Fantasy for Dolls - Issue 18 Them Bones

BbeautyDesigns
Oct 20
2 min read

"Them Bones" by Doll Maker's Notebook

If you were to visit our home, there isn't much around here that hasn't been found second hand or refurbished. Let me explain. Growing up, my dad was always adopting the most downtrodden wooden furniture. The way he'd talk about a dresser did not align with what I was looking at. "Look! It's solid oak! Look at the dovetails in the drawers! This is probably 70 years old and was made to last! It just needs a little sanding and I can put the doors back on. What, with a little elbow grease, these old bones will be as good as new! Help me get these cobwebs off!" drags the pieces of dresser out of a barn corner one by one and makes it look like new

I have learned a lot from my dad. X-ray vision is one of those lessons! I can see right through the matted hair, the silver eyes, the marker stains, the missing limb-and I see potential. These vintage 18" dolls were made to last. They have solid bones, but they just need a chance to shine again. If someone can't fix it, then it sadly becomes junk, and I will gladly take that doll to get her looking her best again! It makes me happy to see people wanting to learn how to customize dolls because it's not just about having something and making it your own, but it is giving something a second chance. It's so satisfying to make a doll new again!

This set of "good bones" belonged to a Madame Alexander 18" Doll. She had almost perfect hair, no stains, no weird smells, no chewed on parts, but her body was very limp.

For this restoration, I wanted to do a full body transformation. I removed the head and limbs. Then I opened the back seam, took out all the stuffing and boiled the shoulder plate to make it easy to cut. I cut according to the diagram in the above picture leaving a small lip on the shoulders so that I could use it to secure the neckstring. Then I threaded elastic through her neck cup and pulled it through the shoulder plate to keep her head steady.

I used an AG body and added the Madame Alexander limbs onto it. I then restuffed it and inserted the head/chest piece down through the neck hole and secured it onto the chest lip with the neckstring. This allowed me to keep the poseable head function from the Madame Alexander head.