Cleaning vintage doll shoes

Sunday and Monday were doll project days at my house. I have a whole list of things that I fixed and that I will blog about in the coming days, so be sure to check back!

One of the things I did yesterday was to clean a pair of vintage doll shoes, the vinyl or plastic Mary Jane types that fit Ginny-sized dolls. They were seriously the filthiest pair of doll shoes I have ever seen, but they were one of my Ginger doll's originals, so I wanted to try to salvage them.

They had a lot of play soil on them, as well as some kind of glue or varnish that had made shiny discolored spots:

I started out using a little of my favorite doll cleaner, but even that stuff — as good as it is — wouldn't cut through the glue or varnish that was on the shoes.

I happened to be soaking some doll clothes at the time, so I decided "Why not?" and threw the doll shoes in with a dress. They soaked overnight in Biz (I'll blog about my clothes washing method another time). When I rinsed them off the next day, I scratched the spots a little with a fingernail and found that I was to peel up the varnish or glue.

The shoes were still a little discolored, especially under where the varnish had been, so I used the doll cleaner on them again. I was surprised and delighted at how white they turned out!

It's definitely worth a little time and effort to clean vintage doll shoes!

Stay tuned for new posts and pictures

I must apologize for the lack of posts lately. My husband and I just returned late Saturday night from a trip to Europe. I was so busy in the weeks leading up to the trip, that I wasn't able to get any posts ready and scheduled for while we were gone. But I'm back now, and will be getting back into the swing of my "real" life this week — so stay tuned for some new doll pictures and posts!

Cosmopolitan Ginger sailor outfit

It's been far too long since I posted any pictures or stories of dolls. I've been busily getting back to collecting, though, so it's not for lack of material!

This outfit actually belongs to a friend of mine who has a Ginger dolls website, but she was kind enough to let me photograph my doll in it.

The outfit is a tagged Cosompolitan Ginger sailor outfit. Neither of us have seen any documentation on this outfit, so we don't know much about it. The hat is vintage Ginger or Pam and is our addition. The purse, socks, and shoes are mine.

Here are a few detailed pictures of the outfit. It has matching bloomers and bears the Jackson Heights tag, both of which I forgot to photograph.

Does anyone have any information on this little blue sailor dress? It is tagged Cosmopolitan Ginger, but we haven't seen any documentation on the outfit.

1986 Vogue Ginny Bride and Groom MIB - SOLD!

I was going through my more modern dolls, and decided to get rid of some of them, since I don't really care for them anymore — I much prefer the vintage dolls. I'm only asking $30 for this Ginny Bride and Groom from 1986. The Vogue company did a series of romantic couples in this year that also included Romeo and Juliet, and I think I've heard of a king and queen as well.

This set is mint in box. I removed them from the box when I bought them, but I was the first to do so. I put them right back in without displaying them. The box is in great shape with only a little bit of shelf wear, and of course the dolls are mint.

Greek key snaps on vintage doll clothing

Greek key snaps, or "P" pattern snaps, were often used on vintage doll clothing in the 1950s and 1960s. Sometimes they were painted, sometimes they were left unpainted. The unpainted ones could be made of either silver or gold-colored metal.

They are often referred to as "Ginger snaps," because they were used so much on Cosmopolitan Ginger clothing. However, they were also used by other clothing manufacturers on shoes and clothes.

Here are a few of the places you can find Greek key snaps:

On a tagged Ginger dress:

On a mint in box Fortune Ninette's clothing:

On a Fortune Pam's dress:

On an A&H Gigi outfit (identified in Small Dolls of the 40s & 50s by Carol Stover, pages 11 and 13):

On an unidentified Ginger clone's dress:

On a pair of fuzzy-bottomed center snap shoes from the early 1950s (worn by an 18-inch Madame Alexander doll, but may not be original):

On a pair of replacement side snap shoes for a Madame Alexander Alexander-kins:

On a pair of center snap shoes worn by Ginny, Muffie, Ginger, Ninette, and other high quality toddler dolls in the early 1950s:

Boxed Pam dress set for doll identification purposes

The same seller that had the boxed Pam shorts set on eBay this week also had a boxed Pam dress set. I got the seller's permission to post the photos for this one, too.

The dress is a pretty white print with multicolored diamonds on it, green loop trim, and a white painted Greek key snap to close it in the back. It came in the box with white socks, red vinyl Mary Janes, and a deep pink straw hat that might have been red once, trimmed with a white ribbon. The dress reminds me of one of the Cosmopolitan Ginger dresses, and the hat is identical to the hats found on many Ginger dolls.

The box number reads: "6/11 afternoon - 98" with the 98 crossed out and "49" handwritten next to it. I'm guessing that means I'm correct that this last number is the price, and this particular outfit was discounted.

Here are the pictures:

All photos by Teresa Lehmbeck, ebay: the2sisters

As I mentioned in my last post, Ginger clones were often used for Pam, which is why I thought Ginger collectors would like some identification for outfits like these.

Boxed Pam shorts set for doll identification help

Regular readers probably already know that I am an avid collector of Cosmopolitan Ginger and Ginger clones. One doll company that used Ginger clones was Fortune, which made Ninette and Pam.

This boxed Pam outfit was on eBay this week: a shorts outfit that is marked on the box as "6/12 shorts - 98". I asked the seller for permission to use the pictures here, because I think this is such a great opportunity for collectors to identify outfits.

The MIB, complete outfit consists of a white cotton waffle weave shirt with blue trim, like a tennis shirt, which closes in the back with a Greek key snap; a pair of matching blue shorts, also closing with a Greek key snap; white rayon socks; and white unmarked vinyl Mary Janes.

All photos by Teresa Lehmbeck, ebay: the2sisters

Interestingly, the shorts appear to be the exact same ones as this MIB Fortune Pam (a Ginger clone with bending elbows and knees — scroll about halfway down the page). The outfit number on the MIB doll is "8/12 shorts - 198" (I'm guessing the 98 and 198 are the price).