Performing Surgery, Improvisation, and Modification

So the title of this post is what it says above. After I blogged about my new found treasures here I had to clean them and perform some minor surgery. (only one doll head was harmed in this process ;) Read on to learn about the procedures as well as some improv clothing and outfit mods!

A big thank you to Andrea for confirming that this was a vintage Bubblecut Barbie!  I did a little light cleaning on her and then dressed her in something deliciously vintage.

The 1965 Matinee Fashion. No reproduction outfit here, this is the real-deal from my mom's collection. I even have the shoes! (marked with Japan so you know they are vintage.)

However, in the production, one shoe did not get a place cut out for the toes so unfortunately I can't put them on the doll. It's terrible because these shoes fit the doll like a glove. It's like they were made for her!

Anyway, I fluffed up her hair but didn't spend too much time on it because she was going to have a hat on anyway. She looks awesome.

I did have another doll that was wearing Matinee Fashion before I got the Bubblecut doll. This is one of the two dolls that I had when I first started playing Barbie. I thought she looked like my Aunt Gloria so I named her "Margie." (The mind of a child.... :)

My mom told me about some of the clothes she had for Barbie that she made herself but there was no sewing required. Remember them? I dressed her in the Sew-Free Fashion Fun "Patio Party" dress. Unfortunately I do not have the top or the purse but the dress is so cute.

I had to modify it by placing a straight pin in the side as the glue is starting to pull away a little and I had to find a way to keep the top on the body. I also added some 60's Cat Eye sunglasses.

Added some cute white Mary Jane's and a fun green purse. Complete outfit!

Another Sew-Free Fashion Fun, this one is "Hootenanny."

This one is in better condition than "Patio Party." The glue is not pulling apart from anywhere on this dress and I have all three pieces of the outfit. I had to put it on a doll!

Cute white open-toe heels complete this look.

I have a mod Barbie doll. This is the second doll that I played with growing up. She is the original Twist 'n Turn Barbie. I have a post about her here. In that post, she is wearing the My Favorite Barbie American Girl swimsuit. I desperately wanted to dress her in her original clothes: the white mesh coverup with the neon orange bikini underneath. I had the bottoms but was missing the top. So I had to improvise.

Would you have been able to tell that this was not the original top had I not told you? Looks pretty close doesn't it!

 

So exactly what did I use for the top? I had an orange top that has a checkerboard "Nascar Flag" pattern on the front. I simply just made the back of it the front and no one is the wiser. :)

I also had these cute little slippers. One is missing the pom-pom but that can be easily fixed. Anyone know what doll these came from? I think they are vintage but they don't seem to fit the doll very well.

So now I needed a  Barbie to wear the American Girl swimsuit. Well, I had this random mod doll head and I needed a body to put it on. Remember Gift Giving Barbie from the last post? Well, this is where I did some surgery.

First I popped off her head and I had to cut it so I could get the little neck ball out.

Then I put the neck ball in the vintage mod Barbie head then put that head on the body.

Okay, so it doesn't look quite right. But the neck openings on mod dolls seem to be smaller than Barbie's from the 80's or 90's. I guess it will have to do for now.

I have the teal open-toe heels that she came with but I love these ones from the 1959 Sweet Dreams Barbie. So cute with the little pom-pom. I do have the babydoll outfit but I'm missing the bottoms.

Okay, more surgery. Remember Skipper from the last post? She had a little problem.

The necks were cracked so the heads would not stay on. I seem to have a terrible time finding Skipper dolls so donor bodies are just non-existent. So I had to make some modifications.

Notice on this head how there is an inner lip?

I just cut that out of the Skipper dolls head so the opening would be big enough so I could push the head on the neck. I can't move her head easily but I really don't need to be moving the head anyway.

Oops! Pushed on a little too much!

There, that's better

I dressed her in a cute little cheer outfit. The top really didn't fit a Barbie too well so I thought it was perfect for Skipper. I also put some cute pink flats with it.

The top is dirty but I tried to get that stain out of it. I really did do laundry yesterday.

The other Skipper neck was not very broken yet so I was able to put the neck ball in and have it stay on. 

Remember Frankenstein-hair Teresa? My wonderful reader told me that she is the Barbie of Swan Lake Teresa doll. Well needless to say, she was in need of a makeover.

First, the wash with mild shampoo.

Then after rinsing, work conditioner (without oil) through the dolls hair and let sit for a few minutes. The only conditioner that I had without oils was Suave Aloe and Waterlilly.

Teresa recommends Suave

Then, gently work a comb through the hair starting from the ends. After I while I got tired of using the Mermaid Barbie pick so I grabbed one that I use for my hair. It works much better.

All done combing.

Rinse and let dry. Her hair is now a beautiful red color. Gorgeous!

As of this post, her hair is still wet so I will dress her and place updates at a later date. I do have the perfect outfit for her.

Another doll I got yesterday was identified as a Fashion Fever Drew doll. Don't you love the freckles? I fixed her hair as I saw pictures of her sporting two small braids. Explains why her hair was wavy in a couple of places.

So I fixed her hair just like in the pictures I saw.

I'm pretty sure that she is this doll as she has some red strings attached to her head which I'm sure were used to keep the sunglasses on her.

www.flickriver.com

The freckles for some reason make me think of a girl next door look so I dressed her in a cute gingham top with a denim skirt.

The top is supposed to be a crop top. However, since dolls are molded different and these are fashions from the 90's, they don't fit as well. Unfortunately, Drew's bum is too big so the skirt had to go almost up to her bust so I could get it fastened. Still cute though.

I added some classic white kicks to complete the outfit.

So that's it for today. Check out my updated post on this recently identified doll!

~Fun times putting outfits together~