time that knickers came in (and I guess back out). Sears or Penney's or some other catalogue giant offered these pretty goldish peach knickers with a striped turtleneck sweater in the same color. with socks and some neat two toned shoes, they were like the big thing among the cool girls at the school, which I was not, so I did not get. These knickers remind me of that, and I'm going to do something with them with either a 70s dolls or even a modern one. The blouse is all 70s and when I first saw it in an Ebay lot, I was sure it was Julie's I'm still flabbergastered that this is Samantha's outfit. I'm beginning to reconcile the fact that her new things mostly do not mesh well with the archived Samantha's wardrobe, at least in my opinion. But this piece is a true outlier in my mind.

I personally did not like the set, from the shoes to the hat, and though it was nice to include the ribbon, it didn't work well for me with the set for some reason. I give this set a C- and would not have purchased it full price or even for a discount less than the 50% one I got. The only piece I liked was the blouse which I give an A-, the minus because i think that neckline could have been done better. It doesn't hit the dolls in the most flattering way, though the blouse itself is very pretty. ISO of other bottoms to work with the skirt.