The Final Two Justyne Smith Doll Restorations

The green-circled dolls are the subjects in this post.

This could have been more than one post; but since it's the finale of this project, I wrote it as one long illustrative post.

I retrieved the last two circa 1940s Justyne Smith cloth dolls from the shed to begin their restoration. They were included in a package of eight dolls I received in December 2023 from the late textile artist, Trish Williams.

The dolls' first photos after undressing are shown above and below.

First Things First

Upon reinspection, except for their smell, I didn't think these last two dolls required much restoration. Unfortunately, the dolls had a heavy moth-ball scent because I keep mothballs in the shed to ward off vermin, and they had been exposed to mothballs for over a year. 

After treating a stained area on one dress, the clothing and one doll's hair ribbons were soaked overnight in a mixture of liquid detergent and OxyClean. A wooden pole served as an agitator to swish the clothes around in the soapy water.

I removed the clothing and sprayed a stained area of one dress (made of satin) with a stain remover before soaking the clothes overnight in hot water, liquid laundry detergent, and OxyClean. I wiped both dolls from head to toe with disinfectant wipes and inspected their cloth outer surfaces. During this process, I noticed that one doll had a small horizontal tear on the neck and a few holes in the cloth feet. I laid both dolls on the washing machine to air dry and air out overnight before attempting to repair them.

The next morning, I saw several fine black specks on the washing machine and discovered that one doll's yarn hair had dry-rotted. The slightest touch and movement caused tremendous shedding. I cut the yarn off the doll's head, discarded it, and fashioned a new wig as described next.

This photo was taken after I removed the dry-rotted yarn from one doll's head. (This is the doll on the left in the 2nd and 3rd pictures.)

The head from the back after the yarn was removed illustrates how Ms. Smith fashioned the original wig, but instead of sewing the yarn to the head, I devised a quicker method.

Making the New Wig 

Working with a mask on, I began making the wig but had to stop after only one side was completed because the scent of  mothballs was too overwhelming. I placed the dolls outside to air out for several days (and had to wait for rain to stop in between days). I brought them in each night. The following short video and photos illustrate the wig-making process.

Making the New Wig Captured in Pictures

A vertical piece of yarn tacked in place at the top, bottom, and center creates one side of a center part. Strands of yarn were looped around the vertical yarn and secured tightly as illustrated in the next two photos and the above video. 

In this photo, two equal pieces of yarn have been folded in half, a loop created on top, and the loop was slid underneath the vertical yarn (the doll's center part). The long ends of the looped strands hang loose.

The long ends of the looped strands were crossed over the vertical yarn and inserted into the loop before the ends were pulled tight to create a knot on top of the vertical yarn. 

This is how little I completed of one braid before stopping to air this doll out. Even with a mask on, the mothball scent was unbearable.

The first side was completed and work on the other braid commenced after a few days using the same process: another vertical piece of yarn was tacked adjacent to the first piece, and strands of yarn were looped around the vertically placed yarn.

Both braids are completed in this photo. I left some loose longer strands of yarn on both sides of the doll's face, which were trimmed later. The ends of the braids were trimmed later, too.

This is how the wig looks from the back. (I did not use a lighter colored yarn for the part like Ms. Smith used for some of the dolls. I might glue a tan string down the center of the hair later.)

I added bangs using the same looping method, except the strands were looped around a horizontal strand of tacked yarn. (The bangs are sparse and it is my fault that one side is longer than the other. Later, I might use thicker black yarn to redo the bangs. I'll cut them straight next time.)

The original ribbon headband dry-rotted. I attached a ribbon headband similar to the way Ms. Smith fashioned the original one.

Lastly, I trimmed the long sides of loose yarn that frame the face and stitched a couple of yarn strands on top of the stitched-on ends of the ribbon headband to conceal the ribbon ends. 

Repairing the Neck and Cloth-Covered Feet

After the dolls had aired out enough for me to handle them a few minutes at a time, I repaired the neck and feet. 

The Neck Repair

The neck tear with small pieces of a cotton ball placed inside to stabilize the area is illustrated above.

I painted over the cotton-stuffed tear with Mod Podge.

The mod podged area was painted with Apple Barrel's Classic Caramel acrylic paint.

 I placed two overlapping strips of Micropore tape over the stabilized tear.

I painted the taped area to closely match the surrounding cloth again using classic caramel acrylic paint hoping the dress neckline would conceal most of this.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to dress this doll, I picked it up by the neck. My thumb pressed against the repaired slit causing it to re-tear.

To fix this, I wrapped Micropore tape around the neck on top of the existing tape three times for stability.

I painted the new Micropore tape wrapping. After the paint dried, I sealed and further stabilized the tape with ModPodge as illustrated next. 

The still-wet Mod Podge has been applied over the painted Micropore tape in the top two photos. The Mod Podge is dry in the bottom two pictures. (This doll's original wig illustrates the lighter-colored yarn used by Ms. Smith to create the part.)

Lesson Learned: When handling this doll, I should never grab it by the neck!

Repairing the Feet

The holes in one doll's cloth feet are illustrated above.

All holes were covered with Micropore tape.

The taped areas were painted with brown acrylic paint that matched the brown cloth Ms. Smith used for the cloth-covered feet.

Thankfully, the neck and feet repairs were relatively quick fixes. 

The Clean Clothes

The clean clothes and ribbons were air-dried.

After washing, I rinsed the dresses and one doll's hair ribbons and hung them up to dry. After rinsing, the bodice of the satin dress was torn. Age and fabric deterioration are the cause, but my agitation of the wet clothes with a wooden pole probably produced the tears. Small tears were on a few areas of one sleeve. It looked devastating, but I was determined to salvage the dress and keep both dolls as original as possible.

After washing and rinsing, one sleeve and the bodice were ripped as shown.

Rips in the sleeve

The Dress Repair

From the inside with some reinforcement on the outside, I mended the ripped areas of the bodice, sleeves, and other dress areas with Micropore tape as illustrated next.

Several strips of Micropore tape cover the inside of the bodice and the sleeve to mend the tears.

Strips of Micropore tape cover some outer areas of the affected sleeve and bodice.

Next, I used a sheet of copy paper to trace a bodice pattern.

Using the paper pattern, I used off-white satin blanket binding to fashion the new bodice.

After the binding was cut to fit the bodice, the excess edges were folded under and sealed using Stitch Witchery.

I used a combination of Stitch Witchery, a needle, and off-white thread to attach the new bodice to the old bodice. 

Next, I sewed off-white lace to the bottom edge of the new bodice. 

The dress and the lower edge of the pantalettes after the repair look much better.

After washing and drying the other doll's dress (the doll that needed its wig replaced), I only had to iron it.

Final Touches

Before redressing both dolls, I ironed both dresses, the pantalettes, and the original ribbons for one doll. I added ribbons to the new wig. 

They are dressed and looking much better as illustrated here and in the next photo.

It took three separate sessions to repair all eight dolls. I am pleased with the results. I am confident that Trish Williams and the original circa 1940s doll maker, Justyne Smith, would be happy, too.

How they were.

How they are now (shown in the same order as in the above photo but posed slightly differently).

The heart shape on one doll's face formed after I submerged the doll in water to clean it. Read about that at the first link below.

Related Posts

Circa 1940s Cloth Dolls by Justyne Smith

Three More Justyne Smith Dolls

Trish Williams at Home in 2011

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