Toy Restoration - A Poodle from France

I had a toy dog that came all the way from France with his Steiff bunny friend.  The dog was in a terrible state, with his head just about hanging off and various holes in his curly lambswool coat.
He arrived with his little friend in a small box, his coat covered in bits of stuffing. 

He arrived in a small box with his rabbit friend

 I carefully removed him from the box, and straight away realised what a mammoth task I had ahead of me.  The backing of the pretty curls was disintegrating to the point of falling apart.  I put him to one side until I could think of a method to use and felt brave enough to try it.  He was a handsome dog and deserved the best I could give him.


His head was nearly off

His tail wasn't much better!







Looking much happier now



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One evening Alan was watching a film that I was not interested in so I decided to go into my sewing room and make a start on the Poodle.  Three hours later (after midnight) I was still stitching and gluing him together.  The larger holes, such as where his head had come off, had a piece of material put underneath the fur to give the thread something to hold onto.  The smaller holes, of which there were many, were sealed with special fabric glue.  This seemed to do the job, and by the time I went to bed he could stand with his head up.   There was still work to do on his back end though.



The patch at the top of his front leg after attaching his head

 Yesterday morning I set about finishing the pair of them.  The rabbit got his new ear, after some careful 'tea dying' (I now look as if I am a heavy smoker, with orange fingers).
I mended the hole at the base of the Poodle's tail, and various other smaller ones around his back legs.  Luckily the shorter sheepskin is much stronger, and is holding him together.  I put his red collar and lead back on and found a Daffodil in my bits and pieces box to brighten up his worn straw hat.
They are now safely packed in a large box and flying back to their owner in France.




Standing proud and ready for the journey home



Restoring Chiltern Bear George - Part 1 of 2

I finally plucked up courage yesterday to start the restoring process on old George, a beautiful large Chiltern bear.
He is quite off colour, partly with being a bit dusty, partly to fading with age.  A dry bath should improve that, and soften his lovely mohair. 

His paws were the worst of any of the bears I have restored, with one of his foot pads virtually non-existent and the other 3 all needing work.

This pad was missing



Left paw



Right foot Replacement pad

I have pinned the new material in place, underneath what is remaining of the old paw pads.  The right foot pad had to be replaced altogether.  That meant I had to take the leg off to take the stuffing out, and turn it inside out to stitch the new one in place.  The Kapok was horrible to remove,  as it was old and really dusty it seemed to fly everywhere.  I was concerned about breathing it in, so wrapped a scarf around my nose and mouth while I was doing it, much to the amusement of my husband and son, who said I looked like a gangster.

Left foot pad

Right paw

Whilst I had the bear unpicked to remove the leg I took the opportunity to have a look at his voice box.  It was not a growler as I had thought, but an oval, double squeaker.  It was not working so I gently used a blunt wool sewing needle and tweezers to get the bits of wood wool and Kapok from inside it.  It still didn't work so I resealed the sides of the squeaker part with glue.  Still no noise.  The only thing left was to re tape the whole sides of the box as the coating had disintegrated, and was letting the air through.  A bit of thin masking tape did the trick, and when I pressed it there was a lovely loud squeak came from it.  Sounded more like a duck, we thought, than a bear but still I had got it working. 


Harry (left) and Sidney having a bad hair day

I spent a few minutes teasing Harry with it, as even though he is very deaf he seemed to be able to hear the squeak and kept listening with his head on one side, and turning to look at me every time I pressed it.





 

So now George is at the stage where he has a voice, and his stuffing is no longer in danger of falling out through holes in his paws.

The next step will be to fasten the paw repairs with very fine stitching, removing the pins as I go along.  That will be the difficult part done, all that will be left to do is a good clean, brushing and inserting new eyes.  Then we will see a beautiful old Chiltern bear looking back at us.




More Dolls House and Miniature Dolls

Between restoring the old bears and dogs I have been dressing and photographing the little dolls house dolls that I came across in my searches for bears.
The ones that I have posted on Etsy have proved to be very popular and some have already sold.
I have just 3 babies left to dress - the 6" Schildkrot one in a grass skirt called Mambi  I am knitting a little lemon outfit for him so that there is a choice of clothing.


Mambi, a Turtle marked doll SOLD

Tiny Rubber Doll SOLD

Then there is the little bisque baby made by Hertwig in the Thuringia area of Germany 1940's-1950's.   Her elastic had perished, and broke when I tried to tighten it.  Not having strung a doll before I went to the internet to get instructions.  Here are her before and after pictures.  It took a few attempts and some wasted elastic to get it right.  As you can see she has a bit of damage to the surface of the bisque. 
The next job is to dress her.  I cut nappy shapes out of soft white material for all of the tiny baby dolls.  She is the last one apart from a little rubber doll that already has her nappy on.  These dolls are just 3"/8cm tall.

Poor little baby all broken



That's a bit better SOLD



Then there are the dolls house dolls I have available now -2 girls and a boy, in their original clothes.  These dolls are 4"/10cm tall.  The one in the hat has no markings, but the other two have a Fleur de Lys mark on their backs, which means they were made by a Japanese company. 

 

The other 3" baby doll I have is dressed in knitted clothes.  This is not proving as popular as the cotton and lace outfits I have put the previous ones in so I may make her a new dress and bonnet.

Awake

Asleep

I didn't notice until I put her away in my cabinet that her eyes, as well as open and closing, actually look from side to side.  I have not seen a doll that does this before, let alone one this size!

She can look from side to side if you tip her SOLD

These dolls will be available from my Etsy shop shortly www.etsy.com/shop/pollysvintagebears




The Tale of Blue Bunny

Who or what is Blue Bunny?
Blue Bunny is a once fluffy, white (he used to be anyway) and royal blue rabbit owned by my daughter.

My beautiful baby with her Blue Bunny

He was given to her by my sister when she was 6 months old and has been with her ever since.
She is now 41 and he still resides in her bed, albeit under the pillow.
A few years ago I was asked to give him new paw pads as his had worn out.  If I remember rightly I used a white handkerchief for the job. They are now quite discoloured (BB must stop smoking).

My daughter needs a heart operation which is booked in for next week, and of course BB has to go in her suitcase for moral support.

BB on the operating tray

He was sent to me last week for much needed repairs. 
He has had lipsuction (his stuffing had gone all lumpy and hard).  His ears needed work as he had no inner on one and very little on the other.
A few stitches in his neck and legs and he was, well not as good as new, but stronger and more able to withstand a hospital stay.
I thought of giving him a ribbon, but I don't think my daughter would have appreciated that, so I decided to make him a scarf.  Then, of course, he needed it monogramming. :)


BB wearing his lovely new scarf with his initials on it



Today I took Blue Bunny on the bus from Norwich back home to Holbeach, Lincolnshire.

Sitting in my handbag on the bus

I'm not sure if he enjoyed the journey, but the other passengers must have wondered what that mad woman was doing taking photos of a toy rabbit in her handbag!
Tomorrow he will be back in his rightful place with my daughter, and I will feel that there is part of me with her when she goes to the hospital.