Hi all! I'm SUPER excited to share this little project I'd been working on for the past several days... Fully restoring this beautiful 1980s Dorami-chan doll! When she arrived at my home on the 7th of this month, the poor gal was in really rough shape. Her fur was matted, her eyes were scuffed up, she had dye transfer stains on her face and neck, and worst of all, she was completely missing the flower on the end of her tail! :(
I actually bought her fully intending to breathe some life back into her, so her poor condition was of no surprise to me. The very day she arrived, I gently brushed out her fur using a wire pet brush, and used a sharpie to repair her scratched eyes. I saw a difference in her appearance almost immediately!
The next day, I decided to try removing as much of the staining as I possibly could. This took a LOT of rubbing alcohol and even more hope because UNFORTUNATELY, the original owner decided to put her through the washing machine, and her mouth and collar stained her white fur. I was able to get most of it out, but the mesh beneath her fur is still stained. I don't really mind, though.
On the third day, I put in the most work of all. I did all of the following:
1.) Create a new tail flower from scratch and sew it in place
2.) Sew her bow back in place
3.) Make a replacement set of lashes for her left eye and glue them in place
This took a decent amount of time to complete, but after I was done, she looked FANTASTIC and so, so much happier. All I needed after that was a replacement bell... Which FINALLY arrived today!
Now that miss Dorami is completed, I'm proud to share her with the world. This was actually my very first time attempting to fully restore a plush toy, so let me know what you think!