Amazingly beautiful doll dresses from Olivia's Doll Closet

I'm used to buying my artist / crafter made doll dresses at the craft and vendor shows. But I live in Michigan, where the recession has certainly changed how people shop and what they are looking for.

The craft and vendor shows that once were so common as fundraiser events for the churches and mother's clubs have morphed into Mom 2 Mom sales and rummage sales. It's a sign of the times. If the crafters can't sell pieces, they won't book a table. If the tables don't book, the sponsors don't earn their money. What sells right now is the stuff people need - and doll clothes just don't fit that bill.

Therefore: while I have a nice collection of handcrafted doll clothes, I haven't had any new outfits in quite awhile.

A few days ago, I decided to do a pageant theme with my doll on my desk. I know a lot of people who are, or have been, involved with the local pageant system and thought that would be fun to add to my doll rotation. I had several dolls that would work, and I know what store local to me has the LBD models on clearance prices. I thought I had some appropriate dresses (after inspection, I did have two pageant frocks).

But I needed a crown that was doll-sized and knew I didn't have any.

After a search on eBay and Amazon, I found some crowns from one dealer that would stand in well for a pageant crown. I looked to see what else I might find from that dealer, and ordered five ball gowns in addition to a pack of six crowns.

The package from Olivia's Doll Closet arrived today and I was extremely pleased with the pieces. All I have to do is put a sash on top on any of these frocks and give the girl some flowers -- and she'll look just like a pageant queen.

While I didn't intend for these two white dresses to be bridal gowns, they were sent with veils so that I could make them wedding outfits. How nice.

Since I set out the brunette doll today with my older pageant frock, I'll put a crown on her head tomorrow and that will be the pageant doll for now.

The local pageant season is in August and while I haven't decided which doll to set out then, I do kind of like that pink dress. It has a shoulder wrap with it.

But when it's Miss America week in the winter, oh, yes, we'll either show off one of these two white dresses ... or the black and white dress that is my favorite of the ones I purchased. This is a close-up of the details on that skirt.