Marie-Grace's Skirt Set

[EofA]

This outfit is worn by Marie-Grace in the book Marie-Grace and the Orphans. It was released in 2011 and retired with the collection's archival in 2014.

Marie-Grace wears this jacket when she goes to the market—it has a delicate floral print, grosgrain ribbon bows, and pretty ruffled trim. Her full skirt with gathers at the waist is the perfect match.


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Marie-Grace wears this jacket when she goes to the market; it has a delicate floral print, grosgrain ribbon bows, and pretty ruffled trim. Her full skirt with gathers at the waist is the perfect match

This is such a sweet set and I am very fond of the details and colors, which flatter Marie-Grace's pretty eyes. I wish the blue was bolder like in the above illustration, though, and not so pastel. Antebellum prints erred to the side of boldness, and I prefer historical accuracy over toning things down to suit modern sensibilities.

Photos:





Detail:


From the back:


The collar, peplum ruffle, and ribbon bows all lay nicely but if picking this out in person I would check to make sure the jacket you are looking at does the same. I could see that being a potential problem from piece to piece.

Grace is wearing the skirt over her skeleton or cage crinoline in these photos. The crinoline was an ingenious device that gave the desire shape without the bulkiness of multiple layers. This skirt is generously cut to fit over the crinoline, so it works passably well. In real life, girls would wear a petticoat over the crinoline to smooth out the shape of the boning, and this skirt doesn't quite accommodate that. So IMO the skirt should be cut more generously overall for the proper antebellum look.

Grace's pantaloons are meant to just peek below the skirt, which itself has an elastic waist and slips on easily. The jacket has evil hair-snagging velcro in the back, so beware.

Grace is wearing her Meet boots with this set, which I think look smart and would have been appropriate for everyday wear.

A simple bonnet for outdoors to protect her skin would have constituted a nice accessory to enhance this outfit, maybe along with a market basket for when she makes groceries at the old French Market!

I do like this set but at $28 original retail, it should have included a set of matching hair ribbons. Sure I can add my own but I shouldn't have to at that price. That aside, I rate it an A for what it does bring to the collection: a pretty, well-made set for casual wear.

ETA that the paper doll set for the NOLA characters refers to this as Marie-Grace's "School Dress!"

[bab*]

Though this dress was clearly designed to bring out MG's eyes, Cécile is lovely in it too.

I do think it could have included hair ribbons at $28. A set to match the blue grosgrain bows would have been nice. I also would have been willing to pay more to have it come with boots - in the books MG often wears two-tone white and tan boots that would have looked nice with this.

I found the skirt a little hard to get on. The elastic was a bit tight. No way to get this over the hoops, so I had to take them off, put the skirt on, and then put the hoops on under the skirt. As much as I don't like velcro, I think it would have been easier to deal with in this case.

Overall: B. Pretty, but not without its issues.

[jonilynn]

I love this outfit, although I wouldn't have paid full price for it. The print material feels (and wrinkles) like 100% cotton. I gave it a press when I took it out of the box and now it looks great. The Crinoline and Chemise (or anyway, the crinoline) are a must underneath.

I also wanted to add that the outfit doesn't come with matching hair ribbons - why, AG? - but I compared it to my ribbon swatch cards, and the Offray 'Bluebird' grosgrain ribbons are a mighty close match.

[Christie0316]

I was very annoyed that for $28 this set did not even come with matching ribbons, which I think is ridiculous. If it hadn't been a gift, I might have boycotted this outfit... It was a pretty bland "set" with just the top and bottom.

However, it does look lovely on Marie-Grace, and her slippers are actually the right shade of green to go perfectly with it if you are not too picky about the fact that she probably would not have worn bedroom slippers out in public (although they mention silk slippers in the books that the girls wore with dresses, and MG's slippers look more like real shoes to me...)

_{*MOD EDIT to remove member's deleted image link*}

[skukla]

[madisoncheers4u]

This set really brings out MG's eyes, and from what I can tell, it looks darling on Cécile, too! It takes a little getting used to, with the over-sized bows and the big collar, but I just adore it now.

I completely agree that it needs something else. A ribbon or shoes would be nice. I use Rebecca's School Set ribbon with mine.

*(Pictures coming soon!)*

[lindsayr]

I have always thought this was a cute set, but I didn't want to pay so much for just the top and skirt. I ended up ordering while on spotlight, and although it's a better deal I wish they had ribbons or something included. I guess I will have to go buy some ribbon to match.

My first impression when I pulled out the outfit was that it is much nicer than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised that it feels more like cotton than any other NOLA outfit I have encountered. The skirt is also much fuller than I thought. The fabric seems a little faded to me, but it is a pretty color/print. I haven't had a chance to try it on, but it seems less skimpy than many other outfits I have recently gotten.

I am glad I bought this, but would think hard before paying full price-it really needs an accessory to make it worth full price. Grade A

[bhaythie]

First things first... Why no hair ribbons?? Blue. White. Yellow-ish green. Any one of those colors would have been lovely.
This is a very pretty ensemble, but I do think that the colors should have been more similar to the illustrations with the bold turquoise as the base opposed to pastel blue. The skirt is cut generously to allow the crinoline cage underneath (pictured with crinoline). I would prefer a velcro or zipper closure to the skirt because I always worry about elastic loosing it's stretch over time. I really love the cut of the jacket! The little peplum gives such a smooth transition to the skirt. I do think the three bows are scaled a tad too large when compared to their relative size in the illustrations.
Grade: B-

[keeperofthepast]

What a darling set and it set off Marie-Grace's lovely eyes. The multitude of ruffles makes it extra sweet. It certainly needs hair ribbons to finish it off though.