A Doll A Day, please join!

[tackygoods]

Hi, thought it would be fun to do a doll a day.  Please join!  Every day, post one of your dolls.  It can be obscure, popular or only you love it.  Tell us who it is, who made it, a little bit about it and why you love it!  Only one a day and we can go on forever!....terri

[nieve]

I don't know what it looked like before, but she looks very nice now!   You know, there is a before and after thread here, somewhere, and people would take the pic of how terrible they looked before and then when they were done.    It was truly amazing.   I'll try to find it and post to it, so you can see all the wonders in it.

I have one of those pussycat dolls too, and the other one that is so like it.   What was she called .. dumpling something?   wait..... something's wrong here, I just found a pic of them and I have IDEAL written in the name!   I sure thought I remembered they were the pussycat and dumplin something dolls.... maybe they are wearing clothes with their names on them, but their necks said Ideal - yep have  a pic of the neck, but not the dress tags, but I think I remember it and worried about taking them off because then I wouldn't remember who was who, but turns out it isn't their names anyway!     I saw these 2 in a booth at the flea market type place where we also had a booth.    I kept putting them sitting together, and I suppose the owner kept coming in and putthing them apart.   Somehow that seemed wrong to me, so I just bought them!

Ideal DollsIdeal Dolls

what would you do to clean them up and their hair?

[tink012]

Definitely not Madame Alexander Pussycat dolls, but they are sweet, and I think they'd be super cute fixed up. I would imagine they are from the 50's, but I don't know if anyone has listed out all the various Ideal vinyl & cloth baby dolls. I'll keep looking but so far struck out.

What I did with the Pussycat was take out all her stuffing & wash her body & replace her crier. But your dolls may have stitching across the thighs, which means you'll have to take that out in order to completely unstuff them. I don't know how to sew on a machine, so that would give me pause (having to restitch). Also I can't tell if their bodies are oilcloth, canvas, or a more modern fabric (my doll was easy to wash - cotton or cotton blend I think). If canvas wait til I finish with the one I'm doing, I'm not sure if it shrunk after I washed it, lol. I'm still learning/experimenting!!

But anyway, to unstuff you have to clip the plastic zip tie holding their heads on or untie the wire holding it on (can't tell which it has) - you'll need a new zip tie or florist wire when you reassemble. The arms and legs are tied inside, so once the stuffing is out you'll see how to undo them.

My doll's body wasn't too dirty so I handwashed with Woolite and hung to dry. I'm seeing some staining on yours from the old crier boxes. Do they work? If they work that makes the doll more valuable than if you have to replace.  New ones cost only about $4 or $5 if you want them to squeak/cry.

To get the stain out I'd just try different things depending on the material. I've been trying to get rust off the canvas one I'm doing and not having much luck.

While the doll body is drying, time to clean the heads & limbs.

If inside the heads the eyes are covered in plastic, in a sort of pouch, then you don't need to worry about getting water inside. If the eyes have the weights etc, then washing the hair - do it very carefully with the doll head leaning over a basin. No water in the eyes either way.

The hair I would wash in dawn dish soap - both dolls look like they have synthetic rooted hair. Then I would soak in Downy fabric softener.   Then I'd use a wig brush (no little bumps on the ends of the brush) to brush out all the tangles & rinse out the downy (gentle rinse, ok if some stays in, not too much or it feels greasy when dry). I'd set it with curlers - maybe those soft cushy green ones that come in the drugstore. For a tiny doll you can curl using a cut up straw & pins, but these will need larger curls.

Maybe just a gentle wash on the faces, you don't want to take off blush or eyebrows. I use a magic eraser if there are stains (I think I see one on one doll's arm?), and have tried various cleaners - my favorite is from Twin Pines 911 - it's fast on these vinyl dolls and would really help their faces. But maybe start with dish soap and see if that is enough. I use qtips to get close to the eyebrows & into corners. Same wash for limbs except no worries about face paint! 

Ok, so if you've gotten the body clean, reattach the limbs (I can send you a link to a lesson on how to do that) and now its time to restuff. First fluff up all the stuffing - otherwise the dolls will be LUMPY. A plastic bag full of stuffing will turn into two bags after fluffing! Then all of that goes back in. Stitch the thighs if they were stitched before. (This helps them sit) (note I have yet to do this, will let you know how the canvas doll turns out!!)

Before you finish stuffing, put the old working crier back in, or the new crier if you bought one.

Once all assembled, take out the curlers and gently brush & style their hair. It should be soft after the Downy treatment. You can repeat the downy treatment if hair isn't nice & then restyle again.

In fact, you could not worry about the doll body & just wash the limbs with a cloth  hold them over a basin to wash & downy-treat their hair!! They might look just fine and you can play with hairstyling till you get it where you want it.

I will keep looking for ones like these, maybe we can find a picture of what their hairstyle was originally.

I will have to start taking before pictures. I'm usually just so antsy to clean them up I don't want to wait!!

[nieve]

You didn't say for sure...   I'm assuming you are using new poly fil for stuffing?    I've always been terrified to try the hair, as I can't even fix my own - no skill.   But am fascinated at the idea of it.

They are just plain fabric with  non working criers.   I went back to my doll room and it's so far gone I couldn't even catch a glimpse of them 😞

[tink012]

I just reused the old filling, fluffing it up with my fingers

[nieve]

Really?!?!?   I would have just imagined it would be old smelling - not?   Hey show me a doll!

[tink012]

Ok, sorry! Crazy day, spent most of it cleaning up the garden & getting my veggies in (very late but oh well, we tend to have late summers with harvest in the fall anyway) also making dinner for DH as it is our anniversary (26 yrs). Woo hoo!

Here is a different type of doll - a composition McGuffey Ana. She is about 15" tall. I am so in love with McGuffey Anas.  I think someone put modern ribbons on her (human) hair braids so sometime soon I will try to find some less bright ribbons, maybe can find a better match. Otherwise I will do nothing at all to her - just enjoy her!

[tink012]

I don't know why my pictures go sideways. arg! Will try to figure out tomorrow.

[nieve]

It would be a bear to match that darker color of blue and duller, because ribbon is just shinier than cotton type fabric.   She is very sweet though, thanks!

Hey, I posted to the before and after thread so it would go to the top of the posts and show up for you!

[tink012]

Testing photo upload:

 didn't work, will try something else later (still uploading sideways)

[tink012]

 Tried again and still sideways.

Too frustrating!

I don't have this trouble uploading to eBay, so not sure why the forum doesn't work the same.

[nieve]

the only comparison I have for the problem is that when I take pics on my camera, I have to put them on my laptop, and rotate them, and save (it saves when I go to the next photo.   Otherwise, they will not stay the way I want them.    You could try googling:   pics upload sideways (and the name of your device)

[tink012]

Trying again after your suggestion (managed to get an unmarked doll up yesterday!). This is a Nancy Ann bridesmaid # 87 from the family series. Flat tummy, no molded socks. But cute!

[nieve]

She is so sweet.    You say unmarked. what does that mean?    For me Nancy Ann dolls are all about their clothes.    I got in a real snit of wanting to buy them when I first learned of them, but after ordering several, and seeing that didn't look nearly as good as their ebay pics, I decided to give up on them.      Here's one, with the description from when I bought her, no real identity given, though:

Vintage Nancy Ann storybook doll. The doll has a white dress with blue trim. The size is 4 1/2" tall. The hair is blond and has the same blue trim going around the head. She wears short underpants with lace. Her shoes are white. The eyes open and close. The arms, legs move, the head doesnt. Very good condition. All dolls are sold as is. Any questions, please contact.

4.5" Nancy Ann

[tink012]

There is a great website with photos of Nancy Ann dolls where I look to identify them. Not sure we can post websites here? google Nancy Ann doll identification - it will pop up, then look at her photo album. Unfortunately there is no easy search, you have to click on each name.

[tink012]

Oh, and by unmarked I meant a different doll I posted on different thread, she is unmarked and I think may be a Nanette, was hoping someone would recognize her.