Post by mamared on Mar 5, 2022 23:49:26 GMT -5
Pink frilly florals might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this American Girl x LoveShackFancy collaboration is right up my dolls’ alley! Here’s the official description, along with additional thoughts and photos …
SKU#: HGY92 $44
This dreamy outfit is everything we adore about spring! Designed in collaboration with LoveShackFancy to match the girl-sized dress, it features:
A three-tier tea-length dress in a mixture of signature LoveShackFancy prints—Peony Garden, Rosa Beaux, and Aegean Coast—plus adorable details like lace-trimmed ruffle sleeves, smocking detail on the bodice, and a sash at the waist that ties in a bow - This is such a pretty, well-made cotton piece. Each tier is a different but coordinating fabric, and even though I’m not always a fan of smocking, I love it here. The large bow is firmly stitched on, and the whole thing closes with a strip of Velcro up the back. The entire dress is lined with cotton (as were the coordinating $88 little girls’ dresses, which were selling briskly when I was in the store). Grade: A+
The bodice is Peony Garden and the bow is Rosa Beaux. Tiers of Aegean Coast, Peony Garden, and Rosa Beaux are each trimmed with pink lace. I like the combinations of prints.
The Rosa Beaux sleeves are also trimmed in pink lace. The smocking is a nice touch, too.
The dress has a white cotton lining in the front and the back.
The special tag for this collaboration.
A pair of pink sandals with satin elastic crisscross straps and bows on the outer ankles - These are cute, though not as well made as the dress and clearly not the star of the show. They fit just fine and I wouldn’t worry about them coming off unintentionally; if anything, it can take a minute to put them on because of having to put the straps on first. Grade: B
A headband with satin-elastic double straps and soft pink chiffon flowers - There are two chiffon flowers, a large pink one and a smaller pale pink one, and on the opposite side from the flowers, a small bow is stitched on to the elastics. I’m really happy with the inclusion of a headband and also pleased with its functionality and appearance. Grade: B+
An activity booklet that includes three perforated paper dolls and outfit pieces for fun fashion play - I think this trifold piece is a nice extra. I won’t be using it, but I think it’s cute. I appreciate that it has different pieces from the collection and also that some diversity is represented in the paper dolls. All of the dolls and items are printed on only one side, and seem that they’d punch out of the card stock with ease (they were already starting to pop out as I handled them). Grade: B
Overall, this set earns an easy A from me.
There are three other notes I wanted to add about this set …
First, regarding the length of the dress. Someone else on the board noted that the dress can be temporarily shortened by folding the bottom tier up inside of the dress. These pictures show Gabriela holding up the middle tier so you can see how it’s stitched on, and then what it looks like with the bottom tier folded up. I like having this built-in option!
Second, a quick comparison to the Bitty version of this dress. The Bitty version is a very similar dress in all aspects of quality and construction. AG sells the Bitty version for $40 and describes it as “A three-tier tea-length dress in a LoveShackFancy signature floral print, a headband with chiffon flowers, sandals, and a paper-doll activity booklet.” The main differences with the Bitty version of the dress is that the bottom tiers and overall length are shorter, and that bodice is a little roomier. (The bodice on the 18” version fits my slim GOTY 2017 Gabriela well, and is snug but still fits my GOTY 2006 Jess. I don’t know how well it would work on larger PM dolls.) ETA: I tried it out on older dolls and added to my review in the next post.
The shoes are also different; the Bitty ones don’t fit the 18” doll as well - her toes hang a bit over the edge. The headband on the Bitty version is arguably better (with fabric covering the headband, and two chiffon flowers that match the 18” version), and it does fit the 18” doll. Here are photos showing the comparison.
Third, about the bow on the front of this dress. While it’s permanently tied and stitched on, it might be worth noting that the stitches are very easy to snip from the inside of the dress if you decide you want to take it off. I decided to take the bow off my Bitty version so I could play around with different options. Once I removed and untied the bow, I found there were some different options, as shown below, Although these show the Bitty version of the dress, the ideas regarding the bow removal would work the same way on the 18” version.
Here I’ve tied it up into a knotted headband. The ends were long enough to leave out in a bow, too, although I chose not to. You can still see a “belt” in the front of the dress, which is sewn into the side seams and goes around the front. This is what the big bow was originally sewn on to.
Here I’ve doubled it over lengthwise and used it to cinch in the waist. It’s tied in a bow in the back. (Again, this is the Bitty-length dress in the photo.)
I’m sure there are lots of other options, too! Overall I think this is a great set, and I’m very glad to have it!
SKU#: HGY92 $44
This dreamy outfit is everything we adore about spring! Designed in collaboration with LoveShackFancy to match the girl-sized dress, it features:
A three-tier tea-length dress in a mixture of signature LoveShackFancy prints—Peony Garden, Rosa Beaux, and Aegean Coast—plus adorable details like lace-trimmed ruffle sleeves, smocking detail on the bodice, and a sash at the waist that ties in a bow - This is such a pretty, well-made cotton piece. Each tier is a different but coordinating fabric, and even though I’m not always a fan of smocking, I love it here. The large bow is firmly stitched on, and the whole thing closes with a strip of Velcro up the back. The entire dress is lined with cotton (as were the coordinating $88 little girls’ dresses, which were selling briskly when I was in the store). Grade: A+
The bodice is Peony Garden and the bow is Rosa Beaux. Tiers of Aegean Coast, Peony Garden, and Rosa Beaux are each trimmed with pink lace. I like the combinations of prints.
The Rosa Beaux sleeves are also trimmed in pink lace. The smocking is a nice touch, too.
The dress has a white cotton lining in the front and the back.
The special tag for this collaboration.
A pair of pink sandals with satin elastic crisscross straps and bows on the outer ankles - These are cute, though not as well made as the dress and clearly not the star of the show. They fit just fine and I wouldn’t worry about them coming off unintentionally; if anything, it can take a minute to put them on because of having to put the straps on first. Grade: B
A headband with satin-elastic double straps and soft pink chiffon flowers - There are two chiffon flowers, a large pink one and a smaller pale pink one, and on the opposite side from the flowers, a small bow is stitched on to the elastics. I’m really happy with the inclusion of a headband and also pleased with its functionality and appearance. Grade: B+
An activity booklet that includes three perforated paper dolls and outfit pieces for fun fashion play - I think this trifold piece is a nice extra. I won’t be using it, but I think it’s cute. I appreciate that it has different pieces from the collection and also that some diversity is represented in the paper dolls. All of the dolls and items are printed on only one side, and seem that they’d punch out of the card stock with ease (they were already starting to pop out as I handled them). Grade: B
Overall, this set earns an easy A from me.
There are three other notes I wanted to add about this set …
First, regarding the length of the dress. Someone else on the board noted that the dress can be temporarily shortened by folding the bottom tier up inside of the dress. These pictures show Gabriela holding up the middle tier so you can see how it’s stitched on, and then what it looks like with the bottom tier folded up. I like having this built-in option!
Second, a quick comparison to the Bitty version of this dress. The Bitty version is a very similar dress in all aspects of quality and construction. AG sells the Bitty version for $40 and describes it as “A three-tier tea-length dress in a LoveShackFancy signature floral print, a headband with chiffon flowers, sandals, and a paper-doll activity booklet.” The main differences with the Bitty version of the dress is that the bottom tiers and overall length are shorter, and that bodice is a little roomier. (The bodice on the 18” version fits my slim GOTY 2017 Gabriela well, and is snug but still fits my GOTY 2006 Jess. I don’t know how well it would work on larger PM dolls.) ETA: I tried it out on older dolls and added to my review in the next post.
The shoes are also different; the Bitty ones don’t fit the 18” doll as well - her toes hang a bit over the edge. The headband on the Bitty version is arguably better (with fabric covering the headband, and two chiffon flowers that match the 18” version), and it does fit the 18” doll. Here are photos showing the comparison.
Third, about the bow on the front of this dress. While it’s permanently tied and stitched on, it might be worth noting that the stitches are very easy to snip from the inside of the dress if you decide you want to take it off. I decided to take the bow off my Bitty version so I could play around with different options. Once I removed and untied the bow, I found there were some different options, as shown below, Although these show the Bitty version of the dress, the ideas regarding the bow removal would work the same way on the 18” version.
Here I’ve tied it up into a knotted headband. The ends were long enough to leave out in a bow, too, although I chose not to. You can still see a “belt” in the front of the dress, which is sewn into the side seams and goes around the front. This is what the big bow was originally sewn on to.
Here I’ve doubled it over lengthwise and used it to cinch in the waist. It’s tied in a bow in the back. (Again, this is the Bitty-length dress in the photo.)
I’m sure there are lots of other options, too! Overall I think this is a great set, and I’m very glad to have it!