Taking the limbs off and getting the plastic cup out is actually not that bad. And even doing the first brass insert (the one that goes inside the leg itself) isn't too difficult either. It starts getting tricky, though, when you're crimping the brass insert that goes inside the body. This time around, on the second leg, I didn't have my hubby to help me. It's extremely difficult to get the elastic in the right spot and to crimp the brass insert tight enough while working around the material of the doll's body.
And a word of caution: I ended up crimping the brass insert too far down. You remember how each insert has one end that is wider? Well, that wider circle is what keeps the insert from moving once it's attached to the little white cups. If you crimp it too close the the wide end, then the insert doesn't stay in place. All that to say...Emily's left leg will probably have to be re-strung again eventually, because I messed it up. The leg my husband did is absolutely perfect (of course). :} That being said, her legs are still better than they were, so it was worth it to re-string her.
The other thing that's a bit time-consuming is getting all of that stuffing back into the doll. There's a whole lot of stuffing for that small body cavity. It's actually amazing how much stuffing they cram into these dolls!!
Look how stuffed the body is, and how much stuffing still has to go in there!!
I also found that I couldn't reach all the way down to make sure the stuffing was packed tightly. So I actually ended up using the round end of a wooden spoon to pack Emily's stuffing. I would grab a handful of stuffing, push it in and shape it with the spoon, then grab another handful. I repeated this process until all of the stuffing was back in.
Finally all stuffed!!
Then it was just a matter of replacing her head and tying her neck strings again.
And Voila!! Here she is, all better! :)
As you can see from this pic, her legs are much tighter.
