Topsy Baby

 

This doll was made by 'Reliable' in the early 1960's and was sold as 'Topsy Baby' or 'Topsy Baby Darling'.

She has arrived for cleaning and repairs.

Her cloth in her legs is worn and has she has previous mends.

One arm has many mends too.

Quite a cute face!

Topsy Baby's owner wants her body kept original. Not totally replaced with a new fabric one. A couple of options are reviewed and it is decided to line her body with new fabric. This will keep her original cloth on the outside and strengthen it throughout the torn and holey areas.

So on to disassembly......

Topsy Baby's head has stuffing inside which is kept in with a wooden plug. This is a common finding in this vintage of doll.

That is a lot of stuffing!

But it needs to come out to clean her head well.

More disassembly.

Here is the front and back of her body....and a piece of muslin that I have dyed. The muslin will line her body.

On the right is one side of her body before it gets lined and mended.

On the left is the other side after getting lined and mended.

The lined body parts get sewn together along the previous seam lines.

And, after a bit of a fight (vinyl is not always easy to sew into cloth), the end is in sight.

One washed, lined and repaired body, several washed vinyl bits and a pile of stuffing that came out of the body are ready for the final reassembly.  The head has already been restuffed and plugged.

Done.

And dressed.

 

Mikey and Goldie visit the spa....

 

Mikey and Goldie have arrived to get some spruce-ups.

Goldie goes first.

She doesn't look too bad?

But, her cloth body has issues.

One foot is coming detached.

And the back of her body is torn. 

There are a few other cloth problems, so she will get a whole new fresh cloth body.

Goldie gets deconstructed so that a pattern can be made from her body bits.

And then, new body pieces get cut out using the old body bits as a pattern.

That is a lot of pieces to make one small doll body!

The new body is made.

Now her hands and feet have to get sewn into the cloth body.

Goldie is done.

Now it is Mikey's turn.

He has come to get new eyelashes.

Most of his eyelashes on the left are gone.

Here is how new eyelashes are done.

Small clumps of paintbrush bristles are dipped in glue and inserted in the slot of the eyeball. Once the glue dries, they will be trimmed to a less alarming length.

One could also glue human false eyelashes into the slot.

The paint brush bristles matched Mikey's original lashes the best so they were chosen.

Eyelash transplant done.

They are ready to go home.

3 vinyl dolls and their issues....

A large box arrives containing 3 vinyl dolls who have various issues to fix. They are much loved dolls whose young owner has agreed that it is time for her babies to see the doctor!

 

First out of the box is 'James'. He has an obvious issue with his body. He will get a new cloth body.

He also has wonky eyes that do not show in this photo. They do not open and close properly and the 'whites' are yellowed.

Here is one of his eyes extracted and taken apart. The eye did not open and close properly becaise the weight had detached. The yellowing is rust stain on the plastic.

The weight will get glued into the spot that it is supposed to be in. The rust stains are permanent.....so they get painted over. Then the eyes get reassembled and reinstalled.

James is done.

Now out of the box comes 'Emma'.

She has a tear in her body.

She has the exact same eye problem as James. These eyes do not open and close properly.

So out come Emma's eyes.

They are the exact same eyes as James has. With the same problem in that the weight has come out of it's mount. The weights get glued back into place and then it is time to reinsert them.

Here is a good way to remove and replace vinyl doll eyes. Vinyl softens with heat. If you fill the head part way with boiling water and wait a few minutes....the vinyl will be pliable and the eye procedure will go much more smoothly.

If you have a part that cannot be treated with boiling water safely, a hairdryer can be used to heat and soften the vinyl.

Emma's eyes now work.

 She has had a good bath and her torn seam is repaired.

Last out of the box is 'Ella'.

She has been here before.

She had a brand new body made but now.....

Her new body did not withstand all the loving she got.

Now she is going to get yet another body!

Ella gets her new body.

They are all ready to go home.

Who painted Sasha???

Here we have 'Sasha'.

She had been painted by a neighbouring child with nail polish. Lots of nail polish!

She has arrived for a clean-up.

Sasha is missing an iris. The artistic nail polish wielding child has managed to paint her empty socket too! 

Sasha starts her cleaning process.

Less nail polish is certainly an improvement.

Her unstuffed body has had a bath and is lying on the deck to dry.

Worried comments from the neighbours are anticipated!

Marks like this have not come off with her bath.

So all the remaining marks get coated with 10% benzoyl peroxide. It is sold as an acne treatment and is a good bleaching agent.

Sunlight helps the process so the basking on the deck continues......and the neighbours keep wondering.........

Then some new eyes are found.

She is cleaned, restuffed and ready to go home.

The return of a Maplelea doll

This is 'Jenna'. She is a Maplelea doll who had her left hip repaired a couple years ago.

Now she has a total avulsion of her right hip.....ie the whole hip joint has torn off.