Laura's MC Restorations

Laura's "My Child" Restorations

From 1985-1988, Mattel produced an adorable line of baby dolls called "My Child." I've heard that it was meant to compete with Cabbage Patch Kids, and, considering the time frame of their release, I tend to agree. The advertizing promised that each doll was different, and that "My Child looks just like Mommy." I suppose it's similar to the idea behind the line of "My Twinn" dolls, but IMHO, My Child dolls are cuter. (And much less scary.) Twenty years later, the dolls have become highly collectible, and available on the internet through ebay and similar sites. Sometimes, you can also find them at flea markets, yard sales, garage sales, and thrift stores, too. My family moved house in June of 2005, and I rediscovered the dolls I owned as a child. I was curious as to how to clean them up without ruining them, so I decided to try my luck with an internet search.

Much to my surprise, I found whole communities devoted to collecting these cuties, and sites with step-by-step restoration instructions. Since I'm a fair hand at sewing, and good at corrupting patterns to fit just about any size, I decided to try restoring and dressing old dolls. Some of the clothes you'll find here are copies of original My Child clothes, while others are Laura Originals, cut down from bigger patterns, or just made up. This page will be devoted to my collection, present and past, as well as before and after pictures of my dolls.

Before	After
Hannah Hannah needed more cleaning than this picture shows. She was my first restoration, and in really bad shape. Her curls were frizzy, and her body was moldy and stained. Her facial wrinkles were awful, so much so that I had to give her a complete facelift, forehead and chin. The original My Child ducky dress she's wearing was stained and in need of minor repair. The My Child diaper was taped on with masking tape to the poor baby's body.	Hannah's wearing an original creation of mine. Her hair has been reparted and recurled into her original hair style, and her makeup has been touched up. Her shoes are original My Child shoes, and she's wearing baby socks with roses and ribbons sewn on them. She's holding roses to match the roses on her dress and panties.
Emily Emily needed a chin lift, cleaning, her hair recurled (when I got her, it was curlier than this picture shows) and reparted. She also needed a bath. Bad. I had to touch up her makeup, because her eyelashes were almost non-existent, and her bath washed most of what color she had away.	I think I might've gone a bit overboard with her curls. I also curled her bangs to make them behave, because I couldn't get them to stay down any other way. Emily's wearing a Laura Original with yellow baby socks and original My Child shoes. She's got on panties with edging to match her pinafore, and the handkercheif can come out of her pocket. She's carrying blue flowers to match the blue flowers on her dress. SOLD
Amanda I didn't take absolute before pictures of Amanda. She was really dirty. Her neck was all stretched out and wobbly. And, as you can see in this picture, she's missing some hair. She also didn't have any color on her face. The stitches on her legs were just gone. To make matters worse, the ebay seller didn't mention any of that, and the pictures were too bad to tell. This is after I made her some clothes--cute bellbottoms and a peasant blouse and reparted what hair she had left. Currently, she's being rerooted with all new hair, so I'll post pictures after I finish. I'm also making her a new dress out of some hand-dyed fabric that I've got leftover from my textiles class.	Coming Soon!
Elizabeth Anne Elizabeth Anne was dusty and in need of a bath. As with all of them, I had to repart and restyle her hair into her original hairstyle. She had some pretty bad wrinkles under her chin, so I gave her a chin lift. She needed clothes, too, and her makeup was really faded.	Doesn't she look sweet? I'll be posting current and hopefully better pictures soon. Elizabeth Anne is wearing a modified replica flare made by me, and baby socks. She's holding her favorite toy. I think the straight puppytail girls are my favorite.
Rachel Lynn Rachel Lynn was dirty and needed a bath, a hair repart, restyle, and her makeup touched up.	I took this before her clothes were finished, and I'll replace it as soon as the new pictures come back. She was also a puppy tail girl. Luckily, I didn't have to find her bangs! I've dressed her in a slightly modified replica party dress that I made and panties. And no, she didn't keep the peach baby socks. They didn't look right with her new clothes, so she's wearing white now with green bows on them.
Grace Grace was dirty and missing the stiches on one arm. Her bangs had been combed up into her hair, so that they didn't show. She also had bad facial and chin wrinkles that I fixed with a complete face lift. Imagine my surprise when I found out that she's a double ribbons girl! I only touched up her lipstick a little, because the rest of her makeup was so nice and bright. I've dressed her now in a reproduction party dress made by me.	Coming Soon!

I don't have pictures yet of my original two My Child dolls, Jessica and Steven, because we haven't found them yet since we moved. I think they probably still need baths! Fortunately, they both have most of their original clothes--I think I lost their shoes and socks. I've found a new, fun hobby in restoring these old playthings to their original beauty, and I'll put up more pictures as I obtain and fix these sweet babies.