Post by maggiedoll on Aug 16, 2015 1:44:29 GMT -5
•A bright woven check dress with a full skirt, simple gathered bodice, and short bell sleeves—popular styles in Addy’s day
•A crisp white pinafore with purple grosgrain trim and patch pockets for carrying her sewing supplies
•Soft white stockings
•White canvas lace-up boots with shiny black toe caps
•Measuring tape
•Pretend sewing scissors that open and close
•A cute bird-shaped pincushion that Addy can really hold
On my Addy (who for some reason looks a little grayish green),
American Girl and I have an agreement, they make Addy stuff, I buy it. It is a nice system and as a sewing nerd myself I am glad that Addy has finally got to embrace her inner dressmaker.
For some reason, I had it in my head that this dress would be made of American Girl issue taffeta, it just has that look to it I guess. However it is a very nice, kinda heavy cotton with a nice feel to it. The dress is a bit roomy and has a skirt to fit the full set of mid-Victorian undergarments my Addy wears. I do wish that the dress had a higher neckline because her chemise has to tucked in under the dress and it still looks strange.
Yes Virginia, Victorians did were dresses with low necklines and short sleeves!
An 1860s dress with the closest shade of purple I could find on Pintrest. Nobody loved color more than the mid-19th century consumer. Bright colors for wallpaper, furniture and clothing. So bright we might even find it a bit garnish today. Addy surely would had the ability to own a purple and blue dress fabric was getting cheaper and more ready-to-wear options slowly coming to the working class. Plus Momma was a sewer and there was also a second-hand shop in the neighborhood. Frankly, Addy should get to wear this dress, she looks great in blue and purple.
Addy's apron is a bit too matchy for my taste, and for mix and matchers I think it would hard to find another dress to wear this apron with. It is of the same idea as the plaid pattern dress and the original birthday dress but original enough to not feel like a repeat. It is soft cotton and is easy to put over the dress.
The dress also comes with shoes and stockings...which I gave to another doll and completely out of my mind at the time of the picture taking. The shoes are just like Addy's summer boots in color and texture but the only difference is the laces are permanent and the back goes up with Velcro. The stocking are thin but not thin enough to show skin or feel fragile. However as much as I love Addy there is only so many black and white boots she needs. It would had been nice instead if maybe she had a ribbon or another hair accessory.
Now the goodies that make this dress the Sewing Dress and also the $48 dollar dress. There is a measuring tape, pincushion and scissors.
The pincushion is the best of the lot. The bird is heavy plastic with a fuzzy coating and looks like a peep. Multi-purpose pincushions, sometimes in the shape of an animal, were big in Addy's time. This bird might had had a built in tape measure, been able to clap onto a table to hold fabric or trim or been able to double as a needle case. I think American Girl might had been going for an idea like this:
Our little guy is cute, but Addy can't even hold her. She does have to very fake-looking pins sticking out of her. But why can't she at the very least have an attached tape measure?
As for the tape measure, I forgot to take a photo of it. It is a short piece of ribbon with two plastic ends. It is too short for Addy to even put over her neck.
American Girl's plastic often does not bother me, I have a cat and a habit of having my dolls underfoot I often prefer plastic. However...I appreciate what American Girl was going for with the scissors but it is not there. The plastic makes the scissors look too thick and almost a bit cheap. This could had been made better.
Bonus though, Addy can hold her scissors and it looks like she might actually be cutting! As a personal bonus for my Addy, we have been passively working on making her hatbox as her sewing/knitting box for a couple years now and we have completed the set without spending $20 on tiny metal scissors and a relatively period correct pincushion all we need now is that bloody needle book...
I grab my sewing doll July to model that plaid outfit. I was a bit worried that the Sewing Dress would look too much like the Plaid dress and the Flower Picking/Kite Flying/Whatever You Call it Just Buy it Please! dresses. They are all different enough that you don't need to be a complete Addy Collector to justify getting them.
As much as I like this dress I do feel that something is missing, a Gody's Lady's Book, a pattern, some fabric or maybe a needle book or maybe even a sewing machine? What about a hair ribbon? The lack of another thing is not enough to make me feel gipped about the $48 cost, I think the dress is very nice and the pincushion is cute. The whole outfit just feels a bit lacking. B