Cleaning up my old AG Collection

[StephanieS]

Hi, this is my first post on here [img]smile.gif[/img] I was a American Girl doll fanatic as a young girl but I lost interest in them and haven't thought about them in the last 15 years or so. A couple days ago I saw some American Girl stuff on eBay and it brought back a lot of memories.

Yesterday I went to my parents house and dug through the attic, my old bedroom, our garage and found all my old AG stuff! It filled up two huge garbage bags. Everything was really dusty and a couple items had stains/holes b/c they weren't stored properly.

I have Molly from the 80's and Felicity and Addy from the year they were released (early 90's?) I cleaned them up really well and they look just like new now- I did the downy dunk on their hair.

I have just about all of Molly and Addy's dress/outfits and accessories and only two of Felicity's outfits. I handwashed all of the outfits and hung them up to dry.

Now here's my question-- a couple of the outfits I was too scared to wash, I was worried I'd ruin them. Like Molly's green holiday dress with lacey trim, addy's blue school outfit and Felicity's riding outfit. Are those safe to handwash or will they be ruined? Addy's school outfit and Felicity's riding outfit feel like wool. Should I wash them?

-Stephanie

-PS.. now that I've fallen in love with American Girl again, I'm planning on buying Elizabeth and her outfits and I've already bid on a Samantha on eBay..lol

[heidiabigail]

if you do handwash, you should probably use cold water . . .heat tends to make colors bleed more.

[dornroeschen]

Willkommen Stephanie - nice meeting you.

Wool can easily be handwashed. You shouldn't let it sit in soapy water for hours - just a couple of hours - and not 'scrubbed' as that would cause felting. In fact I wash all my woolly sweaters in the washing machine on the wool circle and haven't had any problems.

Most manufacturer's will put 'dry clean only' on the labels just to be on the safe side not receiving any complaints from customers who washed the item too hot. When I worked for the International Wool Secretariat (owner of the Woolmark label) we received a couple of woolly sweaters to be tested where consumer stated they were handwashed. Those were original size 14 to 18 and what we received would have fit a baby. In fact they 'stood' by themselves. My boss said those were boild in the washing machine, to handwash them you would have to scald your hands.

[MapleLeaf]

Welcome Stephanie!!
I have washed delicate items using unscented Ivory dishwashing liquid and have had success in removing stains. I find Ivory very gentle to clothes.

MaryCarly, your story is so sweet! [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Your DH is one special man.

Nia [img]smile.gif[/img]

[J9S]

I've never tried washing Lissie's riding habit, as I don't have it. But I DO wear lots and lots of wool as I do Scottish/Irish re-enactments from the 15-1600s. I also knit with wool most often.

I've been told (and found it to be true) that if you handwash wool in cold water and don't agitate it (ie, scrub it or anything), you should be fine. Otherwise, it will indeed cause felting.

Good luck!

[PrincessRuthie]

Welcome! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

I'm no expert, but if you handwash things like Molly's Christmas dress, it should be fine. Maybe someone else knows more information than me.

You'll probably be sorely tempted by Molly's friend Emily when she comes out...and if you win Samantha, there's Nellie...the board is a bad influence for getting more dolls, so you'll have more than three dolls in no time. I have pretty much DOUBLED my collection since I found this board.

[Kenshinchan]

In general you shouldn't wash wool, but I don't know about the particular outfits you have. I wonder if they can be dry cleaned?

At any rate, I'm sure some people here will be able to better advise you! Good luck in getting your next dolls. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[StephanieS]

Yeah, I guess those dress should be fine if I handwash them gently.

I washed about 10 outfits so far and the only thing I ruined is Molly's socks with the red trim, the red dye bled everywhere. Oh well, I want her nicer pair of shoes anyways, so I'll buy that set.

[StephanieS]

Actually a couple of the dresses say "dry clean only" on them- like Felicity's dress (the one she originally came in). Weird.

[MaryCarly]

Welcome to the board! [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

I think it is very sweet that you loved the dolls as a child and now you are loving them again. You should be in good company here as we have AG fans of all ages.

The dolls came out when my own daughter was small so we have had them in our house for about 15 years. It didn't occur to me that adults could own these dolls, but about nine years ago, my daughter decided I should have one and convinced her dad to buy me the AGT with red hair and brown eyes. She is suposed to be me as a child so her name is Mary too. [img]smile.gif[/img]

About six years ago, I became quite ill and found a whole new world that I could reach online. I went to ebay and purchased a Kit doll for myself. Since my dd already had a Kit doll, I named mine Carly. Then I joined doll groups where the other memebers convinced me that more dolls was more fun. [img]wink.gif[/img]
I began to ask for nothing but AG for my birthday and for Christmas. That has brought me up to 14 dolls now and my birthday is only a few days away so I will be getting even more dolls (my husband and my daugther can't keep secrets. LOL)

I think that will bring me to my limit for dolls, but I am saving just one more space for Emily. I adore my Molly doll and I fell in love with the part of her story that included Emily. I even tried to make an AGT be Emily, but it just wasn't right. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Emily that AG is soon releasing will be Emily to me.

My DH thought the dolls were an odd idea at first, but after hanging out with the dolls all these years, he is becoming attached too. We went through a bad financial patch at one point and I offered to sell my dolls. My husband said he would rather sell his tools first. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Last Saturday, we went to our first garage sale in many years and my husband was more interested in finding things for the dolls than I was. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] Yep! He is hooked for sure. [img]smile.gif[/img]