Transformation into Toddler

Meet Jonatan!

A while ago I started to think I might want a toddler doll. I had learned that there exist toddlers and wobblers, and I was really interested in them.
Some people unbend Sasha baby legs, and others attach other dolls' legs to create a standing toddler.

Because there are not a lot of toddlers around and ones that are on the market are out of my reach. I started looking for a pair of legs that could fit a baby Sasha doll well. I had a good feeling about using a 13'' Effanbee reproduction doll. 

However, I wasn't sure. I found a 13" Patsy reproduction doll on eBay for a good price and bought it just to compare them and see if my feeling was right.

                                          

Here they are together. It seemed like a good idea. However, I didn't want to take this lovely doll's legs away from her. That would be kind of cruel, as she is a very pretty and complete doll that just needed restringing! She came with two dresses and her original shoes.

I start searching again for doll parts, and got lucky. I found this pair of legs from a 13" Skippy Effanbee reproduction boy in a lot with dolls parts.

When the doll parts arrived, I was very happy. They were in good condition. They are slightly lighter and shinier than the Sasha boy's legs (comparison below). Nevertheless, they are vinyl and the difference isn't that important to me, considering that they fit well. I was also happy to learn that the Effanbee dolls have similar stringing inside, and the legs are connected by hooks. 

Then there was a dilemma. I have five baby dolls. Who will suddenly grow up? After thinking for a while I decided that my first doll, Telesyk, would get the privilege to walk around and see the world from a new perspective. I am not sure how other dolls will take it. :)

Yesterday, I finally got the courage to do the restringing.

One good thing is that the new legs have the same shoe size and flat feet!

Here you can see that the hooks on the legs are very similar to the Sasha hooks.

I've restrung one Sasha baby doll before. This time wasn't much easier than the first time - I was hoping it would be. The last time I used a loop of cord with a circumference of 3 cm (measure after tying) for the arms. However, it looked so tiny that it took me three attempts to get it right.

It was even more difficult to adjust the legs to the correct tightness. Here my baby is sitting after my first attempt. The legs were too loose. With regular baby legs, I use a cord with a 15 cm circumference. But these legs are different and their hooks are longer.

It took me five attempts to finally manage good tension. Instead of 15 cm I made it around 5-6 cm. 

Here he is, standing all on his own!

The tension is good. He can pose, sit, and stand. I am very happy with the results! The legs look right to me; not too bulky and they fit the sockets just right. Also the leg length is around 6.5''. The Effanbee doll was created to be a three year old child. So I guess the shape looks right too.

I don't mind the difference in color. I will probably dress him in longer pants or a pair of shorts.

But I am very very happy with the results.

Now the name. The doll was called Telesyk from the beginning, after Ivasyk Telesyk from a Ukrainian fairytale. It is difficult to pronounce in English. I am not changing the name, just giving him an English name as well. It's sort of the counterpart of his name: Ivasyk comes from Ivan, which is why I choose Jonatan.

Borrowed overalls :) He will need new clothes. The baby-sized overalls are a little too snug. It really is good that all of the baby shoes still fit well. I am working on a new sweater and pants for him! 

He is a big boy now and wants to go to see the trains at the holiday train show, like he heard about from his brother Thomas!

A lot of confusion on the shelf.

He promises to be a good big brother. :)

Restringing

 A few of my dolls have needed restringing for a long time. With my first doll that I bought in 2010 in a thrift shop, I could see that she needed to be restrung but I knew nothing about it so I put it off. Later I got more dolls, and although most of them have tight stringing, some were loose. I read people's posts about it and watched videos about Sasha doll restringing, but was scared to do it myself. Yesterday I finally got the courage! As I mentioned before, my inspiration works in mysterious ways.

I started with a baby doll that I bought recently and even did not show here yet. The baby boy doll looked okay when it arrived, but after a few days I realized that his left hand was moving strangely. When I checked the arm, it fell off because the arm string was old and broke. 

I bought string and other tools that I would need a long time ago, so I began fixing him.

The first attempt to restring the baby wasn't successful. It was too loose and I wasn't sure what was wrong, so I put the doll aside. 
I drank some tea, watched the video, and read the notes from this post again. I was thinking through the process and what went wrong, so I decided to try one of my older dolls instead.

I chose Yasmina because she could barely stand on her feet. I bought her in 2017, and she was a little loose from the beginning but it got worse with time. It was extremely difficult to to pose her for pictures, and she spent most of her time sitting on the shelf, instead of standing up.
My next attempt, with Yasmina, worked better. With my son's help I was able to replace the loose old string and put a new one in. It was difficult, but we managed. I learned how to do the knot. We also did it twice, since the first time the tension was too loose again. We changed it, and the second time it was great!

Then I restrung my first doll, Velvet/Sophia. Everything went smoothly this time. There was a funny moment too. From the beginning with my first Sasha I was wondering why there was an string end coming from the leg holes. The leg was attached to it anyway and I didn't know back then how Sashas are connected inside, so I did not bother anyone with questions. When I detached her arms and legs, I saw that the old string was actually broken off from her neck. Here is a picture. The poor girl stayed with a broken string for so many years. :(

I figured out through trial and error that these string sizes worked for my dolls' arms and legs the best.

For the 16'' Sasha dolls, I made the loop for the legs approximately 34 cm long, and the loop for the arms approximately 7 cm long. 

For 12'' baby dolls, approximately 15 cm for the legs, and 3 cm for the arms.

The numbers are the circumference of each loop after it's been connected.

Below are pictures of my three dolls feeling much better and posing well! I am very satisfied and even proud. Also, it is better to have someone to assist with stringing. I am very thankful for my son's help.
At some point it was unbelievably hard to try to do it with only two hands.