hedgehoghollowdolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

It occurred to me last week that the internet archive/wayback machine might have old Maplelea webpages . . . and so here I am, once again delving deep in research in my attempts to know every single Maplelea item, product number and years it was available. (If anyone needs info, I'd be more than happy to help you out!) It's a problem because I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork, but look at this!!

Okay, tumblr blurred my picture again, so it's hard to see, but this is the page for Jenna's Accessories, from Oct 2008.

Below is what it lists, with pictures that I've found elsewhere, but all of which belong to Maplelea:

KJ9 By-the-sea Bathing suit

KJ20 Blueberry Mist (which I have wanted since I first saw it in a 2014 catalogue)

Some Anne of Green Gables items that aren't really Jenna's

KJ16 Snowdrifters

KJ10 Silver Snowflake (just the hat and vest here)

. . . and then - KJ31 Fiddle, marked as new! I didn't even know this existed so I'm mind-blown!! It doesn't have a picture, which sucks, but still, I have discovered new information, so I'm very happy.

Oh, and then it has another Anne item, then KJ23 Nifty Noggin Set

And KJ15 Sand, Sun and Fun

Anyway, yes, now you've had a mini Maplelea ?history? lesson from me, which no one asked for, but I got excited, so!! I should actually go do my readings now, but the urge to keep combing the internet archive is very strong . . .

-ForestPoodle88

#maplelea #jenna #thank you to the internet archive for reigniting my very foolish quest to know everything Maplelea #and to catalogue every single thing they've ever made #I shall now with great difficulty actually start doing schoolwork #maplelea dolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

The dolls keep coming to university with me! Most of my housemates like them (well, some of them are scared of dolls, but oh well).

In my opinion, Toria's ready for fall skateboarding, but then again, I can't skateboard, so.

Nicole also likes to hang out in my room. Here she is drawing - or at least, she was before she got distracted daydreaming!

And Nicole again . . . there are more pictures, but they must be on my phone. I'll have to get them on my computer so I can post them.

Anyway, I still can't figure out how tumblr works and what I'm supposed to post, so I guess you'll just keep getting sporadic and random doll pictures?

I do have a post on my wordpress blog, if anyone's interested!

#victoria #toria #nicole #my dolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Super cool!! I'd love to make my dolls stuff like this one day!

Getting dressed in 1774 with Felicity and Elizabeth

Getting dressed in the 18th century was a lot of work for women and girls! They used many layers of clothing to create a fashionable outfit. Felicity Merriman and her best friend Elizabeth Cole are here today to show you how it's done.

I made everything seen here, excluding both of their dresses, shoes, stockings, garters, Felicity's shift, and Felicity's nightgown and cap.

Felicity wears a comfy white night shift to bed, and her lappet cap ties under her chin.

But for everyday use, Felicity starts with a simple shift as the first layer of clothing.

For good posture, she wears laced stays.

The stays lace up tightly in the back.

Next is a full-length petticoat, to provide more shape to her skirt.

Pocket hoops give her dresses the right fullness.

They're called pocket hoops because the have slits at the top so that they can be used as pocket.

Felicity usually just puts things in this pretty embroidered pocket, which she can reach through the slits in the sides of her dresses.

That's the last of her undergarments. Now for the finishing touches!

She ties back her hair with a white satin ribbon, and puts on her lucky coral bead necklace.

She wears knee-length white wool stockings held up with garters that her mother wove with a sweet message. Her black leather shoes are single lasted, meaning they fit on either foot.

She puts on her white round-eared cap for modesty, ties her drawstring purse around her wrist, puts on her favorite gown, and she's all done! Now to go out in the world and cause some absolutely hilarious chaos with.......

.... her best friend, Elizabeth!

Elizabeth's undergarments are pretty similar to Felicity's, but there are a few differences.

Instead of hoops, Elizabeth wears a bumroll tied around her waist, to achieve lift at the back of the skirt. And her stays go over the shoulder as well.

She wears knitted white stockings and a pair of white shoes that match her prettiest gown.

Instead of a round eared cap like Felicity's, Elizabeth wears this lacy pinner cap with a pink bow.

She's dressed up for her sister Annabelle's engagement party. I do wish she had been given a more casual dress for her meet outfit, like she wears in all of Felicity's books. But even this dress is improved with the bulk and shape of her undergarments!

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Haven't gotten mine yet this year, but I really can't wait! It was a catalogue in 2014 that first introduced me to these dolls

I love paper catalogs. Shopping online cannot compare to holding a magazine and looking at pages with graphic design.

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Actually, have more doll pictures! Forgot I had these, but here's Toria's new bathing suit. I hand-sewed it from leftover fabric from bathing suits my mother made.

#sewing #my dolls #victoria #toria #sewing for dolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

I forgot that I actually had a tumblr account and don't have to just snoop without logging in . . .

Anyway, have some doll pictures! Here's little Sophie when I was up at my cabin over the summer.

#my dolls #sophie

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Nicole as the Twelve Dancing Princesses! Her idea, not mine. She's very proud of this one.

I'm proud that six of the dresses are ones I made myself. (top left and third, last two in the middle row and first two of the bottom row)

#nicole #my dolls #sewing #twelve dancing princesses

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Love this dress! If I wasn't so scared of wearing white clothing, I'd totally steal this!

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Just Toria over here showing off her retro-inspired outfit! The shirt and shoes are Maplelea, and I made the shorts myself.

#victoria #my dolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

This is an absolutely adorable dress!! Rebecca looks so good!

Rebecca tilted the floppy brim on Mama’s straw hat at an angle. She cleared her throat and began singing at the top of her lungs.

I went to the animal fair, The birds and beasts were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon Was combing his auburn hair. 

Benny hopped up and down, hooting and scratching his chest the way the organ grinder’s monkey scratched his fur. A few people paused to watch as Rebecca belted out the end of the song.

The monkey he got drunk And climbed up the elephant’s trunk, The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, And what became of the monk, The monk, the monk, the monk?

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

We're celebrating the end of exams with astronaut ice cream! (Erm, not that the dolls had exams . . . only me) I've never actually had astronaut ice cream, but I made these with my sisters back in 2018 and so Sophie, Victoria and Nicole enjoy it from time to time.

Anyway, good luck to anyone who might still have exams and congrats to those who are done!

#astronaut ice cream #my dolls #Sophie #Nicole #Victoria

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Toria came to school with me this week, because I thought I could use the company. I was right, it's been lovely having one of my girls around :)

In the picture above, she's hanging out with Lilah the mouse. Haven the hedgehog is around too, but they didn't make it into any pictures.

Victoria was wearing the vest here too, but it was looking too 2000s little kid (which I absolutely was) so I took it off. She's still giving off little kid vibes lol, at least to me. Actually, the shoes seem pretty modern, but that striped shirt . . . despite it being part of the outfit she came in, released in 2020, it really seems 10-15 years off to me.

Nicole's a bit bummed that she didn't get to come, but Toria was looking so cute in her 2000s-inspired clothes so I brought her along. Plus she always looks so happy and is literally always smiling! Who wouldn't want her around?

#toria #my dolls

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Yes, definitely! The whole twin thing adds a lot of diversity that people keep overlooking. To have myself represented in that way in a doll is very cool and I think AG did a pretty good job with that.

The criticism of the twins is starting to get to me a bit.

There’s an air of negativity on AGblr right now that to me, feels driven by a desire to one up each other’s criticisms and find the worst thing about this release.

Do I have criticisms? Yes. But I’m seeing a trend towards not just criticism but taking frustrations at AG and extrapolating them into exaggerated versions of fandom caricatures of AG’s behavior as a brand, like a game of fandom telephone.

These dolls will make a lot of kids very happy. They’re unique. They incorporate new storylines, add diversity (and I’m seeing a lot of collectors interpret diversity as physical attributes when it’s really not), and bring back classic traits that AG hasn’t used in a while. They’re from an interfaith household. They have a loving relationship with each other. They have awesome bedroom accessories and adorable illustrations. They’re Jewish girls whose story does not fixate on that as a core tenet of their identity, whose story integrates their faith into the broader tapestry of American culture, and I wish AG had included that in their segment on why they’re important.

And most importantly, they’ve been around for one full day. Give them a break. Wait and see, read their books, take it slow. I would describe myself as 50/50 on this release, but a lot of that comes down to personal taste. When I look at these dolls objectively- for what they represent, for how they’ll appeal to kids- I’m a lot more pleased.

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

My February sewing project was to make each of my dolls a new clothing article . . . except I kinda made clothing for the wrong season! It's currently pretty cold and definitely snowy where I live!

Also, I know blurry pictures are my specialty, but does tumblr really need to make them worse? Like, what's this? Does that happen to anyone else too?

Sophie also got headphones! I made them during my reading week out of a sponge, several popsicle sticks, some fabric, cardboard and a lot of glue. Only, she has nothing to listen to music on . . .

This pineapple shirt is her new garment, complete with sort-of-pleats because the pineapples on the fabric were too far apart.

Nicole got both a tank top and a pair of pajama bottoms that were not intended to match, but they actually pair really well!

Here's a closer view of the tank top.

And finally, here's Toria in her new dress, somewhat inspired by the new Truly Me dresses.

I self-drafted all of these patterns, but luckily (except for Nicole's pj pants, which are too tight) it all fit just fine.

Big Bird! Because you never know when Big Bird might come in handy!

Alrighty, have a nice day and go hug a doll!

#sophie #nicole #victoria #my dolls #sewing #doll clothes

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

I'm also a twin and I have to say, it's really nice getting some representation! I'm identical, so kinda different from these girls, but it's still really nice.

So. Hoffman twins… whatever thoughts I have about the timing of the release, I must say there is something special about these two for me. While I don’t have plans to add them to my collection, I am a twin. Specifically a part of a brunette-blonde fraternal twin pair. The sweet part is this: according to one of the journal pages, Nicki is 6 minutes older than Isabel, and I (the brunette twin) am 6 minutes older than my twin! There are a couple other places where we line up with the Hoffman twins, so it was fun to tell my sister about them 🙂

#I have no idea how tags work #but I like the idea of these twins much more than I thought I would

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

I love this! I'm not normally a fan of twins in the media because it's not always done right, but this really is! I hope AG does theirs right, but I'm not really counting on it.

Meet Izzy and Nic: 1994 (OCs)

Izzy and Nick share everything including a birthday and a bedroom, but not an outlook on life.  Growing up in Middleton, Wisconsin, they attend Komrey Middle School.  Isabella always looks just so, her desk is always tidy and her homework is always done.  However, her twin Nicolette, or Nic for short, seems to spend her afternoons and weekends running from one practice to the next.  In class, she doodles all the time and has to ask her sister about the lesson she’s missed.  Izzy seems to have it all together with her perfect outfits and clean desk but when life throws her a curve, she struggles to hit the ball.

Last Halloween, when they were eight, Izzy and Nic wore matching black cat costumes but lately they haven’t been matching much.  Their mother, Christina, is disappointed but understands that they are developing their own tastes and identities.  

Izzy always seems to know what she wants and this year she wanted to be a medieval princess, so their mother has been working on her costume for weeks.  Nic can’t figure out what to be for Halloween but Izzy points out that she loves swimming in the lake and would make a great lake creature.  Nic uses her artistry and creativity and concocts the perfect outfit from items she finds in their father’s fishing boat, the garage and a discarded dress of her mother’s.  Nic worries that her costume will look unimpressive next to her twin’s, but Izzy is so enthusiastic about Nic’s creation that she proudly trick or treats through the neighborhood by her sister’s side.  When they get home, their Halloween buckets overflow with candy.

Next Up: Things get more complicated when Izzy and Nic Learn a Lesson

a note on this project:  I came into these early AGOTs over several years as well as their outfit collection.  When I set out to create this story line, I was pondering the question of whether or not AG would use any of the early AGOT items in the new line.  If so, what would it look like?  It’s an interesting conundrum: if AG will be true to their own past or go for something differently nostalgic.  As an experiment in play, I stuck with what I had with just a few purchases to complete outfits and diy’d a few items as well, as I imagine a young me would do.  A few promises - the leaked part of the story of the twins Jewish heritage will be explored as well as complex and impactful current events from the time.  I have the six book story arc descriptions completed and so excited to share it with you :)

[hedgehoghollowdolls]

Not exactly AG, but 18 inch dolls, yes!!

please reblog this if you post about american girl im officially obsessed with it again and i need some good blogs to follow