AG Patterns- sewing question

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Originally posted by Taffy Cheerful:
My view is that the girls in the stories were all from times when girls were expected to able to sew and do crafts. Providing the patterns and the craft kits was yet another way of involving the readers in the total experience of the American Girl (as depicted in the stories).

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What Taffy said is totally true. I became an American Girl collector as a child; although most of my AG products were and are home-made, the Knitting Nellie (Molly's craft) was something I definitely wanted to have! Getting completely "caught up" in the experience, I would read Molly's books while working on my Knitting Nellie. My favorite book to read while using it, of course, was Molly Learns a Lesson. [img]smile.gif[/img] (I won't say why in case some haven't read it yet.) And for anyone who wants one, they are commonly available in craft stores. The AG one was better quality plastic from my experience, though.

However, I'm not convinced that the patterns were for girls. They were always advertised as being for experienced seamstresses. I can't imagine little girls sewing the dresses unless they are really talented.

<font color="#020176" size="1">[ March 05, 2004 10:48 AM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font>

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Originally posted by Melissa:
However, I'm not convinced that the patterns were for girls. They were always advertised as being for experienced seamstresses. I can't imagine little girls sewing the dresses unless they are really talented.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I totally agree. The patterns are tricky and, as many of us have discovered, there is considerable variation in the chubbiness of the AGs, which makes the effort even more difficult.

That said, the patterns held out the hope that one could aspire to performing the same activities as the respective historical character even if was a dreadfully frustrating experience.

The major reason why people who have learned to sew a bit give up on the craft is that they just can't get garments to fit. The pattern industry is about as inconsistent in sizing as the whole women's fashion industry. Short of using a tool like DressShop (or DollShop) to draft to one's own particular measurements, it usually takes a lot of tweaking to get a store-bought pattern to fit properly.

AGs are more standardized in size and so the AG patterns are more likely to yield success. However, the clothing styles for the earlier historical characters have a lot of intricate details that are clearly beyond the ability of beginning sewists.

Taffy

My view is that the girls in the stories were all from times when girls were expected to able to sew and do crafts. Providing the patterns and the craft kits was yet another way of involving the readers in the total experience of the American Girl (as depicted in the stories).

Mattel is either incapable or not desirous of recognizing that the AG experience is (or rather was) an "experience", one in which the reader could become totally immersed. To further that immersion, AG produced all of the add-ons that are now discontinued, including the patterns, the craft kits, the scenes and settings folios, etc.

Will Mattel ever release the patterns again? I seriously doubt it. Mattel would view the patterns as providing customers with the ability to avoid buying items manufactured and marketed by AG. This is, of course, a boneheaded view, but so are many of the things the intellectual midgets who are running Mattel have come up with...

Taffy