1940's dress - Joni Lynn of Kindred Threads

Despite my first doll being Samantha, and my first outfits being Samantha's dresses, I don't really collect for the few historical dolls I own... I enjoy history immensely, but for one reason or another, I don't enjoy dressing my dolls up in historical clothing.
Still, when I saw this dress on Joni Lynn's Etsy (no link to Etsy, now you can find her at Kindred Thread) a few months ago, I kind of freaked out.

The first, second and third time I saw it, I convinced myself I didn't really need it, since I don't collect for Molly or Kit, but fate intervened when Joni contacted me about something I had for sale. She was willing to do a trade, so home it came!
I believe she made the dress from a Bunny Bear pattern that she may have tweaked a bit. I can't remember the details, unfortunately, but the dress has some amazing details.

Like the sleeves:

And the collar:

The other thing I really loved about this dress was it was made from an upcycled shirt from a thrift store. I'm not really one of those environmental, green people, but I do like to see doll clothes made from upcycled fabrics.

Some more details about this dress: There's no velcro to be found as the back closes with snaps, and all her seams are serged, as illustrated below:

Despite not collecting historical clothing, I almost always have a doll 'time-traveling' and wearing this dress.

In a nutshell:
Item: 1 1940's style dress
Seller: Joni Lynn, with Kindred Thread
Price: Trade
Grade: A +

Shirt and Skirt Set - sewurbandesigns

One of the things about American Girl's products that really discourage me is their color palate. My favorite colors are blues and greens, and I want to add some more outfits in those colors to my dolls' wardrobes, but AG's primary focus seems to be pink, pink, PINK. I know that wasn't true with Kanani and the latest release, but still.
I also wanted to buy Edie something that was a little more feminine than her usual jeans and tees, and discovered this outfit by sewurbandesigns.

I loved the pastel greens and blues she used for the skirt and the matching top... it caught my eye immediately.

As she states in her profile, her attention to detail is high.
After the colors, I loved that the print is more or less to scale for the doll (a HUGE pet peeve of mine), and all her seams are serged to prevent fraying.

The inside of the shirt.

The inside of the skirt.

The skirt is made of cotton materials with three different patterns, and the tank is something silky and stretchy (a little different that tee shirt material, but close. I have nightmares about trying to sew on that type of material). The skirt has no closures, it has an elastic waist so you can pull it on or off, and the shirt closes with Velcro.

I haven't tried the pieces with other items yet, or even added shoes to the outfit yet, but I think they have really nice mix and match quality, and I can see it becoming one of my favorite outfits.

In a nutshell:
Item: 1 tank top and one skirt
Seller: sewurbandesigns
Price: $16.00 plus ship
Grade: A

BBQ Apron - Laniescreations

I was cooking dinner the other night and had a brilliant idea... Lanie can 'help' me with this cooking stuff, I can take pictures, there can be cuteness, I can write a photostory, and it will be amazing!
The only thing wrong with this was I felt Lanie needed an apron for it to reach maximum cuteness, and I didn't possess such a thing. The only two available from AG were nice, but one was old fashion (Kit's apron, from the '30's), and the other I didn't feel like paying $28 dollars for (the apron from the baking accessories).

So, I turned to Etsy. Most of the ones I found were either too frumpy or too old fashioned. I wanted something funky, fun, and modern.
By sheer serendipity, I stumbled upon the perfect thing, a modern style apron emblazoned with barbecue grills and utensils, in black, white, gray and red, made by LaniesCreations, at Etsy.
I scooped it up, and I'm glad I did.

Who's stirring up trouble in the kitchen? Sonali is!

For $6.50, I got an apron that (in my honest opinion) is on par quality-wise with American Girl themselves.
The edges are not serged, but are folded under twice to prevent fraying (the AG brand one is like this as well), and the straps have been both folded under and stiched in a zigzag pattern to prevent fraying as well, illustrated in the photo below:

Finally, I decided to compare it to an official AG apron, since I broke down and bought the baking accessories for the mixing bowl.

Is it really safe to wear heelys on a stove top, Rebecca?

One of the things I like about the Etsy one, compared to AG's, is that the straps are ties. AG's apron velcroes in the back, which means the chunkier, PreMattel dolls or non-AG dolls like Carpatina might not be able to wear it very well. This one just ties on, so it will fit all sizes.
The only thing I like better about the AG apron is the pocket, which the etsy apron doesn't have.
Girl's gotta have a place to hold her spoons!


In a nutshell:
Item: 1 doll apron
Seller: LaniesCreations
Price: $6.50 plus shipping, although I see she's listed another at $10.50
Grade: A