A Girl for All Time

 

 

When my daughter was born I looked forward to the day when we could play dolls together and have tea parties and a picnic on the living room floor. My mom was equally as excited. She purchased a beautiful doll for my daughter and a porcelain tea set. The only problem was that my daughter was a newborn at the time and it would have been a long time before the tea set was ever used (porcelain and toddlers/children don’t mix well. LOL).

My daughter really didn’t get into the beautiful doll that her grandmother gave her until see was around two years old. She named the doll Pito (pronounced Pee-toe). We have no idea where she came up with that name. We also never knew if Pito was a boy or a girl. Our daughter dressed the doll in both boy and girl clothing.

Pito was her favorite doll. She had a few others when she was younger but it was Pito (if I’m even spelling it right) that stole her heart. Pito has since been lovingly packed away in hopes that he/she can become a favorite of my daughter’s child someday (if my daughter has a daughter of her own).

I was never a girly-girl growing up. I was more of a Tom Boy, but I also had a favorite doll. She wasn’t even made like a traditional doll. She was more like a plush toy with plastic hands and head.

I did have my eye on my great-grandmother’s porcelain doll. She was so beautiful and so fragile. I wanted to play with her so badly but I wasn’t allowed to because she could have broke. My sister some how lucked out and got the doll after my great-grandmother passed away. To this day I’m still miffed about that because I really wanted that doll. All I got from my great-grandmother was a paperweight. 🙁

I think most little girls want that special doll that they can grow up with and take along when they go on adventures. There are so many wonderful dolls to choose from, but all a little girl needs is that one special doll.

I was sent a beautiful doll free to do a review (there was no compensation) called A Girl for All Time. This is exactly the type of special doll that I am talking about.

Here is a little bit of background information about the A Girl for All Time dolls.

Designed by a British boutique toy company, A Girl for All Time is an authentic, intelligent collection of dolls and books unlike any other on the market today.  The costumes are designed by trendy London fashion designer Katya Wildman and Emmy nominated costume designer, Caroline Harris (A Knight’s Tale, An Ideal Husband).  The dolls are crafted using a combination of traditional hand-sculpting methods and the latest in computer technology to create a doll that looks like fine porcelain, but is in fact durable vinyl, ready for many hours of active play.

Not only are they beautiful, they are intelligent, too!  A Girl for All Time draws on important events throughout British history, which are explored and beautifully recreated within the series by following the eldest girls in the fictional Marchmont family through 500 years of history, intrigue and adventures.  The novels are written by twice-BAFTA nominated screenwriter/director, Sandra Goldbacher, and the Director of the Royal College of Art, Pete Salmi, has crafted the beautifully illustrated Keepsake books.

The dolls are designed to show girls that beauty and brains go together and are made of such high-quality materials that they will last as a play toy and become a keepsake as she grows older.

There are currently two different A Girl for All Time dolls available – Matlida and Amelia. I was sent Amelia to review (the blonde).

As you can see both dolls have a more classic look to them compared to today’s modern dolls. Matilda is modeled after a young girl you would expect to see walking around Henry VIII’s court or living in a castle. Amelia is from the Victorian era. In a way she reminds me of a young girl you would see on the show Little House on the Prairie. She has that “Laura Ingalls Wilder” look about her.

One thing that young girls love to do with dolls is comb and style their hair and dress them up in different outfits.

Both dolls have long hair. We’ve brushed Amelia’s hair and braided it. It’s long enough to do different styles with it including pigtails, a ponytail or braids. You can even let her long hair flow freely.

When it comes to fashion you won’t find shorty shorts or tennis outfits for these dolls. The available clothing reflects the clothing a young girl would wear in their time period.

The outfits are absolutely beautiful.

The doll has the appearance of a fine porcelain doll, but she’s not. In fact she’s very flexible and you can easily bend her in different positions. Even her wrists bend. And unlike other dolls you can make these dolls sit down with their knees bent. The heads pivot in different directions, the wrists move, the elbows move, the arms move, the legs move and the knees bend. Her legs also move side to side from the knees down. You can easily position these dolls in just about any position you can think of.

It takes a little balancing but you can even get the dolls to stand upright on their own.

Great detail is given to these dolls, right down to the long eyelashes. I also love all the attention to detail that is place on the clothing. Even the tiny buttons are hand sewn.

These are those rare dolls that can be enjoyed and played with then later on be kept as a keepsake and/or handed down to another generation. They were made to withstand the test of time (within reason of course).

I must mention that these dolls are NOT “cheap”. They are high quality dolls and outfits, and therefore their price reflects that. The dolls sell for $134.99 and the outfits range in price from $19.99 to around $59.99. The more elaborate the outfit the higher the price.

Personally I would buy the doll for my daughter for Christmas or her birthday. Then every Christmas (or birthday) I would buy a new outfit. That way my child would have something to look forward to. It could be like a tradition.

I am very impressed by our Amelia doll. She is absolutely beautiful and exceptionally well made. Her timeless, classic beauty will never go out of style.

You can meet Matilda and Amelia on the A Girl for All Time website, www.AGirlforAllTime.com.

Kimberly

*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.