Restoration of a Rare Rushton Ballerina Bun!!!

I recently splurged on myself for Christmas, Teehee!! I was able to bid and win this lovely vintage Rushton plush Bunny Ballerina from Japan. She has quite a unique look to her, and not like the similarly quirky eyed, Easter dressed large bunnies you often see on Ebay or through collectors pics on IG. This girl is quite rare, and I have only seen her twice before this! So, either they didn't sell many or perhaps, she was loved so much, that she fell apart in time... She stands about 10 inches tall, counting her ears, then about 12 inches. She wears a white with blue and pink dotted sheer ballerina skirt, with pink stain bows on her shoes, waist, neck. On her left ear an artificial rose, I believe she also had a rose on the bow of her skirt. Her ears are bendable, and she has peach pink felt shoes, and same colored satin ear lining. She stands just like the other Easter Bunnies, but in a smaller easy carry size for little ones. Her eyes are just a bit quirky like the larger bunny gals, in pink, and has blonde hair. Her fur is white.

On Wednesday she arrived safely from Japan! She was a lovely surprise, after having that whole car situation. (Off subject, we did get a new car, a Honda HRV 2019.) Any who... Above, as soon as I opened her box. She arrived safely, but of course, I knew she'd need cleaning. Her fur was dingy, and she still had one of her roses, along with all her bows and her tulle skirt. Her original tag was in tack. I thought for a bit, and decided to put her into the wash. Yes, I know I've warned about the felt shoes, not lasting in the wash, but I wanted her clean. I placed her into the washer and on medium cycle, praying she'd survive. To no surprise, she did not. Uuuuugh! I immediately cleaned the washer and took her out carefully. There was stuffing everywhere, and her felt shoes broke apart, mostly the top half of the shoes. Please be warned, felt does not last in the wash.

 Before and After

 I laid her out to dry and found her cardboard soles, laid them out too. Her felt shoes were hanging on by threads literally. I had to wait til' she air dried and that gave me time to think about how I could fix her feet or if I even could. But, she was nice and white again and looked amazing, with tag in tack still, whew. Even though her shoes were basically shredded... I slept on it, and thought of what to do. By the next morning, I had an idea of what I could. I immediately started to take out her stuffing. It took a bit of work and time. Even though I had two places to take stuffing out of, both her legs of course. I just didn't want to risk any more damage to her. Slowly, I removed all of the cotton batting, even through to her ears. I did leave the stuffing in her arms. As I did, the stuffing was damp and needed airing out too. She had a tear on her chest, that I noticed as I was doing this. I had sewn that part up, and did a quick check to see if there were any other areas. I stuffed her head with regular cotton stuffing, and decided to reuse the rest of her cotton batting for her body. I liked the weight of the cotton batting, and I knew that would keep her upright, and not too soft, that she'd be floppy.

 After, replacing her cotton batting, which kind of looked like strawberry cotton candy or oatmeal. LOL I started to work on her felt shoes. I didn't have peach pink felt, only pastel pink felt. I used paper and traced out her foot. Cut the felt and started to figure out how to create the top half of the shoe. That didn't go to well. Ugh, So, I started again, and this time decided that the bottom half of her shoes had some moth eaten holes, but were still salvageable. So, I used them and found a felt vest from another Rushton bunny, that I sold last year to use. Its color was much closer to the peach pink original felt. Yay! I glued extra felt over the moth holes from the inside of the shoe, replaced the cardboard into the shoe, and began the hard work of sewing the felt onto her ankles.

 It took some maneuvering, but it got done. So, if you look at her shoes underneath, they are the original felt, and only the top half is replaced vintage felt, a little bit off in color, but it was subtle. I brush her fur, and found a bit of a tear on the backside of her arm. Fixed that part and put on her ballerina skirt, and ribbons on her shoes. I decided to double tie her large satin ribbon bow, and added a blue sheer bow to her neck. I will try to find more artificial pink roses. But for now, her original one is on her left ear. She turned out lovely, and I was so happy, that I could still fix her shoes with not too much fuss. Whew! She is able to stand up on her own too! Yess!

 She is a welcomed addition to my little Rushton collection. I did sell most of my bears, and may put another up for adoption. But this ballerina cutie, I will keep for now... Thank you so much for reading, and I hope this edition on my restoration of vintage Rushton plush helps you to restore yours!! - ggsdolls