A very good mail day, and doll clothes

My order from Pleasant Company came today! Whee!!! Felicity's guitar and Elizabeth's fashion doll. SO CUTE. It's just disgustingly adorable, honestly. And they were on sale! (Even better!) I didn't even know American Girl stuff ever went on sale, but after missing the charity sale here, I decided to go and look at the website to see what kind of stuff they actually have nowadays, since I haven't gotten their catalog in years. Lo and behold, two items I'd been lusting after for ages were on special! So I don't feel so bad now. Actually, Elizabeth's fashion doll was a new item to me, but I actually like it better than Felicity's. It's got the same hair color as an 18th century fashion doll pictured in my book from the Kyoto Costume Institute, so I'm having a little historical geekiness over it. *does happy dance*

I'm making a circa 1838 Barbie doll dress at the moment and the sleeves are being very troublesome. Sleeves could be very intricate in those days, and of course I just had to go for a style that's nearly impossible to re-create in that small a scale. I'm almost tempted to do a simplified approximation without all the shirring, but if I could manage to perfect the complicated version, I'm sure it would be the cutest thing ever. Argh. To be or not to be!

Also just bought fabric to make my Felicity doll a 1780's polonaise dress, also inspired by an illustration in the Kyoto Costume Institute book. I love the idea of an oriental print for a European dress. Let's hope the pattern doesn't prove too overwhelming for a doll!