Gigi meets my Heather Maciak girls

Gigi, my 8" Ruby Red Galleria doll, is the latest of my little collection of 8 and 8.5 inch dolls from various different makers - Heather Maciak, Heidi Plusczok, Kruselings and Ruby Red Galleria. The three Patsi dolls I have by Heidi are slightly taller than the others however their clothes and shoes fit the four Heather Maciak dolls and I have discovered the shoes also fit Gigi. The Kruselings have plastic shoes and longer feet. They have very slim bodies, so some of their commercially made clothes probably will not fit the named artist created dolls.

After photographing Gigi receiving her new grunge outfit, today I got Jenny, Lexie, Annie and Emily out of their box and redressed them for Christmas/winter. Jenny and Lexie were excited to at last try on the ice skates which Heather sent for a them a few years ago when she was closing down her website and disposing of spare outfits.

These photos show the four Heather Maciak dolls with the Ruby Red Galleria doll, who is lightly taller than them (even with Jenny and Lexie wearing ice skates). Gigi has glued on eye lashes and painted facial features while the facial features including eyelashes of Jenny, Lexie, Annie and Emily are painted. It is interesting to compare them. Gigi has many moveable joints (shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles and neck) so is very posable though ball-jointed dolls have very visible joints which look a little unnatural, while although the others are 5 jointed dolls (neck, shoulders and hips), they are very expressive in their poses.

L-R: Emily, Gigi, Lexie, Jenny, Annie

L-R: Emily, Gigi, Lexie

Jenny and Annie

The only way to view Heather's wonderful website now is on the Wayback machine, the complete website was a wonderful catalogue of all her gorgeous doll creations and outfits. Gigi's grunge outfit is definitely more 'edgy' than the traditional children's clothes worn by my four Heather Maciak dolls. I'm not sure what Heather would think if I made grunge or 'goth' inspired outfits for Lexie, Jenny, Annie and Emily (both my grown up daughters wear goth these days).

Treasure box from Canada

A box arrived (by hot air balloon?) and four very excited Heather Maciak dolls rushed downstairs to unpack it.

"Look, it is from Heather in Canada"

Emily, Lexie, Jenny and Annie looked in anticipation at the box all the way from Vancouver.

"It came quickly via airmail" said Annie to Jenny before the box was opened.

"My Elfin Jenny outfit!" said a delighted Jenny as she admired the lime green shoes, the bright floral felt tunic and the glorious cheerful stripes. 

"And your Playtime outfit" said Lexie, before discovering that Heather had sent a Playtime Lexie outfit as well, to match the one she was wearing, so the girls could dress alike.

"Your Playtime outfit is so pretty Jenny" said Lexie.

.

"Thank you Heather" exclaimed Lexie

Jenny smiled her thanks to Heather, she was overwhelmed to have her Elfin outfit once more (her original outfit did not come with her box when she joined our doll family, she was wearing the Playtime Lexie outfit instead).

Annie looked on hopefully, she wondered what else was in the box.

"Try on your Elfin outfit Jenny" suggested Emily

Jenny happily showed off her Elfin Jenny outfit

Lexie delved into the box to discover ...

... two pairs of lovely shoes to go with the Playtime outfits!

But there were more surprises for the girls was in the bottom of the box - two pairs of Boneka ice skates, one pair of pink skates and two pairs of blades to add to Boneka boots they've already got, plus three pairs of white tights for skating parties.

So Emily and Annie would be able to skate as well. All four girls are clamouring for ice skating outfits - I shall be busy.

Thank you so much Heather, your parcel gave much joy today.

Llama jacket for Maciak and Kruseling dolls

I enjoy doing miniature knitting. I've previously designed a miniature sweater/cardigan and hat for my Heather Maciak dolls Jenny and Lexie and shared the patterns on Ravelry (sweater and hat).

Recently in a Sasha doll group on Facebook, my friend Janet challenged us to a competition to knit Rosemary Shortell's Llama jacket for Sasha dolls. I commented in the group that I really wanted to scale down the pattern for my miniature dolls and didn't have the time to knit the Sasha version for the competition deadline as I was studying. During February half term in a short trip to Belgium with my family I was able knit in the car and channel tunnel journey as my cousin did the driving, so I got started on the Llama jacket (I had scaled down the pattern, using my previous spreadsheet chart for the Maciak doll sweater to get the sizing right). The jacket and hat is knitted with 2 ply yarn and 1.5mm needles.

With a short break in between courses in March, the big change to working at home and social distancing with the global pandemic raging (resulting in cancelled examinations for my younger daughter and some evenings which we have used for family movie nights), I have taken the opportunity to do some evening knitting.

Lexie looks pleased with the result (and Chloe the Kruseling has tried it on too, the sleeve cuffs need an extra row of rib for the Kruseling dolls).

Theo (wearing a Rosie Laird sweater), Louisa (wearing a Janet Myhill-Dabbs outfit) and Lexie wearing her Llama jacket and earflap hat

Lexie wearing her Llama jacket and earflap hat

Side view of Lexie in the Llama jacket and hat

Theo, Louisa and the back view of the Llama jacket

Theo, Louisa, Lexie joined by Sofia in the sweater I knitted for Lexie in 2016

Chloe the Kruseling in the Llama jacket and hat

Chloe in the Llama jacket and hat

Chloe and Sofia the Kruselings in my miniature knitting for Lexie

Lexie in the Llama outfit

Lexie in the Llama outfit

Lexie in the Llama outfit

Back view of the Llama jacket and hat, on Lexie

The pattern is available on Ravelry at https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/llama-jacket-for-jenny--lexie

CC BY SA NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ DollMum http://dollmum.blogspot.co.uk/

This pattern may be used and adapted for non-commercial purposes only without contacting DollMum. If you wish to use it for commercial purposes (e.g. if
you wish to sell what you make from the pattern) you must contact DollMum at dollmum@yahoo.co.uk for permission and a fee may be charged

Jenny and Lexie's Halloween party 2018

Jenny and Lexie invited their best friends for a Halloween party - the most important part of the party was the food! My Jenny and Lexie are joined by Heather Maciak's vinyl girls Annie and Emily, as well as my three Heidi Plusczok girls (Patsi - Anniversary, California and Florida).

What should we eat first?

It all looks so yummy - cakes, jam tarts, jelly, toffee apples, ring donuts, chocolate biscuits

I like toffee apples and chocolate (Lexie, Annie and Patsi)

Please pass the jam tarts

I like jam tarts and chocolate biscuits

Halloween feast at the party - Lexie, Annie, Patsi (California), Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Emily and Jenny tuck in to their treats.

Lexie, Patsi (California), Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Jenny

Birds eye view of the Halloween feast!

Lots of chatting about the different cakes and jelly

Lexie, Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Emily and Jenny

Lexie, Annie and Patsi (California)

The miniature food is 1/12th scale and belongs in Mrs Harvey's cake, sweet and toy shop. The Sasha dolls uses the backdrop and Halloween decorations in their band at the Chat 'n Snap this year, however the small dolls wanted to join the fun too, hence their own little party.

Pram day

Three of us have been planning pram day since before the Chat 'n Snap - Alice H asked for some help and advice with her pram (a Red) which she had purchased from someone in the USA and I suggested she some to visit us, then we invited Jane S and Teddy who were interested to see the pram work in action and it became doll and pram day.

Alice's pram had been delivered to her via a friend with the hood detached from the body of the pram and with some loose stitching on the hood, so the inner lining was coming off the frame. Alice wasn't sure how to attach it.  Thankfully all the nuts and bolts were present and the pram was in very good condition, with only a few minor scrapes to the paintwork.  These could be touched up using a fine paint brush, or left alone.  We inspected the hood to see if it was aligned correctly, it was a bit stiff to make the hood clip up so my husband gently but firmly manipulated the hood wires a little so the hood fabric wouldn't catch on the inside of the straps which hold the hood up.  I stitched the lining back in place then my husband fitted the hood back onto the chassis and Alice's pram was complete once more.  This happened while we talked non stop about the various dolls which Teddy, Jane and Alice had brought with them.

Alice's reassembled 'Red' pram, with a miniature Baby Born resting on the cushions

Both Teddy and I have Heather Maciak's wonderful Jenny and Lexie 8 inch dolls (and I have Annie and Emily as well) so he had brought his Jenny and Lexie as well as his two 7 inch Helen Kish dolls (Riley and Tulah). He also brought a Sasha girl and boy.  I brought out my four Maciak dolls plus the three Patsi dolls by Heidi Pluszcok.

Alice brought her new 10 inch Boneka doll Valetta (similar to the Little Darling dolls) which she had redressed.  At one point during pram day this little girl tried on the sundress I had made for 8.5 inch Annie and it fitted her fine.

Jane brought along three Sasha dolls, the long haired blond had frizzy hair ends.  She had been treating the lovely two tone blond hair with conditioner and argon oil but the ends were dry.  Teddy asked for a spray bottle with water in it, the iron and ironing board and proceeded to demonstrate the technique for improving dry frizzy nylon hair.  He combed out a section of hair flat onto the ironing board, sprayed it with water then ironed it firmly with the iron on a nylon setting.  It was amazing what a difference this made as he slowly worked through all the hair on her head.  Jane was delighted.

Combing out some hair before spraying it with water

Ironing the hair!

We cleared the dining room table for lunch and plenty more doll talk. Some of our 19.5 inch Gotz dolls came downstairs to join Louisa and Florence who were hosting the visitors.

L-R: Teddy's new boy, Teddy's girl, Claire with her newly ironed hair, Florence in her 2017 Sasha Festival outfit and Jane's boy in his new striped sweater

Toddler Louisa with her new bobbed haired friend Lucy (Jane's girl)

L-R: Harriet in her purple skating outfit, Jayne in the background, Louisa and Lucy

After lunch we went upstairs to the doll/sewing room as Jane was keen to see Belle and Matilda, the Australian Girl dolls and decided they were a nice combination of cuddly and attractive to look at (the lower half of their torsos are cloth, while the top part is vinyl which means they can wear summer clothes without showing the cloth bodies).  Mrs Harvey's toy and cake shop was shown off, the other Sasha dolls who hadn't already come downstairs to greet the visitors were admired as was the modified Our Generation doll kitchen and the Gotz Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley dolls.  Then we looked at my unfinished Greenleaf dolls house, my doll cabinet, Susie (Palitoy), Anna (Gotz), Jakob (Kids n Kats) and Betsy (Schoenhut) as well as the teddy bears Bruin and Panda with Poodle.

Downstairs I held a doll photo session of the visiting dolls along with their host dolls, my pram and Alice's pram, which temporarily held one of our miniature Baby Born dolls.

L-R: Teddy's blond Kish (Riley), my Emily, Teddy's Lexie, my Lexie, Alice's new Boneka doll Valetta, my Jenny, Teddy's Jenny, my Annie, Teddy's blond Kish (Tulah)

My Lexie and Jenny with Valetta, the Boneka girl

Jenny, Jenny, Annie and Tulah (Kish)

Riley (Kish), Emily, Lexie and Lexie

L-R: Jane's boy, Teddy's boy, Louisa, Lucy, Teddy's girl, Florence, Claire with her newly ironed hair

L-R: Jane's boy, Teddy's boy, Louisa, Lucy, Teddy's girl, Florence, Claire with her newly ironed hair

Teddy's girl, Florence and Claire

Jane's boy, Teddy's boy, Louisa, Lucy and Teddy's girl

Teddy's boy, Louisa, Lucy, Teddy's girl and Florence

Our full size pram chassis holding our little street organ also became part of pram day when my husband played some music on the organ for Alice, Jane and Teddy.

While we continued to talk dolls everyone reluctantly packed their dolls and Alice's pram away for their journeys home.

We had fun hosting pram day.