Addy's Meet Outfits

Well, I've had a couple of very exciting weeks. Two very important things have happened! The most important is that I became an aunt. My sister-in-law had a baby girl and I am thrilled and I can't wait to meet her! The second, slightly less important thing, is that my computer died. It was a slow an painful death that dragged on for about the last three years and finally the old girl just crashed! But my husband is amazing and built me a brand new computer and so I am back in business. Luckily I didn't lose too much.

So today we are going to talk about Addy's meet outfits!!

Now I'm sure you all noticed that there are three dresses up there. Why is that? Well if you do a little digging you'll find out that there was a prototype for Addy's original meet dress. I had to have it and spent a few months waiting for one at a decent price to show up on eBay. It does show up from time to time but can be pretty expensive. I was overjoyed to get one and it's been a jewel of my collection ever since. I'm very excited that I get to share it with you guys today! Let's get started.


Here is the front:

And the back:

Of the prototype dress. It velcros down the back and at the cuffs of the sleeves.

It's made of a fairly sturdy material and has a pattern of leaves and dots.

Except for the fabric it's pretty much identical to the final version of the dress! It is cut and constructed the same way and even has the same number of buttons.

The final version of the dress is this right here:

And here is the back:

Like the prototype dress, it velcros down the back and at the cuffs of the sleeves.

The fabric is pink with white stripes.

It also has ten white (non-funtional) buttons down the front.

Here are the two fabrics side by side:

The prototype is a slightly darker, and duller pink. It's also a bit stiffer than the final version of this dress. 

Along with the dress, Addy's original meet outfit includes black, lace up boots:

A navy, satin ribbon:

And white pantalettes that I will talk about in just a few minutes.

Her original meet accessories came with a straw bonnet, gourd, kerchief, half-dime and cowrie shell necklace:

Of course with Beforever, Addy's meet outfit has been completely revamped. I have to say it was this dress that made me relax about Beforever. Look at this dress!!!

It's SO gorgeous! The blue! The black trim!

The bows on the shoulders and those adorable little sleeves:

That sweet, gathered neckline:

The waist band:

That full skirt:

Yeah I'm in love. Not even going to try and deny it! Blue has always been my favorite color for Addy and this dress was just hands down the best thing released during the launch of Beforever.

It also comes with black canvas boots:

They have buttons on the sides.

But the boots velcro down the back:

They also have a slight heel:

Addy stands way better with the heels than I thought she would!

Her meet outfit also includes white pantalettes and two blue ribbons. I did not get the ribbons (yet anyway) and so I went to walmart...and spent 99 cents on blue satin ribbon.....I will talk about that more at the end!

Addy's new accessories include a straw bonnet, "patchwork" bag and cowrie shell necklace:

The bag isn't really patchwork which I found a little sad but it's printed so well that I had to touch it to really make sure.

It is lined with the same fabric that the dress is made out of.

Now to compare! (Old stuff on the left, new on the right....unless I messed up again....)

Here are all three dresses together:

I really do love all three. The original meet dress hits me right in the nostalgia feels and pink looks amazing on Addy. I love the prototype because it's fairly rare and again it looks great on Addy. But right now my favorite is the blue. It's just so pretty! I really can't get over it.

Addy's two pairs of pantalettes are pretty similar.

The main difference is that the old pantalettes have a small panel in the front and the new ones are elastic all the way around:

And of course the lace is different:

I prefer the older pantalettes so they will be staying with my Addy. The new ones are very nice though! They are on Caroline for the moment. When I get her whole meet outfit and then they will most likely go to Marta. Why buy her a pair when I'll have an extra around the house?

Addy's orginal meet socks are knee high, ribbed and black. Her new meet socks are a lot shorter and white with a ribbed top:

I prefer Addy's old socks and have them in white if I want her to wear white socks. The new socks aren't bad but they're just plain, white socks with nothing special about them. So they are on Caroline (again) till I get hers and after that they will probably go in a general sock pile.

There are things I love about both pairs of the meet boots.

I love the sturdy feel of the old pair. I also love the fancy little flair of the new pair; with its buttons and its teeny heels. I think that each pair goes with its intended dress perfectly. One thing that the new pair has improved on is the velcro down the back. Not that I don't really prefer laces, but for some reason, the laces on the old pair of boots are incredibly short. It is always a bit of a pain to get them properly tied and so, for the sake of ease of use, the new pair wins by a hair.

Moving on to the accessories here are the straw bonnets side by side:

And here is a close up of their ribbons:

As you can see the bonnets are nearly identical. The only real differences are the ribbons and that the new bonnet is lined around the face as well as the bottom. I don't have a preference but I do think that each one is perfectly suited for its dress.

The necklaces are identical.

Seriously can't find a difference except that the new one has a newer looking cord. That's it.

The kerchief vs the bag? Well I prefer the bag. The kerchief is cute and I really liked that it was different from the rest of the girls' bags but I never use it because I can never get it tied in a way that I think looks good. So just for ease of use, I like the bag better. Plus it is a very cute bag! I'm really glad I have both though!

Final thoughts:

That's not a scratch; that's a strand of hair.

Each meet outfit is lovely and if you made me I probably couldn't pick one.  I think, looking at the whole thing, the new meet items slightly win for me. I love how easy the bag and the shoes are and I really love this color blue on Addy. But that win might be because everything is so new and so fresh! Ask me again in a year or two.

Now for the promised ribbon rant, even though I'm way too late because all this happened last month. I do understand why people were/are upset that the hair accessories didn't come with the meet outfits that you buy individually. It does kind of suck and I would like them because I'm a completest but at the same time? It's not worth that much fuss. Eventually I probably will get the ribbons, when they have replacement parts but for now? I would much rather just go spend 99 cents and not stress. In other words....I've got way bigger problems than this to deal with.

Have one more picture of my gorgeous Addy for the road!

99 cent cobalt ribbon right there!

I hope you all enjoyed this look at Addy's three meet outfits! Next up is an update about Jeb and my other boy who has arrived. Till then!