Effanbee Suzie Sunshine Doll

I was thrifting with my daughter 

recently when I saw this little girl. 

She is a 1961 Effanbee Suzie Sunshine.

She is wearing her original dress,

underpants and shoes.

She is a bit faded.

Her hair is messy, but not bad

for being over 60 years old!

She has old bits of rubber bands

stuck in her hair in places.

Someone used double-stick tape

to keep her shoes on.

Her shoes are oddly 2 different shades.

I think I have another pair of shoes for her.

First thing I did was wash her dress.

Her dress is soaking in cold water 

with Dawn dish soap.

Spa Day!

She is a little grimy, but remarkably clean for 

her age. She must have spent most of her life in

a cabinet, not being played with.

Using up my styler conditioner on her hair.

First comb out.

And the back.  Looks really good.

Her hair dried overnight and looks nice and shiny.

Sweet freckle face!

Her dress and pantalettes are nice and dry, so

now it is time to replace stretched out elastic.

Her little pantalettes were just falling off her!

The elastic was SO stretched out.

I opened the rear seam and unstitched all around the waist.

When all the old elastic was removed, I zig-zagged 

new elastic all around the waist.

I did a similar thing with her sleeves. 

I opened along the seam a little then

removed all the old elastic.

I stretched and sewed with a straight stitch.

Then I closed the seam.

NEXT is some new cheek and lip color!

As ususal, I select a skin tone and a warm pink color.

The warm pink refreshed her lips

Then I mix the 2 colors for a soft shade for 

her cheeks.  Using a make-up sponge, I dip in 

mixed color and pat almost dry on a paper towel. 

 Then I pat gently onto cheeks, chin and nose.

More Detailed Instructions Click Here

Lastly her dress needed a good pressing. 

I noticed it looked like something had been

on this bow, so I added a little rose.

Want to see her now?

Here

She

Is!

Before and After photos.

Suzie is similar to another Effanbee doll I 

had as a girl. I'm so pleased to have found her!

12" Ruth Gibbs Doll

 If you look back two posts, you will see 
that I found a 12" Ruth Gibbs Doll
While thrifting with my bestie.
This Ruth Gibbs is from around 1946

I am making a leap and deciding she looks more
like the Marnie doll, from Little Women,
than one of the Elegant Ladies.

Here she is next to my 7" Ruth Gibbs doll.

They look like mother and daughter!

These two dolls are actually called 

"Godey Little Lady Dolls", but

collectors call them "Ruth Gibbs Dolls" 

as Ruth Gibbs  was their creator.

More about Ruth Gibbs Dolls

She has the painted gold necklace.

My recent find of doll pantalettes is already

paying off!

Sadly her slip is very tattered.

I may make her a new slip.

Her shoulder plate is not tacked on this side.

Also, her arms need to be tacked up.

I may end up removing her shoulder plate and

reattaching it more securely.

After gently soaking her dress and letting it air dry, 

I noticed the collar had been very inexpertly repaired. 

Whoever did this used a very heavy thread.

I removed this heavy thread and used "Fray Check"

all along this section of her collar.

When the Fray Check was dry I pressed a

fold in the collar and stitched a single thread

line to regather the collar.

Using a single thread, I hand-stitched the

collar back in place.

Next I removed her shoulder plate.

She had a torn spot on her back. Guess what's

next? Yes Fray check all around the tear.

Inside her top you can see the wires that

go down into her arms so she can be posed.

Little did I know, what troubles I had brought 

on myself when I removed her shoulder plate!

I realized quick quickly that the holes in her shoulder 

plate are not designed for normal sewing needles!

What now?

I no longer have a curved upholstery needle,

but I did have these very long needles.

I wound up stitching through her body from 

front to back and back to front.

Not as pretty as I'd hoped, but quite secure.

I pressed her dress with my mini iron.

When I was pressing her bonnet, I found more ungainly

stitching of her ribbon.  

Hmmm....

I removed the white ribbon and zig-zagged 

the inside seam to strengthen it.

Then I Fray Checked everything.

I wanted to embellish her bonnet a little.

I found some small ribbon in the right

color red.  I had this old spool of red

thread, probably from the same time period!

I had big plans to sew Marnie a new dress and bonnet.

It took me a lot longer to work on her existing dress,

so that will have to wait for a later time.

Want to see her now?

Here

She

IS!

As you can see I added some ribbons.

Every lady tied her bonnet under

her left ear you know!

A little ribbon and pearls on her bonnet.

Both my Ruth Gibbs together, 

Mother and Daughter.

Here are a couple Before and After photos.

Whew! I hope you enjoyed this

makeover as much as I did!