Interestingly, the Doll Hospital carries heads for #3, #4, #8, #10, and #20 again, but with revised bangs, which they weren’t ever sold with originally (with the exception of #4).

I have a a theory that AG reproduced these heads along with Kanani and Caroline. These dolls obviously weren’t sold with updated hair and face molds, so maybe AG made more?

That would explain why Kanani has the new eyes, skin tone, and Jess mold, (similar to #79) but still has her own wig. So maybe she isn’t a #79 head, but just looks like her because she’s made with newer parts like #79.

New Caroline heads look more recent to me as well, and not like historical and BeForever Caroline dolls.

However, this raises the question of why only some dolls got reproduced. Why did these dolls get reproduced, but not the 20ish other dolls that have run out of stock?

Guess who’s back?

It’s Samantha!

I sent my 2008 Sam to the Doll Hospital for a new head, and she returned today.

I have to say, I was quite surprised that they gave her a BeForever head instead of a historical head, but honestly, I think I prefer this one! It looks to be an earlier one, from around 2014.

She has vibrant face paint and very thick bangs! She even came with her BeForever meet ribbon, which was a fun bonus.

Yesterday I sent Sam off for a new head! I did my best to fix her hair, but it was just so dry and crunchy that I decided to send her off. I bought her knowing I’d eventually send her in, so I’m excited to see her results!

Since I started with Andy, I thought I’d share a couple more cloth doll stories (warning, this is a longer post). This is starts as the story of Bedelia.  She’s at least as tall as Andy, over 4 feet, and was handmade by her person’s great grandmother many years ago.  But over the years, Bedelia had a lot of adventures and when her person wrote to me, she looked like this:

We agreed that in Bedelia’s case, a spa was definitely in order, as well new hair (her person opted for all new) and eye repair.

Here she is in her spa (not the best photo, I know, but her person said “Awesome”):

Here’s here heart being made and installed with a bit of her original stuffing:

Here stay was a bit longer than expected, because it took some time to locate just the right color hair yarn, but finally she was ready to fly home!

Her family wrote:

“She almost doesn’t look like the same doll, she looks so good!" 

Now Bedelia’s stay at the hospital had coincided with that of a very small doll, named Rosebud, who is only 6 inches tall.

Rosebud had had many bodies over his life, and it was time, once again, for a new one as a new generation had decided to love him.  Here is Rosebud’s original diagnosis photo:

Rosebud wasn’t being recovered.  He would get a new body, with a heart from his old stuffing and a touch of his old body (you can see the fabric in the inside heart photo).  Here’s the heart being made:

Here’s Rosebud with his new body:

In addition to a new body, Rosebud got a separate, new blue jumper, which wasn’t removable but added an extra layer of protection to his body.  Here he is all better!

Rosebud’s little person was ecstatic when he got home!  I saw the video and as his mom wrote “ He was beyond excited to have his buddy home and in new clothes and no more holes. “

Now some of you may be wondering… why didn’t you split up these two posts?  why are they together?  Well, as I mentioned at the start, they were in the hospital at the same time, and I couldn’t resist a photo of one of my tiniest patients (actually, probably the smallest doll) and one of my larger ones together. :-)  Here it is for you all to enjoy:

As you all know, dear readers, my specialty is stuffed animals, but as some of you may know (if you went to my web site), I started out making cloth dolls, and sometimes I repair cloth dolls in addition to stuffed animals.  You’ve seen some of the velour and terry ones here, who materially are pretty close to stuffed animals.  But I also take care of a lot of Raggedies (Anns and Andies).  In fact, they were some of my earliest patients!

Raggedy Anns and Andies, especially commercially made ones, tend to burst over time, because they were so densely stuffed originally.  I repair a lot of ankles, and toes.  They also tend to have their shoulder and hip joints fail, because the joints are thin and unstuffed and the limbs are long and heavy.  But facial injuries are the hardest, because any type of stitching to repair the injury is going to show on thin Raggedy skin, and it can look, well, unphotogenic except to the person who loves them.  So I don’t usually share their stories. 

But this summer, I had a request for help with a Raggedy Andy who hadn’t been injured from age… he met the new puppy!  Here is his diagnosis montage:

His injuries were serious enough that his person and I agreed a full face transplant, and possibly a new arm would be required, in addition to stitching his chest injury.  For face transplants, there are usually two options.  A person can provide a donor doll, or I can create a handmade transplant (where you may see brush strokes as it’s done by hand not machine).  Andy’s person opted for a new handmade face in addition to the new arm, and sent him to the hospital in California.

Andy’s pretty big, over 4 feet, so he came in a pretty big box. I opened it up and looked at him closely, and there was good and bad news.  The good news was, his arm was only damaged below the elbow, so we could keep his original arm to the elbow.  The bad news was he had another injury on his ankle which may or may not have been from the puppy, which would need treating :

Given the location of the ankle injury, I suggested a band of new fabric to repair it.  Either red and white striped (which would be a bit brighter than his aged fabric) or black to match his shoe.  His person opted for black.

Fast forward several weeks and all of Andy’s surgeries were completed and he was ready to fly home!  He’s one of my more photogenic Raggedy patients, so I made a note to share his story with all of you here. :-)  Here’s Andy ready to fly home:

You’ll note he wasn’t cleaned… that’s very invasive for Raggedies so we usually don’t do it.

Andy flew home and his person wrote:

Andy made it home safe today! He was 2 days early and I’m absolutely in love with him!! Thank you for fixing my best friend Of 45 years he means the world to me!! ️We are blessed to have found you!! Thank you again!!

She sent a photo of the two of them too (you know I don’t put human photos online) but it’s hanging in the hospital to encourage future Raggedy patients. :-)

Valentine the doll part 2

When we left, Valentine’s person was choosing fabrics for her new clothes. She chose:

Surgery proceeded and soon, Valentine was feeling much better:

Note at this point, she had her shoes recovered, her ankles redone, black trim where the original pattern was black polka dot, and new eyelet. But her hair, face, and hands were original, with any wounds stitched.

Seeing her looking bright and happy in her new clothes and without wounds, her person decided to she really could do with some new, supplemental hair as well as bang restoration. So here’s Valentine, feeling decades younger and ready to fly home (she kept the original ribbons on her braids, which were the original black with white polka dots):

“I love it!! Thank you so much!!” wrote her person. And Valentine flew home to Chicago, ready for many more years of hugs and adventures!

Valentine a well loved doll Part 1

Once upon a time there was a doll named valentine. Valentine the cloth doll was very well loved. Over the years, she’d had many adventures, some surgeries, and fashion changes. Here she was a year ago when her person first wrote to me:

And this was a photo of what she looked like originally:

Valentine wasn’t going to have a spa – spas can be problematic with fabric like her original, and with yarn hair, but she was going to come in to the hospital, have the layers removed, and then get recovered in new fabric, get a new skirt and apron, and have her wounds repaired. It took a while for her to work up her courage to fly to the hospital (the world was in a bit of disarray), but she came late this spring. First step was choosing fabric. A perfect match was impossible, but there were several options along similar color lines that I offered:

Which would you choose? Her person thought about it a bit… stay tuned for her decision. :-)

hey y’all!! sorry i haven’t been active lately, i’ve been waiting on kanani so i can do an updated all my dolls post. she’s been at the doll hospital, and i’m not sure how long it’ll take. it’s been a month already, do you all know how long they usually take for a head replacement?