Matilda's Secret Wardrobe

Beginner doll collector and doll clothing maker. Currently collecting: A Girl For All Time, Carpatina. Dolls support dolls, DNI transphobes, homophobes, etc.

[matildasecretwardrobe]

Doll Wishlist:

Bex, A Girl For All Time

Claudie, American Girl

Ling, Karito Kids

Lydia, A Girl For All Time

[matildasecretwardrobe]

Matilda is in her nightdress rifling through a trunk full of accessories. Her many times great-grandaughter, Clem, is on her way, but she hasn't any accessories from the 40s!

Luckily, she's been working on a dress that might suit Clem, designed to go over her very own nightgown.

[matildasecretwardrobe]

Matilda is here! Her french hood briefly broke when I tried to put it on her, so my first sewing project happened a little faster than I expected! Thankfully she's all fixed up now, ready to visit court and see her cousin, Katherine Howard. Nothing could go wrong... right?

Katherine designed this dress for Matilda herself and together with her Uncle Norfolk, furnished Matilda with a whole trunk of clothes to wear at Henry VIII's court as Anne of Cleves' lady-in-waiting.

Matilda Marchmont is a fictional character and the first in the 2012-2025 series of dolls 'A Girl for All Time', created by Frances Cain. Her novel was written by Sandra Goldbacher.

[matildasecretwardrobe]

I'm not allowed to open my Matilda yet because she's my birthday present from my partner (we went halves) so I am simply rotating her in my brain as the obsession builds. I have so many ideas for clothes to make for her!

[desertdollranch]

Helena has arrived!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that A Girl for All Time is having a warehouse sale with huge discounts on their products. I knew I'd never get Helena for that cheap, so I went for it! Friends, listen to me......... she's incredible. From head to toe, she's perfection.

Helena Marchmont is a spirited 12-year-old girl from 1820. She would rather be running wild outdoors with her cousins at Henley Manor than participating in endless tea parties and dances. But her life becomes much more interesting when she receives a mysterious trunk for her birthday!

A Girl for All Time dolls are based in the United Kingdom, and the character dolls focus on time periods spanning the 1500's to today. In that way they're very similar to American Girl.

The biggest difference between the two brands is their size. The three characters who do have story books only have one, and Helena has none, other than the small blurb on the box she arrived in. The dolls also have few to no other outfits or accessories available. That's fine with me because I can sew my own doll clothes and I look forward to making Helena a nice little collection, but that may be an issue for other collectors.

But the similarities are in their high quality dolls, with lots of love and attention paid to the smaller details.

Helena's dainty little hands have carefully sculpted fingernails and blushing across her palms. She can hold things easily.

She has an all-vinyl body with inset eyes that don't blink.

She is articulated at the elbows and knees. They bend a little bit, but her arms don't extend outwards very much.

Her wig is beautiful, so soft and realistic.

Under her rose-pink dress, she has pantalettes, stockings, and faux leather shoes.

The sale at A Girl for All Time is still going on, so check it out if this interests you! They're making way for new products to come.

British historical and modern dolls and doll costumes for ages 7+

Explore our most Popular Dolls and Doll Costumes at the Official Site for A Girl for All Time. Gorgeous British Historical and Modern Dolls

[desertdollranch]

Helena, on her way to find new signs of spring, stops by Whinnyfred's pasture and shares an apple with her horse friend. She's warmly dressed for a walk outside.

Helena Marchmont is my A Girl for All Time doll from the Regency period in Great Britain. She doesn't have a book, and so I know very little about her. That, of course, means I get to create her story myself! My Helena lives in England in 1816, during the Year Without a Summer. This was a real event caused by the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia in 1815, which put so much dust and ash into the atmosphere that it blocked sunlight. This caused extreme cold temperatures through spring and summer in the northern hemisphere. Crops were killed by frost or never grew at all. Famine was widespread as food prices spiked.

Despite all the trouble in the world, Helena cheerfully continues to look for reasons to be hopeful. She is warmly dressed in the long-sleeved gown I made for her. Looking at the pictures now, I think I should shorten the skirt--Helena is a lively 12 year old girl and deserves to be able to run and climb more freely! I also made her cameo necklace, but I think from now on she'll save that for fancy occasions.

[desertdollranch]

It's already a week after the first day of summer, but Helena still must bundle up in her warmest cloak when she steals away to read her book in the garden. 1816 has been the coldest year of Helena's life. It will be later known as the Year Without a Summer, on account of a volcano eruption the year before. The Marchmont family worries often about what's to come as the year progresses and the crops can't be harvested.

But for now, settling down with her book is all that Helena is thinking about. What's she reading? The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1810.

[literatureismyentirepersonality]

is anyone still obsessed with A Girl For All Time? I was made to give up my childhood dolls but I'm finally getting a Matilda again and I'm trying to find as many still active parts of the community as I can for patterns/clothes sellers/general appreciation and discussion posts

[literatureismyentirepersonality]

trying to find doll collectors to follow online who have a girl for all time and then most of them being american girl collectors means I have just had the horrific experience of realising how transphobic the american girl doll community can be