Washing Doll Clothes Attached to Doll

Does anyone know how to wash doll clothes if they're sewn into a porcelain doll? Or how to wash fabric parts of the body?

I recently opened a box belonging to my grandmother that had a porcelain doll that had been stored away for 5-10 years. Parts of the doll (clothes, fabric body, and plastic hat) have yellow spots on them. I assume this is either mildew or foxing, I'm inclined to think it's the latter. Either way, it is unsightly and I've heard foxing may be related to mildew so I definitely want to get that cleaned up.

So does anyone how to clean this stuff up and any recommendations on a cleaning solution?

For what it's worth, the other porcelain dolls that were stored away do not have spots on them. And naturally, the one with the spots is everyone's favorite.

 

Hi Bblu8!

Welcome to Antiquers.......

Please show us the doll in question so we can see what you see.

 

Welcome, @bblu8 ! I agree that it will help to see the doll and its clothing. Do you know what material the clothes are made from? That will make a difference in what to do, probably.

 

Hi bblu8.

Are you having a problem with pictures?

If you are using your phone, email them to yourself choosing Medium.

You can insert them in your next post . Please choose Full Image rather than Thumbnail.

 

Hi again. I just talked with my mother, who has a lot of experience in cleaning dolls and their clothing. She is also an expert seamstress, so read the rest of this knowing that.

She told me that if the clothes are sewn together so that they can't be removed from the doll, but are not actually attached physically to the doll, they can be taken apart carefully at the seams and the pieces can be washed. Then when putting the clothing back together snaps can be put in so it will go back on.

She also said that she is not aware of clothes actually being sewn to a non-cloth doll. However, they could be glued or stapled to the doll. She said the glued ones can be removed carefully (I didn't ask her how). The stapled clothes are more of a problem because removing the staples will automatically make holes in the clothing no matter how careful you are.

And if the clothes are made of silk or something else that shouldn't be put in the water, it would not be a good idea to do any of this.

Of course we'd still like to see photos!