About the service
Send me photographs first: the whole toy, then a close-up of every sore spot. Almost everything that lands on my table is the same handful of troubles. Seams have quietly opened along the back. The pile has matted into felt from years of hugging. One eye was lost somewhere between the sofa and the pram. The filling is pressed so flat that the bear has neither neck nor shape. And there is a smell that no amount of airing on the balcony has shifted. From the photographs I can usually say what is realistic and roughly what it will cost; the exact estimate comes after I have the toy in my hands, because a seam that looks tidy in a picture is sometimes held together by three threads and habit.
The work itself is slow and done almost entirely by hand. Where a machine wash would finish the toy off, and that is the case whenever there is old glue, a cardboard insert, a music block or fabric gone brittle, I clean it section by section instead and dry it flat so nothing shifts inside. Old stuffing comes out and new hypoallergenic filling goes in, packed back to the original shape rather than to whatever is easiest: I measure and photograph the toy before I open it, so the bear that goes home is the same bear that arrived. Matted pile is combed out strand by strand and lifted with steam; thin patches are refilled with fur taken from a hidden seam allowance. Patches go on the inside, in cloth matched as closely as I can find, so from the outside you see a mended toy and not a bandaged one. Loose paws and ears are sewn back along their original seam lines, a lost eye or nose is replaced or embroidered, a music block is repaired if the mechanism is alive and honestly declared dead if it is not, and the toy's own clothes are washed and pressed separately.
Two honest warnings before we agree on anything. If the toy is going back to a child under three, every eye and nose is replaced with embroidery, and buttons, beads, bells and any other small hard parts are removed: nothing that can be pulled off and swallowed goes home with a small child. After the repair I test each seam by pulling on it, so the filling cannot work its way out in the first week of hugging. Old cloth, though, sometimes gives way in the middle of the job, and thread pulls through rotten fabric as if through paper. If I think that is likely I say so before I start, and I do not promise a perfect result. The same honesty applies to stains: set-in marks and the original colour are the two things I will not promise, because decades-old spots and sun-faded dye almost never come all the way out.
What the work includes:
— assessment from your photographs, a written estimate and a realistic date
— gentle hand cleaning and deodorising where a machine wash would destroy the toy
— full or partial replacement of the filling, with the original shape measured and rebuilt
— combing, steaming and restoration of matted or thinned fur
— internal patches in matched fabric, paws, ears and tails re-sewn on their own seam lines
— embroidered eyes, nose and mouth when the hardware is lost or the toy is for a small child
— music block repaired, replaced or removed, always with your agreement first
— washing and pressing of the toy's own clothes
— before-and-after photographs sent to you
— soft padded packing for the return journey by post
The work itself is slow and done almost entirely by hand. Where a machine wash would finish the toy off, and that is the case whenever there is old glue, a cardboard insert, a music block or fabric gone brittle, I clean it section by section instead and dry it flat so nothing shifts inside. Old stuffing comes out and new hypoallergenic filling goes in, packed back to the original shape rather than to whatever is easiest: I measure and photograph the toy before I open it, so the bear that goes home is the same bear that arrived. Matted pile is combed out strand by strand and lifted with steam; thin patches are refilled with fur taken from a hidden seam allowance. Patches go on the inside, in cloth matched as closely as I can find, so from the outside you see a mended toy and not a bandaged one. Loose paws and ears are sewn back along their original seam lines, a lost eye or nose is replaced or embroidered, a music block is repaired if the mechanism is alive and honestly declared dead if it is not, and the toy's own clothes are washed and pressed separately.
Two honest warnings before we agree on anything. If the toy is going back to a child under three, every eye and nose is replaced with embroidery, and buttons, beads, bells and any other small hard parts are removed: nothing that can be pulled off and swallowed goes home with a small child. After the repair I test each seam by pulling on it, so the filling cannot work its way out in the first week of hugging. Old cloth, though, sometimes gives way in the middle of the job, and thread pulls through rotten fabric as if through paper. If I think that is likely I say so before I start, and I do not promise a perfect result. The same honesty applies to stains: set-in marks and the original colour are the two things I will not promise, because decades-old spots and sun-faded dye almost never come all the way out.
What the work includes:
— assessment from your photographs, a written estimate and a realistic date
— gentle hand cleaning and deodorising where a machine wash would destroy the toy
— full or partial replacement of the filling, with the original shape measured and rebuilt
— combing, steaming and restoration of matted or thinned fur
— internal patches in matched fabric, paws, ears and tails re-sewn on their own seam lines
— embroidered eyes, nose and mouth when the hardware is lost or the toy is for a small child
— music block repaired, replaced or removed, always with your agreement first
— washing and pressing of the toy's own clothes
— before-and-after photographs sent to you
— soft padded packing for the return journey by post
