Vogue Jill pants outfit #3139 - SOLD

This is an adorable period pants outfit for Vogue Jill, #3139 from 1958. The doll and shoes are not included in this sale.

The outfit consists of a white sweater with goldtone buttons, and plaid pants that are SO 50s. One side of the sweater's collar is faintly darker than the other side, so it might be a little dirty. I don't see any snags in the sweater.

The pants snap closed in the back, and the snap is intact with no tearing of the material around it. The sweater is tagged.

This outfit will need shoes to complete it, but at $25, it's an easy and cheap way to dress your Jill!

Vogue Jill's bodysuit, two skirts, and shoes - SOLD

Here is some more clothing for Vogue Jill: Jill's black bodysuit, two Jill skirts, and one pair of fancy shoes. All pieces are from different outfits, but they go well together. My Jill is not for sale at this time — she is just modeling the clothing for me!

I believe the black jersey bodysuit is what the basic dolls came with. This bodysuit is tagged and in very good to excellent condition. The snap is intact and the fabric around it has not torn.

The first skirt is the black and white checked skirt that goes with the shirtwaist outfit #3211 from 1959. It is pictured on page 224 of Judith Izen and Carol Stover's Collector's Encyclopedia of Vogue Dolls, the edition with the pink cover.

The skirt is also in very good to excellent condition. The only issue is that one end of the "eye" on the hook and eye fastener needs to be sewn back down, but that's a two-stitch fix. The skirt is tagged.

The other skirt is the pink skirt that goes with Jill's party outfit #3233, also from 1959. The outfit can be found on page 225 of Izen and Stover's book. This skirt is pretty much perfect, with an intact snap and a tag that is also pretty much perfect.

The only problem with this lot is the shoes. I don't think they've ever been on a doll, so the fancy gold elastic straps aren't exactly elastic anymore — they are stiff beyond belief. Someone (not me!) tried to force one shoe on Jill's foot, apparently, and all but a few gold strands have torn free. Also, the soles have lost their shape somewhat, and the arch no longer matches Jill's feet (also, I think, from never being on a doll). I don't know if some TLC could fix these shoes, but I think they are very pretty and worth trying!

I will sell the lot all together for $30, or separately for as follows:

Bodysuit: $7
B&W skirt: $10
Pink skirt: $12
Shoes: $5

As you can see, you do save a few bucks if you get everything, but even if you buy them separately you're getting a good deal!

Vogue Jill's record hop complete outfit! - NFS

I always planned to get more Jill dolls (I have three currently), so I have a number of complete outfits that are not on a doll. This outfit is my favorite and the hardest to get rid of, but I am listing it first because I am hoping someone the small fashion dolls Yahoo group I belong to will be interested!

The outfit is Jill's record hop outfit of 1957, #7406. The outfit is shown on page 212 of Judith Izen and Carol Stover's Collector's Encyclopedia of Vogue Dolls, the edition with the pink cover. My Jill doll is not for sale at this time — she is just modeling the outfit!

This outfit is in FANTASTIC condition, with the exception two small flaws that I will explain in a minute. The elastic waistband of the felt skirt does not appear to be stretched out at all, and the white graphics are bright and clear. The snap is perfectly intact.

The outfit also comes with a stiff half slip of red netting with flocked polka dots. There is a tear in the netting near the waistband, and someone has put a small gold safety pin in it to hold part of the tear together. The elastic is tight and not stretched out at all.

The slip also has red velvet ribbon trim at the edge of the one-inch ruffle around the outside of the slip. (I didn't notice that luxurious little detail until just now, which is why the slip is on upside down in the picture!) Whether it is original Jill or not I don't know, but it is a truly beautiful slip and looks great peeking out from underneath the skirt.

The red taffeta undies have the loop trim that I have seen on other Jill clothing. The taffeta is crispy-mint and the waist elastic is not stretched out in the slightest.

The shoes are from 1958 or later, as Vogue only made elastic high heels for Jill in 1957. However, the darling red wedges complete the outfit perfectly.

The shoes are also still with their package, although they have been taken out a couple of times.

The only really noticeable flaw on display is luckily on the back of the outfit: The seam around and underneath Jill's right sleeve is tearing a little. The very end of the tag is still in the seam, if you look inside the skirt, but the tag tore free long ago and someone pinned it to the bottom of the skirt. The snap on the shirt is intact and not tearing away from the fabric at all.

Since this outfit is fantastically complete and (with exception of the shirt) in such perfect condition, I am asking $65 for it. Your Jill will look beautiful in this outfit!

Please note: I've decided I can't part with this outfit after all, but I've left the pictures up so that everyone can enjoy them!

Watch for more dolls for sale!

I recently decided to go through my doll collection and sell many of them. It was a difficult decision to make, but I want to try to raise enough money to have my car — a low-mileage classic Nissan Z — restored before the rust eats it up.

Last night I started going through the first couple of boxes of dolls, and today I photographed the first batch of things for sale. So far there is a lot of small pre-Barbie fashion doll stuff and 8-inch toddler doll stuff.

I will go through more of my dolls at a later date, as quite frankly I have found this day physically and mentally exhausting. It's hard to go through a collection with the goal of selling some of it!

I will start listing my dolls for sale shortly. There is a lot, so check back frequently!

How I saved Sweet Sue

One of my favorite early hard plastic dolls is the 14-inch flat-footed Sweet Sue by American Character. (The company later turned her into a fashion doll called Sweet Sue Sophisticate, and then renamed her Toni.) I like the strung dolls and the early walkers the best.

This particular doll is all original and wearing one of my favorite Sweet Sue outfits. Check out her pretty matching bloomers and her original center snap shoes:

Of course, she wasn't this perfect when she came to me — like many of my dolls, she needed a little fixing up to make her look this pretty.

First of all, when I got Sweet Sue her hair appeared to be a mess, with curls everywhere. I had seen this doll before, though, and I knew her hair was meant to be in curly pigtails tied with rose-colored grosgain ribbon. Luckily for me, I was able to find almost an exact match at our local fabric store. Her hair actually wasn't that mussed, and I was able to separate it into pigtails without combing or restyling the original curls.

Unfortunately, Sweet Sue needed more than just a couple of hair ribbons. When I first undressed her I was horrified to discover a seam split along each shoulder. As I examined her, I realized what had caused it: Her arms (she is a walker) had been strung with a spring at the factory, which had probably stiffened up over time. Now, it was so tight that it was putting too much pressure on the arm sockets, causing the shoulders to separate at the seams.

Of course, the first thing I did was to remove the spring and restring her arms with regular cord elastic. I strung them a touch on the loose side, to prevent doing any further damage to her poor shoulder seams. The split in the seams went away almost completely — all you can see now is a little hairline separation.

Sweet Sue's rescue story ought to show how useful it is to be able to restring dolls yourself. If I hadn't been able to fix Sweet Sue, her shoulder splits could have relegated a lovely, all original doll to the rubbish pile!

Another testament to Cathie Lee doll cleaner

A little while back, I blogged about using Cathie Lee doll cleaner to clean mold off of a hard plastic doll. I also took a picture that showed the difference between the dirty leg and the cleaned leg.

Well, here is another example of how good Cathie Lee doll cleaner is. Before the doll show, I used it to clean up one of the project dolls that I actually sold at the doll. She was a played-with 18-inch Binnie walker with vinyl arms, and her arms were filthy everywhere they weren't covered by her dress.

Here's a picture of her upper body (minus her head — we hadn't restrung it yet) with one arm dirty and one arm cleaned:

You can see how ridiculously blackened her dirty arm is. To get the other arm clean, I used Cathie Lee doll cleaner and part of one of those red scrubby pads that are used to clean glass and ceramic cooktops. Probably because they are made to scrub these cooktops without scratching them, they work wonders for cleaning dolls without removing their original paint.

Cleaning your dolls is often one of the easiest things you can do to make them look pretty again. Just make sure you are using a cleaner that is specially formulated for vintage dolls!

Reader suggestion for cleaning off mold

Recently I blogged about cleaning mold off of the Nancy Ann Style Show doll we had for sale. Shortly afterward, a reader — the same reader who bought her, actually — offered a suggestion for cleaning mold off of hard plastic dolls:

I have had a few dolls with this white mold issue. Have you ever tried just hitting it with a hair dryer??? It will just melt away & you can wipe her clean. It is amazing! No scrubbing or anything. I also use this method on my Nancy Ann storybook dolls with the white mold on their eyes.

And yesterday, one of the Yahoo doll groups I belong to was discussing the same technique for getting the white residue of the old dolls' eyes.

Of course, as a word of caution, you should be very careful any time you are using a hair dryer on a doll. You don't want to damage the doll by blasting her with too much heat!