Need advice for mending childhood plush

[u/dragonarrow2776]

Hi guys! I need some help.

I've been through a lot in my life and my Rosie has been with me through it all. I stopped sleeping with her a couple of years ago because I was worried about her falling apart. I don't think she'll ever be strong enough for that again, so I'm mostly okay with her sitting on a shelf once she's repaired but I would like to cuddle her occasionally.

I was thinking that mending Rosie could help me heal a part of my inner child. While I've gone through a lot of therapy for my trauma, I still feel disconnected from my childhood. I think spending time mending Rosie and making her whole again would help me reconnect with it.

I'm just not sure where to start. I've sewn my whole life, but mending is new to me. She's quite threadbare in places and her body fabric is quite thin. I'm thinking her fabric may need to be reinforced, but I'm not sure how to go about that without taking her entirely apart lol. (If I have to I will, but that seems really scary tbh).

So, tl;dr: how do I go about mending Rosie? I'm not sure where to start but I want to do it myself to help heal my inner child. ❤️

[u/icephoenix821]

Make her a cute outfit and stitch it permanently on, ruffled cuffs can cover the seams between the body and the limbs/head.

I can't quite tell where that furry area is, maybe between the eye and ear? Give her a coordinating headband or hat.

[u/dragonarrow2776 → u/icephoenix821]

The furry area is an inch or so from her eye that goes up from the the neck to the ear.

That's not a terrible idea though. The flowers on her are special to me, but maybe I could find some similar fabric to use for something like that.

[u/beezeebeehazcatz → u/dragonarrow2776]

I still wanted to see the original fabric, so I used a very fine, soft mesh fabric to make a new body and stitched it over the top. I haven’t tried washing him since the repair, but I’m not worried about bits of him falling off anymore.

[u/camioblu]

Personally, I would give her a gentle wash and dry. Then I would gently take apart her seams and use each piece as a pattern for a whole body inner lining to reinforce her all over. Sashiko-stitch throughout, but in small, single thread stitches so as not to show much. Then rejoin her seams and stuffing by hand with a sumple slip stitch.

In this way, you won't have to repair any bits of wear and tear on the outside. She'll basically look the same, only reinforced inside. She can sleep with you, on the other pillow, or make her a small bed on your nightstand.

This goes for you as well. We heal from the inside and reinforce our basic structure with new thoughts.

[u/dragonarrow2776 → u/camioblu]

Thank you so much! ❤️

I'm a little intimidated about taking her apart, but I think you're right. This would probably be my best bet to reinforce her while still keeping her looking relatively the same. Do you have any suggestions on a fabric to use for the inner lining?

[u/camioblu → u/dragonarrow2776]

I was thinking just a simple cotton. You could thrift a pillowcase, maybe something pretty like a floral design. Leftover fabric could be made into bedding for her.

I know it may feel weird dismantling her, but it will be a labor of love. The feelings are yours, so there's no worry of harming her. Think of each pulled stitch as removing pain from yourself and each new stitch (of which there will be many) as stitching yourself back together in a new form.

This could potentially be very healing.

[u/dragonarrow2776 → u/camioblu]

Oh I love this so much, thank you ❤️

[u/camioblu → u/dragonarrow2776]

Most welcome - be well

[u/Madaceandthefiasco]

All of Rosie’s injuries look like darning would be the correct treatment. Pick out some soft Cotton or sheep’s wool and save the structurally damaged fabric :) I hope healing her helps heal you! Tell her to get well soon :) (I recently sent my childhood plushie ‘to the salon’ where I fluffed her fur etc. was very healing but also… painful. Holding her felt almost like it did 16years ago and with it came many flashbacks. So: take care of yourself, treat the both of you with love and kindness. Go easy on yourself)

[u/dragonarrow2776 → u/Madaceandthefiasco]

Thank you so much and I really appreciate you sharing your experience as well! Sending big hugs to you and your plushie and I hope you're doing alright now. 💖 I definitely had some tears when I pulled her out to take these photos. So, I'm planning to take this process as slow as I need to.

[u/dragonarrow2776 → u/Madaceandthefiasco]

Sorry, I forgot to ask in my original reply, would I use the soft cotton/wool for darning or did you mean that for something else?

[u/sezit]

Mending with a whip stitch and matching thread color would be fine and not very noticable.

If you sewed a small t-shirt or bought a baby onesie it would hold her together and protect from tearing. You might even be able to sleep with her if you had an entire outfit, pants and top with a hoodie.