Current Mood : Brain-strained. We're working on Dearest Son's upcoming home studies.
Played a bit with Tiffany Taylor today. Showed Dearest Son how her hair worked, and he exclaimed, ‘Now she's blonde like me !'. I was glad to see he knew that part of himself, and was happy with it.
As it turned out, Tiffany gave me another huge gift. Late last night, I was doing some research on her, for fun. What can I say, I'm not just a nerd, I'm a doll geek. I ended up looking at other 70s and 80s dolls, which is always fun. So many toy companies, sadly, most that don't exist anymore. Personally, I was kind of morose when I heard Ideal had gone under. I know a guy who was upset when Kenner went bye-bye, since he didn't think new owner Hasbro would do a decent job on his beloved Star Wars toys.
So I guess it wasn't a surprise that I ended up reading about Mego's Candi, a doll nearly the same size as Tiffany. I'd seen one once, a long time ago in an antique shop, with a ghostly faded face, even though she was still in her box. The sight actually made me shudder a bit. I'd long cherished the idea that if a doll was NRFB, she'd always remain perfect, yet here was definite proof that wasn't true. I'd heard a lot about the Tiffany and Tuesday Taylor dolls, but I'd only ever seen photos. It's funny how half the time, the first time I ever see a doll in person, I usually end up owning her.
Anyway, reading about Candi led me back to www.crissyandbeth.com - she's a big fan of all those Crissy-sized dolls. And that's where I saw it. I still can't believe that mystery is solved. It's been somewhere in my mind since '02 !
That's when I bought a nearly-new copy of Johana Gast Anderton's Sewing for 20th Century Dolls, Vol. II. It had lots of Crissy patterns in it ! One was right on the cover, a pretty faux button-front sundress in a feminine, soft plaid. As is my nature, I hunted around for a great price - and free shipping ! - and pounced. I don't think I had the book in my hands for ten minutes before I'd traced out the bodice of that sundress onto a sheet of paper, and cut it out of scrap cotton fabric.
Um. I was new to sewing, truly, but I had no idea how this bodice was gonna fit Crissy. The cut piece didn't even go all the way around her chest, unless I didn't sew the darts, the faux-front placket, or the facings. But, with the utter faith that a newbie has for an experienced, renowned expert, I figured that, when it was done, surely, it would fit. Nope. I re-read the directions, and drew the pattern again, even going a bit big on the cutting. Still didn't fit. Even a photocopy of the pattern, measured to be an exact match to the book simply didn't fit. Unless it was made out of cotton-look Lycra (which doesn't exist, elastic fabrics always have a certain sheen to them), I didn't see how, but I still believed...
I tried off and on for two years, utterly clueless as to how it fit the Crissy on the cover, but didn't come close to fitting any of my Crissy dolls. I had to be doing something wrong, but for the eternal life of me, I couldn't figure out what. I did note that the book doll had her feet crammed into shoes that fit a smaller Crissy-family doll, and that Ms. Anderton said the dress she used to create the pattern was an original tagged fashion found on a red-haired Crissy. Um, they're all red-haired...if the doll is blonde or brunette, she has a different name. I re-read the directions, to make sure I wasn't supposed to enlarge the design, or something... but it was always the same as the first time.
After a while, I gave up, but I always kept my eyes open. I went through every page of Beth Colvin's (formerly Gunter) Crissy site, looking for official Ideal outfits, or Sears ‘bonus' deals, or just plain knockoffs. I even checked McCalls and Simplicity patterns, and looked through Magic Hair Crissy's pages, too. Nothing. That dress seemed to exist only on the cover of Ms. Anderton's book. Once, in an eBay auction, I saw something similar, but the dress didn't seem much larger than the Barbie it was photographed next to.
So it was that, by getting Tiffany, I ended up exploring Candi - and that plaid sundress turned out to be an official Mego dress for Candi, not Crissy's. And Candi, Magic Hair Crissy, and Tiffany all have much smaller torso figures than Crissy. It was never my fault the pattern didn't work ! Ms. Anderton evidently didn't notice that the ‘original tagged' dress read Candi, not Crissy. I still don't know how she got it to fit the Crissy on the cover, but at least now, I know.
I also learned a lot stitching up those two free-standing lace school buses today. But since this has already gone long, it'll keep ‘til tomorrow. Hope you had a great weekend !
