A Repair Shop expert admitted, “I’m worried”, over a nerve-wracking career first on Wednesday (July 9).
During tonight’s episode of Favourite Fixes, which aired on BBC One, Vanessa Budd arrived at the barn with a World War II memento for the attention of toy restorers Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch.
Vanessa brought in her mum Zoe’s Land Army doll, Jill, which she believed had been handmade after her mother joined the civilian organisation at 18 years old.
“We think she made this doll within the first couple of years because this is the Land Army hat. But she joined the Timber Corps in 1942,” the guest explained.
“I think of her not just as a doll, but a symbol of what so many women did during the Second World War.”
Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch restored a Land Army doll (Image: BBC)
Vanessa hoped that the experts could restore the doll’s clothing, as well as learning what they found underneath the garments as she was never allowed to take the clothes off as a child.
“I’m a little bit worried about her wobbly head, but you can see the wartime sort of hairstyle, can’t you? Yeah, it’s very sweet,” Amanda said after first inspecting the doll, with Julie adding: “It’ll be an honour then. We’ll be the first people to have looked [underneath the clothes].”
Julie quickly set about delicately removing the doll’s blazer, trousers and shoes, which had been tightly stitched to the body.
“We’ve definitely never worked on one of these before. Until we’ve removed all these clothes, we don’t actually know what work we’ve got to do,” she admitted.
The experts embarked on a career first (Image: BBC)
Once the clothes were off, Amanda opened up the doll to better assess the damage, while Julie began the “time-consuming” job of darning the holes in the clothes.
“It was so important to keep this original jumper,” Julie noted.
“It’s not something that we would have been able to replace. It’s definitely a one of a kind, and I think for that reason I was able to persevere with all this darning.”
Amanda then took off all of the doll’s ringlet curls, before remaking each strand and sticking them back on one by one.
“It’s been a complete adventure, amazing,” she said as the restoration neared its completion.
The guest was delighted after the restoration (Image: BBC)
Later, Vanessa was left speechless when she saw her mother’s restored doll that was fit for duty once again.
“Oh, she’s lovely! She’s absolutely gorgeous. My mum would have been so proud. I just wish she was here today cause she would have been 100 this year. What a birthday present,” she said.
Amanda then opened up on the unique process of restoring the item, saying: “It’s been like an exploration of trying to get into the mindset of your mum making it because it’s not like anything we’ve seen before.”
The expert concluded: “She’s a really fitting tribute to that era.”
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