The Doll Ranch

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It’s springtime in New Orleans, and Cécile Rey and her family are on their way to a picnic on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. She tries to keep her thoughts happy and not think about the rumors of people becoming ill with yellow fever. Nobody would pass up the opportunity to spend an afternoon enjoying the cool breeze from the lake, right?

This is my humble homemade rendition of Cécile’s summer outfit. It was released in 2012 as a limited edition set. It’s not my absolute favorite piece in her collection, but Cécile has such a small collection that I feel the need to give her lots of pretty clothes to wear when she has adventures around the city.

I had three sources to get inspiration from: the actual dress, the book illustration, and the paper dolls version.

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They’re all a little bit different from each other in subtle ways, so I was able to pick and choose what features I wanted mine to have, based on the materials available to me.

I made her bonnet from an adult-sized straw hat I found at a thrift store.

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I found the adorable daisy trim on Etsy. It’s overlaid on top of a folded satin ribbon that I folded by hand and then stitched onto the bonnet.

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Cécile’s day at the lake can only be made better by the presence of her best friend, Marie-Grace! I did not make her outfit or the parasol.

cecile rey marie-grace gardner

rookthebird asked:

hello! how do you know when a doll's hair is salvageable, vs when it would be better to just rewig them?

In my own experience, and assuming the hair hasn’t been cut, that moment is decided after I’ve attempted to repair the hair and the outcome is unsuccessful. It doesn’t happen a lot, but I can reassure you that sometimes some wigs just can’t be saved.

edwardianamericangirlfan
americangirlstar

Cécile's family is literally SO interesting. All of them are just fascinating and we don't get a ton about them in the book bc it's all from Céce's POV and she's got her own plot going on but they're just like "yeah her dad owns his own stonecarving business and his dad was a sailor who's had his own adventures overseas for years upon years and her mom was orphaned as a teenager and her and her sister were raised by a nun where they worked together as nurses during a pandemic and then they both married well and now the mom is an actual property owner and business-runner as a black woman in the 1850s and the sister (céce's aunt) moved out of new orleans with her husband before returning after her husband died leaving her with a toddler child. and also céce's brother studied art in paris" And then AG retired her after two years and we never got to hear more about this like DUDE. I WANT A BOOK ABOUT HER MOM

desertdollranch

Cécile’s parents clearly have high hopes for her–they’re paying for singing lessons, private tutoring, and encourage her interests in helping at the orphanage.

We should have been given a mystery that dove deep into the Rey family lore and history. It would have been fascinating.

doll-collector-by-day
doll-collector-by-day

I recently took Corrine to the History Colorado Center.


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It's a museum about Colorado history, especially the diverse people who lived here. (I wanted to take Corrine into the area about people of Chinese descent, but alas with children we didn't get to make it there this time.)

We saw posters about activism and Colorado activists.

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We visited the Destination Colorado section, which is about life in Keota, CO around the 1920s. There was a motoring jacket, just Cornelia wore in Samantha's books. You can visit a school, a general store, a house, and a barn.



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We laid down on a buffalo skin.

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We saw a small area about skiing in Steamboat Springs.

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But the most important part was the 90s exhibit. Since I was born in 1990, I was familiar with the majority of things.

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The best part was the mini Blockbuster, where you could pretend for a moment it was Friday night and they were out of your top 5 movies.

Corinne clearly dressed for the part with the AG Birthday outfit. I think we'll have to head back soon to see the exhibits we missed. (We only got through about half the museum in 5 hours!)

dollsofthewest
karacoconutag

Meet Katie from the year 1978!

For my mom's birthday, I decided to make her a custom doll meant to represent her when she was an AG character's age, 10 years old, and I had a blast creating a collection of outfits and accessories based on her favorite things at that age, all of which fit with her inside her Kirsten-inspired trunk to keep track of all the little pieces.

Not to mention her beloved dog, Sugar (how fun is it that the white sweater literally has "Sugar" embroidered on it - thanks, AG!)

She was totally surprised when I presented it to her, and is thrilled with it all just as I hoped she'd be! 🥹

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rookthebird asked:

i love your historical characters!!!! especially eugenia, she's so cute!! i got a vintage tm108 from ebay and after reading your blog i really want to make a historical persona/collection for her (originally i bought her to be lucy gray baird from the hunger games books)

Thanks! Eugenia really is a cute kiddo, and I’ve learned so much from her. Learning their history is the best part about making historical original characters, especially when it’s a little more obscure. I hope your character teaches you a lot too!