Repairing a Doll

Elizabeth

When I was a child, my mom inherited her grandmother's Raggedy Ann doll pattern, and I wanted a doll of my own--but not Raggedy Ann.  I had a vision: blonde hair, and a pretty floral dress, and no dorky bloomers!  My mom helped me sew the doll, which makes it, perhaps, one of my first projects ever.  I remember after cutting out the pieces with my mom's help, I went back later and cut off all the seam allowances because I didn't want my dolly to have "fat arms"!  My mom laughed and shook her head and tried to explain that the seam allowances were structural, not seen.  Anyway, I sewed her, and named her Elizabeth, and dragged her all over.  Recently, visiting my parents, I took a look at her and felt sorry for my creation... she needed some TLC!  So, with my five-year-old niece's help, I mended and washed the doll. 

MENDING

I had to slip-stitch the seams closed at several places.  My niece helped (well, she pretended Elizabeth was in the hospital and she held her down and cooed "It's all right, daughter; I'm here...").  Also, she liked to pull the needle through the fabric once I poked it in the right place! 

slip-stitching a hole shut

doll surgery

Then there was a worn our hole in one hand, so I darned it:

hole in hand

hole darned

The dress required the most work: the sleeve was loose from its armscye, the side seam undone, and the skirt pulling away from the bodice.  Plus, at the center back, there was a error: the skirt was sewn to the bodice a little higher on one side than the other, so they didn't meet evenly.  And the center back had no closures.  So I resewed all the open seams, opened the misaligned seam and fixed it, and put two hooks and eyes.  Then I thought the dress a little drab, so I added a line of decorative stitching at the waist and the sleeve hems. 

hole in dress

Adding decorative stitching. Here you can also see the new (proper) alignment of the waistline seam... the old seam allowance now exposed is cleaner in color.

Finally, my niece and I gave Elizabeth a bath (three rinses to get the dirt all out!), and laid her out to dry.  Washed, she now looks brighter, but you can also see the stains clearer because the surrounding dust is gone.  I laid her on a cardboard box by the woodstove, with hair fanned out, to dry. 

drying out...

I didn't imagine that Elizabeth would survive the dryer, so she'll have to dry out by the stove.  I asked my mom to turn her occasionally until she is all the way dry. 

WHERE THINGS BEGIN...

As my niece "helped" me mend Elizabeth, I found myself amused and frustrated, because her assistance was slowing me down.  I am a perfectionist, and get task oriented when I'm sewing.  On the other hand, she was learning how to sew, in a cozy moment that I shall remember fondly, so I tried to be patient.  Later my mom told me that the reason she's kept Elizabeth all these years was because the doll reminds her of me learning to sew... I think of how inexpert I must have been, and how slow!  But my mom was patient, and I learned, and here I am now, sewing every day and deriving much pleasure from it. 

Mom, thanks for helping your perfectionistic, know-it-all, slow-as-molasses daughter learn to sew!  I love you!