Repairing an Antique Doll part 7

All of the patching and stuffing was complete. I’d learned a lot and was ready to embark upon the hip wire. I don’t think I’ve ever done a hip wire. I’ve done an elbow joint and a shoulder wire, but not a hip wire, although the idea is the same…except in all those other instances I didn’t have to poke more than one hole. This time, I had to do eight.

So, again I was dreading it and had to come up with something else to do until I got up the courage to dive in. Since the old buttons had damaged the leather, I figured it’d be a good idea not to put them back on the doll and risk the same problem. (Don’t worry, I kept them with the doll, just not installed on her hips!)

I have a lot of buttons. Many of which are antique. I hunted through box after box, looking for a particular pair of smooth metal buttons that I knew I had…somewhere.

Unfortunately, my system of organization doesn’t exactly lend to easy searching. I went through about nine stuffed boxes until I found the buttons I was looking for…and realized that they’d never work for the doll. They had four holes, not two. Whoops!

I settled for another pair of two-hole buttons. They weren’t correct by any stretch of the imagination, but they were smooth, metal and had two holes. In consolation, I reminded myself that I was keeping the old buttons with the doll and if her next owner had better ones, perhaps she’d install those in place of the ones I was about to put on.

Plus, the buttons I had would work just fine and the only way anyone would know was if they pulled off the doll’s clothes. Under normal display circumstances, those incorrect buttons honestly weren’t going to matter and while the style of them wasn’t period correct, at least the material was.

So, after getting over the button decision, I hunted around for my longest needle. Then, I inspected a few doll bodies with similar hips in order to help me determine the best placement for the legs onto the torso. Then…I took a deep breath…and started poking some holes.

The hardest part was working the wire through. I couldn’t get it completely straight, but it was real close. And as if to spite me, as the wire was coming through the last hole, the leather tore a little. I was so pissed I didn’t take pictures of the surprise patch job. I just sighed and got it done so that I could work the wire back through, install the button and bend the end back through the other button hole.

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