How To Rewig an American Girl Doll (Video Tutorial)

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Poupee Crissy avec de nouveaux vêtements

After I bought my French Crissys a few months ago, I decided I wanted to find some original clothing for them to wear.  I have been trolling French eBay ever since, and came across an outfit that I thought was originally made for Crissy.  The reason I thought this is that one of the Crissys I bought came sporting the same top when she arrived here in the States.  The top is an orange material with a large pocketbook sewn onto it.  When the new outfit arrived, it's orange was MUCH darker than the top I already had, and the lines on it were wider.  Here is a photo for comparison:

The left top is the one I originally received, the right top is the one I just purchased, along with pants.

After receiving the new outfit, I was not entirely convinced that it was, in fact, intended for Crissy.  The pants were really long and had extra-wide flare at the bottom.  If it was intended for her, I think that there is a top that goes under it.  I believe that a white body-suit type thing was made for French Crissy (I have one of them), and that maybe it was supposed to be worn under this outfit.  At any rate, I put her in the outfit, sans the body-suit underneath.

New outfit, with unmatching yellow shoes.  Ha! 

Still leaving something to be desired, I will continue my quest on French eBay until I find an outfit that is flirty, fun, and most importantly, original.

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Another Lili Ledy Crissy

I bought two Mexican Crissys at the same time, and this is the other one that I bought.  She was in horrible shape, and I didn't really think she'd turn out very well, but she was really cheap, so I bought her anyway.  Her hair was absolutely horrific, and she had a huge Kool-Aid stain all around her mouth (haha!). 

Pre-Treatment

The first thing I did with her was sanitize using Clorox wipes.  She was so grimey.  Next, I got to work on the ink stain.  Using Oxy-10, I started the long process of bleaching away the red stain.

She reminds me of Hannibal Lecter...

After quite a few weeks, I switched to the Walmart brand of Oxy-10, and after one treatment, it appeared as if the vinyl was also getting bleached out.  So at this point, I stopped the bleaching process.

You can see the lighter area all around her mouth.

Next, I used Testors enamel paints and painted her mouth.

Looking better...

The next step was to wash her hair, which turned the water in my sink almost black.  To keep water out of her eyes, I taped two cotton balls down over them while I washed her hair.  Then I styled her hair and was suprised at how well it came out.  I wanted her to have a Spanish style dress, so I used some red cloth and black lace material and made a dress for her.  I'm not the best seamstress in the world but it came out okay.

 

The finished product.  Much better!

Even though she was the less expensive Crissy, she came out looking the best.  It just goes to show what a little work and time will do!!

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Update on Black Tressy

I bid today on a Black Tressy doll on eBay. She needed some TLC...I was outbid. My max bid was $206 and she sold for $229. Sad :(

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My Top 10 Wishlist

So how could somebody with so many dolls possibly want more, you ask? Well, here is a sampling of dolls that I do not currently own, but would like to own :)

1. Black Tressy doll. This is a very hard to find doll from the Crissy family. She was a Sears exclusive doll. The last one I saw sell on eBay sold for $480. Yeah. So maybe in 10 years I'll have one.

2. Black Cinnamon doll. This doll is also a little harder to come by from the Crissy family. In the past two months, I saw one sell on eBay for $200, and one sold for $95 (you can see both of these dolls at www.crissyandbeth.com)

3. Juanita Perez doll from Mexico. She reminds me a lot of the American Girl dolls, but the Mexican version. She is very cute and vinyl, and I'm actually working on getting her now. The language barrier is a little difficult, but I have some friends helping me out :) You can see her at www.juanitaperez.com.mx

4. The old Juanita Perez doll from Mexico. She was made in the 70's, and I'd like to have the older version of her as well. I have only seen one for sale since I started looking, and it was on MercadoLibre. It had already sold, and for only $20 :( Oh well, if they made one, they made a hundred.

5. Kirsten Larsen's entire Pleasant Company collection. I have several of her dresses, but nowhere near a complete collection. She was always my favorite, so I feel like I should complete her.

6. Any old Jumeau doll. They are just incredible. Also incredibly expensive.

7. The #1 Barbie. Need I say more?

8. The Engel-Puppen Alice in Wonderland doll from Epcot--Germany. She is just too cute. She's also about $180, which is more than I'm generally willing to part with in one place when I'm at Disney World.

9. Cathie de Bella doll from France. She is a really pretty doll made in France in the 70's and maybe 80's (I haven't done a lot of research about her). She sells on French eBay from anywhere around $14 USD to $100 USD. I have been watching them a lot, and am just waiting for the right auction price and shipping price combo. For some reason, it costs a LOT to ship things from France.

10. A Kenner Blythe doll. They have become very popular (and very expensive) in the past few years, and it's just a doll I'd like to have an example of in my collection.

Eventually, I will have all of these dolls. I might be 40 years old, but they will be mine :)

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Rewigging American Girl Elizabeth

I have always collected American Girl dolls, and while my interest is particularly geared towards the Pleasant Company dolls and accessories (pre-Mattel), I did happen upon this Elizabeth doll at the flea market. As you can see, someone gave her a wicked-short haircut. But the rest of her was in very good shape. So, for $25, she was mine.

Elizabeth, with shorn locks

 

After a lot of internet research, I came up short (haha) with where to buy a nice wig that looked like Elizabeth's. I had searched on eBay for awhile, also not finding anything that I liked. Finally, I decided to buy a wig from Engel-Puppen in Germany. I pretty much bought this wig on blind faith, knowing that the Germans are revered for their high quality dolls (which is what makes the Pleasant Company brand dolls so sought after in the first place). The wig was $18, and the shipping was around $11 (but I bought a few other things from the company too, including a wig that would match a Kirsten doll in case I ever happen upon one of those that needs rewigging). I could not have been more happy when I received the wig. It looked great, and the difference in color between the two wigs was almost indeterminable with the naked eye.

In the meantime, I had also ordered Elizabeth's Meet Dress ($20), shoes and stockings ($15), and replacement ear studs ($3) from American Girl.

When I received the wig, the rest was easy. I used a spoon and pryed off the old wig, and then I scraped around and removed some of the glue. I'm a little impatient though, so I did not do as good of a job as I could have in removing the glue. I used tacky glue to glue the new wig down. The new wig does not reach all the way down in back as far as the old wig, so I can see on my doll where the old wig was. I do not think this affects her appearance at all, though.

Here is an up-close picture, so you can see how truly pretty this wig is.

And the back. Look at those adorable, soft curls!

My girl, all finished and dressed, looking like new :)

After it was all said and done, I ended up with a doll that only cost me about $60, as opposed to $90. Plus, I got to rewig her! The most fun and rewarding part of doll collecting to me is to be able to fix poor, abused girls.

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