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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