Tag Archives: new doll

Natasha’s New Friend, Evangeline

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Last fall, I ordered a doll from AliXpress who I ended up calling Natasha. She has (kind of) a Silkstone Barbie head sculpt and an articulated body similar to the Integrity Toys Fashion Royalty dolls.

FR-25 from the dolls available at AliExpress

Recently, I noticed there were new dolls there, so (yes) I ordered one. Here’s a landing page, although there are plenty of vendors selling these dolls. This is FR-25. She has her left hand raised in all the product pix.

The box is optional – I ordered it, to protect the doll in shipping, and it came dented but the doll was fine. There’s no stand with the doll. She was a little cheaper than Natasha, costing me just over $30 CAD including shipping etc.

Natasha came with a pair of black slingbacks, but not this girl.

And here she is, wearing the mauve silk suit I made for the girls last year – even though it doesn’t fit her very well – and catching some rays after her long flight. She’s so tall that the sleeves on all the items for B are short, and these girls are actually a little wider in the hip than either of the B sculpts that I sew for. That dress is a big snug.

FR-25 doll from AliExpress wearing a silk suit made by Deborah Cooke

She is staring off at the sky (watching contrails, maybe) because her head doesn’t tip down any further. I had to ease something so it *popped* to be able to bend her knees, which was a bit daunting but worked out fine in the end. Her feet are too big for most B shoes, but she fits FR shoes.

Her hair is nice, similar to Natasha’s, very soft but could be a little more thickly rooted. Her nails are shorter than Natasha’s, which is a good thing IMO, and her skintone is more lifelike. I think she’s a good value for the price.

Her face does remind me a little of Linda Evangelista, so I’ll call her Evangeline.

I’m going to have to make clothes for these two, since they can’t borrow from the other girls…

A New Girl in Town

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Two new dolls joined my collection last week, so we’ll meet one of them today.

Mattel Sapphire Anniversary Silkstone Barbie

She’s the Sapphire Anniversary Silkstone Barbie. She’s still available on the Mattel website for members, right here. At right is one of the official pix of her and it’s linked back to their landing page.

I had mixed feelings about this doll. I prefer the older Silkstone bodies over the articulated dolls, but was attracted to the idea of getting a new doll. (That explains my other two articulated Silkstones, too!) In the end, though, I ordered her.

The finishing of the doll itself is disappointing but that was true of the other articulated girls, too. I suspected I wouldn’t like the jacket and I didn’t. 🙂

But I love her blue hair and sparkly eye make-up. The dress is darling, although it has a crunchy lining in the skirt. I may try to copy it in another fabric. This time, they put clear plastic disks between the earrings and the doll, presumably to keep her face from being scratched. (It’s the metal pin in the head that gives dolls green ear, so it won’t prevent that.)

Her stocking-boots are interesting – there are shoes secured in the bottoms. I saw a photo of her with the 60th anniversary pink Barbie which appears to have the same stocking-boots. (That’s an Amazon link.)

She came out of the box and waited just a day before I surrendered to temptation and took her hair down. I don’t know what they use to keep the hair in place, but it leaves the hair stiff and crunchy. (Maybe it’s just glue.) We had a good wash and comb, then another couple of washes. I didn’t boil-wash because I was hoping to just tame the curl not lose it completely.

And here we are:

Sapphire anniversary Silkstone Barbie with her hair down and washed, redressed by Deborah Cooke

Her lipstick is evenly applied – it’s just the angle of the morning sunlight that makes it look otherwise. I trimmed a few scaggy ends from her hair, but otherwise, it’s how it came down. She borrowed the purse from Dusk-to-Dawn and it’s possible she won’t give it back. The dress is the one from Trench Setting. I definitely need to make her some black and blue separates.

Do you like her hair better up or down?