an incredible, incredible find at a local flea market. I am SO in love with her.
She seems to be handmade and one-of-a-kind [not even from a pattern-- her head isn’t even sewn together, has cardboard shaping it, and she’s asymmetrical in a few areas]. She’s incredible-- deserving of a handful of posts!
She was stuffed under at table at a flea market, not even proudly on display. She was marked $10 and the booth was 50% off, making her $5. It’s sad to think whoever had her at the end of her life didn’t think she was worth much, but I’m thankful to have gotten to rescue her.
The first 3 photos are before I gave her a bath & added some new stuffing to fill her out again-- she was quite crusty, stiff, and itchy to handle. She might be from the 70s, but she could be more recent than that, too. My best guess is 70s.
Her stuffing was... an amazing surprise. I’m used to scrap cotton stuffing being nondescript mix of brown and grey, not this beautiful rainbow... but in general her stuffing was peculiar, and it was clear she was handmade by someone who just had to use what they could to make her, and probably didn’t have much professional experience with sewing. That or she was repaired by many clumsy hands over the years...?
Her neck is just her fur rolled in on itself-- not even cut-- and then sewn together. It’s just a big roll of fur.
Her head, as I said, is some kind of stiff cardboard shape with just some cotton to fill it out, making her head the only part I found any traditional cotton stuffing...
her body contained a literal pillow-- like, just a pillow! I added stuffing around it ‘cuz I did not want to attempt to pull it out or unnecessarily stress out her form.
Its not unusual for a ragdoll to be made of whatever materials [stuffed with scrap cloth, pantyhose, w/e] but... she’s SO not a ‘ragdoll’-- she’s SO poseable and SO specific. Very lovingly crafted with what was available.
Though stuffing her neck with fur is extremely not a cheap choice, making her a very interesting girl...
Even her jointed legs are understuffed at the ankles and wrists to make her very poseable. My roommate thinks she might have been a puppet someone made once for some local show or something. Its possible... its hard to imagine her being made on a whim. She’s particular and so inspired while being curiously slapdash. It feels like someone asked and answered all questions they had about constructing something like this while building it.
The joints of her body are also anchored to her internal pillow, not just her fur, making her a nightmare to restuff. But very interesting.
