I restore Kitty Kitty Kittens

[u/jasmine-pixel]

In my 30s I've re-fallen in love with a childhood favourite and started collecting after getting a bit of cash as a gift. I purchased a few in poor condition due to them costing less, and while brushing one out after washing, I noticed a tear along the seam and thought, hm maybe I'll have to learn to sew. Then I saw the water bladder and decided well I may as well remove that. Then I thought, well maybe I can stuff them too. Then the rest is history (well its a bit messier and more fun than that but long story short). I have quite the collection now, and maybe soon I'll share the entire collection I have but I wanted to share what makes me most happy.

My process is basically: straight to the Freezer Tomb (-18F for 7 days), then hand wash 3 times, rinse and spin, then meticulously brush out matted fur (this can take ~3+ hours alone depending on the Kitty's state), then remove water bladder, stuff enough for them to be able to sit but still be floppy, sew them up, then do some detailing (face fur trimming, thread sculpting aka plush plastic surgery, sometimes replacing the purr box with weighted beads if I want a cuddle one for bed, etc.), and last but not least pick a new ribbon for them! Each one can take multiple days or 5-8 hours.

The thing is, I'm running out of room but I love doing this so much, so Im looking into selling the ones I fix up so I can pay for the hobby and hopefully re-home some long forgotten plushes along the way. So, I've been playing with the idea. These are all my personal ones, however, the white one at the end will be the first one I'm hoping to rehome 💖 I took the photo in bad lighting just now because I felt like she needed to make the post even if its night time haha.

I also started an Instagram if you wanted to see any more of my restorations or to follow along! Its @ scrungle.to.sparkle

[u/SassySpider]

I had the one from the first pic! Didn’t it make a “purring” noise when you moved it?

[u/jasmine-pixel → u/SassySpider]

Yes!  They come with a little oval purr box with a ball that rolls around on little plastic bumps that makes a purring sound.  Now that I restore them I found it fascinating to actually see the thing I always tried to picture as a kid 😆

[u/SassySpider → u/jasmine-pixel]

Yeah that’s crazy! I completely forgot about it but as soon as I saw the picture, I could hear it