Ballad of Baby Susie

This post is not for the weird squeamish people who get freaked out by dolls. I am one of those people. I love baby dolls. I love Barbie dolls. But if an arm or head falls off forget it! So I was down at my friend Priscilla's house when her 9 year old, Lizzie comes up to me. My older girls were standing on each side of her with these silly smirks on their faces. Lizzie said "Aunt Angie, this is my doll." And she shows me her "injuries". I kind of do this yipping yell I think and try to laugh and ask did the girls tell her to bring it to me. Oh no! This poor girl runs to her mom sobbing. So I find out that Baby Susie was a gift to Lizzie from her great grandpa when she was a baby. She's always had her. She LOVES her. And my girls did know I would freak out when I saw her. But Lizzie's mom told her Angie can fix it! How could I say no to this sweet litle girl when she was sobbing? She thought I was making fun of Susie when really Susie scared the criminy out of me. I had Lizzie wrap her in a baby blanket to protect her limbs (And keep me from freaking out) and we brought her home. I showed her to my mom who laughed at the story. Then I showed her to my sister who screamed like crazy and made me put her away. Yeah, and you thought I was bad!

So have you seen Toy Story 3 yet? I loved this movie, but Big Baby freaked me out and she was meant to so there must be other people freaked out by dolls. Susie isn't colored on like this doll, but my girls have dolls that way. Amelia put an "A" on a doll because it was hers. Lydia put an "X" on every doll's forehead and each arm because she said they were all on her team, TeamX. She even did this to her little brother who was about 2. Well at least she included him on her team but I wasn't happy.

So, how to fix Baby Susie? Priscilla asked if I could give her a new body but I'm not that good. I thought of covering her body to reinforce her but wasn't sure how. Her grandma had done a patchup job in the past on her, so I decided to stitch her up.

I stitched every seam with heavy duty thread. It might have been button hole or quilting thread, not sure now. I sewed her while I watched the movie "Precious". Oh my gosh! I wasn't so horrified by Susie after seeing that movie! It was very well done and very heart breaking. Wow!

But my stitching turned out great and I thought I would be a very good nurse or surgeon since I can stitch such lovely even stitches. I decided to put fray check on every limb's stitches to kind of glue it stuck. Susie has been through the wash alot, and her body was very worn and thin.

And here's Baby Susie now!

Baby Susie got a bath in as many cleaners as I could think of. Name one. I bet I tried it on her. She's still dirty but she is fixed. Intact. And I am giving her mommy instructions to not play with her and definitely don't put her in the washing machine again.

To keep her clean and protected I knew she needed to be dressed but I will tell you, doll clothes are not my specialty. I made up this little baby gown and bonnet so I guess I'm not too bad. It helped that the fabric is the super wonderful cotton knit by Patty Young for Michael Miller. I serged her up and used elastic thread to shir the top bottom and bonnet. I'm sure you noticed her jammies are personalized with her name. Nothing scary about this precious girl now. Aren't before and after makeover pics great? She is cuddly and adorable like a real baby! Only tears of joy now Lizzie! Baby Susie will be home soon!