emergency- pin inside of doll!!!

[alisonsage]

ahhhhh!!!! i don't know what to do. i have been making my first waldorf doll and am almost finsished with her. the last things i have left are the face and hair. i was just marking the eye placement with stickpins when the colored head came off one of them and the body of the pin disapeared into the head of the doll. what do i do??

i have tried fishing around for it with a long dollmakers needle but i can't find it. i have also tried massaging/squishing the head to try and find it but it is just too firm and i can't locate it at all.

do i need to take the head off and just make a new one? : this is majorly bumming me out because i was so proud of how the first one came out and how well i attached it to the body. also, it was quite a bit of work and took some time to make the head, sew the doll skinn, attach it, etc.
but this doll is for my 2 yr old dd and i am totally scared to give her something to play with that has a stick pin burried deep inside. : : :

oh mamas, i am so bummed! i should have just taken a nap like dh told me too!

[cinnamama]

Oh, I am so sorry! I don't have answers for you just felt badly! Good luck! ?Maybe a magnet? Hmmm...

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by cinnamama

Oh, I am so sorry! I don't have answers for you just felt badly! Good luck! ?Maybe a magnet? Hmmm...

Yes, that's a hard one. So frustrating- sorry.

[alisonsage]

yah, i was thinking maybe a magnet. i wonder how strong it would have to be though!!

[eepster]

Take a break and relax so you can come back to it with a clear head.

When you come back to it you will need a hemostat or long locking tweezers. Most craft/hobby store will carry one if not both, the hemostat is preferable if you have a choice.

I would try the smooshing method again at this piont if you can get even a millimeter of the pin to stick out the hemostat can grab it. I would give that quite a few tries before giving up and trying my next method.

If this doesn't work then try this.

• Rip just about an inch of the neck seam open.
• Use a slender blunt object (letter opener or butter knife come to mind) to work a tunnel through the stuffing towards where you think the pin is.
• Probe around till you can feel the pin.
• Remove the butter knife and insert the hemostat following you path.
• Grab the pin and pull it out.

[MountainLovinMama]

Originally Posted by eepster

Take a break and relax so you can come back to it with a clear head.

When you come back to it you will need a hemostat or long locking tweezers. Most craft/hobby store will carry one if not both, the hemostat is preferable if you have a choice.

I would try the smooshing method again at this piont if you can get even a millimeter of the pin to stick out the hemostat can grab it. I would give that quite a few tries before giving up and trying my next method.

If this doesn't work then try this.

• Rip just about an inch of the neck seam open.
• Use a slender blunt object (letter opener or butter knife come to mind) to work a tunnel through the stuffing towards where you think the pin is.
• Probe around till you can feel the pin.
• Remove the butter knife and insert the hemostat following you path.
• Grab the pin and pull it out.

Good advice, but I think I would (after the smooshing didn't work) cut a small opening in the back of the head rather than at the neck - then you could sew it up and cover it with hair, and it would be in an area that does not get a lot of stress during play/use. It seems to me that the neck gets more stress and a rip there would be more likely to reopen over time. Good luck!!

[eepster]

Originally Posted by MountainLovinMama

Good advice, but I think I would (after the smooshing didn't work) cut a small opening in the back of the head rather than at the neck - then you could sew it up and cover it with hair, and it would be in an area that does not get a lot of stress during play/use. It seems to me that the neck gets more stress and a rip there would be more likely to reopen over time. Good luck!!

I didn't mean to cut the fabric on the neck that would be just as you say weak spot. I meant to go in through a seam. Ofcourse your way might lead more directly to the pin depending on where it is. I had thought she already put the hair on, but she could always just add more hair.

[alisonsage]

hi every one, thanks for the answers!

i have tried the smooshing method again and just can't seem to lacate the pin. because it went in straight through where the eye is it is in the thickest part of the head.

before i preform surgery i have a few qustions! i have not put the hair on yet so i am contemplating going through the back of the head. if i cut a hole in the knit and the tubing will this cause tons of wool to spring out? will tunneling around in there also totally mis-shape it? also, how would i sew it up again? just overstitch around?

i took poor little baby doll to my dad yesterday (who is a fiber artist and worrywort) to get his help and opinion and he tried the squishing method for quite a while as well. he told me that he honestly thinks it will be ok to leave the pin in there. he said that it's not like it is going to come flying out- that if it does work itself out that the tip will come out firat and then i can just use the plyers/hemostat to pull it out. i told him that the though of dd sleeping with loaded-pin-head-dolly made me nervous and he said that he worries about all kinds of thngs but that this should be fine. honestly, what so you guys think?? is it time for surgery?

thanks again mamas

[cinnamama]

I am going to give you my honest opinion. Take into acct I am a total worrywart and I have a daughter a little older than yours but I gave her her first homemade waldorf doll at 1 yr. I couldn't leave it in. I bet your Dad is right, the head is packed so tight it will probably never come out. But personally, I just couldn't leave it. You did such a good job the first time, I am sure you can make another great head and sweet face. I thought I did such a nice job the first time I made a head but I think I am getting better and like the subsequent ones more. You have to do what you feel comfortable with. I am interested to see what everyone else thinks! Don't forget to take apicture of the doll!

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by cinnamama

I am going to give you my honest opinion. Take into acct I am a total worrywart and I have a daughter a little older than yours but I gave her her first homemade waldorf doll at 1 yr. I couldn't leave it in. I bet your Dad is right, the head is packed so tight it will probably never come out. But personally, I just couldn't leave it. You did such a good job the first time, I am sure you can make another great head and sweet face. I thought I did such a nice job the first time I made a head but I think I am getting better and like the subsequent ones more. You have to do what you feel comfortable with. I am interested to see what everyone else thinks! Don't forget to take apicture of the doll!

I agree! I'm sorry, but I would start over, if you can't locate the pin and pull it out.

[eepster]

Your dad is right that it probably would be fine to leave it, but you would constantly be worrying about it. If by some off chance it worked it's way out when you weren't around to grab it and your DD got stuck you would be miserable and it might make her hate the doll. IMO the pin needs to come out.

It will misshape the head slightly while your fishing for the pin, but you should be able to fix it using the hemostat to pull the stuffing back into place. GTG more later

[alisonsage]

where can i find a pair of hemostats? do i need to order them online or are they available locally anywhere?

[eepster]

Back now.

Misshaping will be less of a problem if you use slender intruments and go as directly as possible to the pin.

If there is a seam you can go in through then all you'll need to do is reclose it. If it is better (do to location of pin) to cut a hole in the fabric then I would whip stich the incision closed not so tightly that it pulls the fabric. Then sew a patch over the whip stitched hole to reinforce it.

HTH

[eepster]

Originally Posted by alisonsage

where can i find a pair of hemostats? do i need to order them online or are they available locally anywhere?

Call around to hobby, craft and fabric stores. I worked in a fabric store and we kept them with the upholstery notions.

[alisonsage]

thank you everybody!! i will let you guys know how the surgery goes.

[eepster]

Just remembered people use hemostats for tying flys for fly-fishing. So check with sporting goods stores too.

[MountainLovinMama]

Any luck extricating the needle? I was thinking - small consolation, but if you do end up abandoning the doll and making a new one, you should still finish it and keep it up on a shelf as an heirloom. Then as the years pass, she'll still be fresh and new and you'll have your "very first" doll - my "very first" got loved to death and I was a bit nostalgic when I put her away and made a new one for dd.

[alisonsage]

well, i tried and i still can't find the darn needle! :

i snipped a hole in poor dolly's head and rooted around with a chopstick, a doll making needle and a pair of hemostats and couldn't push it out or find it. i even tried feeling around with my finger and had no luck that way either. poor dolly!

dd watched me intently as i did this and then asked me if she could try poking things in the baby's head. eeek! maybe i should have done this while she was napping!!

[alisonsage]

ok. i finnally finished this project! i ended up taking the head off, opening it up and removing the pin from the wool. i then remade the head and reaatached it (somewhat grumpily lol)

here she is- baby rosie
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../rosedolly.jpg

all i need to do is sew up some diapers and she is ready for dd!

[E.V. Lowi]

Oh, she looks so sweet- you did a wonderful job! I'm so glad she survived the surgery.