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So the comments on the photos were a lot of "wow, 28 looks just like Marisol!" Now, I don't have Marisol, but I do have 28, and I absolutely love her.

Her hair is a blend of dark and light brown strands that falls just below her shoulders, with the same part as Marisol's. The hair on the left side of the part near her face is longer than on her right, which is rather cute and probably adds to the styling capabilities.

Her eyes are a nice dark brown - not so dark to be black, but very rich nonetheless.

I've noticed that in halogen lighting, as on the website photos, the lighter bits of her hair stand out, which makes her hair seem much lighter and very close to the skintone. But in daylight, her hair looked much darker.

Also, with her arrival in pigtails, her hair is rather stiff and clumpy along the part in the back, but I'm told that should get fixed with brushing.

A!

#28 in Josefina's outfits as requested! Well, I only have the Weaving one, but still, here ya go!












(I love that outfit so much! I had to play with the rebozo as many ways as I could )


Also, I managed to get the short hair into a ponytail. TA DA!




I've been able to do loads of hairstyles, but I've lost the blog post with photos.

I like best to do two pigtails, a single ponytail, or to pull bits of hair back from the front and secure with barrettes or bobby pins or the like.

I've also done two french braids, two regular braids, a half ponytail, which all took patience. And then I've done lots of styles that weren't really planned but made up as I went along, using twists and small braids and stuff. Last night I did a variation on the pony-veil that was really cute - one tiny braid from the hair next to the part at her forehead, a tiny braid further back along the part, and a tiny braid from the hair above her ear, then I pulled each of the three braids back and braided them together a short amount, then put in a barrette. I did that on each side and it was really cute.

Headbands - either the regular kind or tied ribbons - generally look really nice, too.


_{*mod edit to remove broken image links*}

A+!

I was not planning to buy any of the colonial girls' things, but I decided that Beatrice needed a nightgown, and I wanted to get a sleep-hat for her, so she could sleep in the bed sometimes without getting her hair messed up. Since the colonial night shifts have mob caps, we decided to get Elizabeth's.

The shift itself is very pretty. It has a rectangular neckline with some pretty pink and green flower embroidery right below. There is no waistline, since by definition, shifts don't have one. It is fairly close-fitting right under her arms (it doesn't fit smoothly on Beatrice or on the site photo), but flares dramatically into a very wide skirt, ended around her calves. The back has the soft velcro, which is about six inches long.

The sleeves were awkward to get on at first, because of the closeness at the shoulder and the elastic at the cuff, but I figured out how to get it around her hand, it all fit nicely. Well, except that I couldn't get it to fit smoothly around her shoulders, probably because extra fabric was added to make it roomier, and thus not as constricting during sleep.

The cap is a lappet cap, I think, except they don't call it that on the website, the way they call Felicity's cap a lappet cap. I don't have Felicity's shift, but I believe the fabric strip that frames the face is wider on Elizabeth's cap than Felicity's, to allow for the ribbon. The ribbon is about 1" thick and is a baby pink satin. The bow on top is one of those flat chocolate-box bows with four 'petals.' It is attached with two stitches at the center. The edges of the ribbon are stitched with the fabric strip to the main part of the cap. Skinny pink ribbons (also satiny on one side) are attached to the end of the lappets so you can tie the cap on.

The slippers are pink and satiny, soft on the bottom and top, with a bit of elastic to go around the heel to keep them on. They were easy to put on and are very soft - I wouldn't mind having a pair of my own! There is also a small flower embroidered on the top of each that matches the embroidery on the shift.

My other main problem with this, besides the fit of the shift, is the way the cap goes on. I learned since then that its main purpose was to keep the head warm, but since I wanted it to protect Beatrice's hair, I had trouble getting it on so that all her hair went underneath and it was secure. What I ended up doing was pulling the lappets behind her head and then tying the small ribbons around her ponytail, criss-crossing them so they were snug. The cap ended up staying on all night. When I had tied it so that the lappets were under her chin, as in the site photo, the edge/ruffle part was very loose and it kept falling backwards. This may also be because Beatrice has short hair.





You can see how I tied the lappets in that first photo. Like I said, that works really well for keeping it on securely. I believe it's because it pulls the crown tight around her head, which means it can't slide backwards.


--- KERI

This is the purple and berry-red set that matches the "mystery" sweatsuit for girls. The girls one has pictures of the historical characters on a sleeve to match the mystery covers, I believe.


The jacket and pants of this outfit are royal purple with berry red accents. There are little red flaps on the jacket that mimic the look of pockets (they aren't), and the stitching is all done in contrast red.

There is an AG star logo on the pants at the front of the left hip and on the jacket on the left breast. It's an iron-on type deal, so it's not very clear or bright, but it's there.

The shirt is white with red raglan style short sleeves. The ends of the sleeves and the hem of the shirt are all lettuce edges bordered in red, which means they have that curly look to them.

The shirt has a purple, red, and pink circle design across the chest.


What I think is the best part of this outfit? The socks and shoes! The socks are white sport socks with two purple stripes near the top. So cool! And the shoes are a shiny red with purple details, and the bottoms are made to look just like real sneakers, with a purple and red design. Oh, and the sneakers are slip-on, with no laces to tie. Very nice!



Now, as cute as the outfit is, I'm not crazy about the pants. They're sweatpants, so they cling to the doll and I don't like the way they look around her hip joints. The jacket and shirt are great, though, and do well as mix-and-match pieces. I really like the red raglan sleeves of the t-shirt - it makes a nice detail when worn without a jacket, so that it isn't all plain looking.


Overall, I give this outfit a B+. It's incredibly cute and I adore the shoes, but it's not so stunning that I'm going to rush to the website to order one right away. Luckily, I get to see it in person as Traveling Nora brought it with her.


Oh, and the jacket and pants feel like they might bleed purple onto the dolls if you leave them in it for too long in the heat, or if they get wet. I'm not sure, though. It's just a feeling I've got.

--- KERI

ETA:

I forgot that the pants have a stripe down the side! It's white and purple, but it's there!





A closer view of the t-shirt:

Nicki's Gala Outfit is $26 new, but I'd only pay $16 for it. I just don't like the color enough to pay full price, and the hair clasps bug me. Plus, the skirt's a little too small for my Beatrice.




Overall, I think it's about a B, breaking down into the following grades:
Color: C
Hair clasps: B+
Shoes: B-
Jacket: A (disregarding the color)
Skirt: B

Before I start going into details and slapping up photos, I'd like to note that I have 27 of them to share. I took the challenge of intensive reviews quite seriously, you see, and somehow when I took all the photo-examples I thought would be useful, I ended up with 27. They're all the default "small" size from my camera, edited only to adjust the contrast/color (ie: whites are actually white), but I'm going to try to get them resized shortly. I realized that 27 of these guys would be a lot lot more than just a couple. -.-


Color

This thing is a really super bright orangey pink. The catalogue photos (print and digital) make it appear to be a warm, rosey, hot-pink, but in real life, it's got such a strong orangey peachy tint to it. It looks completely different. When I lifted the lid of the box, I was surprised by how incredibly BRIGHT PINK it was, and I happen to love pink. It was really strong, even through two layers of tissue paper, which I tried to show with a photo.

I also put Beatrice (wearing the jacket) against backgrounds of other pinks to try and show the difference. In the first photo, I have a hot pink gift bag, which is imo a neutrally hot pink, a bright pink pack of tissue paper which is on the purpley side, and my magenta pillowcase. The second is the same but with a white wall instead of the pillow. And I've included one of the jacket against the AG box pink, for comparison.









Hair Clasps

I was surprised by how much these can grip. They're small, so I expected them to be somewhat useless. But, no! They're in two colors - the bright pink of the jacket, and a softer baby pink to match some of the embroidery in the skirt. There are only three of each color, though, which bugs me. I would really have liked to have four of each color, or only two of each. As it is, three is difficult to place symmertrically, and I'm weird like that. On the bright side, they have molded star shapes, which is really awesome! Only, why stars? The outfit's theme is floral...



Jacket/Shirt

I have to say, I think this looks just <i>awesome</i> with jeans. That's why I took photos of Beatrice wearing it with her jeans, of course! :3 I think the dark color of denim helps balance the bright pink a bit, and the styles work together to look very metropolitan chic.

The jacket is made to work like a blouse. The front inside is lined with a satin-type material, so I can imagine a real girl wearing it without anything underneath - or just a camisole or something.

The sleeves are a good fit, just loose enough to go on and off with ease but not so much that they look all saggy. The cuffs aren't real cuffs, by the way: the turned-up part of the sleeve is stitched down and a bit of the darker edging was added to make it look more folded-up cuff-like. That same edging runs all the way around the jacket in a big circle - from the collar, down the middle front, and around the bottom. It's more of a purply pink than the rest of the fabric, but not much. Still, it works well. I couldn't see it being lighter or white or black or anything. As it is, the color of the jacket is so bright you have to be careful that it doesn't get overwhelming and anything that really contrasts with it would be.

The collar is very short, so it's unlikely to get folded down or wrinkled funny, if you don't wad the jacket up in a ball.

The middle part of the jacket is the most interesting feature to me. It's reminiscent of a cummerbund, almost, or one of those wide belts that're fashionable right now. It also ages the outfit up a bit, by defining a waistline and a bustline. If you look at it, the top line is angled, just like the embellishments on shirts and bodices for ladies with boobs - because angling down under the boobs helps bring attention to them. If it weren't angled, it might not look as nice, but it might also be more acceptable (in my mind) for girls in the target AG range. I think it's okay for my eleven year old Beatrice, but only barely, and I like it way better with the jeans.

The little metal dots are really confusing for me. I can't figure out what they are, because they don't seem to go through the fabric. It's like they're just pasted on top. I worry that they'd fall off with a lot of play, or just a lot of picking at them. They are dual-colored, though, which I couldn't tell from most photos. The ones down the front are silver, the ones on the waist are silver and copper. By the way, it's a trick to get the silver ones to line up properly when velcroing the shirt shut. I had to do it very slowly and carefully, lining up each side of velcro exactly. So frustrating! But at least the velcro is the anti-snag kind, so it's easier to deal with.













Skirt

The skirt is ivory, somewhat yellow-tinted, probably to match the orangey peach color of the pinks. It has two main parts: a satin underlayer and a mesh/woven overlayer. They're sewn together in the center, forming something like a tube, and then folded at that seam to make the skirt (I've included a picture of what I mean if that's confusing!)

Both parts have a yoke, which is a simple, straight skirt shape, in my opinion. The rest of the skirt is a circle shape and gathered at the seam with the yoke, which gives it the nice, full look. For the underlayer, both parts are ivory satin. For the overlayer, the yoke is woven cotton and the circle part is three layers of mesh. Each layer is graduated, making the satin one the shortest and the outermost mesh one the longest. The difference is only about 1 or 2 cm, though.

The embroidery is on the outermost layer of mesh. It's an all-pink five-petal flower design with pink vines. It uses three shades of pink, which are found in the jacket and hairclips. Nice matchy-matchy, huh? I was impressed by the embroidery, myself, when I inspected it. It's fairly thick to feel and kind of heavy, too. It doesn't feel like a simple applique that was stitched/glued to the mesh; it's more like it was embroidered on the mesh itself, which is really nice. By the way, the embroidery cannot go anywhere but in the front, due to the way the waist/closure was done.

There is a smidge of thin elastic at the waistband in the back of the skirt, but not a whole lot. It really doesn't do much for fitting Beatrice, and is stretched out completely. The velcro is difficult to fit together evenly, and even though it's the anti-snag kind, it still pulls at the mesh a lot.



















Shoes

A lot of complaints are about how weird the ankle ribbons are on these. It is a bit confusing at first. It's basically a long loop doubled back on itself and stitched down at the crossing point to keep it doubled. That stitch goes in the front of the ankle, while the two free circles are in back - one runs through a loop attached to the back of the shoe. That bit of elastic is an orangey shade compared to the rest of the shoe, but it is awfully cute, even if it's difficult to put on. Part of it keeps getting stuck under Beatrice's foot whenever I have her wear them.

The upper is a pink faux-suede, a shade darker than the jacket. It's the basic ballet flat style with pink and gold sequin dots on the vamp, to match the design on the jacket. I'd be afraid that they'd fall off with heavy play or that the uppers would be ruined with a bit of damp.

The sole is tan plastic, textured on the bottom but still awfully shiny and slick. You have to be careful standing the doll so that she has enough friction to keep her legs from sliding out from under her. There aren't any heels or anything, though, so that's a major help with standing.












WHEW. That took a good two days of working on the descriptions and taking the photos, off and on. I know a lot of y'all have the outfit, but not everyone does and if we're trying to get a good set of reviews, well, this is as in depth as I could figure. -.-


--- KERI

Is it exactly like the Horselover hat, with a different tie, or are my eyes deceiving me? I already have the horselover one...


--- KERI

Nope, the tent is too small for them to stand up in. They have to lie in it, or "crawl" into it. It's really out of scale and tiny. I mean, just look at how wide the steps are - not nearly big enough for a doll to sit on, like is described in Molly's book.


--- KERI

I don't have the small rug, so I can't comment on it, though I'm ordering it a a replacement part soon.

Grade: C
Why?
I don't like the colors of the spread. It's very bland and could be so much more cheerful and cute to match the bed frame. Also, it is stiff and catches on the mattress if I try to adjust it. Instead of shifting the way it lies (say to get it more centered), the spread and mattress move. That's kind of frustrating. Also also, I don't like that the spread isn't lined, so that you can see the stitching that keeps the tufts attached. Since it's the only sheet/blanket for the bed, and by the way, why don't they offer more for historical beds???, it doesn't look very comfortable for my doll. Also, I don't care much for the throw pillow. I think they should have included another full-sized pillow, for when the trundle is extended, or a pillowcase or something.

I dunno, I just wasn't overly thrilled with it. Besides, Kirsten's and Addy's quilts have so much awesome story to them, and Kit's...not so much.

I have been told since I originally posted this review elsewhere that the bedspread is very authentic for the time period. My main problem is that it doesn't seem very comfortable to sleep under without another sheet, but we don't get a sheet set for Kit, much less any historical doll. It is a personal preference, though.


The throw pillow is about half the size of the bed pillow. It is offwhite and had a tufted decoration that matches the bedspread, also in offwhite. It's a cute addition to the set, but nothing really awesome.

The bedspread itself is a medium-thick piece of green cloth with blue chenille stitched to it in a diamond and dots pattern. The fabric isn't very soft, but I like running my hands over the tufts. I like the texture and how it feels. The green is the same shade as the pillow that comes with the bed, a minty green, and the blue is robin's egg, or thereabouts. Inky says it looks like someone attached Cookie Monster to the blanket.

When on the bed in single-mode, the spread easily falls to the floor on either side. It is a square shape, or mostly a square shape, with a fringe on all but one edge (presumable, that's the one near the head of the bed).It only overhangs on the ends a very little bit, and because of the way the bed is put together, it can't hang down at the foot too much or else it will get crumpled. It doesn't overhang the sides at all when the trundle is open, except for a bit of fringe, which makes it seem kind of small to me. But I can see how it'd be silly to use a bedspread that big on the smaller version of the bed...











(also, despite the C grade, I really do love this set. It's just not as awesome as it could have been, really)


--- KERI

I could have sworn that there was a thread already started for these, but I didn't see one. How odd, when americanmommy did something for all the other Kit items!


I will have a picture posted tomorow, probably. I want to do it in daylight, but I didn't get home from my dad's house (where I was recuperating from anasthaesia) until after dark. On the bright side, my package with the pyjamas and photography set was waiting for me. Yay!



Okay, now to business:

Kit's Beach Pajamas, KDO
$26

A+


The pajamas are a silky fabric and one piece. They veclro up the back, and the sailor's collar is split and attached to the pjs at the back, and the velcro. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well (my pain meds feel like they're struggling to kick in), but I was curious about whether it would be a flap or not, and it isn't a "true" flap.

Anyway, the blue is a beautiful Crayola-crayon blue, very rich and bright. The trouser part of the pyjamas has wide, flared legs. Very comfortable and chic, just like you would have seen movie stars wearing.


My hair ribbon came wrapped around a small card, like you cna do with embroidery threads or yarns, and it's the first of the hair ribbons I've received that is like that. Very, very nice!


The slippers are just darling. They're a faux-leather and bright red, and just like a pair of slide-on shoes, or stiff ballet shoes where the top part comes up higher over the foot. On that part is a big red pompom on each - again, SO cute. If I could get another pair of these I might take off the pompom and add small red beads or sequins to make them dress shoes.



As of right now, I don't have a single complaint about the set, but I haven't put it on my doll yet. She's still chillaxing with her new Pepperminsticks clothes, and I can't bear to undress her yet.



These would make a really fun slumber party outfit - something that a modern girl could wear out and about without looking like she's in her pajamas, but still very comfotable slumber party-ish. (I'm not the only one who had slumber parties and walked up the road to the 7-11 for slushies at sunset, am I? )



--- KERI

You can fit some things in with the doll on top, too. There's plenty of room around her legs, though I'm not sure about her head. Beatrice doesn't go in her trunk, though, so I use it to store things I don't want to display - mostly, my Hallmark collectibles.


--- KERI

I love this set so much! I mean, I knew that I would like it when I ordered it, because I love the 'doing' sets and this one is so cool, plus I like tiny things, but it exceeded my expectations, believe it or not!

I took lots and lots of photos so that if you want to attempt to replicate any part of the set, or to see exactly what something looks like if you're getting another version, you'll have better luck.


My favorite part? Hm... I love the way it comes with the smaller bits wrapped up in the bag, and I like that the lamp actually works! So does the harmonica and the binoculars, though they aren't calibrated for human size.

I don't like: you can't replace the lightbulb in the lamp, so be very careful not to break it. Also, the strap on the binoculars is leather-like on only one side. The other side looks felted or something.


When you open the box...



The lamp - the handle rotates, by the way:

With the directions for the batteries, so you can see how they go in and stuff.


The binoculars come wrapped up in tissue paper and plastic - the plastic is NOT resealable:



The flour bag:



The tin cans are pretty cool, but simple. They have a nice weight to them, but all the other neat things are in the pictures:




Harmonica - it actually works! There are four tones, but most mouths will probably be too big to really get it to play. I love how it fits in the little pocket on the front of Kit's overalls.




I hope these photos help everyone!


--- KERI

See, if I hadn't seen so many examples of albums that tied like that, I'd think the same thing, puglove. But it's so accurate to the examples I've seen, that I just loved it. Honestly, Emily's scrapbook is the bit I liked best about her accessories set, but it seemed kind of small - but it's about the right size for a photograph album. I have such odd biases.


One of the nice things about the camera case is that there is a small, weak magnet that keeps the flap closed. I say weak because it's really not strong at all, but I could tell that it was there when I closed it.


I didn't know that the pictures had sticky backs! I'll have to look at them later... And I really need to find my camera and upload the photos of it. I love this set much more than Molly's Rte 66 accessories - the camera is more fun, to me.


--- KERI

An up-close of the shoes in action, plus showing that they're velcro. We don't like velcro shoes here, because Beatrice has a wonky left foot which makes the velcro fit funny.

These are pseudo-leather rather than the canvas of Kit's swimsuit or meet sandals, and the punch-outs around the T-strap are absolutely darling. Just like the shoes I had as a kid in the 80s!


Also, yellow is Beatrice's favortie color, so she'll be wearing these quite a lot come summertime.


--- KERI

I lovelovelove the colors of this swimsuit on my Beatrice! Only, it was awfully difficult to get it ON. Is it supposed to be really tight? I love that the cap is made out of swimsuit-material, though. Very nice detail, that was.


--- KERI

Figure I'll add that I didn't have any trouble with the collar or pleats and I lay the outfit flat in the trunk so that they aren't bent funny. You can probably fix them easily with a press of the iron.


Also, thinking on it, I wish the shirt had little buttons. It's a bit awkward without them for me, and I think I'd use it a lot more if it had them. I might end up making some with clay and clear varnish, someday.


Further, I found that the jumper bunched all funny on my doll, like it was a couple sizes too large. I'm sure if I had a slip or something underneath, it would fit much more nicely. Is it is, I cinched the belt to the smallest size and then had the jumper bunched around in the back, and I liked the way it looked in the front much better.


--- KERI