Dolly Dress Discussion: the return of Chococat and the Little Twin Stars

In a continuation of the Hello Kitty-themed posts, I made good on my promise to make Ketsana and Billie Jean coordinate.  I was able to land both the Chococat top and the Little Twin Stars outfit, so here's how they'll go.  First, the Chococat top.

I could tell by the shape of this top that it was going to be a tunic, but I wasn't expecting it to be cropped in the front.  So cute, though it makes me tempted to give Ketsana a faux bellybutton ring.  As a nice little extra, the hems of this top are stitched with pale blue thread.

That helps break things up a bit.

Okay, it's obvious from this print that the character shown IS Pete the Cat Chococat.  But the pattern is different from that on the dress.  The dress has Chococat in full body, while the blouse just has his head making cute expressions.

Oh, and dig this:  the Chococat shirt is printed on the back!

I'm pleased about that, but it also ticks me some because that could've been done for the dress too.  Le sigh.  At least Ketsana and Billie Jean look cute together, right?

Look, the blue hem on the top coordinates with the blue dress!  As a last little tidbit, the insides of Chococat's ears are the same color as Ketsana's sandals.

As cute as Ketsana and Billie Jean are in their Chococat garb, I'm dying to see how they look in their Little Twin Stars getups.  Billie Jean will be getting the new stuff this time, if all goes the way I want it to.  According to their online info the Little Twin Stars celebrate a birthday on Christmas Eve, so too bad I didn't get this post up in time for that.  Anyway, I'm going to shove Ketsana back into the Little Twin Stars blouse now and see how the coordinating dress set looks on Billie Jean.

To my complete surprise, this outfit proved to be too tight on Billie Jean's curvy frame...or the skirt did.  I couldn't get her legs to move in this getup, so I had to take it off.  The pencil skirt begs for a pair of long legs anyway, so I dragged out another of my tall dolls.  Meet Gertrude, better known as Fashionista #29 "Terrific in Teal."

The top is a little boxy on her, but I don't guess that can be helped.  I absolutely do not want to jeopardize the structural integrity of that skirt by forcing it onto Billie Jean's voluptuous hips.  The top is your cute little T-shirt with nice thick pink hems and an image of the Little Twin Stars dominating the front.

This necklace was included; it's a mold I own already, but in a different color.

Here's the skirt, the item of clothing that proved to be troublesome for Billie Jean.  It suits Gertrude's longer legs better, I think.  The print is a nocturnal sky scene, with the Little Twin Stars and other cutesy little items here and there in nice pastel shades.

And dig this:  the skirt is printed on the front and the back.  Proof that the Chococat dress could have been printed on the back too...if Mattel weren't so blithering chintzy!

In the long run I'm actually glad that Gertrude had to wear that Little Twin Stars set, because it makes the final group picture look better!

If only Mattel's policy of printing things on the front only weren't alive and kicking, I'd give these little Hello Kitty outfits a 100 A+.  But that's par for the course with Mattel clothes whether they're Sanrio-licensed or not, so I guess I'll just have to live with it.  Otherwise these are great little pieces, perfect for adding something a little different to a Barbie's wardrobe.

Now, digression time...sort of.  I've spoken quite a bit with fellow blogger Presto about these Sanrio clothes, and both of us are pleased with the direction that this line of dolly duds is going (she's got her own post about some of these same outfits that I discussed, in fact).  Needless to say we've both got our ideas about characters we'd like to see immortalized on Barbie clothing; I've mentioned a fondness for Keroppi given my love for frogs, but Presto's picks trump him any day.  Her choices are Aggretsuko and Kuromi, two characters that I'd never heard of until she mentioned them.  Who are they?  Well...the relatively new creation known as Aggretsuko is a riot, and she's also a pretty far cry from sugar-and-spice Hello Kitty and her friends.  Oh sure, she's drawn the same way and all that, but don't let her adorableness fool you.  She's a red panda (I love red pandas), she hates her job, and she deals with this hatred in a very creative way.  I think Aggretsuko may be my new hero, in fact, particularly after a day spent with Coworker A, who continues to be an irascible old bitch.  Ahem...as for Kuromi, she's My Melody's rival, and in terms of appearance one could also say she's My Melody's antithesis as well.  She's a white bunny rabbit like My Melody, but her headgear is a black jester's hat with ears instead of a hood.  She has a hidden softer side, like many villains and antagonists do.  I like Presto's line of thinking, and I hope that those two will indeed become visible on Barbie's clothes.  Since Aggretsuko deals with a more grown-up concept she even might make a good theme for a collector-level Barbie.  We'll see how that goes, I suppose.

Got any plans for the new year?  Any resolutions?  I don't!  LOL, I could do to resolve to lose some weight, but that'll be tricky since our New Year celebration could very well consist of us glutting on homemade chocolate chip cookies while chatting it up with First and Second Uncle.  IF the weather holds, that is.  If it snows First Uncle probably won't bother to come down...and snow is predicted for this Friday.  I hate winter.

Hugs, kisses, and cookies,
RagingMoon1987

Dolly Dress Discussion: Chococat makes an appearance

Yeah, I know I've been hitting the Sanrio clothes hard lately, but what's a girl to do when a large toy company starts making adorable clothes that her dolls can wear???  Recently I griped about seeing Chococat on these Hello Kitty-themed boxes, but not seeing him on ANY of the clothes.  I should've kept my lip zipped and been patient, because fellow bloggers reported seeing a dress printed with the formerly elusive black cat, and indeed Malden's Wal-Mart has it now.  Of course I grabbed one, and after some experimentation with fitting I determined the curvy Billie Jean to be the best fit.

I tried this dress on an original-bodied doll but it just didn't look right.  There are some outfits that just DON'T look right on those original bodies nowadays, and the Chococat dress is one of them...for me, anyway.  Maybe one of y'all prefers dresses to be a bit baggy.

The dress itself is nothing super-duper special; it's a simple little sheath dress that came with a black cat ear headband (an accessory that's made several appearances in the past) and a hot pink vinyl tote bag with Chococat on it.  The dress itself a nice shade of blue with images of Chococat printed in places.  Unfortunately Miss Spotty Jane's warnings about the backs of these clothes proved to be founded, at least for this dress.  The cute Chococat print is only visible on the front of the bodice and the bottom ruffle, leaving the back...PLAIN!!!

Why, Mattel???  WHY must y'all do that???  You're already paying to use licensed Sanrio characters on doll clothes, so why not go all out?  Oh well, at least it's a dress with Chococat on it.  I'm glad of that, because it seemed like a waste to put him on the packages but not on any of the clothes.  I also find Chococat particularly adorable, as he reminds me of two of my mother's rambunctious cats (both solid black), and also of Pete the Cat, one of my favorite child's book characters.  Yes, I'm thirty and I love Pete the Cat, particularly the story about the bad banana.  Anywho, Barb the Evil Genius says there's also a top running around with him on there, so I'll be grabbing that too.  

Finally, since I owe Ketsana a favor from last time, I let her join in on this shoot.

Talk about a Mutt and Jeff pair!  I think Ketsana will likely get the Chococat blouse if I can find it, so that these two can coordinate.  Either that or I'll get Billie Jean the new Twin Stars outfit and coordinate these two that way.  Awww, who am I kidding, I'll end up doing both because I'm a glutton for doll clothes.  

I also saw a few of the boxed separates while I was out yesterday, including a stunning metallic purple skirt.  Purple makes me think of my sister, who is fond of the color, so that skirt will likely find its way onto one of my dolls as well.

Speaking of Sister, Sister and Brother-in-Law have to leave today, so we opened Christmas gifts last night.  My stuff was nothing super-exciting, but it was all nice new stuff that I desperately needed so I'm happy.  I'm particularly happy with the rather large assortment of bath towels that Sister gave me, as before last night I had exactly ONE towel!  I also got some super-cute shoes and a nice set of mittens and a comfy-looking sweater and...okay, I lied.  My stuff is exciting in its own way...but not as exciting as the repairs Brother-in-Law did to my plumbing!  Anywho, Brother-in-Law is happy with the new drone that I got him, and Sister and Mama like their presents so I'm calling this Christmas a success.  I'm only sorry that Sister and Brother-in-Law have to leave today; three days doesn't seem like enough time, particularly when we hadn't seen them since...Mother's Day, was it?  It was before we had to put Grandma in the hospital, I know that much.  Oh well, I'm just pleased that I got to see them at all; they brought their cat Louise with them and it was a very enjoyable visit.  Now I've got to pray that they'll make it to Marble Hill (and then Lexington) safely, as that road to Marble Hill is HORRID!!!

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987

New Barbie threads

Well, so much for me not posting anything else this week!  This post will be largely devoid of pictures, but I will be including a link to the post.  Miss Spotty Jane has started seeing boxed Hello Kitty outfits near where she lives...and they are so cute!!!  She has the Chococat dress that Barb the Evil Genius and I discussed in the comments on this post, plus an outfit devoted to My Melody and another with the Twin Stars.  Jane bought the Twin Stars set and reported that Mattel is continuing the tradition of printing things only on the front when they can get away with it.  Le sigh...I would've hoped that since these outfits are Sanrio-licensed they'd get treated a bit better, but apparently they're not.

In addition to the Hello Kitty items there were some...well, some NON-Hello Kitty items.  Jane wasn't impressed by these, but I saw those images and got the galloping greedy gimmies.  They're not universally pink for one thing, and for another thing there's a lot of them.  The selection is beginning to remind me of Fashion Avenue, whom I've spoken of fondly in the past.  Anyway, one of the outfits came with a saxophone...a SAXOPHONE!!!  When's the last time any of y'all saw Barbie playing an awesome instrument like a sax?  A well-played saxophone is a work of art, as Gerry Rafferty's backup band will prove...and a poorly-played sax makes me want to put my head through a window (Bruce Springsteen, I'm looking at your backup there).  LOL, anyway, one of the outfits comes with a saxophone and I'm pleased about that.  There's another that looks like it's been tie-dyed, and one with a gorgeous rainbow skirt, and still another that has a blue top and orange...shorts?  Capris?  Can't tell, but it's a cute outfit.  Ken also got some nice new things that I like, particularly the one with the red plaid shirt.  That one reminds me of First Uncle, who used to wear a lot of plaid.  Yes, Springtime looks to be quite promising for my girls, and the few boys that I have.

Jane's post on the new dolly duds can be found HERE, and if you fancy giving the rest of her blog a look it can be found HERE.  And to keep this post from being completely boring, here's Ketsana in my Twin Stars blouse, the one that I thought would look good with jeans.

Ketsana (Fashionistas #45 "Boho Fringe") is one of those dolls that looks good in everything anyway.  I have a few dolls that are lucky like that.  Anyway, Ketsana is one of those deluxe Fashionistas that came with three outfits, and one of those outfits happened to be a pink top with bell bottoms so it worked out pretty well.  I would add her to my group pic of kawaii dolls, but that was hard enough to set up with four dolls!  I'll make it up to Ketsana somehow.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987