Washing & Mending

Since all their dolls were undressed, and Rags had made a mess of several in his efforts to escape, Nyssa's Mom suggested it was the perfect opportunity to wash all their doll clothes.

Washing the Doll Clothes

It was a lovely day out, so they set up tubs of soapy water out on the porch, then they put on their aprons, rolled up their sleeves, and set to work....

Holly stuffed her tub full of doll clothes....

Elin offered to help, and worked at a second tub....

...while Nyssa hung everything up....

Effie didn't want to get her hands dirty, and didn't offer to help. At her house they had a maid that did all their laundry. But that didn't stop her from offering plenty of advice....

"Our maid always hangs white clothes in the sun so it will bleach the clothes nice and white. "

"You're also supposed to hang all the longer stuff on the outsides, and the shorter things in the middle...
so it won't touch the ground...."

The other girls tried to ignore her....

"You also aren't supposed to hang your laundry under any trees, or the birds will come and poop all over everything, and then it has to be washed all over again...

"Sigh..." poor Nyssa had about had enough. "Effie, I think I hear your Mom calling you."

"That can't be. She said I could stay here until dinner time." So, the girls just kept on washing....

Then, with their dolls just lying there all naked.....Holly thought it was a good idea to give them a bath as well....

Effie was still there, giving non-stop advice to Nyssa....

.....who was hanging up the last of the doll clothes....

"You do know that doll is hollow, right? If you put it in the water, it will get all wet inside..."

"...and if you don't let it dry completely, it can get mouldy inside..."

"Oh, oh...Too late! It's already in the water!"'

"Don't worry, I've washed this doll like this many times before, and it was just fine..."

...and while the girls were distracted with concern for Holly's doll, they didn't notice Rags....

Mending

With all the doll clothes nice and dry, they needed a bit of repair after putting them on Rags.

Lisa, who was already an experienced seamstress, tried to teach her little sister to do it herself...

"Like this?"

Rags couldn't resist playing with the ribbons...

Holly noticed him....

"Stop that Rags!! Get away from there!!"

...and off he ran...

Washing & Mending

Washing the Doll Clothes

Mending

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