I clicked the picture and fell in love!
I liked the idea of a challenge too and after falling in love with the one on the left, asked if I could re-home one myself...Evelyn, kind soul that she is agreed and decided she'd keep the middle one as a project for herself too so yay they all had homes and now I just had to be patient and wait for a parcel to arrive to see which one I would get.
A few days later, my wait was over and yay! - Evelyn sent me the one I wanted!
Five days after Evelyn's "Poor Orphans" post, she was finished and ready to make her debut!
And here she is....as she was and just after she began her ordeal at the hands of sweet-little Herbie!
Just out of the packet and looking a bit unsure of her new surroundings! |
Pretty Face...Hopefully the marks are removable! |
Weird Hairdo! |
Aww...her legs poorly :( Never mind Herbie'll fix it up! |
Her dress and body was stained, her legs were dusty, as was her air and she had a musty smell from the aged stuffing too, poor thing... all in all I'd say she was a perfect candidate for a make-over!
And so to work:
After examining her I realised I wasn't gonna get away with a scrub and new hairdo, but I like a challenge so I began to check her out fully and decide where I'm going with this restoration...seeing as she'd already lost a lot of sawdust (SAWDUST??) from her leg...I decided Jules' Idea of the restuff was just what she needs.... The plan was to salvage as much of the original as I could so it ended up being a case of see how it goes as we go along!!
Man...Just look at all that hair!! |
Looks like a pretty little mermaid *grin* |
I had to make sure I had ever last piece out before she could be re-stuffed with wadding , if I had left a single piece of stuffing inside the doll would eventually start to smell musty again... It too bloody ages too!
There's just so much and it smells funny too :( wonder what kind of tree that comes from ?
"Hey Wot You Doing to Me?" Poor thing looks so shocked...I almost have guilt! |
"Now You Gone too Far!!" But Sweetie You've gotta take it out before you can put nice new stuffing back in...
oh dear I don't think she understands!!
|
"Hey Let Go Of My Intestine" *soothes* There, there little one it's for your own good! *Herbie quickly removes hands in case she gets bitten* :( |
To cover the fabric on her torso, I chose a piece of vintage White towelette, covered in a tiny red rose pattern; that was made in the 1950s.
:( "My legs are different colours...hurry up with that needle will you?" |
When work began on Looby's legs... I noticed after sewing her leg up it becomes obvious, she would need some new fabric to the legs too....so I begin hunting for the perfect fabric (as close to the original red & white stripe as possible)...
I found some red striped Linen, that I thought would be a close enough match. When it arrived and I tried it against her leg fabric, the drastic colour difference between the original and replacement cloth was so apparent, As I chose Linen, it is a very strong replacement fabric as well, so no more leg rips for this little Looby!.
"You like my new bloomers?" |
"I have a new hairstyle too!" |
Most of the curl had gone due to my washing it, but I still think it looks better down...well that and the fact that I totally forgot how her original style was put together, I remember thinking it was a weird way to plait it, but that's all I can remember really.
The Result for me, is one very pretty doll who still looks like her vintage original, but smells nicer and is softer too!!
2 comments:
I need to buy new hair for my own loobyloo. As a child I removed her hair because it came loose. I recall it was synthetic but no totally sure? Is this doll natural mohair or nylon? I washed her body using biotex and rinsed with cold water and dried quickly on a radiator. I kept her head dry and face from heat. I laid her on a tea towel on radiator which drew out more stain and dirt. Dye did not come out much. Vinegar sounds good idea but I didn’t use. I am not restuffing as she is nice firm body and limbs. She is 50 yrs old.
Yeah they are definitely surface was only as they are stuffed with very fine sawdust which is very hard to dry, and will likely result in rot if let wet.
I really didn't have a choice on restuffing mine as she had lost a lot of stuffing from her leg "wound" and as I didn't have any fine sawdust to hand, I restuffed her with cushion padding, which I'm much happier with tbh, she smells better too!
My girl has Nylon hair, which I suspect yours does too, but it is a type of Nylon I haven't encountered before, it is similar to Viscose but not as brittle so I can't really give you any advice on brands or where to get it. Sorry.
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