The Same Old New Callie

New York Callie

Callie, like Meredith and most of the other Journey Girls, has not really changed for this year.  She has the same face mold (Yay!), the new joints (Boo!), and the same hairstyle and body as in years past.  So like many of the dolls this year, I purchased her for the outfit; a white v-neck t-shirt,a jean jacket, a maxi skirt, a leather frilled purse, black sandals, and a flowery headband.

The maxi shirt is the first ting you notice about the outfit.   With it's intricate pattern and pink color, it is a stark difference compared to the plain white t-shirt.  Made of cotton, the dress has a patterns going around the dress in lines horizontally.  Two tone pinks, white, and black are the main colors in the geometric lacy patterns, but there are a few hints of blue in the dress.

The dress does not quite touch the floor when it is around Callie's waist, allowing for her sandaled toes to peek out just a little.  There is velcro in the back of the dress to hold it up.  I think an elastic band would have been better, since the velcro sticks to the sheer lining inside the dress.

Toys R Us has been doing this in the last few years to help with the color transfer issue that they have had in the past.  It's a decent solution to the problem, but doesn't solve the issue that the dye still transfers to the doll sometimes.  Soak every piece of clothing!!!

With the skirt being pleasingly busy, the top has to be a complimenting simple design.  The v-neck tee is as simple as it gets.  With short sleeves, this white tee is nothing special, but it works great for this outfit, complimenting the whites in the dress.

The t-shirt velcro three quarters of the way down, then has a sewn bottom, similar to Meredith's tee.  So the shirt has to be put on over Callie's legs rather than just putting it on and velcroing it.  Give us a full velcro shirt!

Typical of Journey Girls, the jean jacket is cute, but is always open.  With silver "buttons" on the front of the jacket, it would seem that you would be able to close it, but you can not.  It is perpetually open.  Cute...but it would be nice to have the option of closing the jacket.

The jacket is made of a darker blue denim, with with or very light tan stitching.  It looks great. Unfortunately the jacket's sleeves are extremely tight.  I had a hard time getting it off of Callie.  Putting it on required squeezing her hand together to get it through the end of the sleeve!  To me the jacket also seems a little short on Callie's arms, like she grew out of it last year, but still loves it so much she's going to wear it one more year!

I don't know why, but the leather fringed purse reminds me of a biker.  Callie doesn't really struck me as a Harley girl!  Anyways....the purse is made of a black leather.  It has a short strap that just fits around Callie's shoulder as she has her jacket on.

One one of the broad sides of the purse are vertical leather fringes.  Not all the way around though, because that would be too much!  Not my favorite purse, but it's okay.

The headband is nothing new.  it is a pink leather strap, matching the pink in the maxi skirt, with an inch of elastic at the back to make it easy to get on and off.  There are three fabric "roses" on the leather band, the same pink as the band.  Simple and cute.

As with the headband, the sandals are not new either, but they are nice, and are much better than flats!.  The have black leather straps that criss-cross across the toes and a strap that goes around the ankle.  They are perfect for this outfit.

Ratings
All ratings are out of 10

Value 7 - Why 7?  Well if this outfit was sold separately, it would be higher, but you have to buy the doll.  Not an issue if you don't have Callie, but if you do...it would be awesome to get this outfit separately. Otherwise it is a nice outfit.  It would be nice if the jacket closed.  And if they didn't have to have a sheer piece of fabric in their clothing, that would be nice.  Solve the dye transfer issue!!!!

Fitment 5  - The t shirt is loose  (but not horrible), the jacket is so tight that once it's off you may not ever put it on again, the jacket should have longer sleeves and the purse should have a longer strap.  The last two are little gripes that really don't take away from the rest of the outfit.  The tightness of the jacket is a big issue though.  Come on...it's your outfit made for your dolls!

Versatility 9 - Some good pieces.  The Maxi skirt is my favorite and the reason to buy this doll.  Pairing this with other colored tops should make for some really neat outfits.  When can't you use a white tee!  And the jacket is nice, but it seems to be a go to when Journey Girls needs some outerwear.  The sandals will be a great addition to your collection; more useful than some of the other sandals though, because of the color.  And once I find a 18" Harley the purse will come in really handy!

Cuteness 8 - I am a bit biased on this outfit since I love full length skirts.  I think this is a great outfit. The colors are cute.  The pattern on the dress is cute and fun.  It's not a "Celebrate" outfit, but it's still very cute...and more useful than a full length gown!

Overall 7 - The outfit has very few issues; really only the jacket issue, but that is enough on an outfit designed for the Journey Girls.  It would also be nice to know that Toys R Us and Journey Girls has finally done something about the color transfer issue, other than putting another layer of cloth between your doll and the outfit.  But for right now...that works.  This isn't quite the maxi skirt (not even close) that was released on Kelsey as a special edition in Canada a few years back.  Different in style, this outfit fits the New York theme very nicely.

AG Note

A few things we know right off the bat: the sandals don't fit, the headband does fit, and the purse fits.  Surprisingly the t-shirt fits really well, although because it's a v-neck you see the soft cloth neckline of an American Girl.  Not a big deal.  

The skirt fits really well too.  There was no need to squish the doll to get it on and it sat in the right spot.  

The jacket had no chance of fitting.  American Girl's hands are bigger than Journey Girls, so there is no way that the jacket fit.  

Even without the jacket this is a really cute outfit on Madison.  With the shoes and the jacket not fitting an American Girl, this outfit would have be sold separately for me to buy it.  But I do really like it on Madison!