I recently taught an online bear-making class at EbearZ University. The class was based on one of my earlier bears named TOOTS who has lots of attitude and posed with her paws on her hips. The class offered alternate arm designs and FIONA is the straight arm version. She is named for the heroine of the musical BRIGADOON. 
Sasha and Gregor go pumpkin hunting and then gather their friends to celebrate Halloween.
Gregor was delighted to find this TOLLY GIRL outfit that looks like it was made for a boy rather than a girl. In fact, several of the TOLLY GIRL outfits look more masculine than feminine. These dolls are an American Girl size and shape but fit Sasha or Gregor with only minor alterations. This outfit had rather baggy cargo style pants so I narrowed the legs to look more like military issue.
Last year at this time there was a riot of colored leaves and the air was brisk and crisp. This year we are still having very warm weather and the leaves have simply turned brown and dropped off the trees.
Sasha is having a purple and lavender mix & match day. She just got this winter TOLLY GIRL skating outfit from eBay and, of course, not everything fit perfectly because those dolls are 18 inches tall. But, the white fur hat, jacket, and muff all fit like a glove. Oh, speaking of gloves, the outfit has mittens but they will need to be altered to fit. The lavender tights are a bit oversize but are easy to adjust to fit -- we added garters. The ice skating skirt needed to have the waist altered a bit.
Doll models are almost as difficult to work with as the human version. Probably there is nothing more difficult or frustrating than to try photographing three models interacting. I wanted to show these three delightful skull design sweaters created for me by Dianne Lam -- but, Sasha just couldn't make up her mind which boy to interact with. The sweaters are a great success even if this photo session is a bit of a disaster.
Big Greg thought it might be fun to borrow the bee costume from Baby Greg's friend, SNEAKABOO. Everything fit except the hat so I had to create one for him.
Here is Baby Greg with his friend "SNEAKABOO" from the MADI doll collection created by The Itty Bitty Toy Company. You might remember that Baby Greg borrowed a "Mister Fish" costume from "SNEAKABOO." They are discussing plans for Halloween and trying to decide what costumes to wear. The Bee outfit that "SNEAKABOO" is wearing is his basic outfit and he is thinking about wearing something else to go on a TRICK OR TREAT adventure.
Gregor thinks this multiple garment ensemble is terrific. The gray and maroon color scheme is carried throughout. The pants convert from long track style pants to shorts with a zipper all around each leg. There is a T-shirt with a logo and a sweatshirt with a different logo. Finally there is a zippered hoodie with an adjustable waistband. All garments are beautifully made and stylishly designed. A winning sport ensemble.
Gregor is delighted with this new outfit that features a camo print long sleeve T-shirt and camo print hoodie. These are paired with forest green corduroy trousers and tan suede high-top shoes.
Following the success of WORLD OF LOVE, the marketing team at HASBRO took inspiration again from the YARDLEY gift wrap and developed a concept called LEGGY. Basically, LEGGY was a doll with fashion illustration proportions -- normal torso with extremely long legs. The idea was originally supposed to be a line similar to WORLD OF LOVE with boxed dolls. But, midway into design concepts the plans changed to a plastic blister card to hang on a rack. This style of merchandise is generally lower priced and the LEGGY line ended up being marketed at a much lower price point than LOVE. While the original packaging and fashions were more extensive, the final version was a hit with little girls. It even developed a sort of cult following among adult collectors.
This is how I became a toy designer. In 1966 my design company was creating the packaging for YARDLEY and helping to change that company's image. With the sudden popularity of the BEATLES and the whole British Invasion as it was called, YARDLEY decided to reinvent itself. Overnight it went from being a little old ladies' soap company to the most MOD most HIP young cosmetic company -- setting the cosmetic industry on its ear with the LONDON LOOK. In 1967, I created this Christmas gift set wrapping paper for the "Oh! de London" fragrance line.
Looking back at my first Halloween with my original Sasha family. Here are two of the costumes I made for Gregor and Sasha that they wore in a window of "dollsandreams" back in the early 1970s.
An odd series of events found me designing for Feltman Bros. -- one of the leading infantswear companies of the day. Their outfits were all hand made and embodied all of the heirloom sewing techniques that made their outfits collectible items. The beautiful embroideries, lace inserts, and other details made their techniques perfect for doll clothes.
