American Girl - Kirsten Larson

She is a hot mess. I found her at a thrift store. I paid $3.99 for her. The elastic in her pantaloons is shot so they keep falling down. 

Her name is Kirsten Larson. She is an historical doll. She's was born in Ryd, Sweden in 1845 and moved with her family to the Minnesota frontier. She's wearing her original meet pioneer outfit from 1854. This doll was released in 1986, retired in early 2010. 

I learned some of this from the American Girl/Our Generation Dolls an (sic) Accessories Facebook group and www.americangirl.com. 

Right eye is cockeyed, giving her that crackhead look. 

Her hair is a wreckage. I heard it can be fixed with Downy Fabric Softener and a wire brush. 

She doesn't have a tag on her body. Her skin is tan. Her limbs are very loose. 

I don't know what's going on with her shoes. They're in rough shape. 

I called American Girl's 800 number to find out about their doll hospital. It's located in Wisconsin. It would cost $44 plus tax plus shipping to get her head replaced, general cleaning and limbs tightened. 

I was told that there are a lot of tutorials on www.youtube.com for fixing American Girl dolls. I'm going to try that option. 

This is my first AG doll. I think she was a great find. I'm glad I finally have one. I also found a lot of AG clothes at the thrift store. She'll have a nice wardrobe. 

It's going to take me awhile to restore her to original state. If her hair can't be saved I'll get her another wig. 

If anyone knows anything about restoring AG dolls, please leave a comment. I'd appreciate any help I can get. 

EDIT:

I watched YouTube tutorials to learn how to fix this poor doll. I learned a lot so I wanted to share with everyone the process so far. 

I learned how to remove the head and tighten the limbs. It was real easy. 

At the same time, I let her hair soak in Downy fabric softener overnight. 

These are my hair supplies. Braid and wig spray $1.99, a wig brush and a flat iron. 

I went to several beauty and hair supply stores but couldn't find a steel brush. I wasn't going to the city to the AG store to pay $8 for a hair brush. 

This is how her hair looks now. Big difference. I trimmed it a little to make it even. Her hair is so soft, shiny and straight. 

The roots didn't come out so well but they don't look as bad as they did when I got her. 

Her bangs came out like this. It's very disappointing. 

Here's a video I made about my progress so far. http://youtu.be/0Uml7AzcerU

Now I have to work on her bangs. I will not rest until this madness is straightened out. 

I washed her clothes by hand and ironed them. I need to replace the elastic in her pantaloons. That's going to take awhile because I'm in no mood to pull out the sewing machine. Wiped off her shoes with a damp rag. So far, she's looking good. 

More progress:

I took Kirsten out to get some air. I washed and pressed her clothes. I still haven't replaced the elastic in her bloomers. Will get around to that someday. 

That's the best I could do on her bangs. 

Her hair is still super dry. I think I will re-wig her at some point. 

Here she is having some fun and hanging out with a few friends on the boardwalk. That's Heart 4 Heart Lauryce and Doc McStuffins. Doc is wearing Lauryce's sweater. She was a little chilly. 

Robotica