2000-2004- My friend garde-robe : the day dresses

While living in Canada, I met  my best friend Anne, through the 15"dolls gathering/meeting.
she was (and still is)quite passionate about fashion dolls, she is mainly responsible, I should admit, for introducing me to the "Big girls".
I was, from our first meeting, fascinated by Gene Marshal (M. Odom) then later by Tyler Wentworth (R.Tonner) and Anne encouraged me to have at least one of them. Today some 10 years later I have more than 30 of those and keep counting (this is "My Gang")
I bought some of them in second hand (from Anne mostly) she offered me my first Brenda Starr (Effanbee) for my birthday (she became my Gang first character under the name Petunia Greenwood who is freelance journalist)

As Anne's collection of Gene dolls amplified, she asked me to make some outfits for her ladies.
She told me what she had in mind, and we roughly sketched her ideas. I remember  how we went through the big patterns catalog, I got from the fabric store (you know, those "after season" huge books we go through to choose our patterns)
She wanted me to use fabrics from dresses she had,  that just reminded her of found memories, or because she still loved, after all the years, the nice patterns that scaled well with a doll this size, and she bought brand new fabric from the store as well.

The outfits are presented here by Gene Marshal (Mel Odom) both the brunet and the blond are Simply Gene

After all those years in my photos album, I thought it would be nice to share this with you.

Here are the day dresses

Time period: Calgary Ab. 1999-2007.

1995, Dec. 09, My first steps as official vendor

We left Mexico in 1994 when Hubby got a job in Quebec City (Canada). We had to leave our friends behind, but were very happy to be back in Canada. I brought my dolls with me of course, at this time they were fully part of my life.
in November 1995, an add in the news paper was calling for craft vendors for a show due to December of the same year. Encouraged by Hubby I registered, rented a table, and for the first time in my life, I sale my dolls (plus some packed outfits ) openly, officially to the public.  It was not a charity event, they were not friends coming to say hello and encourage or compliment me and buying a doll or 2 for  the sole purpose of sharing some taught and giving some money for charity purpose,  they were customers, real one, with all the good and bad coming with it.
Some weeks before living Quebec City, window-shopping in a mall, I discovered with delight a doll taller than Barbie. She was amazingly beautiful,  very "50th",  her body was fashion as well but with a woman idea,
I fall in love with Gene Marshall Created by Mel Odom.

My first Show was very modest indeed. It happened in a kind of Mall reorganized for this "craft event"

In this time I did not affirm yet Barbie as my first choice, lot of customers at this time were looking first for the price tag, then to the doll, so $1.00 dolls were appreciated.

Lot of cloth you see here  where only on the dolls for the pictures. the cloth were  bagged and the  numbered pics placed in and album. Customers looked through the album then chose the # they likes .

those  last dresses where sold as dressed dolls.

Time period: Quebec City 1994-96