Lea's Doll Blog

Lea | 29 | ze/zem Sideblog for AG doll stuff, I follow from honestlea

[stuffedanimalenthusiast]

Kirsten extras!!

[dollsinvogue]

Dolls who are disabled + use service aids!

I wanted to make this post for disability pride month (July) because it is something important to me. Some people may ask “what about having a disability is prideful?” And it is honestly a great question because it does seem like something that absolutely sucks (and it does a lot of the time), but personally, I am very proud of how resilient, patient and caring my disabilities have made me, I’m proud of how myself and many others have come to advocate for our needs, I’m proud of who I am and my disabilities are a part of that.

[cryptic-forge]

this is niniya, @posnakkel's character in a tabletop campaign i run. this is also mostly me showcasing their work; i sculpted and printed the doll, but the character design & all clothes and customization are by them, as well as some of these photos.

[americangirlstar]

anyone know of any 18in doll patterns for this type of jacket? the closest i can find is military jackets but i can't find one with the specific type of collar (notch?) it's got

[honestleadolls]

Like this one?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/222667284/schoolboy-blazer-18-inch-doll-clothes

[americangirlstar]

Ooh that's definitely the collar and pocket-location we're going for, but I think this one might be a little too fitted and short, the one pictured is kinda loose

[enby-dollhouse]

if it’s helpful, those are super easy pattern adjustments to make! printing the pattern out at say 105% or 110% scale will make the whole thing fit looser and adding to the bottom hem for length is another really easy alteration.

You could also change the side seams from a curve to straight for a more relaxed fit.

most of the time when i work with pre existing patterns i choose them based on the trickier or specific parts first (overall structure but also details like collars or sleeves) and then adjust the basics to what i need from there!

[honestleadolls]

Yeah, that's what I'd suggest- it's very easy to scale up a pattern, esp a pdf one that you can just resize the printing of. It's also relatively easy to use a pattern piece for, say, the collar from this pattern, and attach it to the body of a different jacket that doesn't have the collar you want.

Also seconding the curved vs straight seamlines, though that might be a bit tougher than just sizing up the whole thing, depending on your skill level!

[americangirlstar]

anyone know of any 18in doll patterns for this type of jacket? the closest i can find is military jackets but i can't find one with the specific type of collar (notch?) it's got

[honestleadolls]

Like this one?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/222667284/schoolboy-blazer-18-inch-doll-clothes

[colombinna]

Someone should do American Girl historical dolls as dolls of that time. Like Samantha as a porcelain doll, or Mary-Ellen and Melody as Skipper or Tammy dolls

[gahdamnpunk]

American Girl stories were the best tbh

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Dude, read the books, she and her mom freed themselves in Book 1. We don’t disrespect American Girl in this house

[allthefandomss]

Don’t you dare disrespect Addy, or any of my girls for that matter. American Girl used to be legit. Good stories, good dolls, good movies.

[smugkoalas]

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

American Girl stories have always featured the very harsh realities of America through the years. But they’re always presented honestly, yet in ways that kids can understand. They just go to show that you don’t have to live in a perfect time to be a real American girl.

[chaos-in-the-making]

Dont you fucking dare disrespect the American Girls in my house. ESPECIALLY Addy!! That was my first REAL contact with the horrors of slavery, as I read about her father being whipped and sold and her mother escaping with her to freedom, but also how freedom was still a struggle.

A slave doll. Please. Read the books.

[ironwoman359]

Don’t forget Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant who had to deal with balancing her own culture and learning the english language and customs of her classmates, or Kaya (full name Kaya'aton'my, or She Who Arranges Rocks) , the brave but careless girl from the Nez Perce tribe, or Josefina, the Mexican girl learning to be a healer.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

These books, these characters, are fantastic pictures into life for girls in America throughout the years, they pull no punches with the horrors that these girls had to face in their different time periods, and in many cases I learned more history from these series than social studies at school. And that’s without even mentioning the “girl of the year” series where characters are created in the modern world to help girls deal with issues like friend problems, moving, or bullying. We do NOT disrespect American Girl in this house.

[razzleberryjam]

American Girl is probably going to be the only exposure young girls are going to get to history from a female perspective. This is actually kind of important considering that in history classes we dont really get that exposure. We dont hear about what women felt and endured during these time periods cause schools are too busy teaching us about what happened from the male perspective, which is not unimportant, but we need both. Girls need both.

[star-linedsoul]

These books were such a crucial part of my childhood and shaped my love of history, which still ensures today. These books can be a young girl’s first lessons in diversity and cultural awareness (hopefully burying that insensitive “we’re all Americans” tripe) and looking at history from more perspectives than just that taught in school. They also are an example of how women have ALWAYS been part of history, which some people would rather us not believe.

I think Kit and Kaya were the newest American Girls when I started “aging out” of the books, but hearing about some of these kinda makes me want to revisit them!

[breezeinmonochromenight]

I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you know what?

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

[physicsandfandoms]

And they departed from the norm in Kaya’s doll to fit her culture! The other dolls all show their teeth, and Kaya does not because that is considered rude in the Nez Perce culture!

It is absolutely true that these books covered the stuff in history that was absent from our history books. I still distinctly remember reading about Addy being forced to eat bugs she missed on tobacco plants, and that started me out from a different perspective and made it easier for me to know to reject the sanitized version of the slave trade we’re taught in school. And these books are targeted at ages 8+, which is a pretty critical time for developing your own thinking and morals.

[lunacorva]

Reblogging for general awesome

[hey-marlie]

when i was in 3rd grade i was reading the Meet Addy book at school & a couple boys made fun of me for reading a “doll book” - my teacher overheard & started reading Meet Addy to the class after every recess. everyone became extremely invested & by the end of the year we had read the entire collection of Addy books & did a presentation on the civil war at the end of the year that we all presented to the class one by one.

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

i’ve since gotten rid of majority of my childhood toys, but i still have every single one of my dolls & all the books that i plan on gifting to my future children.

[iamthecutestofborg]

I’m white and my first real introduction to slavery and the underground railroad was Addy. She was a young girl like me I could connect to and care about her story. American Girl does a great job of making history relevant to kids.

[boldlygoing-nowhere]

Also American Girl sells all sorts of books unrelated to the dolls. The Care and Keeping of You books were super important as I started puberty and were the most comprehensive, non judgemental account of what was going to happen.

They also have “the smart girls guide” series which covers topics like crushes, worry, middle school, drama and gossip, sports, friendship, the digital world, communication, money, confidence, etc.

[iamthecutestofborg]

Oh I had those too and I loved them!

[fishfrommars]

I want to say I think there was an American Girl Doll magazine series that came out, but don’t quote me on that. there were lots of helpful girl guides that used the American girls as examples for doing good or learning lessons or trying to understand why girls did what they did

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

I remember being very invested in Molly, Addy, and Kaya. Mostly cuz I look like Molly, and the other two had a lot of information on two of my favorite time periods. But I owe a lot of my personality to these lovvely girls

[dragonqueenzoyaa]

yo don’t forget my girl Caroline. Her father was captured by the British during the war of 1812 and she basically learned how to sail and rescued him herself.

[janeslandrys]

omg yeah i love caroline

[beggars-opera]

I can confirm that they really do their research - during the creation of Caroline the company called a museum I was associated with and quizzed them extensively about what sort of food kids would have eaten at the turn of the 19th century.

[kurganfilledwithbearbones]

When i was like ten I wrote a letter to the American Girl magazine saying that the girls in their magazine were all really skinny and it made me, a chonk, really sad because it was showing that I couldn’t wear any of the outfits they suggested, and I got a personal letter back from the editor apologizing for making me feel that way and saying they would work on that. Dunno if they actually did, i can’t remember, but they did promptly personally respond to a letter about something that was not exactly on the radar for girl’s media in fucking 2002. So there’s that.

[torchlake]

I’m happy to report that the messages from American Girl have only gotten better in recent years.

These are from one of their latest books, A Smart Girl’s Guide to Body Image:

They got a lot of flak from conservative parents for this and they did. not. back. down.

Their newest historical doll, Claudie, is a black girl growing up in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her story is about Black artists thriving, and making a safe, beautiful place for themselves in a society that tries to reject them. It teaches about the NAACP’s protests against lynchings, in ways kids can understand, but there’s also so much Black joy and creativity showcased in her story.

Another historical doll, Melody, is growing up in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. She faces the struggles and triumphs of attending a newly integrated school, and learns about the bombing of a Black church in Alabama that killed four little girls her age. Her stories show how black people found support and community within the church, as well as music— she loves to sing! If you have a free hour, I highly recommend watching her special on Amazon (free with prime). It stars Caila Marsai Martin from Blackish and it will make you weep.

The girl of the year for 2022, Corinne, is Asian, and her story touches on the issues of anti-Asian hate in the wake of covid. When conservative parents threw a fit about this, American Girl went ahead and made the girl of the year for 2023 Asian, too.

Any of their dolls can be customized with assistive devices like hearing aids, service dogs, and wheelchairs. They also have bald dolls, to include stories about girls battling cancer or alopecia. And it’s not just girl dolls— they have boy dolls now, too! And dolls with no gender assigned to them! People complained that they couldn’t find any dolls in the Just Like Me line that looked like them, so they now give people the ability to create their own custom doll, with tons of different options.

I’m not claiming American Girl as a company is perfect, but I am saying they’re important. Girl perspectives, girl stories, and girl communities are IMPORTANT. If there are kids in your life who would benefit from these stories, or if you’d like to read them yourself, you can find any American Girl book for pretty much dirt cheap on eBay, and libraries usually stock tons of them!

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Girl of the year 2026 is Raquel Reyes, who is biracial and the great-great-granddaughter of Samantha.

How Raquel Reyes inspires girls today



Our Girl of the Year character teaches girls to connect, care, and make a difference.

A great way to introduce a new generation to Samantha’s stories without just slapping nostalgia all over everything. And Raquel’s stories will include learning from Samantha’s diary how she can show up and be a friend to the people around her in the modern day just like Samantha did in the 1910s.

[stuffedanimalenthusiast]

I know literally everyone has pointed out all of the Samantha Easter eggs in Raquel’s books but it’s still so neat to me

[in-the-dollpalace]

The complete american girl collection as of 2025!

Its been a long time since I've done one of these lineup edits and we've welcomed some new members since!

[americangirlstar]

my dreeeeam for when i've married rich and my husband has died under mysterious circumstances is to have like a walk-in closet just for my doll collection. with like a shelfing unit so each historical character has their own "room" to fit all their shit and the moderns can have little sections as well (not one for each. im not gonna be THAT rich) and there's drawers underneath for alternate outfits and toys and stuff. and they're all possessed

[in-pleasant-company]

I stayed in a rental with some absolutely massive closets recently and all I could think when I saw them was "this would make a great place to put an American Girl doll house."

[izasbjdphoto]

Gotta show off my newest arrival here too!

I reshelled Queen Ursa, as her old shell simply didn’t suit the character. At first I was gonna pass this sculpt, but when I saw blank owner pics in dark tan I knew she was way more fitting.

I’m honestly just really glad all her old things (other than the shoes) fit her perfectly still. I was especially worried about the wig, but it fits like a glove.

The what is what:

Sculpt: Impldoll Moira in dark tan on the 63cm slim muscle body

Outfit: Eva’s Workshop

Wig: Zazou Doll Customs in Smartdoll size (8.5in)

Aesthetics and eyes: me over at @izasfaceups

[bon3xp4ndedx3]

i didnt know dolls could be ETHERAL

[izasbjdphoto]

Thank you! And that’s the beauty of bjds, they are just something else! I need to take more of my collection outside for photo shooting…

[akinas-shave-ice]

i almost forget how homophobic the wider range of people who like american girl can be. like the tumblr ag scene is very gay (or, if not lgbt themselves, allies). then i leave the circle and it’s a bunch of conservative moms who are shouting about how disgusting it is that lgbt people are allowed to exist. in conclusion homophobes are banned from all ag media and content forever <3

[dashing-darlings]

Agree 100%. AG tumblr is very LGBTQIA+ friendly and I love it.

[girlsofmanylands]

Conservative white AG moms: I cannot believe they would allow this character in children's media to have gay aunts the lgbt agenda is poisoning the minds of our youth

Us, all gay as hell, with our thrifted off eBay dolls we painted freckles on ourselves or whatever: Julie and Ivy were wed on a Cali beach at sunset. Courtney did Moore than Reagan. Uncle Gard and Cordelia had a lavender marriage. Molly actively identifies as butch by age 20. *cocks gun* Coconut the dog is trans and there is nothing you can do about it

[dollsahoy]

Good points, and none of them are about the actual process of stitching

[laurenillustrated]

American Girls! ★

I drew 10 of the original historical American Girls in my style! This was a fun little fan art series in between my other illustrations 🤭

In order: Felicity and Josefina, Kirsten and Kaya, Molly and Kit, Addy and Samantha, Julie and Rebecca.

[stuffedanimalenthusiast]

It’s my birthday month so obligatory birthday outfit post lol

[stuffedanimalenthusiast]

Some more birthday outfit pngs for the vibes

[desertdollranch]

It's a breezy spring day in Philadelphia. Addy has arrived in the cozy library at the ICY, where she is studying to become a teacher. She's bundled up in her warm coat, mittens and knee warmers, and carries her books in a patchwork bag.

Under her coat, she's wearing the newest addition to her wardrobe. I made this green striped dress based on the cover of her mystery novel, Shadows on Society Hill.

I really enjoy adding new clothes to my historical characters' collections, and so when I found this particular fabric, I decided to take a shot at sewing one for my Addy. The book cover is the only place it appears.

The book (one of my very favorites out of all the historical character mysteries) takes place in late 1866, almost a year after the events of Changes for Addy. In the story, 11-year-old Addy's generous spirit and bravery give her entire family a chance for a better life. But when she finds out something she wasn't supposed to know, everything is thrown into turmoil.

In the book, she's already attending the Institute for Colored Youth, so I imagine she needed something very grown-up and elegant to wear to classes.

She's also wearing a few other bits of winter gear that represent pieces from her retired collection.

Remember this? Such an iconic look.

My Addy's coat and mittens were made by the person I bought Addy from. They're sturdy enough that I haven't felt the need to make my own replacements. I made her patchwork bag, based on the one from her revamped BeForever accessories. I also made her some knee warmers, like she's wearing in the above picture.

They don't match the mittens like the original ones did, but these are made from a wool scarf and so are very warm and comfy.

And of course, I had to top off her look with a black velvet Derby hat!

This is a beautiful and well-fitting reproduction of the original, at a fraction of the cost that secondhand sellers are asking. Here's the link to get your own.