Vintage doll restoration

March 2020

I received a doll from an estate, that was dear to one of the beneficiaries. The face and clothes were extremely dirty and the elastic in the pantaloons had lost the elasticity. I soaked the dresses in enzyme laundry solution (Shaklee liquid L and nature bright) until the lace brightened and the water was clear. The face was washed with the same but I stopped scrubbing when I noticed some of the cheek paint had faded.

I then shortened the overdress/ the top layer to expose the hand-embroidered initial of the decedent, then added lace and elastic to the pantaloons, and added the headband with roses made from left over fabric from the overdress.

Close up of the hand-embroidered initial on under-dress.

Close up of cleaned face and headband I created with leftover fabric and added roses.

Comments

Custom LV Birkenstock’s

So my next big project in 2018 was a pair of Birkenstock’s for my friend in Australia. Nannette has size 43 shoes; she is a tall woman. She was in a bad car accident at 18 and has suffered problems to her feet as a result This was exacerbated by an accident on a train platform in Australia, so comfortable shoes are a must. And what is more comfortable, than a pair of Birkenstock’s? But they couldn’t be just any Birki’s. They had to be Louis Vuitton Birki’s because Nannette is an LV nut. I started with a used pair of Birkenstock’s with good platforms from eBay. I took them to our local cobbler who deconstructed and separated the leather tops from the platform. I then used the Birki leather as a pattern. I had an LV purse to deconstruct, but there was not enough leather for the necessary 4 straps. I needed another 2 pieces of leather for the sides, so I shopped at my Goodwill for a red purse with gold buckles. However, upon in...

T-Shirt Quilts

T-Shirt Quilts I created three t-shirt quilts in memory of my mother in law Brenda Sanford. My sister-in-law Shelly (Michelle) Sanford sent me a large box of her t-shirts. It was pretty clear that I had enough t-shirts for several quilts. So I sorted the t-shirts into color groups. As it turns out, I ended up with three piles of shirts. One of the piles was generally in the green, teal and purple family, one of the groups was in the red, white and blue family, and one of the groups was generally pink, rose and gray. I backed each logo with fusible interfacing, then "fussy" cut each logo out using a cutting board and rotary cutter. Each t-shirt was bordered with a complimentary fabric, to show off the colors of that t-shirt. Then, the t-shirts were arranged in a circular pattern and background piecing was added to keep the arrangement. I then chose a border fabric to set off and frame the circular pattern of t-shirts, and added an outsi...

Reba's Quilts and Machines

Search This Blog