I almost feel as if I'm cheating: this weekend I bought three well-worn stuffed animals at antique stores, to take home and repair.
The thing is, I know from working behind the scenes that thrift stores don't put beat-up old animals out for sale––they send them off to salvage & recycling. Antique stores label them "well-loved", however, and sell them for sometimes quite a lot of money. And now I've looked, I see eBay and Etsy can be even more expensive.
This panda was $6, which is the low end for vintage animals. (I'd guess it's from the 1960s, like me.) I instantly loved it––not the case with all animals, by a long shot. And it didn't have any eyes at all, so obviously it belongs in SNARP (the Stuffed Needy Animal Rescue Project).
It looked a bit disturbing eyeless though, so this afternoon before I started any clean-up, I sewed a couple button eyes on its straw-filled head, with some white felt behind, for contrast.
So much happier!
The thing is, I know from working behind the scenes that thrift stores don't put beat-up old animals out for sale––they send them off to salvage & recycling. Antique stores label them "well-loved", however, and sell them for sometimes quite a lot of money. And now I've looked, I see eBay and Etsy can be even more expensive.
This panda was $6, which is the low end for vintage animals. (I'd guess it's from the 1960s, like me.) I instantly loved it––not the case with all animals, by a long shot. And it didn't have any eyes at all, so obviously it belongs in SNARP (the Stuffed Needy Animal Rescue Project).
It looked a bit disturbing eyeless though, so this afternoon before I started any clean-up, I sewed a couple button eyes on its straw-filled head, with some white felt behind, for contrast.
So much happier!
Looking much happier!
ReplyDeleteAlt eyes for the future: black button sewed through a larger white button. Not that anything is wrong with felt whites, just a variation.
ReplyDeleteSPARKER: Thanks for the tip--I hadn't thought of that nor seen it--good one!
ReplyDelete