Cyber Monday: Cecile's Parlor Dress

The Cyber Monday sale is the one day where I really feel free to break my “no buying fun things for myself during the holidays” rule (though we’ve all seen how well that rule actually works in practice, lol). This is my third year shopping Cyber Monday (and my third year of enjoying the annual cries of “worst CM sale EVAR” on Facebook and Playthings), and this was my favorite sale thus far. The best part?

Cecile’s Parlor Outfit, which is the last NOLA outfit I wanted for Addy 1. This is a really pretty outfit – can I say how much I’ve loved all of Cecile’s jewel-toned clothes? – and it looks great on Addy 1. Now, seeing the absolute gutting that has happened to the Cecile & Marie-Grace line, I’m glad I had a chance to get it.

The shirt is very basic, crisp and white, with a hint of lace trimming the collar. The sleeves break AG tradition by not having tiny Velcro tabs at the wrist cuffs. This is a bit of a shame – I love a tidy, fitted look, and the looser, non-Velcro sleeves aren't as appealing.

(They’re also not as character-accurate for Cecile, who would certainly have had custom clothing from a dressmaker, fitted to her measurements. But for Addy, who gets a lot of things secondhand, they’re a bit more forgivable.)

The skirt is a lovely dark purple with gold print. It’s a cotton or cotton blend, but nice and heavy.

It’s meant to be worn over a crinoline, but holds its shape well enough to look nice without one. It is definitely a post-Mattel item – it took me some tugging to get the skirt up onto Addy’s chubby PM waist, and the elastic is stretched almost to full length.

The jacket is the low point of the outfit – the gold fabric is that synthetic-silk “windbreaker” fabric. It’s very thin, and the much heavier purple trim looks odd against the thinness of the gold fabric.

Last but not least, a pair of purple hair ribbons to complete the look. The whole ensemble looks lovely on Miss Addy, and I can see the shirt in particular being a good mix-and-match item for skirts and jackets in the future.

(For starters, it looks lovely with the Special Dress! While I love this dress for Addy 1’s holiday attire, the short sleeves and wide neck have always made me want to give the poor girl a shawl or something. Layering the Parlor Outfit shirt underneath, while making it a bit of a challenge to fit, gives it a more seasonally-appropriate look.)

(I also bought the Doll Tees book, which I’ve always been slightly tempted to buy, just to get the shirts. T-shirts are my sewing Waterloo – I just cannot make one that looks good. I’ve never been able to justify
spending $20 to get 3 doll tees, though, and of course it’s technically a book, which means no using that 40% coupon at Michaels. But for $5 on Cyber Monday? Sold! Lucy and Nasrin seemed pleased with their new shirts!)

Still Alive, I Swear

...I seem to have a lot of posts titled with some variation on "I'm still alive!", don't I? Let's just say that, ever since my last post, life has happened in a big way. It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks since Gen Con, considering that in that time, my wee Pieface started school for the very first time, my car refused to start and had to be towed to a garage (where, infuriatingly, the mechanics could find nothing at all wrong, and it started just fine for them over the course of three days), I got called up for jury duty, my job has been blowing up with so many things to do and not enough time nor personnel to do them all, a good part of our neighbor's tree fell off during a storm, blocking the road and knocking out our electricity, we got the car back from the garage, and then decided to trade it in and buy a new car before it gave us any more crap.

Oh, and I have a cold.

So you can see where editing photos and writing up posts hasn't really been happening, yes?

Anyway, this weekend, I actually touched my AG dolls for the first time in ages (aside from moving them out of the way whenever necessary for costuming). Back-to-school time is on my mind - for the first time in eight years, I actually have to pay attention to academic happenings! - so I got everyone changed into their "first day" outfits and allocated their gear:




I am severely lacking in backpacks/bags for my girls.

24 Hours to Go!

The 24-hour countdown has begun. This time tomorrow, I will be en route to GenCon, and my first foray into cosplaying.

Needless to say, I am terrified.

I was hoping to do a dry run of my costumes this past weekend (as I have not worn costumes + wigs + makeup all together at the same time yet, which is not helping my terror), but it was terribly humid and sticky this weekend. In a house without air conditioning, wearing normal clothing in this weather is barely tolerable - forget putting on five pounds of satin, brocade, and velvet, plus wigs, and a layer of theater makeup.

I did manage to get the Pie into her costume early on Sunday morning, when it was still cool out, and took some photos in the backyard.

So, ladies and gents, I give you The Mighty Pieface as Merida.

That's my little nerd progeny. Kindergarten isn't going to know what hit them.

(Back to packing now. HOW do cosplayers travel anywhere, ever? SO MUCH STUFF. I can't imagine doing this with wings and armor and swords and all the other stuff.)

SEE YOU MONDAY!

AG Columbus, Part II

This is the conclusion to my last post, detailing my haul from the new American Girl store at Easton Town Center in Columbus. For my reviews of Julie’s Bunny, the AG Store exclusive jeans, and the Silver Stripe Hoodie, please see my previous post here.

Onwards – to the new releases!

This was the first AG release in a while that had me really intrigued. Most of the time, AG releases a load of new products, and I see one or two things that look kind of neat, but “kind of neat” is the extent of my interest. This time, I had a few “omg I really actually want that” reactions! So, while at Easton, I picked up my two favorite items from the new releases.

This is the new Striped Hoodie Outfit ($30). It’s sold both individually and as part of the $90 Mix and Match combo pack. It contains a grey striped hoodie top, orange skinny pants, grey sneakers, pink hair ties, and a charm.

The hoodie. It’s a lightweight knit with a screenprinted design on front, and Velcro closure in the back.

This piece was the driving force in my decision to purchase this outfit. It was appealing to me personally (I would totally wear a human-sized version of this top), and I knew it fit Robin’s fashion aesthetic to a tee.

Sadly, it has one major flaw – like the Star Hoodie outfit, it’s a pain to get on. I've taken to just avoiding the fight and taking the head off a doll to get a shirt on.

Poor headless doll! - and poor messy, messy Dollcave.

The pants are not jeans, as I had originally thought. They’re more like a chino-style woven fabric, with a Velcro fly and an AG tag on the back waistband.

Despite the “skinny” label, they actually fit far better than the store-exclusive jeans. There’s a lot of give in the back.

There are also neat little dart seams at the knees.

The sneakers are pretty ordinary – gray canvas with stretchy pink laces.

I’m normally not enthused about hair accessories with AG outfits, but given how often Robin wears her hair in pigtails, I quickly realized it was a good idea to have a pair of matching bands in her favorite color.

Robin in the full outfit:

Robs quickly set to work enforcing her own style on the outfit (first move: no pants. I don’t understand why it is that my biggest tomboy avoids pants like the plague, but whatevs).

I paired the Striped Hoodie top with the skirt from the Cozy Plaid outfit. This is actually a really cute look.

My girls in their new togs:

I save the best for last – the Science Lab set!

In the box.

The set comes with a lab apron:

Robin is begging me to replace the Innerstar U logo with the logo for Tesladyne Industries.

Microscope:

Safety goggles:

Test tubes and rack:

The “chemicals” in the test tubes are just pieces of translucent plastic.

Microscope slides:

Easily the most disappointing piece – opaque plastic with a printed label. They could have at least made them translucent, or out actual specimen pictures on. I long for more realism!

Science book:

The Pie just thought this was the coolest thing ever. “Ohh, look Mommy, it has pictures of all the ANIMALS!”

Bonus fun fact: One of the NASA consultants on the author page was a teacher at my middle school. Small world!

I dragged Robin’s desk over to set everything up:

Overall: This set is full of the tiny, fun pieces I love in an accessory set. The microscope is a wee bit smaller than scale, but not so much that it bugs me. The safety goggles are a cute touch, and I like the detailing on the test tubes. The science book, like all AG books, is very nice. The slides are iffy at best, but I do understand that a translucent set would be a nightmare of lost pieces. I would have preferred a lab coat over an apron, but I know students generally don’t get to wear the fancy coats. :D

In general, I’m really pleased with my purchases. Yes, I didn't get a doll, but time and budget constraints were too much to justify a doll purchase. (In that way, I’m glad I was a bit rushed – I’m sure, if I’d have had the time to look around, I’d have fallen in love with some doll or another!) There was a bit more than personal preference to my main choices – I really appreciate that AG offered up some non-pastel clothes and some nerdy accessories (a mix-and-match set and science kit? How much time does AG R&D spend on the Playthings forum?), and I wanted to support those offerings with my hard-earned birthday cash.

So, hopefully I will have a more favorable report of AG Columbus in the future, but I’m very happy with my modest haul!

AG Columbus, Part I

Last Friday, we were en route to a family wedding in Cleveland, and made a small detour to Easton Town Center for lunch and a visit to the American Girl store in Columbus.

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the store from my trip. It was very crowded, and my husband was already cranky about being in the middle of the 4-hour trip from our house to Cleveland, so my first experience in an AG store was pretty short. Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to go up there again soon, or I can turn on the puppy eyes and ask for another detour at Thanksgiving!

I can’t say AG Columbus is the best store ever – the store layout isn't great. There are a lot of display racks sitting out in the middle of the store that break up the walking paths, some paths that lead to dead ends, and it generally took a while to find the things I was looking for. This is not a store where you come in knowing what you want, grab it, pay, and leave. This is a store where they want you to amble around, look at all the cute displays, then spend three times as much as you’d planned!

Also – and this is just my brand of crazy – I hang out with adult collectors way too much, because I was not prepared for the sheer amounts of KIDS around. As much as I act like a 12-year-old, I really don’t get along with children, aside from my own! (I’m so OLD. I feel like I should just grab a cane to shake and tell the durn hoodlum kids to get offa my lawn.) Between kids darting in front of me, kids running into my legs because they weren't looking where they were going, and kids just being loud and OMG I HAVE THAT ONE AND I WANT THIS ONE AND MOMMY I WANT, I wasn't all that sad to be going.

ANYWAY, enough of my geriatric ranting. Robin was with me (of course – she demands to go along on anything resembling an adventure), and here she is showing off some of the new gear:

Racing the Clock to GenCon!

So, I was going to post all about my trip to AG Easton last Friday. BUT, I wrote out the post and edited the photos during breaks at work, and I keep forgetting to throw the files onto Google Drive so I can access them at home.

With that, you lot get a costume update instead, because there are only 20 - 20! - days to go!

Behold, the Elinor dress:

Gratuitous Squee Post: Rapunzel Edition

Who's got two thumbs and is really really for true a princess now?

THIS GIRL.

fweeeee this dress is awesome.

VICTORY SCREECH!

We interrupt your Friday evening to request a VICTORY SCREECH!




(I love that I have a family where I can run out of the Dollcave into the hallway, yell "VICTORY SCREECH!", and everyone else in this house will throw their hands in the air and yell OLOLOLOLOLOLOLO.

Yes, I am in fact 12 years old, and always will be.)

Anyway. IT IS FINISHED.

Sorry for the awkward photo - the back of the Cave door is literally the only clean place in the room.

Quickie Update

Just popping in with a few items of note:

First, I'm clearing out a few doll-related odds and ends on AGPT, to help free up space and finance costume stuff. Sale thread is here. 

Next, the Rapunzel dress is 95% complete. I am now in the arduous process of attaching the lace appliques to the skirt, which means that every night this past week, I have been sitting in front of the Dollcave's closet door (where the dress is hanging), hand-stitching away while listening to Pandora.

(Pandora likes to rickroll me while I'm trying to untangle knots. It's slightly evil.)

This is a shot from earlier this week:

The lace now extends about 1/3 of the way around on each side. I'm nervously eyeing my stock of appliques and hoping I have enough!

And, just so I can say "I knew these skills would come in handy", I have successfully worked on office clothing. See, a while back I bought this skirt from the Prabal Gurung for Target line:

It is the cutest skirt, but just a wee bit too short for my liking. I can get away with wearing it at work, but I find myself smoothing it down constantly to make sure it covers enough. So today at Hancock Fabrics, I took advantage of a 50%-off sale on trims and bought some wide lace to attach to the underskirt:

Cute, and adds just that smidgen of length I've been wanting!

NEXT TIME: I have just begun work on the Elinor dress from Brave. Let's see how this goes!

Costumes, Costumes, Costumes!

My poor dolls! They’re feeling so lonely and neglected nowadays. Why? Because summer is coming, the warm weather is here, and that means CONVENTION SEASON is nigh.

And THAT means that all my creative energy is going into costuming.

The Pieface’s Merida dress is finished!:

Christmas Catchup!

Aiiieee, why is it so hard to put together a post? Photos to take, then edit, then upload, text to write, HTML to code...Anyway, I'm finally making headway.

Another Christmas has come and gone at Casa Nachos. This was probably the most doll-tastic Christmas I’ve had yet! I had a lot of stuff that I’d bought on sale and stashed away, and then my husband provided a few surprises as well! (I knew he was a keeper!)

Christmas Round-up

Whew, it's 2012!

2011 was middling until September, when one really big bad thing was quickly followed by one really big good thing, and I think I still have some mood whiplash going on.

Anyway, some fun new things came to Casa Nachos for Christmas!

Halloween!

It's Halloween time, and various members of Casa Nachos are ready for fun!



Lucy has a deep and secret love for Disney and princesses and pretty dresses, and adores this Cinderella dress! It came from Nethilia/kittikattie in the AG>18 Costume Swap.



The blue fabric has lots of sparklies, and is such a perfect match with Lucy's eyes!



"Um, Robin...I don't think that's quite the right footwear for this story."


Robin decided to do a rather different animated-movie-inspired costume:



She's Astrid, from "How To Train Your Dragon"! This was a costume I'd been planning since June, and I was pleased that it came together in just a couple weeks.

The top is a simple sleeveless bodice pattern - the same pattern I used for the underbodice of the Rapunzel dress. I spent ages looking for the perfect fabric, and picked up a dark blue stripe fat quarter out of desperation. When I unfolded the fat quarter for pressing, I discovered that the wrong side of the fabric was exactly what I wanted!

Her skirt and headband are made from a vinyl piece I found in the remnant bin, with lots and lots of eyelets. The tiny skulls are all Sculpey, her armbands are simply hemp twine wrapped around her arms. The tights are from the Pleasant Company grey school jumper outfit, and the boots are from a Big Lots outfit.

The shoulder pads gave me the most trouble. They're silver cardstock strips, held together with brads, and fastened under her arms with clear beading line. I seriously made three of these before one worked!

(Sunny does not have a costume at the moment. When she asked if they weren't a little old for trick-or-treating, Robin gave her a Look and declared that when a person is too old for Free Candy Night, they are too old to live. Thanks, Rob.)