Pretty In Pink Maggie

May 05, 2015

Pretty In Pink Maggie

Maggie Walker

Yesterday I way overdid the exercising, walking over 18,000 steps and then doing an especially grueling P90X workout with tons of burpees and push-ups and pull-ups and I'm really feeling it today. My shoulders are really sore, but mostly I'm just totally exhausted. It's only 7:30 this evening and I can barely keep my eyes open. Not good, since I have to drive to the high school to pick up my son from band in a while! So I didn't do any walking today other than to drag the hose around the yard to water various garden beds. I spent the rest of the day hard at sedentary work in my office and finished the latest in my "Pretty in Pink" series, Pretty in Pink Maggie. Besides Maggie I have "Pretty in Pink Elise" for sale in my Atelier Mandaline store, and I hope you'll look for them there.

Maggie before restoration.

Maggie came to me with most of her original outfit but missing some eyelashes and with her wig in disarray. I cleaned her and re-strung her arms with durable elastic cord. She didn't need any paint repair. Her wig situation was odd. Half her wig was in its original set, a rolled flip curling around the sides of her face, but the other half was coming loose from the wig cap and had lots of breakage. I could still feel the hair cream or whatever was originally used to treat her hair when I brushed it and enough of the curls were intact that I didn't have to give her hair a new set. Instead I just washed it and gave it a conditioning leave in treatment with diluted fabric softener. Then I sewed the loose hair back onto the wig cap and finger-curled and pinned it back into place. There are still a few thin spots in the hair where the wig stitching can be seen if you look closely, but it's slight.

The clothing also needed restoration.

Maggie's original dress was covered with stains when she arrived and had several places where the fabric had frayed out of the seams. I wish I'd taken a photo before I cleaned it because I'm amazed at how well it came out! There are no holes in the fabric itself, luckily, and after a few gentle washings I was able to remove most of the stains. I reinforced the seams in the sleeves and waist. There is one black thread belt loop still intact but no belt, so I added a reversible black and silver belt. I gave Maggie a slip which came on another Alexander doll. It isn't tagged and I'm not sure of the brand, but it matches this dress perfectly. I sewed the torn seam in the back of the slip. In places it's a bit too long, so I very lightly tacked it up with a little stitch to hold it in place. The slip does still peek out in a flirty way from the back of the skirt as she walks.

The doll after restoration.

There's some paint scraping in the joints.

Maggie's body is in really good shape. There are no cracks or splits. One thumb has a factory flaw seam that isn't sanded down. Her paint is all original. I left the paint scraping in the joints where the arms and legs move because it always just scrapes all up again immediately. I re-strung Maggie's arms with durable elastic cord. Maggie's head-turning walker works well, although one leg wants to kick forward all the time. This makes it difficult to pose Maggie and stand her up on her own. She can stand alone with careful balancing and she can sit. I would recommend a doll stand for display or to display her sitting down. I don't have a stand the right size, or I would include one.

The older-style Alexander panties

Maggie wears the older 1940's style Alexander panties trimmed with beaded lace threaded with ribbon. One of her original shoes was missing so I replaced both with center-snap, rhinestone trimmed shoes. These are similar to her originals, flocked fabric with rhinestone trim. I'm not sure of the brand but they do have the "fuzzy" soles like the early Alexanders. These are very fragile. The flocking is flaking off and there's a fraying spot on the side of one shoe. One strap is torn and I sewed it back together. I treated both these with Fray Check to try to stabilize them. They are fine for display, but should not be taken on and off much.The silver side of the belt also has some finish flaking off.

I added a matching slip.

I also added a reversible belt.

I repaired the shoe.

The dress is tagged.

I gave Maggie an Alexander cameo necklace and parasol from 1960's or 70's Alexander dolls and a pink wristwatch with real moving hands marked Japan on the back to complete her ensemble. Her multi-layered pink slip, trimmed with rickrack, peeks out from under her taffeta skirt as she walks. Her dress is one I haven't seen before, with unique triangular 3-D pockets. She's a sweet cutie-pie, strutting down the street, a wonderful example of a classic Golden Age Madame Alexander doll. I am pleased with the finished doll! I tagged her with my own signed tag and gave her a new hair net.