A friend recently sent me this half-doll pincushion to repair. Her skirt is in bad shape. I began by removing her waist band. You can see the stitching holding the skirt tight to the porcelain.
Careful snipping (tweezers came in handy), I was able to remove the stiff cotton threads holding the pleats and stitching them tightly to the doll body. (some of the threads are shown bottom left). The skirt was a bluish pink. The fill was wood shreds--which makes me think she originally wasn't a pin cushion. The wood would not be a good filling for needles and pins that could rust.
I gave the doll a bath with plain water and a Q-tip (cotton bud). She cleaned up nicely. She's marked on the back--Germany and a model number.
I think she's really sweet, with her 1920s bob.
An oddity I found before taking her apart was hooks on the back of the skirt bottom. At first I thought it was to hang her on the wall, but then I realized she'd be face down. I learned from my friend that she was found with a small basket. So now I believe these were hinges to attach her to the basket and that she was a basket top. The wires are pretty heavy duty.
Before I began disassembly, I measured everything. I haven't looked yet to see what the original base was--I'm thinking some sort of cardboard, since it's warped over time.
I got silk in a 1920s color, Eau de Nil (water of the Nile, a faded bluish green) to use to make up the replacement skirt. I'm thinking about a replacement filling--right now I'm leaning toward rice hulls with a layer of quilt batting over the top.
