Arranbee 14" Doll: "Elise"

This is the fifth of five trunk sets created for my 14" hard plastic Arranbee Nancy Lee/Nannette dolls.  This one is named "Elise."  She has the "suntan" skin color.  Her brunette wig that I gave her is long, straight, and thick; it is made of human hair.

In this first photo, Elise is wearing a yellow cotton dress that I made for her, with a white pinafore and a full white petticoat.

Here is another day dress.  I made this from a tiny floral cotton print.  It has a wide white collar and three tiny buttons in the front. (Buttons are just for decoration; the dress actually has snaps in front.)

This photo shows her pretty hair.  I made this long-sleeved nightgown from a fine lightweight barely-pink cotton. 

Here you can see the ribbon embroidery I did on the bodice as decoration. A tiny ribbon trims the hem.

This is a strapless pink cotton gown I made for Elise, shown with a lace stole.

Over the pink long gown, she can wear a white overskirt and a white bodice.  The pink shows through.  All the pieces are lace-trimmed.

For a "Southern Belle" effect, She can wear a white hat with the outfit.

Her long dark hair allows her to look "right" for more exotic outfits.  I made this Plains Indian dress from a soft chamois cloth and decorated it with beading and fringe.  I made matching moccasins, belt, and headband.

Elise looks lovely in this Japanese kimono with obi.  This was made by a very talented eBay seamstress (sorry, I do not remember her name), who used beautiful smallscale silk fabrics.  Everything is lined and well-made.

I made this medieval-style gown from purple velvet and gold lame, with sleeves from purple chiffon. Gold braid is used to trim the dress and to make a matching headband.

Here is Elise with all her outfits in the purple trunk (purchased from Heavenly Treasures).

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Arranbee 14" Doll: "Darcy"

This is the fourth of five trunk sets I created for my 14" Arranbee hard plastic dolls.  This doll is named "Darcy." The skin tone and face paint of this doll suggested a redhead, although she had no hair when I purchased her.  This copper-hued wig looks just right on her.

Here she is in a black and white tea-length dress. I made the bodice and cuffs from black velvet and full skirt and puff sleeves from white organza.

Here is Darcy in a green and white long dress, rather old-fashioned in design.  The skirt is made from a piece of vintage taffeta, and the blouse, with lace trim on the front, was a remake from an old doll dress that could not be salvaged in its entirety.  I added some green ribbon trim and white lace at the hem.

The following dress was made by a talented eBay seamstress (sorry, I do not remember the name).  It is purple satin with an overlay of sheer silver.  The purple color looks nice on Darcy.

Darcy likes ballet class.  Here is her pink ballerina outfit, which I made of a vintage silk, with tulle and lace trim. She has a pair of pink ballet slippers and a matching bow in her hair.

For day wear, Darcy has this purple and green dress with a print bodice and striped skirt.  She has matching flowers on her hairband.

For casual occasions, Darcy likes these brown slacks and coordinating pink knit top, decorated with a vertical brown grosgrain ribbon accented with tiny pink buttons. She wears brown loafers with this outfit.

At bedtime, Darcy wears this two-toned purple short nightgown with matching bloomers, all trimmed in lace.

Here is Darcy with all her clothes in her trunk.

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Arranbee 14" Doll: "Caroline"

This Arranbee 14" doll I have named "Caroline."  This is the third of the five Arranbee doll trunk sets.

In this first photo, she is wearing an Arranbee wedding dress.  I bought the dress separately from a doll.  I think it may have originally come on a "Nannette" Arranbee doll.  The dress is a heavy brocade trimmed in expensive lace.  I added a petticoat, veil, and bouquet.

This outfit was made by a talented eBay seller who made handmade knit/crochet outfits from Mary Hoyer patterns.  I like the saucy tam and the little handwarmer that come with it.

This is a layered play outfit that I made for this doll.  The first layer is a high-midriff top and shorts with a short overskirt. The next layer is a skirt.

The final layer is a pinafore with a big bow in the back.  The pinafore has attached sleeves and shows the underlying top and skirt.

This next dress has a Bavarian flavor to it.  The white blouse features tiny tucks and lace in the front and has full sleeves.  The flowered skirt is full, with a petticoat.  There is a green felt belt trimmed in tiny picot. 

Caroline has a pretty pink nightgown.  The two-layered skirt has sheer nylon with lace edging over nylon tricot.  There is a squared neckline on the bodice and a pink embroidered ribbon belt.

She has a pretty little bisque doll to take "night-night."

This long dress is made from exquisite cotton lace with tiny embroidered flowers and a scalloped edge.

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Arranbee 14" doll: "Belle"

This is "Belle," the second of the five "sister dolls" to my childhood Arranbee doll. Belle has a medium length brown replacement wig and blue eyes.  Her wardrobe consists of outfits in red, white, and blue.

She is waving "hello" to you, as she is a friendly doll. She has on a red and white gingham shirt that buttons in front, jeans, and a denim cap, all of which I designed and made for her.

I found some cute denim sneakers for her to wear, too.

Belle also looks nice all dressed up.  This pretty long white lace-trimmed dress came on an old Madame Alexander doll that had been in an attic a long time.  The dress was quite dusty, but a gentle washing brought out its beauty.  I added a red velvet sash.

This dress was made of two coordinating fabrics that just begged to be made into a doll dress for Valentine's Day!  Wouldn't you be Belle's valentine if she was wearing this dress? I also made a red net petticoat to go with the dress.

Belle is in the drill team at her school.  This is the outfit I made for her, complete with white boots and
matching panties. I like the diagonal bodice.

This red white and blue tiny print is decorated with baby rickrack and features bell sleeves.  A nice summertime dress that I made for Belle.

This is an outfit that came in a vintage collection with a fixer-upper doll.  I repaired the tears in the blouse, added new elastic to the sleeves, altered both the blouse and skirt to fit, and washed and ironed the outfit. Now Belle has a nice schoolday outfit.

Belle wears soft white cotton gown that I trimmed with hand embroidery on the yoke.

Here is Belle in her trunk.

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Arranbee 14" doll: "Alice"

I am guessing most doll collectors have a favorite doll (or two or three) that they played with as a child.  My childhood doll was an Arranbee (R&B) Nancy Lee doll (shown in an earlier posting).  She is my favorite.

I have collected several additional Nancy Lee or Nannette dolls, all 14" hard plastic, strung dolls.  None of the dolls I purchased were mint, because the mint dolls are so expensive, and because I enjoy refurbishing old dolls.  This post and four more will feature the five "sister dolls" to my childhood doll. 

As I developed trunk sets for these dolls, I had the trunks labeled  A, B, C, D, and E, just to help keep things organized.  Later I decided to name the dolls by these same letters: Alice, Belle, Caroline, Darcy, and Elise. 

So, here is Alice.

I made the blue cotton dress with a white braid trim.  The white pinafore features ribbon and lace for the straps and edging.

The nightgown below was made from a vintage pattern that my mother used many years ago, when making clothes for my childhood doll.  The gown of blue cotton has embroidery on the sleeves and is edged in tiny lace trim.

My mother made the dress in the two photos below. 

The fabric is blue with white dots, and the trim is blue velvet ribbon with lace. It has an attached lace petticoat.                                                                             

 My mom also made the knitted blue stole with fringe.

I made this dress from a vintage dotted swiss fabric, with baby picot trim in blue.

I crocheted the following outfit using baby-weight blue and white yarn.  I started with a Mary Hoyer pattern, but made some modifications.  It has a row of tiny buttons for the front closure.  There are matching panties and a cap, also.  It was a bit challenging for me, as I am a beginner with crochet, but fun to do.

This is a refurbished white long dress. The dress came on a fixer-upper doll and was dingy and in poor repair. The fabric was not damaged, however. I took the dress apart, altered it to fit, added elastic to the sleeves, and trimmed the dress with white lace. 

Here is Alice in her trunk, which came from The Queen's Treasures.  (See their website or eBay).

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