How do you Replace a Lost Toy?
In the unthinkable event that a treasured toy is lost, there is still hope! At Leith Toy Hospital, remaking a lost toy is a common request and we’re happy to help. Just send us a photo of your missing toy, and some dimensions, and we can remake it to your specification. We’ll match the materials as closely as possible, and can even distress them to get them as similar as possible to how you remember your toy.
If your toy is damaged but you still have it, check out our Toy Hospital service – toys are often more reparable than you might think!
Toy Recreation Examples
Here are some examples of lost toys we’ve brought back to life.
Contact Leith Toy Hospital
You can upload a picture of your lost toy using our contact page, or email it to info@leithtoyhospital.co.uk
You can also come and visit us at 64 Constitution Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6RR
Why Replace a Lost Toy?
Losing a favourite toy is every parent’s nightmare, and small toys are so easy to mislay!
Toys can hold very emotional memories, for children and adults alike, and when they are lost, they are never forgotten. When remaking a lost teddy, we take great care to build sympathetic replacements that capture the character of the original toy as well as the key features. We always discuss in detail with each customer any small details that are important to your toy, such as uneven eyes, worn areas or patches.
We’ve got a huge range of fabric and filling suppliers and are likely to be able to find a close match for your toy’s fabric, even if it’s old. We can even dye fabrics to ensure the closest match possible. If we need to distress a fabric, we can wash, colour, steam, sandpaper and wire brush it. Whether the features are glass, plastic, appliquéd or embroidered, we can almost certainly find some parts that match. We can remake all types of modern and antique soft toys.
THE PROCESS OF RECREATING A LOST TOY
Design Phase
We charge an initial £50 drawing and sourcing fee. This covers a hand drawin proof of your toy, with measurements, and up to six fabric swatches. You can check that we’re all on the same page about what we’re doing and let us know any changes you’d like.
Fabric Sourcing
When remaking a lost teddy, we spend a great deal of time searching for the closest fabric obtainable to your original toy, and we have suppliers all over the world. We can dye and distress some fabrics in house. In the case of printed fabrics, our textile designers are also able to replicate prints closely using our in house screen printing facilities as well as third party digital printers.
Whilst it is not always possible to get a perfect fabric match, we get as close as we can!
First Iteration Toy
If you are happy to go ahead at this point, we order in the fabric, cut a pattern for the toy and assemble it. The cost of your toy recreation depends on the shape and complexity, but it is typically in the £200-£400 range. We send you the toy and you can have a look and a feel.
Second Iteration Toy
Often a second iteration of the toy is required to get the closet match possible. This is because it’s not always possible to gauge the dimensions and feel of a toy from photos alone. The feedback from the first iteration is often necessary to get the second iteration right.
The number of requests we have for replacing a lost toy shows that no matter how old you are, there are few things more valuable than your favourite teddy.
You can see lots of other toys we’ve made in our Picture to Puppet Gallery.
Picture to Puppet is our sister company that makes custom toys and puppets to order. When we started Picture to Puppet we had lots of enquiries to see if we could to fix their teddies and dolls and from that the Leith Toy Hospital was born!