Most of my absolute favorite dolls came from thrift stores.
I wanted to share my favorites with you.
I'm going to start with the littlest.
This is a 1967 Florence Niddle Kiddle.
I found her naked and alone in a thrift store bin.
She was way down at the bottom
underneath a lot of other toys!
She is 3 inches tall.
I made her this travel case room.
When I was a girl I had a Barbie travel case and
I loved it!
I would take it to my Grandma's house when we
would stay with her during school breaks.
Since then I have made several travel cases.
I love the idea of a traveling doll room!
This is florence in her Nurses Uniform, that
I made for her.
Yes, Florence Niddle is a nurse!
This is my 1957 Betsy McCall, Melanie.
When I found her, her head was off!
I only paid $5.00 for her!
But now she is lovely!
I made this traveling case room for Melanie and Sophie.
Sophie and Melanie
One of my earliest thrift store dolls
is my Pleasant Co. Molly.
I found her in this green velvet Christmas dress.
Her hair was AWFUL! Her wig was
frizzy and someone had chopped
off a lot of her hair.
(It was me before I knew how to fix doll hair)
Since then I found a replacement
Molly wig and she is lovely!
Here she is now!
This is Bonnie. She is a 1977 Madame
Alexander Pussycat Doll. This is
how she looked when I found her!
Here she is now!
This is my 1950s era Tiny Tears Doll.
She was in desperate need of a bath!
I also refreshed her lips and cheeks.
Here is Lara now! I just love her!
I found this Madame Alexander Maggie
in a used book store! Can you believe it?
In a back corner was a box with dolls
in pieces, except for Maggie.
After a lot of work and a new wig
Here she is! You can see I
re-dyed her skirt and added
some embroidery roses to cover
the holes, lots of holes.
Another early find was my
Madame Alexander Cissy Doll.
I did a double take when I saw her!
She was lying on a stack of 1980s porcelain
dolls you find in almost every thrift store.
I stopped shopping right then and went
straight to the register, I was in shock!
Here she is refreshed with a new hat.
And here she is with her matching
shopping basket.
This is MaryLou. She is a 1955
Miss Revlon Doll and the DIRTIEST
doll I have ever worked on!
Here she is from a recent hairstyle refresh.
This is another Miss Revlon, Laura Ann.
I found her in Albequerque, NM
in a second hand store.
All I could see was a bit of that stripe dress
inside a case full of porcelain dolls.
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Here she is! Lovely in yellow stripes.
My two Miss Revlons love to pose!
I owe this Revlon Crown Princess doll
to my daughter! We were thrifting together
and she brought me this little doll and asked.
"Mom, is this a good doll?"
Oh yes! She is a 1950s Crown Princess doll.
She is a precursor to the Little Miss Revlon Doll.
Here she is now Viola, Revlon Crown Princess.
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One of my absolute favorites is Shea.
She is circled in the picture from the
Estate Sale where I found her.
She is a 1972 Ideal Crissy Doll.
When she first came home with me
she was a hot mess.
Here she is today! So lovely!
This is her sister Crissy when I first
found her. She is a 1969 Crissy doll.
OK, OK! She's not
actually from a thrift store, but I
couldn't leave her out!
Here is Crissy today! I think I love
these Crissy dolls so much because
I played with them when I was a
little girl. I loved their long hair and
VERY groovy fashions!
My next doll came from this thrift in
Ridgecrest CA. My bestie lives here
and our favorite thing is going to
all the thrift stores in town.
I found Mia, another of the Crissy Doll Family
right here about 4 years ago.
(I recreated this image for effect :)
I saw her across the room and I knew...
Here she is today in a granny dress I made.
I know that I am frequently finding and restoring
dolls here on this blog, but these are the dolls
that I really connected with in some way.
I hope you enjoyed seeing them all together.
Me and Crissy
(It is me 6 yrs old, but I added Crissy with my photo editor because
apparently my mom did not take a picture of us together!)
It's very late at night and I am reading your blog. I had to take a double take when you mentioned Ridgecrest, CA. I clicked on the link and yes I was right...I spent a good part of my life in Ridgecrest. Went to high school there, got married and raised our 3 sons. We left in early 2000's to move to San Diego. Have lived different places since then. It is such a small out the way place I almost never hear of anyone mentioning that city. lol. I enjoyed reading about all your dolls and how you found them and to see the remake of all of them. I am always so impressed with what you do.
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra,
DeleteThank you! I am up very late too. We live in a town named 'Hurricane' and we are having a wind storm so loud it's keeping me from sleeping! Yes, my bestie lives in Ridgecrest! That is why I was there, but I went to High School in Tehachapi, I bet you know where that is? Haha, small world. I am so pleased you stopped by and that you enjoy my blog.
Hugs
Brenda
Your thrifted dolls are so beautiful after you worked your magic on them!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary,
DeleteThank you! You know my favorite thing is makeovers! I do enjoy finding these dolls and making them beautiful again. I hope you are doing well.
Hugs
Brenda
Enjoyed your thrift store dolls. Thrift stores are a great place to find dolls. My favorite find is a Cissy. Like you, I beat feet to the cashier and out of the store! I also did a double take on Ridegcrest. My dad was stationed on the base near Ridgecrest when I was about 11 or 12, just about the time Crissy and company were on the market. My uncle still lives there.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm so glad you stopped in!
DeleteYou are the second person to have a connection to Ridgecrest! Such a small world. I too went stright tot he register with my Cissy! Almost like I thought if I lingered, someone might say, "Hey, we didn't price that doll correctly, you have to pay $200! Haha! I was so amazed at my find as I am sure you were! I'd love to see your Cissy! My email is thesavagedollblog@gmail.com.
Hugs
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
ReplyDeleteYou have made so many amazing thrift store finds. I never get tired
of looking at your dolls and makeovers.I hope you have many more!
Anna
Hi Anna,
DeleteThank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed my doll restorations. I had fun looking back at all my favorites and putting them all together in one post. I have found a few dolls in the past few months, but none that I really felt a connection with. I won't stop looking!
Hugs
Brenda
A sweet post. You have had some really great finds out there in the wild, lol. It seems there are some really great thrift stores out there. We don't have a whole lot where we live, but I've found a doll here or there from time to time. I always like to see what you do to clean up the dolls and I also really like the doll cases/rooms. I think I can relate. I've always liked a doll house or bed for a doll as a kid and just really like the coziness of a tiny room. Thanks for sharing some of your favorite finds! -Jennifer
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer,
DeleteThank you! I feel very fortunate in finding some really nice dolls. My husband and I take driving trips to visit family and friends and we both like stopping at antique shops and thrift stores as we go along. It gives me a wide range for hunting wild dolls. hehe. My AA Crissy doll I saw on an ad for an estate sale on a doll page on Facebook of all things. Someone saw the estate sale ad and all the Crissy's and shared with the Crissy group saying "Someone needs to go to this sale!". It was our anniversary weekend and the sale was about an hour away from us. I told my husband what I wanted for my anniversary was to go to that sale! I am blessed with a very understanding husband. HAHA! I love your statement of finding dolls in the wild!
Hugs
Brenda