As you know from this post:
I had two dresses that needed
a clean up and restoration.
This blue and white stripe dress
AND
This satin wedding dress.
(photo from the eBay ad)
The wedding dress has
what looks like a water mark reaching
half way up the skirt.
It also has really bad holes.
And, sadly there is a tear in the skirt.
Marylou, Queen of Hearts
I put both dresses in a cold water soak.
The blue stripe is made from a strong cotton fabric
so I washed it with detergent first then
some Dawn dish soap.
The wedding dress was just soaked with a little Dawn.
Here is the stripe dress ready for pressing.
I was not able to brighten the white as much as I'd hoped,
BUT LOOK AT IT NOW!!
Marylou and her dress are both refreshed and restored!
I am SO happy with how this dress came out.
I think Marylou is happy too.
I made Marylou's hat from a 4" drink coaster.
I push my thumb into the center to make a
slight conical shape, and then decorate!
Next is this wedding dress.
You can see the water mark and ALL the holes!
What am I going to do?
The first thing I did was remove all the
embroidered embellishments.
This was harder than I expected.
They were not sewn on! They were clamped on
with these clawed faux pearls!
No wonder there were SO many holes!
When the embroidered bits were all off
they left behind lots of little holes.
Whenever I do a dress makeover on a
vintage dress. I ask myself:
"If I do this will it make it worse?"
This was definitely a NO!
SO! My next step was cutting away the worst
parts of the skirt that I decided
were too damaged.
The dress will now be tea length.
After playing with the dress and trying
different ideas I knew the collar
and sleeves had to go too.
I also brought in the bodice on
the sides for a better fit.
Want to see the dress now?
HERE
IT
IS!!
I am SO pleased with this wedding dress!
And the blue striped dress...
WAIT!!
A Bonus Dress!!
A box arrived just as I was finishing these first two dresses.
I won this lot of doll clothes on eBay.
So many cute possibilities here.
BUT, look at the top right corner...
That's right a Vintage Miss Revlon
"Kissing Pink" hearts dress!!
This is where the tag used to be.
The back closure is raveled.
The sleeve elastic needs to be replaced.
I carefully removed the old elastic.
I used fusing tape and covered it with
parchment paper to press it.
This created a nearly
invisible repair to the chiffon.
Much better.
After all was stabilized, I set the dress to soak
with a red t-shirt to bring back some
of the pink color that had faded.
Next morning I hand sewed some
new elastic in the sleeves.
AND THEN
THE
DRESS
WAS READY!!
Marylou couldn't be happier!
Here are some Before and After pictures
Marylou in her blue stripe dress
Marylou in her wedding dress
AND
20 comments:
Increíble metamorfosis de vestidos, tienes verdadero talento. Abrazos
Thank you Zacisze,
I enjoy making things beautiful.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Linda,
I enjoy restoring these doll dresses. It is so rewarding to save something that many people would throw away due to tears or stains. I especially like the wedding dress, which is funny because I was never very interested in doll wedding dresses in the past.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Sandra,
I was really stretched figuring out what to so with the wedding dress! The natural fold down the front helped me come up with my final design. The lace covers all the little holes and a couple stains. The other 2 dresses were really just wash and mend!
Hugs
Brenda
Brenda, you never cease to amaze me with your ability to take the worn dresses and make then look like new! The wedding dress doesn't even hint at being torn and tattered before your magic touch. You're amazing!
Hi Brenda,
I am sure Mary Lou Revlon is so happy you found her. I absolutely love the wedding dress. I had a similar situation, with the water stain, however, a soak in the kitchen sink with tepid water and Gel formula cascade restored the fabric - I did not, thank goodness, have holes.
I have repaired plenty of other dresses with holes, though, I often embroider over them, or patch and then sew beads on top of that. Whatever works Your repair of the Cherries dress with the interfacing was marvelous - I will keep that in mind when I next do repairs.
I like that the wedding gown is now tea length - very era appropriate. She looks so graceful!
Janet
Thank you Charlotte,
You know how much I love a makeover! must admit I am very happy with the wedding dress redo. It turned out much prettier than I had anticipated. The other 2 dresses I am thrilled about, since Marylou needed her own dresses.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Janet,
I will remember that trick of using the dishwasher gel. This wedding dress was like swiss cheese. There are still a LOT of little holes hidden beneath the lace, all fray-checked of course. I thought of using lace to cover over all the damage from you my friend! I too have used embroidery to cover holes. At first I was going to use pearls to cover all the holes, but there were just too many. I was in luck since this wedding dress was actually for a 22" doll. That meant I had lots of length and bodice to work with. The tea length worked great. I got the idea when I was looking through 1950s wedding dress photos for ideas. I'm glad you think I hit the right note with this length. Overall I am very happy with Marylou's dresses.
Hugs
Brenda
Marylou looks beautiful. I think her dresses are simply stunning. You always make such a lovely job of restoring your dolls clothes. Thank you for sharing your tips on fixing up and mending.
Anna
All 3 of the dresses came out beautifully with your restorations! In fact, I think the wedding dress is probably prettier now than when it was new! Love to read your tips and techniques; I always learn helpful ideas.
Thank you Anna,
I must admit I am particularly pleased with all 3 dresses. The wedding dress came out better than I had anticipated though. I had a completely different idea when I began working on it, but happy with were I ended up. I am glad you enjoyed my makeovers.
Hugs
Brenda
Thank you Maryn,
I must say, I am very happy with the wedding dress restoration. The wedding dress was for a larger doll, so I could chop off lots of length and take in the bodice and still have room to work. All the remaining tiny holes are hidden under the lace and fray-checked to stop any more raveling. I am glad if you picked up some helpful hints. That is one of the reasons I do this blog. Hopefully by sharing what I do other older dolls will be saved.
Hugs
Brenda
That wedding dress is so beautiful. I'm so glad I found your blog. You're an inspiration.
Thank you LauraV,
I'm so glad you found my blog! WE are all friends here and happy to meet you!.
Hugs
Brenda
EXCELLENT work! You have the skill and patience for restoration!
Hi Anonymous,
I hope you come back and add your name to another comment, so I know who you are! Thank you for your comment.
Hugs
Brenda
Your makeovers are amazing and so encouraging! And I appreciate all the details you give. You are very talented and dedicated to our dolls.
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thank you! I am so glad you find my work encouraging. I want everyone to know that they can clean and improve their older dolls too. It is not that difficult. WHen we clean and preserve our dolls they are part of the future!
Hugs
Brenda
Thanks for the hint with the fusible, Brenda! I did not know it wouldn't stick to parchment paper. I have done an extensive repair to split flocked fabric using a very lightweight, somewhat sheer fusible interfacing, on an Eegee Debutante sheer dress.
HI Jenny,
You are SO welcome! I am glad I could help. I was looking at that tear and trying to figure out how to fix it on such a sheer fabric. I have used interfacing before for heavier fabrics. That is what made me think about using the fusing tape.
Hugs
Brenda
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