Thanks to Marie and her photographer husband Ed, Logan is proud to share with you

                                  Marie's Marvelous Maidens!  

Marie has a magical touch when it comes to styling her dolls... the hair, the outfits (she is an exceptional seamstress), the whole package.  So be prepared to be enthralled!

Marie's Story, in her own words: 

I can remember as a little girl longing for a beautiful doll. Instead I received an ugly, all rubber, scary baby-doll with molded hair. I never got that special doll. When my daughter was born I thought I could shower her with all the dolls from my dreams. She hated dolls. Then came my first granddaughter. I bought dolls for her and stored them away saving them until she was a bit older. I had some lovely German Goetz dolls, all the Faithful Friends, and a couple of the American Girls. I always kept my eye out for cute dolls and one day at a thrift shop I spied a doll I had never seen. She was $5 and the beginning of a wonderful doll experience.

This doll turned out to be a MY Twinn Denver Kate.


 I did a bit of research and found out there were about 42 other molds (depending how you count variants) of My Twinn dolls.

Now,almost 4 years later I have them all. My doll bleachers are bursting with nearly 200 beauties.


Phase one of my love for My Twinn dolls had begun with Kate. I started looking on e-bay for dolls and bought some used ones. They all needed a great deal of TLC and I found I really loved fixing up those poor waifs. With my husband Ed's help I learned how to remove and restore wigs, change eyes, add new lashes, mend body parts and repaint faces. 

 Kate:

                    

 All of these dolls needed clothes so I got some 24 inch size patterns and began sewing. I quickly discovered that fabric had gotten a bit pricey since I last sewed but I found I could adapt toddler clothes from consignment shops into very cute MT outfits at a fraction of the cost. Often I just used the fabric and the matching trims. With a little work my ebay dolls took on whole new look.

Ariel and Variants


 Teresa

  

 Most of my dolls were the very common molds. Looking closely I noticed I had also bought a few molds over and over again. But slowly I was learning and becoming a more savvy collector.

Phase two began when I bought my first new doll directly from MY Twinn.  She was a beautiful Micale that resembled my daughter-in-law. Micale is still in her box waiting for the day my son has a baby girl. 

When the Vintage Friend Doll uploads started in 2008 a whole new group of MT dolls entered my life. I never imagined I would ever acquire these beautiful rare dolls. One by one I added new molds. It was so exciting to find a special one on sale. However, the MT mug shots were troubling. I never knew exactly what to expect. Some dolls arrived needing quite a bit of work, especially their hairdos.

Madelene


Bernetta


I enjoyed restyling the bad wigs but I quickly found out where I could purchase new wigs, lashes and eyes. After some minor adjustments, mini-makeovers and new clothes the vintage girls were looking very good. 

Remade outfits on Beatrices


Remade outfit on Nora


More of Marie's Vintage Friends are shown here in their "remade outfits", including several of her rarest Twinns.

 Right now I am in Phase Three. I have all the My Twinn dolls I could possibly need (but never all I could want!) My dolls are all nicely dressed and so I have decided to concentrate on making more specialized outfits. Some of my projects are ethnic clothes, some are costumes and others just whimsy or fancy dresses.

Pearl in Samurai outfit:


 

Denika in her fairy costume, including her 'before shot'. 

 

 

 

 

 Madison in fancy dress:



 

 

While I have completed a few of these themed garments, many more ideas are floating around in my head. This is where my current MT passion is being focused. 

I know I will never have enough space to keep all of the dolls that I wish to create. I will always have Twinns sharing my home but I also realize that quite a few favorites will soon have to travel to new dwellings. Each doll has brought me great pleasure and many moments of joy. I wish this same happiness to all of my doll collector friends.

Many thanks to Marie and Ed for giving us such 'eye candy' to enjoy! Marie has had to re-home many of the dolls from her collection and we are thrilled to have this photo record of her beautiful creations to savor.  Remember, all of the photos shown on Marie's pages are the property of Marie and Ed and are protected by copyright.