Since a lot of my dolls come naked or wearing ill-fitting clothes;
I am always on the look-out for vintage era dresses and slips.
Most older doll accessories need repairs from age and mishandling.
I just thought I'd share a little about how I refresh the clothes I find.
WASHING
Frequently doll clothes and dolls get stored
in a garage, basement or attic.
That doll of grandma's may have stood on a
shelf for years. No wonder they get musty!
Don't be afraid to wash doll clothes, even older fabrics.
Gentle handling is all it takes to refresh old doll clothes.
I find most of these old fabrics are helped by a gentle cold wash.
It removes dust and odor and refreshes the fabric.
Even many stains just dissolve away!
I like to use Fels Naptha, dawn or even a tiny bit
of laundry detergent on sturdier cottons.
Fels Naptha is great for stains.
Get the cloth and bar wet and rub gently on the stain.
Then I let it soak, sometimes for several days.
Never scrub old fabrics - just swish.
I always separate dark colors and light colors to prevent
the dark dye discoloring lighter fabrics.
What is the exception to this?
HINT: I've brought faded pinks back by soaking with a red fabric!
After washing I lay the clothes flat on a towel to dry.
PRESSING
All my Vintage doll dresses get pressed after washing.
This step really makes your dolls dress look new again.
The trickiest part of pressing small doll's dresses are the gathers.
Be careful to adjust the iron's temperature to
the type of fabric you are pressing.
Cottons use high heat,
silks, and satins low heat.
My grandma taught me to iron gathers.
The iron approaches from the hem towards the gathers.
As you press towards the gathers lift the
garment so the fabric is taught.
Lifting allows the iron's tip to reach right up
to the waist. If you need practice, use something made
of a cotton fabric, they are the most durable.
This tiny ironing board was made by my husband
to be a prop, but I use it!
You could make a small ironing tool by covering
a small piece of smooth wood with cotton fabric.
This little board is SO useful for pressing doll dress sleeves.
REPAIRS
If you plan on restoring Vintage doll clothes it will
help immensely if you learn to hand stitch.
There are lots of how-to videos online.
It is much easier than you might think!
This doll dress was not in bad condition.
It's only real problem was some small tears in the lace.
To repair lace, I fray check all around the tear.
After the Fray Check is dry, I use a single thread
and gently stitch the rent closed.
When I've closed the rent, I do a 3 loop tie.
(loop the thread 3x on the needle and pull it tight)
I like to press the fix and then I am done!
The repair is not invisible,
but it looks better than before.
This is a common problem with older doll clothes.
Seams begin to fray and come loose. This little sleeve
would be impossible to machine stitch.
This sleeve I turned inside out and
hand stitched after using
Fray check on both sides
of the shoulder seam.
All done! Fray check really works great
to stabilize older fabric that
could continue to disintegrate.
Adding Elastic
Next is my method of adding new elastic
to old dresses without tearing open a seam.
Many doll dresses need new elastic, but
the fabric may be fragile and could be damaged
if it is taken apart with a seam ripper.
I have made a loop of small elastic that
fits the doll's arm.
I find something like this altoids can, or
a piece of cardboard that stretches
the elastic and still fits inside the sleeve.
While the elastic is stretched, I sew it into
the sleeve with straight stitches.
VOILA! New elastic without tearing
open fragile fabric seams.
This method can be used for waistlines as well.
REFRESHING
This little brown dress, I believe,
is factory made from the 1950s.
It has already been washed and pressed.
First thing I did was replace the white
buttons with these little flowers.
This is not a highly valuable doll dress, so
I don't mind making little adjustments to add to it's interest.
Next I Fray Checked the back of the dress
which was rough edge and not stitched.
Next I zig-zagged the bodice/waist seam to reinforce it.
The dress also needed new snaps.
I really just reinforced seams, and made this
dress a little less likely to disintegrate over time.
And here is the brown dress being modeled by Shirley.
And here is the yellow dress being modeled by Nancy.
If you know how to do some basic stitching and fabric care,
purchasing Vintage doll dresses is a great way to add to
a doll's wardrobe and it's so much fun!
HAPPY STITCHING!
