Strawberry Shortcake Ornaments

In my ongoing determination to sew up all my panels of Christmas ornaments, I came across eight of Strawberry Shortcake ornaments, two in each of these four designs, already cut out and ready to sew up. Each design, as well as having a duplicate, had a mirror image of itself. My daughter, was a fan of Strawberry Shortcake in her childhood years. The selvage of the panel reads ©1980 American Greetings Corporation © Spring Mills Inc. Pattern 5714 so this panel had been in my stash for about four decades. Yikes! The iconic Christmas symbols are quite fitting: a wreath, a snowman, a candy cane, and a stocking.

Who is Strawberry Shortcake? Per a vintage Strawberry Shortcake site:

Strawberry Shortcake is a bright and energetic little girl with red hair and freckles with a big, adorable smile. Strawberry is kind, resourceful, and always ready to help a friend in need. With her pet cat named Custard normally by her side. She usually wears a sweet, red dress with a white pinafore, and a pink bonnet decorated with strawberries. In her earliest adventures, Strawberry's home was a shortcake surrounded by well-tended strawberry vines, in 1983 she moved into her "Berry Happy Home", a large and ornate home.

It took me three weeks to get an order of pink grosgrain ribbon from Amazon. I have become so spoiled by the normally quick turn around, so I suspect this order must have been from a second party seller.  I waited, impatiently, because pink just had to be the color of choice for the loops due to Strawberry's bonnet and her cat Custard. I suppose I could have used red or green ribbon but, nah. My stubborn streak held firm, and the loop had to be pink. Here are the eight ornaments with pink loops. I chose to put the mirror image on each back. Although she faces the same way in the photo, the cat in the stocking also has a mirror image on the back. I did not flip the ornament to the other side because I wasn't paying enough attention when I set up the photo.

A New York Times business article in 2008 commented that

The 1980s Strawberry Shortcake has been updated to spend her time chatting on a cell phone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard. 

I captured this poster of the continuing evolution of Strawberry Shortcake from the UK blog Five Little Diamonds.

Interestingly, Strawberry Shortcake started out as an image from a Hallmark greeting card. In a Strawberry Shortcake fandom site, there are more details of Strawberry's evolution through the years.  Notice, I said evolution, not aging. Strawberry Shortcake still remains young. Only the interpretation and portrayal of "hip" continually changes to be contemporary or trendy. My favorite portrayal of Strawberry Shortcake is from the 1980's. What would she look like today if she really was in her 40s? Would she be slender and fit in her leggings and sports bra from her pilates and exercising? Or would she be pleasantly plump as a mother in her mom jeans from sampling and enjoying all her baking?