Ruthie's Reveal!

Remember poor little Ruthie with the matted hair from yesterday's post?  Well, here she is, all cleaned up and looking good as new!

I gently washed her hair and then combed it out with my trusty, metal, pet comb.  I trimmed off about one inch of length in order to get rid of the majority of the frizzy ends.  I set her dampened hair on sponge rollers over night.

I am so pleased with how her hair turned out!

Back view...the curls will probably relax a bit over time, but that's okay.

I love her coloring: dark brunette with greenish eyes.

She is wearing a dress I made a while back...it is Simplicity 1244, view A.  It closes in back with snaps under decorative buttons.

While I am thrilled that she came with her original "Meet Dress", I really do think that the clothes I make for my dolls are cuter!  And definitely better made.  Everything is 100% quality, quilter's cottons, with lined bodices and finished raw edges.  I make my doll clothes the same way I make "real" people clothing.  I'm just kind of picky like that!

And here she is, with her best friend, Kit

I bought this Kit from a friend of mine, who was selling off her adult daughter's outgrown toys.  This is one of the first Kits produced, since she still has "Pleasant Company" stamped on the back of her neck, even though she is the first doll that was produced under the American girl logo after Mattel took over.

I made her dress and little apron several years ago; it is an out-of-print Vogue pattern #7565.  The dress was super easy to put together, but the apron, not so much!  There was a lot work involved here...lots of embroidery, and I stitched the binding down by hand all the way around that apron!  But oh, I just think it's the cutest little thing.

Here's a close up of the embroidery.  I actually made this apron a second time, in a different color.  It turned out equally as cute.

Kit invited Ruthie to climb the old apple tree.  It looks like a nice place to build a treehouse!

American Girl RUTHIE at the Thrift Store!

For only the second time in my life, I found a genuine American Girl doll at Goodwill!

I'm pretty sure she is Ruthie.  Which excites me even more since this past year I was able to purchase Kit from a friend, and my youngest daughter felt convinced that we needed to bring Kit's "best friend" home to live with us, too.  Of course, Ruthie is no longer being produced, so the only way to get her is on the secondary market, and I just didn't want to spend the high prices on Ebay she was commanding for awhile.

Fast forward to yesterday, when my husband, daughter and myself happened to be out, doing some shopping in the big city closest to us.  There just happens to be an awesome Goodwill in that area with a huge toy aisle--I almost never leave disappointed when I go there.  But I don't go there very often since it's a bit farther away from home and the traffic can be really bad.  However, since we happened to be so close by, I convinced my husband that we needed to stop.  Boy, oh boy, am I glad we did!

At first, I was just happy with the few 18" Madame Alexanders I found...I love to fix them up and sell them on Ebay.  But then my daughter needed to go to the bathroom, so my husband offered to take her while I continued my hunt through the toy aisle for more treasures.  A few minutes later, he suddenly appeared in front of me, grinning, casually holding Ruthie in his arms and asking "so, do you think this doll is worth anything?"  He says the look on my face was priceless because my eyes about burst from their sockets as I lunged for the doll!

Funny husband...he says he knew exactly what she was because as he was walking back from the bathroom with my daughter, she spotted the doll lying on a couch in the furniture department and exclaimed "Daddy!  It's an American Girl Doll!!!"  He snatched her up and begged my daughter to be able to tell me that HE found it!

As you can see from the photos, she's definitely been played with.  There are a few marks here and there on her vinyl (nothing major) and her hair is a bit dry and matted.  On the plus side, her limbs are nice and tight, the cloth body is clean, and her eyes function perfectly.  And she's wearing her original dress!  I am looking forward to working on her, and making her look "good as new" again.

Not a bad price, right?!?

Stay tuned for her "after" pictures, which I hope to post soon!