Hello,
I was talking to Eseme in a completely unrelated place and we got to talking about dolls and found out that we both likd them. She told me that this forum was a very nice place, so I came over to check it out
I'm primarily collecting Tonner dolls (and a few by other companies in the same 16"-ish scale that are just cool) right now, but I also have a large collection of American Girl dolls from when I was younger that I still display and play with. I don't actively collect the AG stuff as much anymore just because all of mine were historical dolls and they don't produce as much for those anymore.
I have a few older or reproduction Barbies - mostly Francie and other friend dolls because I prefer them to Barbie herself - and other toys from that era just because I think that 60s and 70s toys were amazing - people who designed toys for my mother's generation must have been using a LOT of drugs.
As a child of the 80s myself, I have the Strawberry Shortcake Berry Happy Home Dollhouse which was a BIG present to myself last year, and I'm slowly re-accumulating my childhood Strawberry Shortcake collection in stops and starts. Right now I really need more furniture for the dollhouse but you've got to prioritize collecting.
I enjoy sewing for all of my dolls and I have a lot of books on garment construction and fashion history, though I must say that the transition from American Girl sewing to sewing for fashion dolls was somewhat jolting - they're all TEENSY for all that they're not much shorter and the clothes have to be so much more fitted (when American Girl dolls are basically cloth tubes with arms and legs) and detailed! Eventually I'd like to have an Etsy shop for all sorts of doll clothes, but I'm a perfectionist so we'll have to see how that works out.
Emily
JabberwockyPie