Holiday Gown

[nararabbit]

This outfit is worn by Caroline in the book A Surprise for Caroline. It was released in 2012 and retired with archival in 2015.

Caroline wears her finest gown on Christmas Day. Make sure she's festive and fancy in this outfit, which features: A gown that would fit right in at a party set in 1812—it has jacquard stripe in shades of purple, floral detailing, a lavender ruched neckline, and a decorative buckle at the empire waist. A braided hairpiece trimmed in gold to sweep back her long curls. Elegant white gloves and embroidered shoes to complete her festive look.


Caroline's Holiday dress took me by surprise! Well, kinda. Her gloves are ugly and I won't be using them - they're shiny satin and just look weird.

Her dress is actually a gorgeous woven jacquard type fabric, with alternating bands of plum and light plum, and roses woven in between. The satiny neckline is wide and ruffly, very cute! The buckle is heavy, pretty sure it's plastic but it could pass for metal (so a good plastic!) I've attached a close-up, as the stock photo makes it look quite cheap and really it uses nice material.

(the close-up will be back, it for some reason keeps posting as HUGE, in the meantime it's available in the same album!)



And the shoes, for good measure:

[Mad Celtic Midwife]

This gown is gorgeous! The jacquard material is thick and beautifully embroidered. The ruffled neckline is gorgeous. The belt and buckle are much nicer in person than I anticipated. The buckle does look like real metal. The embroidered shoes match perfectly. The hairpiece is nice, I haven't tried it on a doll yet, but it is very pretty. I am not sure about the gloves yet. They are bright white and satiny, and while they are lovely on their own, I'm not sure how they will look with the dress. I feel like a light shade of lavender to match the dress may have been a better choice. Overall, this is a beautiful outfit. A

[sailormolly]

I wasn't expecting to like any of Caroline's clothes, but I fell in love with this dress as soon as I saw it. Of course it doesn't hurt that I love purple. Lanie is standing in as my "Caroline".

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 1 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

The fabric is a thick, woven fabric. The flower pattern isn't embroidered or ironed on. It's more like it woven in. Here's a view with the hem flipped up so you can see both sides.

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 6 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

The headband matches Lanie's hair perfectly.

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 2 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

It does have that obnoxiously big tag, but I just rolled it up and tucked it under the headband. That works for now. I may end up cutting it off at some point.

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 3 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 4 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

The gloves were a little snug the first time I put them on. But it was easier the second and third time.

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 5 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

The one thing I don't like about the gloves is the tag on the inside. The gloves are so tight that the tag is visible and leaves a fairly ugly lump.

The shoes are some of the prettiest shoes that AG has ever made. I'd love to have a pair for myself.

Lanie Cs Holiday Dress 7 by Elizabeth, on Flickr

Please excuse the indecent ankle picture. ;D I was having trouble getting the shoes on over a pair of Addy's (or Cécile's) white knee high socks. I eventually did get the shoes on with the socks, but it took a lot of effort and a large paper clip. I'm hoping they'll stretch out over time.

Cece Holiday Dress 1 by Elizabeth, on Flickr
Cécile in Caroline's Holiday dress minus the headband.

SailorMolly

[Deleted]

I have to agree with everyone else that this dress is fabulous. I love how thick and detailed the material is, and the shape is just so flattering. The silky light purple material of the neckline and sleeve ruffles can get a little picky/stringy if you aren't careful with it...so just be careful with it! The long gloves have a much nicer aesthetic effect than shorter ones like Cécile's. The shoes are very lovely and were actually my favorite part of the ensemble, but alas, the ones in my box ended up being a little bit too small to fit on over stockings (and barely big enough to fit over bare feet), so I'll be calling for replacements soon.
Overall, an A from me!

[¤Maddy¤]

This dress is GORGEOUS!

Pros:
The adorable little gloves, I have only ever had one pair of those gloves that came with an outfit I got years ago and I lost one. So I am so glad to have another set. The little headband is cute! The dress itself is detailed and seems very durable. The shoes are cute!

Cons:
The shoes were super hard to get on her feet. And also I think the headband is cute, but a bit silly if you just want to buy the outfit for another doll.

Over all grade: B+

Pictures will be added when I have time to post them!

[QNPoohBear]

I don't have much to add. Like everyone else I find this dress is gorgeous and well-made but everything is tough to get on. I couldn't get it on Susanna over a shift and it barely fit without a shift. The shoes don't fit Susanna (PM size feet) and the gloves were super tough to pull on. The dress fits Ruth (Mattel) perfectly and looks great on. One glove went on easily and the other needed some tugging. The shoes DO fit over light nylon stockings. I manage to squeeze the shoes on just barely over the heel and then I slapped the bottom of the shoe with my palm and it went on all the way. I didn't try the hairpiece. My only blond is Kirsten and she's PM. It looks way too small to fit anyone's head! Instead I paired the dress with a lavender ribbon from an Etsy dress.

Dress: A
Accessories: B
Overall grade: A-/B+

[lottie]

My DD picked this dress at AGDC last weekend for her Caroline doll. She particularly loves the gloves, and I think the overall prettiness of the dress is a great draw for the target audience. This morning she wanted to dress Caroline in a new outfit I had made, so I got the chance to dress my Elizabeth in it. Elizabeth is wearing it with Caroline's meet pantaloons and socks, and of course without the hair band, since their hair colors don't match. I think it is a lovely outfit. The only thing I am not crazy about is the hair that is part of the hair band - it looks weird and it limits the usefulness of the hair band. A nice simple gold band would have been a better choice.

I would give this outfit a solid A.

[WildPigeonChase]

When I first saw this outfit, my first reaction was that it looked like wallpaper However with Caroline's archival I decided to pick it up, since I knew I'd kick myself later if I didn't.

Overall, the outfit seems to be very high quality. The dress appears to be thick and woven, not just printed fabric. The silk-like fabric on the neckline and sleeves is great. The buckle is probably plastic but looks and feels similar to metal. The dress closes in the back with non-snag velcro, which is a nice feature.

The shoes are nice. They were a bit snug over stockings, but not too bad. The gloves are a bit hard to get on, and feel like polyster, so I don't really use them. The headband is a nice touch, but has a ridiculously big tag on it. It doesn't really lay perfectly flat on her head either. I think a headband of ribbon/fancy trim alone would be nice, so dolls of any hair color could wear it.

I still think it looks like wallpaper (and is quite pricey), but it is a good, seemily accurate holiday outfit for Caroline with some nice touches.

[Wickfield]

Here are some photos of my Caroline in the gown, I didn't realize I hadn't posted any before:

[dragonflybg]

From the AG website:

Caroline wears her finest gown on Christmas Day. Make sure she's festive and fancy in this outfit, which features:



A gown that would fit right in at a party set in 1812—it has jacquard stripe in shades of purple, floral detailing, a lavender ruched neckline, and a decorative buckle at the empire waist

A braided hairpiece with golden trim to sweep back her long curls

Elegant white gloves and embroidered shoes to complete her festive look

$36

The fabric of the dress is nice and thick and reminds me a bit of upholstery fabric.  The colors are pretty with a darker purple and light lavender accents.  The decorative buckle is a nice touch and I included a close up picture of that below.

I love the shoes!  The embroidery is fantastic.  The only downside is that they are a bit snug fitting especially over socks or stockings.  

[keeperofthepast]

I only chose to have the shoes that come with this set. The embroidery and gold stitching is lovely. I would love a pair in my size.