Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda.

Samantha Parkington. Kirsten Larson. Molly McIntire.  Do these names mean anything to you? Back in 1986, these young "girls" were introduced to the world in book and doll form by the Pleasant Company. Yes, I am talking about the phenomena of the American Girl collection. My favorite of the three was - and still is - Kirsten Larson.

Unfortunately, she never made it home with us in doll form. (So sorry, Anne! It's my shoulda coulda woulda regret as your mom!) And now she's "retired" and I'm not about to fork out the eBay bucks to get her belatedly.  So, I make do with a doll from Target as I have the time and desire to recreate her Scandinavian/American wardrobe.

First up: the Santa Lucia outfit.

Using tiny scraps from the baptism dress worn by all three of my grand-daughters, I made bodice and sleeves with plain white cotton for the skirt portion of the dress. (Here's Harper in the baptism dress)

See the scraps on the Lucia bodice and sleeves?

The petticoat is made from a white sheet that was damaged.  The striped socks are from a thrift store onesie (40 cents) and the belt is from vintage red bias binding tape. The lace is from my stash of yards purchased for 10 cents a yard back when I worked at Minnesota fabrics. The head wreath was the big splurge of a candle ring.  I'll figure out later how to add the Lucia candles to it. The total cost of the outfit is around $7.00 because of that candle ring.

Next outfit:  The "Frozen Frontier" combo of skirt, sweater, mittens and hat. 

Finding a thrift store Hanna Anderson sweater on sale for $2.00 made me nearly hyperventilate! It would be (almost) perfect in this Nordic black and white ensemble.

The drawback was its front closure of a zipper. Oh well. I cut it down to doll size.

The skirt was made from wool scraps and vintage trims. 

The hat was made from a Dollar Tree

$1.00 knit Peruvian hat, again cut down to fit a doll.

I was really happy to find this as there wasn't enough Hanna Anderson sweater to make a hat, too.

The yarn ties from the hat were repurposed into the cord to hold the two mittens together through the sleeves of the sweater. I'm guessing that my materials cost was under $4.00 for this outfit.

The shirt and slip have yet to be made but here is where you can help me out if you own the original outfit---is it a petticoat slip or a pantaloons undergarment?  I can't tell from the Google image photo.

I'm thinking about turning this into my Could. Should. Would. project. Plenty of fabrics from my collection at home to whittle down. Bring on the "Coming to America" dirndl skirt with blouse and 

vest, the

"Country Dress" with sun bonnet, the "Prairie School " dress with shawl, the "Work Dress" with the locket, the "Springtime Dress" with pinafore and the "Summer Striper" with straw hat! Come on over 

with your doll for a play date! Now is not the time for regrets!

And you? Did you have a favorite Amercan Girl doll?  Did you get her as a gift? If not, do you have

any regrets to resolve?