All Dolled Up

Area Artisan Creates Anns, Andys From Cloth, Yarn

Last updated Friday, September 5, 2008 10:09 PM CDT in Our Town

By Pamela Hill
THE MORNING NEWS

Vivian's Dolls, as she calls her business, has had a space at the Fayetteville Farmers' Market for 34 years.

"I was giving them away to everyone I knew and finally someone said I should sell them," London said.

London turned a hobby into a business back in the early 1970s and its products are now shared by generations of doll lovers.

"I have people who bought them for their children, and come back and buy them for their grandchildren. I had a lady who came back the other day and brought her granddaughter to pick out her own doll," London said. "People who come back are pleased with them, and that's what you like to hear and see."

London's dolls are a little surprising. People familiar with Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls expect the bright red hair and petticoated dress. And they find that, but they also find dolls of different colors and even white-haired Anns and Andys. Some Andys even have male-pattern baldness. They've aged charmingly.

The farmers' market is a perfect fit for London and her dolls.

"What I like is I can relate to the customers. They come by and tell me what they like about the dolls or how someone they gave one to liked it," London said. "If I were selling them at someone's shop, I'd never know."

London has sewn most of her life.

"My grandmother taught me. I started sewing when I was about 5 years old. She quilted, always had her hands busy. I stayed with her a lot and my hands had to stay busy, too," London said. "I was about 5 or 6 when I put together my first quilt top with her help."

Quilting turned into a lifelong hobby. As an adult, she shared a love of quilting with a friend and together they sold their creations at craft fairs and small markets. In 1972, she began to use quilt scraps to make dolls.

Doll making became a side job for London. Most of her days were spent at Green's Plastics Plant near West Fork, where she worked for 20 years. The plant closed its doors in 1994.

The dolls resemble the classic Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, right down to the hearts on their chests. But London adds her own touches. The faces and hearts aren't iron-on templates, as can be found in store-bought patterns. London hand-embroiders the tiny eyes, triangle noses, mouths and hearts.

They weren't London's first designs. The first dolls she made were Holly Hobby dolls. But after she started making the classic red yarn-headed dolls, she stuck with it.

Eventually, they changed and they continue to change based on London's mood. The clothing, colors of the dolls and hair colors are all occasionally altered.

"People had lots of (traditional red-headed) dolls so I try to give them something new."

London said she'll probably be making fewer dolls in the years ahead.

"I'm getting to where I want to do something else for a while."

Detail work is harder than it used to be, she said.

How long does it take London to make a doll?

"I don't know. I usually work on half a dozen at a time. I've never sat down and made just one. I cut out the bodies, sew them, turn them and stuff the heads and do the embroidery. Then I have the arms and legs ready to put on; then I do the hair."

It takes her as long to put in the hair as it does to make the rest of the doll, she said.

She has no idea how many dolls she's made over the years.

"I always wished I'd numbered them so I'd know, but I didn't do anything like that."

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