Cabbage Patch Kids

I have tried two different ways in washing my dolls. After some trail and error I have found that combining both techniques is the best way to clean them. You can wash them in the washing machine (gently cycle), or soak them in OxyClean. If your doll is no1 stained or soiled the washing machine will do just fine. I do not recommend using bleach on your dolls. If they are preemies, you can wrap their head in a pillowcase to protect their head from scratches. If your dolls are very dirty you can soak them in OxyClean over night. If you do need to soak them, you MUST make sure you get all the water out of their bodies or staining will occur on the last spots to dry. For example, if you lay them flat to dry all the dirty water will drain through the back and live a big nasty spot. So you can wrap them in a towel and stand on them to ring them out (ouch), or put them in the washing machine on gentle spin (and rinse if needed). Cleaning corn silk doll(s) is a little different, so I have included a section just for them.
After you have washed them lay them or sit them up to air dry. If you notice any stains that did not come out, you can use a pre-treater and then wash again. I find that Mean Green (not Simple Green) works the best. It is safe to use on everything, unlike other pre-treaters (like Clorox 2). You can spray it on and leave it on for days and it will not damage your materials. It is also great for mildew stains. Most stores sell Mean Green and Family Dollar sells a gallon for about $5.00.
After your dolls have dried you should inspect them and see if they are missing any toes, knees, elbow, etc. If there is you will need to get a big needle and some heavy thread and stitch a toe or knee. There is only one stitch required usually. The knee is made my squishing the leg and adding poke a needle through pull tight and tie. The elbow is done the same way. The back of the knee and back of the hands is sewn alike. Start by squishing the back of the leg or arms, start from the outside (of the leg or arm) go around to the inside and stitch and tie. Make sure the thread is seen to represent a bendable leg.

the toes can be a bit tricky, especially if there are no toes at all. To fix one toe just make a tight loop. If your doll has no toes than you will need to fold down the tip of the foot, start where your little toe need to be and stitch 4 loops spacing further a part each loop. This way you will have little to big toes. It is hard to explain sometimes how to sewn so il you have a doll in good shape you can use it as a guide to fix the bad one. If you do not have a doll to go by let me know and I will email you some close ups.

Clothes are very simple; you can wash them on gentle cycle with color safe bleach. If you have some white items than you can use Clorox. If some of the clothing has Velcro tabs please connect them together. You don't want the Velcro to stick and damage the other clothing. If you have some Vintage items with lace, I would hand wash them. If you have a hand wash cycle on your washer then you could use it. I recommend that you line dry all clothing items. Your dryer can tear delicate items and some of the buttons, zippers, etc., can get caught in the drum and rip.
Shoes are very easy. You can wash them with a toothbrush and dish soap. If you have white vintage shoes with strings, take the shoestrings out and soak the shoes in water and Clorox. Take the shoestrings and saturate in Mean Green on a cookie sheet or plate and let stand for a day or too. Then just rinse the shoe strings with warm water. I would not soak the shoestrings in Clorox because it could "eat" the material.

If you have a really dirty doll you can wash them in the washing machine first (gently cycle). Then you will know if you have any body stains to deal with. After that you will have to deal with there hair. The easiest way is to put them in the bath and wash their hair with a real good shampoo and conditioner. I usually wash the hair twice and then add a lot of conditioner and let it set for a few minutes, then rinse. Your doll's hair will still look pretty wild, but after it dries it will be easier to brush and have less frizz. Please remember to drain all water out of their bodies, because the dirty water will stain them. You can use the spin cycle on your washing, but do not rinse, just spin, [f that does not work you can go for the heavy conditioning. I have never had to use this method, but I thought I would include it. Completely saturate the doll's hair in conditioner and wrap their head in plastic wrap. Let set overnight and rinse, [fall else fails you can re-root.
Another problem I have come across with the corn-silk dolls is their necks can not support their heavy heads. So you may have to take their heads off and re-stuff the neck area for better support. To learn how to take the heads off please refer to the re-rooting link.

Hair

If your dolls' hair has not been cut or splintered then you should be able to brush their hair (even the yarn haired ones). For the yarn dolls I take a very shape pair of scissors and trim the ends and fuzz. It may take a little time but it will be will worth it. To brush the yarn hair I use a wide bristle plastic brush, make sure the whole brush is plastic.

The best one is the cheap ones you find at the Dollar stores in a gift pack. To style the hair it is best to go with the original style. If you don't you may have a bald spot, due to how their hair was rooted.
Corn-silk dolls I treat them the same way I would treat my hair. Use a regular hairbrush and lot's of spray in conditioner. I find that Suave Kids Detangling Spray works best and is inexpensive. Corn-silk dolls are easier to give different hairstyles too, so you can have more fun with them.

After you clean your dolls' you may notice certain spots that did not come off in the wash. One common problem is ink and markers. There are a few things to try that will get rid of them both. First spray hair spray on the ink mark, it can be sprayed on the body or the face. You may have to scrub with a toothbrush on the face but after a couple of times it should come off. Hairspray will remove ink off of fabric too (your work shirt for example). To use on fabric (dolls' body or clothing) just spray on and let set for a little while or overnight. For dark ink and marker all you need is some acme cream. I think Clearasil Vanishing cream works best. Just apply a thick coat on the marker spot and let set for a couple of days. If the mark or ink is on the lips, you can use a q-tip to apply. Wipe and repeat until it is all gone. It may take a couple of weeks, but it will all be removed. I have heard that setting the dolls' in the sun quickens the process, but I have not been able to prove or disapprove that theory.
Sometimes the dolls' head looks dirty or may have other none marker marks on it. I usually use Mean Green on their heads and scrub with a soft toothbrush. You can use another household cleaner, but it needs to be gentle. For example, I love Grease Lightning but it is so strong that it can take the top layer right off the dolls' face. Lysol will make it smell good, but does not seem to do well on vinyl. You could also try dish soap it is gentle but very powerful.
Now it might seem like I am just shooting out stuff right now, but I am trying to make it clear that it is OK to experiment a little. I mean if the dolls' face is already damaged it want hurt to take a chance and try to fix it.
After you get your doll all cleaned and there hair done you may want to "Freshen their Make-up". Sometimes your dolls' may have light scratches on their face and their cheeks may be faded. To fix this just break out your make-up! You can use foundations and powders to fill in many light scratches, and use lipstick on their cheeks. Just dab a little lipstick on their cheeks and blend until it looks smooth. Your dolls' will look bright and new again.
If your dolls have very deep scratches you may need to look for a filler or glue. I have never went this route so I can not offer any product suggestions. If this is a big concern then let me know and I will see if I can find a good product for you.

If you have done everything you can and your doll still looks pretty bad you do have a few more options. I buy all kinds of dolls no matter what kind of shape they are in Just because a doll's hair has been cut or it has a hole does not mean it is trash. It is very

easy to switch bodies, heads and clothes to make a wonderful new baby. Just keep in mind that is best to try and keep the same year head mold and the same year tagged body together. Also don't put a preemie head on a regular body it will not look right. You can however use a Toddler or Preschool body with the preemies; the only problem is that the tags and head mold will not match. If it is for your personal collection or a gift the tag year number and head mold number want really matter. You can also buy head molds. Sometimes you might have a good head and body but the hair has been cut really short. You can re-root a Cabbage Patch Doll or any other doll, for that matter (Barbie for example).

For re-rooting please see the link list below

One big problem with restoring Cabbage Patch Kids is "Where to buy the clothes and shoes"? I will try to provide you a few ideas to help you get some clothes for your dolls.
The best place to get clothes for your Cabbage Patch Kid's is discount department stores. Examples, Ross, Marshall's, TJ-Max, Ebay, Overstock, and more. What a lot of people don't know is that preemie baby clothes fit Cabbage Patch Kids. Now the catch is they can not be newborn or 0-6 months they have to be preemie. I was looking on Amazon recently and noticed $35.00 preemie dress's for $14.99 with free shipping. I have bought many preemie outfits for $2.00 at the end of each season. Wal-Mart also carries some very cute preemie clothes but they sell out very fast.
Children's Preemie outfits will not fit the Preemie Cabbage Patch Dolls or the Toddler/Preschool Collection. For Preemie doll's you can buy a preemie t-shirt, hat, booties, and a blanket to wrap them in. The Toddler/Preschool are very hard to find. My only suggestion for them is find small teddy bear or other small doll clothes for them. Another source for clothes and shoes is Teddy bear clothing and other doll clothes. Most doll and teddy bear clothes fit a 15-16 inch doll, the same size as Cabbage Patch Kids. I like to shop at A Dolly's World, com. They have many clothes for all types of dolls, and their prices are very good. They also except paypal. You can always doe a search for doll or teddy bear clothes and see what comes up. I think the Build a Bear clothing fits CPK's too. You can always order or buy an outfit and try it on your doll, just keep your receipt so you can take it back if it doesn't.
Shoes are very hard to find. You only have two options; Ebay or teddy bear shoes. You may get lucky though and find a pair of booties that look like shoes in the children's section. I did find some soft sneakers at a dollar store one time, and they fit the Cabbage Patch Dolls perfectly.
Hair accessories are very easy to find. With all the closeout stores and online auctions it is very easy to find hair bows and hats. Just search for Children's Hair Accessories.

Like I mentioned before if you are going to restore dolls for a hobby or to re-sell don't overlook the "ugly dolls". If you see a doll let's say at a yard sale that is in terrible shape it still might be worth something. Maybe the head is still in good shape, or the clothes are just dirty. If nothing else you could use the stuffing inside to fix another doll. If you see a doll or clothed teddy bear on clearance, buy it use the clothes. Use your imagination and you will find stuff every where to restore your Cabbage Patch Dolls. I even seen an artificial cabbage one time, I bought it, took some of the leaves out and put a preemie doll inside, talk about cute!
Some other fun suggestions are to add handmade jewelry to your dolls. This is a very good idea if you are giving a doll to some one special. Matching bracelet or necklaces are very fun or matching earrings. You can take a piercing earring and make a whole in the ears of Cabbage Patch Dolls. You do not need to glue them in if you use a wide earring. This way you can change the earrings to match their outfits. If your doll is for display or for a very small child I would glue them in with Tacky Glue (it glues to everything and dries clear).
If you would like to add handmade jewelry, I find that Oriental Trading has the best craft supplies for really good prices. They have a whole catalog dedicated to beads. If you would like a free catalog just email me your address or go to their main site and sign up.