Madame Alexander Kathy skater

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about restoring stiff oilcloth doll shoes — in this case, a pair of red oilcloth doll skates for a 14-inch Madame Alexander Kathy skater.

My Kathy skater (circa 1949-1951) was another one of those lucky finds. I'm not sure why no one bid very high — because she had some play wear, or because the seller didn't identify her — but I bought her for what was a good price at the time (five or six years ago, before doll prices started going down). I think she's beautiful!

Kathy is wearing a red cotton bodysuit with three-quarter length sleeves, and a navy skirt that has faded to look more like a dark purple. The bodysuit is faded in the front above the skirt, probably where it was the most exposed to sunlight, as you can see in this picture.

Kathy has light brown floss braids. She has been played with, unfortunately, so they are a little fuzzy in places,but they are still braided, and the color is beautiful. Only two Maggie-faced strung dolls came with wigs in pigtail braids: Kathy and Polly Pigtails. Unfortunately, without their original clothes to identify them there is no way to tell them apart.

Kathy's bodysuit is tagged with an embroidered Madame Alexander tag. Recently I saw a doll in this same outfit (except with her original felt headband) that was tagged "Polly Pigtails." I believe she was mistagged, which happened fairly frequently, but until I see more examples of this doll (and check their tags) I'll have no way to know for sure.

Kathy originally would have worn brown leather roller skates, but when I got her she had on vintage navy oilcloth center snap shoes on her feet. (They later enabled me to complete my Arranbee Nanette or Nancy Lee, whom I will write a post about sometime soon.) I originally found white replacement skates for her, but eventually happened to find these MIB red oilcloth skates, which I softened with steam in order to get them on her feet.

Although the roller skates aren't technically appropriate, I have little hope of ever finding the correct skates, and I have to admit the red skates complement her outfit nicely. As for the felt headband — the seller of the mint "Polly Pigtails" doll took pictures of her doll's original headband, and I am going to try to copy it!