January 31, 2015, new epier and etsy listings

I have placed a few new items on etsy and epier, and moved a number of items from epier to etsy.  Here is the new list:

on epier:
2001 Knits for Barbie Doll pattern book
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?2122513

1998 Barbie and Ginger shirt and slacks
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?2122451

Harry Potter Valentine cards
http://www.epier.com/product.asp?2122452


on etsy:
Six sad-eyed children pictures plus a doll
https://www.etsy.com/listing/220104533/6-sad-big-eye-children-pictures-and?

Mattel Disney dolls outfits accessories
https://www.etsy.com/listing/220814132/mattel-disney-doll-outfits-pieces-barbie?

1991 Pretty Teen NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219978964/skipper-friend-pretty-teen-kmart?

1991 Barbie Jewelry Box MIB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219981253/1991-barbie-musical-jewelry-box?

It's Me Bringing Home an "A" NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219980761/its-me-bringing-home-an-a-doll?

1992 Kenner Miss America Raquel NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219609061/1992-kenner-miss-america-talent-show?

1993 Candy Blossoms Bubblegum Violet NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219602182/1993-mattel-peppermint-rose-candy?

1993 Snow Queen Mask NRFP
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219601793/1993-snow-white-queen-mask-nrfb-fits?

1987 Spectra Buffatron Bed MIB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219600709/1987-spectra-barbie-friend-buffatron-bed?

1992 Kenner Miss America Blair NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219599853/1992-kenner-miss-america-evening-gowns?

1989 High School Chelsie NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219598855/1989-high-school-chelsie-barbie-jazzie?

1989 High School Jazzie NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219597798/1989-barbie-cousin-high-school-jazzie?

1988 Hasbro Makin' Waves Maxie NRFB
https://www.etsy.com/listing/219597052/1988-hasbro-makin-waves-maxie-nrfb?

Comparing 8-, 9- and 10-inch girl dolls

I’ve photographed all of my 8-, 9- and 10-inch girl dolls, not just Skipper & friends, but other companies’ dolls as well.  The variations in construction and sizing are endless.  They cannot wear each others’ clothes and shoes.

1960s

Dodi, 1965, Ideal straight leg, 9 inches tall, bust 4 1/4 inches, hips 4 1/4 inches

Skipper, Pepper, Skooter, Josie and Dodi

Josie West, 1967, Marx Moveable Cowgirl, 9 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 4 1/4 inches

Pepper, 1964, Ideal straight leg, 9 1/2 inches tall, bust 5 inches, hips 5 inches

Skipper Roberts, 1964, Mattel straight leg, 9 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 3 3/4 inches

Skooter, 1966, Mattel bend leg, 9 1/4 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

1970s

Top row: Skipper, Mattel Kristy, Mego Kristy, Jody and Stephie
Bottom row: Love, Farrah, Angie and Dodi

Angie Dickinson, 1977, Horsman Pepper Anderson, 9 inches tall with heels, bust 4 inches, hips 3 3/4 inches

Dodi, 1977, Ideal Suntan, 9 inches tall, bust 4 1/2 inches, hips 4 inches

Farrah Fawcett, 1978, Hasbro Jill Munroe, 9 inches tall with heels, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

Jody, 1975, Ideal Old-Fashioned Girl, 9 inches tall with heels, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

Kristy McNichol, 1979, Mattel Buddy Lawrence, (SuperTeen Skipper body), 9 1/4 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

Kristy McNichol, 1978, Mego Buddy Lawrence, 9 3/4 inches tall with heels, bust 5 inches, hips 4 1/4 inches

Love, 1971, Hasbro World of Love, 9 inches tall with heels, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

Skipper Roberts, 1975, Mattel Growing Up, shorter version 9 1/4 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches; taller version 9 3/4 inches tall, bust 4 1/4 inches, hips 4 inches

Stephie Sunshine, 1978, Mattel And Now There are Four, 9 inches tall, bust 3 1/2 inches, hips 3 3/4 inches

Lisa, Catherine and Skipper

1980s

Catherine Bach, 1981, Mego/Warner Bros. Daisy Duke, 7 3/4 inches tall, bust 3 3/4 inches, hips 3 1/4 inches

Lisa, sometime in the 1980s, Takara Pretty, 8 1/2 inches tall, bust 4 inches, hips 3 1/2 inches

Skipper Roberts, 1989, Teen Fun Party Teen, 10 inches tall, bust 4 1/4 inches, hips 4 1/2 inches

1990s

Licca, Ariel and Snow White

Ariel, 1991, Tyco Friends, 9 inches tall, bust 4 3/4 inches, hips 4 1/4 inches

Licca, 1991, Takara, 9 inches tall with heels, bust 4 inches, hips 4 inches

Snow White, 1990, Lucky Bell/First National Film Corp., 9 inches tall, bust 4 1/2 inches, hips 4 inches

Some notes:

1. Josie West and the blonde Skooter dolls could have been twins.
2. The 1970s Dodi is thinner and shapelier than the 1960s version.
3. Angie/Pepper is the thinnest and most flexible of the dolls.
4. The shorter version of the Growing Up Skipper body was remade as the SuperTeen Skipper body.  (Growing Up and SuperTeen size dolls can wear each others’ outfits.)
5. The Mattel Buddy Lawrence doll’s body and hair look more like the real-life Kristy McNichol, but the face of the Mego Buddy is far more realistic.  I am assuming the Mego doll body was adapted from another doll’s, as it is far too busty for Kristy.
6. The Charlie’s Angels dolls’ bodies were made from the Love doll bodies, with only a slight difference in the angle of the waist.  That same body was used the 1980s by Germany’s Plasty for its Peggy dolls.  (I used to have a 1980s Peggy and some outfits but have long since resold them.)
7. The Snow White doll is not based on the Disney movie.  She is from a 1990 animated film called Happily Ever After, by the First National Film Corp.  Although Snow White and Ariel were made by different companies, their bodies are clearly the same mold.  Either Lucky Bell stole--ahem, borrowed--the Tyco mold or Lucky Bell was a subsidiary/sister company of Tyco.
8. Lisa is the Americanized version of the Japanese Licca.

Some day I will write a similar article about the 9-inch boy dolls.

If you have any other Skipper-sized dolls that you would like to write about yourself, please tell me.  I know there are many others (not including clones) but these are the ones I own.

One mystery solved, but there are still other unanswerable questions

Calico Lassie, Mary Makeup and Tressy

Some notes of explanation:  I was born in 1961, my sister Barb in 1963 and my sister Joan in 1965.  My grandmother Matilda moved from her bungalow into an apartment in 1966.
As a little girl, I had a non-Mattel fashion doll with a thin bubblecut made of white hair.  My mother says she bought the doll at a toy party in the neighborhood.  I always called this doll Tammy, since I had a Tammy case and outfit (I never had Tammy, but I remember buying the case!).  Mom said the doll was actually Debbie Drake.  This doll is long gone.

Advance Pattern B

For a while as an adult collector, I thought this doll was the American Character doll Mary Makeup.  But I don't think it was her, nor do I think it was Valentine's Debbie Drake or Polly, since they are poseable.  I've recently learned of a cheap straight-legged fashion doll named Debbie Dunbar, by a company called Davtex.  Some of the Dunbar dolls have growing ponytails, others have bubblecuts, some with thin white hair.  It's easy to understand the mixup, because Debbie Drake and Debbie Dunbar have similar names and Mary's, Debbie's and Debbie's faces are very much alike.
I don't recall any of my pseudo-Tammy's original outfit, although I do have one store-bought non-Mattel outfit from the mid-1960s from my childhood.  What I also have is a handmade matching blue skirt and blouse that she wore.  I always thought my grandmother had made this set, because I remember putting the outfit on the doll in the dining room of Grandma's bungalow.  But Mom told me yesterday that the fabric was left over from a maternity dress she had made for herself!  (This would have been when Mom was expecting Joan in July 1965.)  However, my mother does not remember making the outfit.
After Tammy's/Debbie's disappearance, the outfit was put with the Barbie and family stuff, of which I had by then numerous items.  The set always fit Francie-size dolls better than Barbie-size dolls, because it has a small bustline and waistline.
As an adult collector, I bought Mary Makeup, plus two more versions of this same outfit.  The ensembles fit her and her friend Tressy well.  Last year I discovered the pattern for this popular set.  It's Advance Barbie Pattern B, which I recently bought. It's dated 1961 but was probably sold for several years.  On the cover is a drawing of the shirtwaist outfit.  This is my theory: Mom gave my grandmother the leftover fabric, and Grandma had either purchased the pattern and discarded it when she downsized her household, or she borrowed the pattern and returned it.
So anyway, here are the three versions I own of this dress.  Mary Makeup wears the blue outfit.  Her friend Tressy is in a polka-dot version I bought online three years ago.  The tan and green print set, which came with a bunch of clothes I bought at an antique show in recent years, is a little larger and is worn by Calico Lassie.  The tan dress has a net slip underneath, which the pattern includes.  Note that although these dolls have bigger heads and arms than Barbie does, their chests, waists and hips are smaller.