Here is Sylvie, sans eye lashes (see the sad temporary lashes behind her).
If you like fashion dolls from the sixties, you are probably familiar with Alta Moda S Girls produced by the Italian company Furga. These elegant 17-inch tall beauties had fabulous wardrobes and accessories. Their hair could be coiffed in fun styles and they all had very distinct eye lashes. Some might find these lashes bizarre, but what ever your feelings about them, they are an important part of their unique charm. These wonky lashes might have caused some consternation with the original owners of the dolls, because it is common to find a doll today with her lashes cut or removed. But how do you replace those crazy, long, floss-like lashes?
I’ve tried lots of false eyelashes meant for humans, but when I found this I was stunned by how well it matched Furga’s original lashes.
Bernat Boa yarn in Raven
Compare the yarn to some original lashes:
Susanna with her original lashes. The Bernat yarn draped on her forehead. Nice match, don’t you think?
You’ll want to cut off a piece of the yarn and iron it flat before you start to work with it. Also, I applied Fray Check to the very ‘header’ of the fringe. This will keep the yarn from unraveling and will also make the yarn fringe firmer and easier to manipulate.
Cut off a length of the fringe-like yarn.
Apply a very thin amount of Fray Check to the header of the yarn fringe. Not too much! You don’t want any Fray Check on the actual fringe!
When the Fray Check is dry, you can cut a piece to fit in the slit of the doll’s eye.
Time to test the fit.
OUCH! Using a straight pin to fit the lash into the thin channel of her eye.
When you are satisfied that the piece is the right length, remove the lash and add a small amount of white glue to the header edge of the yarn. Then carefully return the yarn into place.
I ‘groomed’ these lashes with a little, very little, bit of water. They are still a bit damp in this photo, but you get the idea.
I gave another Susanna some new lashes while I was at it. By the way, this was NOT the Susanna with the original lashes. : )
One side seems thicker than the other. I’ll re-do that. But you have the idea!
Give it a try! If you have a doll with no lashes, you don’t have anything to lose.
Have you tried any other ways to restore Furga eye lashes? Let us know!
Matilda Pink 
That’s awesome! A perfect replacement.
Thanks for stopping by! And who knew the perfect replacement would be in the yarn aisle?
That’s pretty amazing! A friend of mine just replaced the eyelashes on her MIL’s doll. She used regular eyelashes and they look pretty nice, but I’m going to send her a link to this blog post. I’m sure she will enjoy reading it and seeing your photos. Great job, as usual!
Thanks for sending a new visitor my way and for the kind words! 🙂
Thanks for posting this! Wow now I can fix my lash less doll!!!
So cool! That trim looks very realistic as replacement lashes 🙂
Sylvie is cute without eyelashes.
Realy Great I allways woundered what I would do about the lashes .Real great tutorial,Thanks .Also are you going to do any furga clothes?
Thanks for the comment! Yes, I will be doing more Furga clothes. The Alta Moda girls are some of my favorites to sew for! Are you a collector?
That is sooooo great. How did you find it? I think I have one of these dolls. One has uneven eyelashes, the other has red hair and needs new eyelashes. https://www.etsy.com/listing/171848558/2-vinyl-italian-dolls-vintage-original?
You have a great collection of Furga girls. Hope you can use this technique on them! Have fun!
I have furga’s but very few clothes. Does anyone have a basic pattern for the orginal dress they came with?
I think there is a pattern out there which was printed in UFDC’s Doll News Magazine (the spring 2012 issue). It was a basic shift dress pattern and very similar to the original dress she came in. You could also tweak some of the vintage Crissy doll patterns to make them fit. Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments!
do you do any sewing for the furga?
Yes! I love sewing/designing for the Furga girls! Keep an eye on my etsy shop. I hope to fill it with a few Furga goodies soon!
Can you please do some sewing for the furga doll ?
Yes! The Furga Girls are some of my favorite to dress. Keep an eye on my etsy shop for future offerings.
Hey! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
Awesome love this eyelash trick I have been using silk floss this is so much easier
I used crazy glue and bristles from an old black shoe brush. It was quite an effort but I got them on. I have to say, they look better than a lot of Furga dolls with lashes. It is hard to find them in great shape. I left them extra long. The hardest part is making them look alike on each eye. Currently the left eye has more lashes than the right. I may fix that. They also don’t close and open gracefully. Too many eyelashes, I guess! She looks great though. Be careful with the glue too. You can remove the extra glue with nail polish remover.
Thanks for the great tip! There are definitely lots of options when it comes to fixing Furga lashes!