#ag doll

[that70s-smile]

inspired by this post

#seinfeld #george costanza #jerry seinfeld #catboy george #American girl doll #ag doll #jason alexander

[enby-dollhouse]

Gwendolen took a winter walk through the forest in her brand new coat :)

I've never made a coat before so this was definitely a learning experience but I am very happy with the result!

#ag doll #american girl doll #american girl #gwendolen green #historicaloc #historical oc #harrison sews

[stluciabuns]

The Historical Accuracy of Kirsten's Dirndl

Despite its adorableness, I have seen many people complain about Kirsten's Swedish Dirndl outfit.

I would kill a man to have bought this for $22.

She wears this outfit for most of Meet Kirsten, being that she is an impoverished immigrant child who does not own any other clothes, and also for continuity reasons.

Frequently, I have seen it claimed that this outfit is not historically accurate and should not have been included as part of her collection. Conversely, I have also seen many German folk costumes marketed as being made for Kirsten. Both of these pain me a great deal (actually they just annoy me).

Nonetheless, I have decided to further procrastinate doing actual, meaningful work and instead set out on a new mission: figure out what the fuck is up with Kirsten's Dirndl.

In this post, I will lay out the research I have done, the evidence supporting the historical accuracy of this outfit, the challenges to its existence, and ultimately aim to answer the question of whether this outfit is one Kirsten plausibly could have worn on her journey from Sweden to America in 1854.

Let's begin.

First, the name. Pleasant Company/American Girl referred to this outfit as "Kirsten's Swedish Dirndl and Kerchief."

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a Swedish dirndl. "Dirndl" is a German term, and refers to folk costumes worn by people in German-speaking areas of Europe (the Alps, Bavaria, Austria, and so on).

Kirsten is Swedish, and before Meet Kirsten has never left Sweden before. It is very unlikely she would have acquired, and regularly worn, a German dirndl. See this gorgeous example of a dirndl c. 1840:

Outfit, c. 1840. Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Münchner Stadtmuseum.

This ensemble is beautiful, but tragically, it is not what Kirsten is wearing.

What, then, is Kirsten wearing? What kind of traditional dress does Swedish culture have?

As it turns out, the proper term for what she is wearing is a folkdräkt. This is a Swedish term meaning "folk costume." Here is an illustration depicting multiple examples of Swedish folk costumes. In proper terms, these would be called "Svenska folkdräkter."

Nordisk familjebok (1908), vol. 8, Folkdräkt. Retrieved from runeberg.org.

These outfits are not quite identical to anything we see in Kirsten's collection, but you can observe various elements that have carried over -- the vertical stripes, black woolen skirts with ornate trim, and white dresses and red sashes (hello St. Lucia)!

Let us dive deeper. What do extant Svenska folkdräkter, specially those made c. 1850, look like? Is there anything like Kirsten's outfit among surviving examples?

Johan Sodermark, "Kvinna i dräkt."

In my few hours of research, this example image is the closest thing I have found to Kirsten's dirndl.

This lovely portrait is a watercolor from 1850 painted by Johan Sodermark. It is very creatively titled "Kvinna i dräkt" -- literally, "Woman in costume." The pattern of this woman's apron is incredibly similar to that of the skirt of the Kirsten doll's outfit -- a dark red base with blue and yellow stripes woven throughout.

Here is a closeup from the American Swedish Institute.

Although it is not shown in the doll-sized version of the outfit, the illustrations in Meet Kirsten by Renée Graef show us she also wears a light-colored, striped apron, which is almost surely the one that comes with her meet outfit.

Illustrations from Meet Kirsten, drawn by Renée Graef.

Notice the fabric of the bodice in the third illustration, though: Kirsten's top is made of red plaid fabric, while Sodermark's girl has an outfit full of stripes. Kirsten, bless her heart, spends an entire book outfit-repeating a potential pattern-mixing fail: plaid and two kinds of stripes and a floral scarf. Did Pleasant Rowland just hate her? Is Kirsten on another, elevated fashion plane far beyond my comprehension? Is there a historical basis for this combination of patterns?

I have no answer to the first two questions, but thankfully can speak on the third.

Komplett Vilskedräkt, Västergötlands museum. Some pieces c. 1865.

The top is plaid and laces up, which is not necessarily the most common way of fastening (in most examples, the bodice pins up), but it is a sensible choice considering both Kirsten's age (9) and the fact that Pleasant Company was making toys for little hands.

The model for the outer shell (the lace up top) belonged to Karl Edberg from Hällestad; it is not dated, but at least one piece of this set (the bag, which is not shown) is c. 1865. Additionally, the blouse here is very similar to the one that comes with Kirsten's winter outfit -- look at that keyhole neckline!

So, Kirsten's Dirndl outfit is actually very accurate as far as the clothing itself goes...the name remains the trouble.

I have no idea why they called it a dirndl. Folkdräkt is definitely challenging to pronounce, but why wouldn't PC just translate it as "folk dress" or "Swedish outfit" and call it a day? Why the insistence on referencing a culture that isn't relevant to the doll or her dress at all?

Perhaps this is a mystery to tackle for another day...

#kirsten larson #kirsten #american girl #pleasant company #meet kirsten #american girl kirsten #american girl dolls #agig #ag doll #ag dolls #american girl history #historical characters #1854 #rambles #kirsten 1854 #historical clothing #historical fashion #american girl analysis #renee graef #swedish historical fashion #folk dress #pleasant rowland #ag tumblr #ag on tumblr #american girl doll tumblr

[apeekintothepantry]

Meet Violet Fielding, my original historical character from 1918 Boston!

I've been doing some workshopping with my custom historical characters because I've been a little bored with AG's historical offerings of late, and because it's a fun excuse to dig into moments in time that interest me personally, but AG probably wouldn't produce a similar character themselves. (I say that, but my 1940's Hawaii character predates Nanea, so who knows! Maybe I'm manifesting some future stuff I can borrow for my gals.)

Violet is the youngest of three siblings. Her older sister Alice is in her early 20's and either a nurse or a Hello Girl, leaning towards nursing because I'm not sure I want her to go overseas and she could work at a hospital in Boston during the war. Her older brother James is 19 and enlists in the Marines once the US enters World War I. I think by Violet Saves the Day, he's returned home dealing with quite a bit of "shellshock" and that becomes a somewhat major theme.

Her parents are pretty wealthy, and the family lives in a brownstone on Beacon Hill in Boston. Her dad is a doctor and mom is a suffragist who also gets involved in causes supporting the war effort. Both parents are very supportive of their kids following their passions and getting themselves out there in this still relatively new century, which is why Alice has been allowed to go to school instead of immediately marrying some wealthy guy.

Vi herself is a precocious and creative kid. I think she likes to draw and paint and generally be crafty and creative, which comes in handy when brainstorming ways she can support her brother overseas and the war effort more broadly. While she's not afraid to get her hands dirty, she does like typically girly things like having teatime and looking at catalogs filled with new dresses. Her book series would theoretically cover 1917 through 1919 or so, and touch on the war, Women's Suffrage, the Spanish Flu, shellshock, and possibly the Boston Molasses Disaster.

Currently I'm trying to come up with a best friend character for her, as she really needs a Nellie or Ruthie in her life with the age difference and both siblings being off doing exciting and scary things without her. There are a lot of different directions I could go in with said friend - fellow wealthy-ish kid feels boring, Boston had a lot of new immigrant communities in the 1910's, some of whom did live in a specific part of Beacon Hill, Boston historically struggles with insidious covert racism but was still a city with a number of prominent Black and Jewish communities - and nothing's quite clicked as perfect just yet.

Violet is a Marie-Grace doll with a Nanea wig. Someone was selling her on a Facebook group a few years ago and I immediately felt like she was a Violet and needed to join my crew. Her last name was inspired by Lady Dorothie Fielding, a British woman who drove an ambulance during WWI and received several awards for bravery and service. Fielding's letters home were published after her death and are a really fascinating look at what it was like on the front lines doing this incredibly dangerous and important work. I used it as a major primary source for an educational interactive I helped develop in one of my previous jobs.

#american girl doll #american girl #american girl dolls #agblr #ag doll #ag dolls #american girl oc #violet fielding

[pancreasnostalgia]

Tiana’s work outfit looks great on Kit! It also pairs really well with her Meet accessories.

#american girl #american girl doll #ag doll #kit kittredge #doll clothes #disney #disney princess #tiana #the princess and the frog

[theatredollies]

Kirsten and Sari 🩷🩷🩷

#american girl #american girl doll #american girl dolls #american girls #american girl doll meme #kirsten larson #Kirsten #agblr #ag doll #dollblr #doll #dolls #agdolls

[idledoll]

It's been a while since I posted any new doll pics, so here's Marina getting us back in the swing of things by showing off all the nice green moss in our backyard. In celebration of the nice weather this weekend, she's wearing the Everyday Play Jumper outfit from 2011.

#idledoll's dolls #Marina #JLY 4 #modern american girl doll #ag doll #American Girl #doll photography #doll photoshoot #dollblr #agblr

[culdeefell-sims]

RECOLOR: Samantha's Play Pinafore (Adult) by Historical Fiction Sims

We're officially here! My first ever remake of someone else's CC!

Once again requested by @tweedsims on tumblr, who's been having a hard time and hopefully this sweet cottage core piece can cheer her up just a bit. She asked if I could take the original v2 pinafore by @historicalfictionsims and make it solid colors- honestly, I was surprised that there weren't solid color options originally!

I recolored it in a blend of the Historian palette by Serendipity Sims @serindipitysims and GumdropGameSpot's version of the Cottage Living palette @gumdropgamespot, with the help of a handful of patterns by Trillyke.

The good news is that Historical Fashion Sims allows mesh bundling, so these are BGC!

Now, would an adult Sam still dress like this? Definitely not, but that doesn't mean I didn't whip up a lookalike to model for us ;) There's a clipping issue in CAS that I haven't been able to reproduce in game, but that is very much beyond my current skill set to mesh edit and fix.

All right, the specs!

-Samantha's Play Pinafore V2 Recolor, TF-EF, enabled for all genders, species, and random

-Samantha's Play Pinafore V2 Recolor Special, ADD ON (requires the recolor), TF-EF and the same as above, contains holiday and patterned swatches, including one absolutely ahistorical cupcake sprinkle swatch

I don't on this mesh, so remember to follow the original artist's TOU. Download always free on Patreon. Hey, if you're feeling it, wanna tag me in any screenshots using these?

#american girl #ag #ag doll #ag samantha #samantha parkington #historical fiction sims #recolor #gumdroppalette #culdeefellsims #ts4 #the sims 4 #ts4 cc #the sims 4 cc #ts4 cc download #ts4 cc cas #cas cc #ts4 cas

[ame-rei-cangirls]

i went thrifting today, admittedly not for AG but ended up finding this Addy (in her meet dress!) for less than $8! if anyone knows more about the stamp on her, please let me know! i’m so curious about it!

#ag doll #ag dolls #americangirl #american girl doll #american girl #american girl doll collection #addy walker #american girl dolls #american girl brand #american girl addy #doll collector #dollbr

[crysieagdolls]

This is Marikit Reyes!

She is meant to be a fanmade Filipino historical character for American Girl. Please read more if you're interested 💕

This photo is my main inspiration

I definitely would have made her collection inspired by the Pleasant Company kind of style, with lots of detail and connections to her overall story.

I made the lace part of her top (from trim from a fabric store) but the rest is from sellers on etsy and ebay. Send me an ask or dm if you'd like the links to them!

The doll is not in perfect condition because she came from goodwill and I wanted to fix her up. I initially thought she was a Josefina with cut hair, but I didn't know much about the different face molds. Now she has a different wig, which is actually a slightly damaged Josefina wig, but it's longer which I like.

If she had a story, her era would be 1930s, when Filipino people first started immigrating to the states, and her intro would be of her journey to America, like Kirsten.

This doll was made with this culture for a very personal reason. Last year, a close friend of mine online passed away in a car accident. They were Filipino American. And although I'm pretty sure they wouldn't care that much for American Girl one way or the other, I think it's a group that isn't represented often.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for me to do for her in the future!! I would especially love to hear from actual Filipinos or Filipino americans from agblr but any feedback would be great

I plan to get her some other finishing touches when I have the ability (a fan, a necklace, earrings, tights) and other outfits down the line

Stay tuned because in March, I'm getting Claudie !!

#agblr #american girl doll #historical ag #ag doll #american girl #filipino #phillipines

[bohemian-rhapsody-in-blue]

So...I may have impulse-purchased my first American Girl doll since 2011 (when I was 7)...

AGblr, meet Rebecca Rubin!

I've been obsessed with American Girl ever since I was 5 and checked out allllll the historical girls' books I could from the library, and my obsession had a resurgence in March of 2022 when my family visited Chicago and, for nostalgia's sake, popped into the American Girl store for like five seconds. Since then, I've been lurking on AGIG and AGblr, admiring everyone's beautiful dolls and collections and wishing I had the money to buy one myself.

Now that I'm working a few jobs and have some money saved, I impulse-bought Rebecca a few days ago as a "congratulations on getting through the semester" present to myself! I've loved her books since I was young (I think she was the newest historical doll when I was into AG—I wasn't following the company closely anymore by the time Marie-Grace and Cecile were released). And back in March 2022 when we visited the Chicago store, I was reading Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska, a book about a girl from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family growing up as one of several siblings in a tenement on the Lower East Side of NYC...hmm, sound familiar?! (The book is really good, by the way—I'd 100% recommend it!)

I saw the Mercari listing for this girl and immediately fell in love with her sweet face—and the fact that she still had her mostly-complete pre-Beforever meet outfit, with that beautiful drop-waist! (One of my friends kept saying she wished she had that outfit herself. Honestly, same.)

Her hair's a little dry, and I think it's been cut a bit—said friend had to trim an errant long strand that had been missed. Some of her fingernails have been painted (subtly—you can't really tell unless you look closely), and her limbs are slightly loose. I don't have nearly the expertise or equipment to fix any of these things, and honestly, I'm not sure I want to. Maybe when I have some more experience and don’t have to be afraid of damaging her. But for now, I think these things give her charm—they show she's been well-loved in her previous life!

And as a bonus—I didn't plan this, but I ended up getting her on the first night of Hanukkah! Diversity win—and the best Hanukkah present I could have asked for 💖

Bonus: Rebecca meets Nina Zenik, my handmade plushie of the character from Six of Crows! (See the others here!) As two girls of Russian (or, in Nina's case, fantasy-Russian) heritage with a talent for acting, a flair for the dramatic, and red-and-gold outfits, I think they'd get along very well together :)

Now that I'm a wage-earner and I've proven to myself that if I want a doll I can just...go online...and buy a doll...I'm currently talking myself out of buying every single doll I see online for a decent price (Josefina and Luciana and Kaya and Kit and, and, and, and...). Maybe—and this is a big maybe—I'll get another one in a few months as a "congratulations on getting through the NEXT semester" present, but for now I think my American Girl collection is going to stay at one, or two counting my Molly back at home. But Rebecca won't be lonely—she'll have plenty of friends in my other plushies and Funko Pops, and my (human) friends serve as her loving "friendparents". And, of course, she'll have lots of love from me. 💖

#american girl #american girls #american girl dolls #ag #agblr #ag doll #ag dolls #rebecca rubin #dolls #toys #dollblr #toy collector #doll collector #maya’s musings #long post

[willowandfoxi]

Fua is the defiantly the most kawaii cute doll I've created so far this year. 💓

https://willowandfoxi.com

#ag doll #custom doll #doll community #doll customization #dollblr #agblr #american girl dolls #doll photography #fairy kei #kawaii #pastel aesthetic

[enby-dollhouse]

Trick or Treat!

veronica, cecily, and corinne decided to go trick or treating together dressed up as little red riding hood, a pumpkin, and a witch. they are ready to collect some candy!

#american girl doll #ag doll #tm61 #corinne tan

[not-obsessed-with-dolls]

Little Cassie bought herself a record player today

#ag doll #dollblr

[apeekintothepantry]

Happy Pokémon Day! February 27th is the anniversary of the first two Pokémon games’ release in Japan, and it’s a minor holiday in my house, as a fun excuse to make Pokémon inspired food, watch some Pokémon shows or movies (we’re going to watch Netflix’s new Pokémon Concierge this year!), and get excited about upcoming games and releases. This year, we’re making a Pokémon Sword and Shield inspired burger-steak curry and I’m making a dessert from the Pokémon Cookbook by Victoria Rosenthal. It’s one of my favorite fandom cookbooks – all the recipes are vegetarian or vegan, to get around the awkward question of where does the meat in the Pokémon universe come from?

But that’s not all we’re making! Ever since Nicki and Isabel were released, I’ve been dying to do a post about them and Pokémon’s infamous “Jelly Filled Doughnuts”, better – and more accurately! – known as onigiri.

Pokémon was released in the United States in 1998 via two Gameboy games: Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. The games quickly caught on to be one of the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the late 90’s and early 00’s, and as a kid at the heart of this explosion, I can’t overstate how much of a big deal it was. One of the great things about Pokémon – and probably why it has such lasting, widespread appeal – is that there are so many ways to interact with the franchise, and the marketing doesn’t skew hugely towards one gender or the other. Cool, tough Pokémon like Charizard got pretty similar billing to cute, pink Pokémon like Jigglypuff, and there were so many options for potential favorites that it was easy for any kid to find some creature to attach themselves to.

One of my petty complaints with Nicki and Isabel’s collection and books is the almost complete lack of mention of Pokémon and other anime that was really popular among kids in 1999. I know AG probably didn’t want to shell out for licensing deals with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company, but their stories just don’t feel accurate without discussing their prized binder of Pokémon cards or begging their parents to take them to see the Pokémon movie in theaters. Maybe the authors were just a little too old to get caught up in Pokémania?

I’ve also always thought its close overlap with the Beanie Babies crazy helped get millennial children like me very into the “gotta catch ‘em all” aspect of the franchise. Is this why I’m such a crazy toy collector as an adult? Who knows.

The Pokémon anime was one of the main ways kids like me got hooked on the franchise, because not everyone was allowed to have a Gameboy of their own (me), and not everyone liked video games, but even if you didn’t like video games, the cartoon might appeal to you. Although it was far from the first Japanese cartoon to air on US television, Pokémon was one of if not the first truly mainstream favorites of the 1990’s. 4Kids, the company in charge of dubbing the show into English, decided that American kids wouldn’t understand or be open to certain aspects of the show that reflected its Japanese roots, and so made a lot of strange choices in rewriting the script. One of the most notorious was deciding Brock’s rice balls were actually jelly filled doughnuts:

Onigiri – also known as omusubi or nigirimeshi – are balls of rice with a variety of fillings inside. They’re often compared to sandwiches, as an easy, quick, cheap meal or snack that combines carbs and other ingredients. While the concept of taking a rice ball and stuffing it full of other tasty treats goes way back to ancient Japan, the triangle shape became popular in the 1980’s thanks to a new machine that automated the filling process. Further developments over the last 40 years have created unique ways to prepackage onigiri without making the nori wrapping sticky. The ones we made were an attempt at recreating the “Hawaiian” (spam and pineapple) rice balls from our favorite food hall back in DC. One of my favorite pandemic indulgences was getting take out from the food hall, which often included a sampler of some of my favorite onigiri, and I haven’t been able to find anything close to similar where we are now. One of the many reasons I’m excited to move!

Even as a kid, I wasn’t convinced the food in the anime was fried dough with fruit jelly inside, because they sure look like rice. I also think 4Kids didn’t anticipate that Pokémon’s widespread popularity would inspire many of its fans – including me – to become absolutely obsessed with Japanese food and culture. I would’ve been more excited if they’d just been straight with me and shown more Japanese food on the show, and then probably begged my parents to make it or take me to a restaurant that made it. While I can’t confidently cite numbers of how many other people were first exposed to Japanese culture and food through Pokémon and franchises like it, I do think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity to highlight how things like this exposed kids like Nicki and Isabel to parts of a culture outside their own!

#ag doll #ag dolls #agblr #american girl doll #american girl #nicki hoffman #isabel hoffman #food history

[pancreasnostalgia]

Rebecca, Lindsey and Pearl are dressed in their best Queen Esther costumes for Purim. Everyone gets an apricot hamantaschen to celebrate.

#american girl #american girl doll #ag doll #dolls #rebecca rubin #lindsey bergman #truly me #purim