1953 Effanbee Honey 16" Doll restoration

I saw this sweet girl the other day while browsing eBay.

She is a 1953 Effanbee Honey 16" hard plastic doll.

The eBay ad said she was purchased at an Estate Sale and

The lady said she'd had this doll since she was a girl.

 Here she is right after she arrived here.

She has her original dress!

Oh dear! Someone tried to use red nail polish to fix her lips!

 and her fingernails!

and her toenails! Oh no!

Remember to always use non-acetone nail polish to fix

nail polish mistakes.

Acetone can melt your doll!

After the worst of the nail polish was off

it was time for a wash and brush.

Here is her back mark. There is another on her head

underneath her hair in back.

Getting shampooed.

This curl is strong, even wet it doesn't flatten.

Here are her dress and slip. The slip

is a onesie style common to Effanbee.

I regularly handwash vintage doll clothes. It's not

dangerous to the fabric and I find it helps the fabric

by removing years of built-up dust.

Just be sure to use a gentle soap like 

Woolite, dawn dish soap or Fels-naptha.

in COLD WATER!

Don't scrub, just swish.

Here she is freshly washed and brushed.

As I removed the nail polish from her lips

I found a layer of paint covering up - guess what?

More nail polish that had been put on her cheeks!

As I was working on her hair she was so floppy

I decided to restring her.

She had been restrung at some point in the past with 

sewing elastic and it had lost all its elasticity.

Luckily she was a simple 5 point restring.

I start by looping the elastic through the 

head hook.

Then you catch the arms.  Then the legs.

I tie the elastic tight and insert the knot into 

the body by the leg hole.

Next I needed to do some cover-up work on her cheeks.

She also needed her eyebrows darkened.

Here she is after a second hair brushing

with an anti-frizz serum and some cover-up

paint on her cheeks.  I also repainted her lips.

She now has more shine in her curls.

While Honey's original dress is drying, I tried on some

other dresses and outfits to see if I had anything 

to add to her wardrobe.

Here's the hankie pinafore dress,

but honestly it doesn't do much for her.

This little dress is better.  I also found

some play shoes that fit her!

I actually have 3 pair of shoes that fit her.

I bought the pink shoes hoping they'd fit my 

Patsy Jr. twins, but they were too tight.

 

Here are two little outfits for a day at the beach.

 Here is a sweet pink and blue dress.

Pink and blue are definitely her colors!

Her dress and pinafore are now dry.

So on to replacing the elastic in her dress sleeves.

This is what I do if I don't want to tear 

open a sleeve to machine stitch

I measure a length of elastic around her forearm.

I cut with a little overlap in length, then 

using a needle and thread, I stitch the loop closed.

Next I find a box or piece of cardboard just a bit smaller

around than the sleeve, so the elastic is stretched.

I use the original stitch holes as a guide and 

hand stitch the sleeve to the stretched elastic.

 I had to gather the fabric as I went along since

the sleeve was wider than the box.

 DONE!

As you can see Honey's dress has blue ribbon 

running through the underside.

I knew the dress originally had blue trim 

when it was new.  I picked some blue 

ribbon for a sash and sleeve bows.

I happened to have these vintage flowers

so I decided I would use them as well.

ARE YOU READY TO SEE?

Honey BEFORE...

AND...

HERE SHE IS!!

AFTER

Here is her side by side.

After I restore a doll like Honey I wish I could show

her photo to the lady who had kept her all these years.

 When I purchased Honey, I had intended to resell her, but

 I think Honey is going to be added to our doll family.

She will now be called CINDY!

Want to see her room?

A pretty sweet room, for a sweet girl.

And a bunny of her own to cuddle.