Cleaning Doll Clothes

 Something that has been low-key bugging me for a long time was that some of the doll clothes in my collection were dirty.

I am really careful with my doll clothes. However, for example, my Felicity's meet dress is 28 years old, and I kept her in that dress most of the time, so it was just grubby from handling, even though I kept an apron over it.

I buy a lot of doll clothes used, and some of them came with spots on them.

However, when I was little, I washed my Barbie doll clothes in the sink, and some of them shrank beyond use. I really didn't want to repeat that.

So what I did was, I bought this powdered OxiClean, and I added the recommended amount of powder to hot water.

THEN, this is the important part, I let the water cool before adding the doll clothes.

The hot water is needed to dissolve the powder, but hot water might shrink your doll clothes, and I didn't want to risk it.

I let the doll clothes soak for six to eight hours, then I rinsed them with cold water and let them air dry.

It worked great! I reused the same tub of cold water with OxiClean in it for several cycles of doll clothes each. I dumped it out when I could see the water becoming discolored.

I am so happy to see the doll clothes looking clean!

The Kindness of Strangers

 I am in a group on Facebook about sewing for 18 inch dolls.

A lady in that group posted a free knitting pattern that she had designed. I complimented her on the pattern.

She knitted me a doll dress and coat and mailed them to me all the way from Switzerland, out of the kindness of her heart!

I was so surprised and so touched.

She made me this beautiful doll coat, modeled by Aurelie. 

She also made me this cute doll dress modeled by Kanani. 

I really love the tiny sunflower buttons on the back.

This gesture really touched me. It was so kind of this lady to do this for a complete stranger.

I'm actually a little speechless, can you tell?

So this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my health, my family, my home and the kindness of strangers.

A Girl For All Time Bex

 I finally got A Girl for All Time Bex!

I have been wanting Bex, but I was also sort of waiting for one at the right price point. I found a nice condition used Bex online for less than $100, and she came home to me!

She's so sweet!

Here is Bex together with Nisha.

I am happy to have Bex.

She is the last of the A Girl For All Time dolls that I want.

I like them all, but I just want a small diverse collection of these dolls.

I now have Bex, Nisha, Amelia and Elinor. I should get a group picture!

Thrift store Surprise!

 I went to the thrift store on my birthday, and I found a great surprise!

I had gone to this thrift store last week, and they had a few American Girl dolls for $75 each, but they were in carrying cases locked in a glass case so that I couldn't see which doll they were or what condition they were in.

I decided that I didn't want to go to the hassle of getting an employee to unlock the case, partly because of COVID and partly because the dolls I want are newer and unlikely to be donated to a thrift store.

This week, I tried going to the thrift store again on my birthday.

In among the porcelain dolls was a naked, sad Girl of Today #1 for only $25.

That was a price point I couldn't resist, so she came home with me.

Since she was naked and sad, I put her in some pajamas and posed her in Melody's bed so that she could get warmed up.

I think I am either going to name her Miranda, or name her after one of the girl characters in Melody's books.

For now I am calling her Miranda.

She has silver eye, and her wig is in bad shape. Her vinyl had some marks that I was mostly able to remove with a Magic eraser.

I think that she was very well loved by her former owner. I think that owner carried her around by her hair. Her elastic is in great shape, but her hair is very thin. It looks okay in a ponytail, but it's too thin to leave it down. It's also shorter than it should be.

The pointer finger on her left hand has a few chew marks.

A line has been drawn on her teeth to give her the look of braces (I assume).

I want to fix her up, but there's only so much I want to spend on fixing her up, given the chewed finger.

I have thought about giving her a fantasy wig, but fixing her silver eye would be my first priority.

Also, changing her wig would take away her cool identity as a #1.

So I am definitely going to think about the best way to help Miranda look her best.