Meet Georgiana Laurel Eliot (+ Her Trip to the Hospital and Salon)

Sarah here. This is a special post, because it's not every day that a special visitor comes to Islandshire. I mean, most dolls that come here end up staying!

After posting all kinds of pictures (on several doll forums) showing Harriet's restoration and the search for her perfect wig, I began e-mailing with an online friend who also owns a number of American Girl dolls. She fell in love with Harriet in the Monique "Bebe Carrot" wig. I offered to help her customize a doll of her own, but it took a few weeks before she realized that she really did need one herself. You know, it's those cases that usually result in a doll that is super special. Well, she bought a Bebe wig and started collecting the pieces for an outfit like Harriet wears. Finding a beautiful Marie-Grace doll even proved easier than originally thought, and she won a very nice doll on an online auction.

Before anything even began to arrive in the mail, a name was decided on --- this new little doll would be called Georgiana Laurel Eliot. She's a distant cousin of Harriet and Eliot, so they could hardly wait to meet her.

A large box arrived at Islandshire, and there was poor Georgiana with a mess of hair and rather loose legs. It was time for a trip to the local hospital (to tighten her limbs) and the hair salon (to get a whole new hair style and colour! Harriet was a little impatient, so she had to meet Georgiana before the make-over process began. It was a very happy moment.

Georgiana (left) and Harriet (right) finally get to greet each other.

Georgiana was a little nervous about the whole procedure, so everyone tried to be very friendly and make her as comfortable as possible. Connie pulled out the padded chair, Nanea got out a nice quilt, and Hallie made a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream. With all this attention, Georgiana began to feel much better --- even looking forward to a hair cut!

Enjoying some hot chocolate before her trip to the hospital.

After finishing her hot chocolate, Georgiana laid down in bed and fell right to sleep. She had a few odd dreams about elastic cord, metal ferrules and short-haired wigs --- but she slept pretty well.

Georgiana dreams of shorter hair . . .

And time passed . . .

Some time later, Georgiana woke up feeling very refreshed. Her joints were much tighter, so she felt ready to do something fun. A whole new outfit was brought to her, and she got dressed. By this point, she was feeling so great that she wanted to look in a mirror. She couldn't believe it! Her new hair was so amazing. Gone were the days of snarls and knots and frizzy curls tickling her cheeks. Harriet came to visit her right away. It was such a thrilling moment that they decided to pose for another photo.

Harriet (left) and Georgiana (right) reunited after the procedure.

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About Georgiana Laurel Eliot

The inspiration for Georgiana's character came when the first leaks showed up for Blaire Wilson, American Girl's 2019 Girl of the Year doll. Obviously, Blaire is going to have more of a gardening/country style feel to her, because she seems to have flower/gardening accessories, a pet piglet and a lamb. Plus, her boxes are all very pastel-coloured things with flowers on them!

With all of the recent problems appearing with new AG dolls (i.e. bad eyes, new body fabric, etc.), a lot of people are nervous about buying new dolls at all --- and there isn't much confidence in the coming quality of Blaire (at least the first runs of her, anyway). Lots of people are thinking that they will opt to purchase Blaire's accessories for an older doll that they already own --- or that they will customize an older doll for their own Blaire. My friend felt this way and decided to create her own version of the 2019 Girl of the Year! She decided on the name "Georgiana Eliot" after reading some of Harriet's history and story, combined with a love for Jane Austen novels.

During all of the weeks of Georgiana's visit to Islandshire, there was a lot of time for my friend to come up with a full wardrobe and personality for this cute girl. Here's a small background that she wrote about her:

Exactly what she'll be like may surprise me, but I picture her as a feminine and practical problem solver. Years ago my mom said, about some home repair I'd done, "That's what I call a woman's solution. A man would do something more time-consuming and complicated, but this will work with far less effort and an equally good appearance." Georgiana goes for women's solutions when her family needs more income.

She has overalls for working in the garden. I got them on Etsy, and two shirts, one a classic collared shirt in stripes and the other a flowered knit, both pink, from the same shop. Since she spends time working at her family's farm stand and in the kitchen, she has 3 pairs of jeans (olive, gray, and blue flowered) and coordinating tees, for a casual but business-like look -- she sees herself as a businessgirl. I picked them out at Silly Monkey Fashions on Etsy, which has attractive separates at attractive prices.

Georgiana lives not far outside of Charleston, SC, and has convinced her mother to serve teas on the porch and later in the redecorated front room (called Mockingbird Lane Teas). She has painted the chairs in coordinating colors and now takes orders for them. The family is beginning to cater farm-to-table lunches and small weddings and now involves her extended family.

She started by convincing her mother to serve iced tea and homemade cookies to some lost tourists who stopped at the farm stand for directions.  Now they serve hot and iced tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation, sourwood and tupelo honey from Savannah Bee Company, scones with her aunts' homemade jams, tea sandwiches using local produce and products, including vegetables and herbs from their garden, and cookies from family recipes.  They are working on a selection of tea breads and tea cakes, starting with the Indigo Tea Shop's zucchini bread. The Indigo Tea Shop is owned by Georgiana's mentor, Theodosia Browning, whose (embellished) adventures have been recorded by Laura Childs. Her constant inspiration is Afternoon Tea, by Susannah Blake; and her current inspiration is Alice's Tea Cup, by Haley and Lauren Fox.

Georgiana wears the old white American Girl Revue overalls when she's working as a member of the serving crew and a pretty dress from Farm Cookies when she's co-hostessing events. For cooler weather she has a hand knit sweater and gray tweed skirt.

Between work and school, she's too busy for organized sports, but because she's always on the move, she wears a fitness tracker (from the CYO accessories), and she runs every day with KC, her King Charles spaniel (from Grand Rabbits, a fantastic local toy store -- KC was manufactured by Douglas). For that she usually wears distressed powder blue jeans (Silly Monkey) and a soft gray sweater layered over a white tee from Eighteen Threads. She likes headbands and collects and often wears pretty, glittery shoes.

With all of that story ready, I decided to make some accessories for Georgiana before she headed to her new home. So, I came up with a way to make miniature doll-sized "Charleston Tea Plantation" tea bags, some Savannah Bee Company honey jars and Georgiana's two favorite books!

All that was left now was packing Georgiana up for her journey home! My sister and I thought it would be fun to customize a doll box for her, so we made a special print out, got some fancy tape for a box "band", and covered the print out with a piece of clear plastic. Her accessories got a special little box of their own.

Pretty soon, Georgiana was on her way to her new house . . . but not before she did some pretty fun things on Islandshire (and made a lot of new friends)! This is just the beginning of Georgiana's story and her visit to Islandshire. More to follow shortly.