American Girl Molly in “Cheerful Checkmate”

Here is a 2009 dress (from the archives) that I made featuring American Girl Molly. It was called “Cheerful Checkmate” in the 1946 Sears and Roebuck catalog I had, so I called mine the same thing. My pictures aren’t the greatest… I was still learning (and still am!!) Just look at the dress, not my photography…

One of my very favorite things to do is to copy a dress from a picture in a catalog or from a vintage pattern. I bet this school dress was pretty sweet when it debuted in the 1940’s! Here’s my interpretation of it…

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I got to thinking, some of my readers may remember this dress from the catalog… Does anyone?

See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne

12 thoughts on “American Girl Molly in “Cheerful Checkmate””

  1. Jeanne, I was only 4 years old in 1946, so wasn’t really looking at pattern books yet! I can’t get over how well you made that dress just like the catalog depicts it! And no pattern? I can imagine wearing something like that back then, it is just so cute!

    I hope you are having a good time on your “trip”, but I keep thinking how very hot it is when I go out to water my plants! Can’t wait to see the goodies you found!

    I have been working on Felicity’s dress, since it is too hot to do much else. It’s coming along, and your tutorial did wonders for helping me out! I hope to get it almost finished today, but I’m not pushing it.

    1. Hi Linda,
      We are home now and we had a really nice time… it was just fun to get away from the everyday normal things that happen around here. Rebecca babysat for Reuben and all was well at home when we got back.
      Thanks for the compliments on Molly’s blue and red dress. I always liked this one and thought Molly looked awfully cute in it.
      I hope you get your Felicity dress finished with no more problems… it’s awful to get stumped on one section and can’t move ahead like you’d like…
      Thanks so much Linda,
      Blessings, Jeanne

  2. I wasn’t born, yet…but, that’s a *sweet* interpretation of it! good work! I only recall getting Sears catalogs at Christmas time. They helped me occupy several hours when we got them, tho!

    1. Thank you MaryC,
      I too, remember getting the catalog and looking at it for HOURS and HOURS… dreaming about what it would be like to get this and that…
      Thanks for your compliments on Molly’s dress.
      Blessings, Jeanne

  3. We got the Ward’s catalog, not the Sears one, and I mostly liked looking at the dolls that had wardrobes. I never got one, but I’ve made up for it now. American Girl came through just when I needed it, and so did Ebay.

    1. HI Marilyn,
      I think we got the Sears catalog, but my Aunt Evelyn got the Montgomery Wards catalog. It was from her catalog that I started copying things for myself from it…
      Yes, haven’t we all made up for lost time with the dolls we have now!!!
      Blessings, Jeanne

  4. What a sweet dress. The one you made is perfect looking. I am glad people had the forethought to save those older catalogs.
    Like Mary C above, I spent many hours pouring over the Christmas Sear’s catalogs- toys first, then the clothes, even kitchen items. It would be neat to find an old catalog and page through one again.
    Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend!
    Blessings!

    1. Hi Paula,
      I’m glad people saved the catalogs too. I just saw a 1951 catalog at an antique shop yesterday… but it only had 4 pages of girls dresses in it, so I passed. It was $22.50 and I just thought I could find more ideas by googling them.
      The 1946 Sears catalog that I have still has the coupon for a pair of shoes for one person in your family. I think you were only allowed one pair a year…if I’m not mistaken… the catalogs are fun to look at. It has Bibles for soldiers in it, fabrics in there, even a house…yes, you can buy a Sear’s house. In fact, there is a Sears house here in our town…
      Thanks so much Paula,
      Blessings, Jeanne

    1. Thanks so much Connie,
      I think Molly liked it…and if she smiles when she’s modeling it, that’s all that counts!
      Blessings, Jeanne

  5. Love the catalog pic and the dress. Glad you have excellent photo records of all that you have made. Great to refer to.

    1. HI Joy,
      I don’t know what I’d do if I lost all my pictures…from the archives especially… they go back all the way to 2001…
      Thanks so much.
      Blessings, Jeanne

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