All dolled up Raggedy representatives of comfort come in all sizes, for all ages

Raggedy Ann observed her 90th birthday this year and she doesn’t look a day older than when she was dreamed into being in Arcola, Ill., by cartoonist Johnny Gruelle, still grieving, a year after the death of his daughter, Marcella, in 1915.

For generations, Raggedy Ann has served as an icon of love and compassion, of safety and stability, in the lives of children.

Laurie Libby of Patten, a special education teacher at Katahdin Middle School, has used her sewing machine to embody that spirit of loving kindness since 1972 when she made her first Raggedy Ann to give to her niece Ardyth, who was born with a serious handicapping condition. She made that doll on her college roommate’s sewing machine when she was a student at the University of Maine.

As a child, Libby read Raggedy Ann books she borrowed from the Patten Library, and one of her three sisters had a Raggedy Ann doll.

“I made [Raggedy Anns] of every size [for Ardyth], including one as big as she was,” Libby recalled. “I even made her a Raggedy Ann outfit to wear.”

Since then Libby has made “at least a hundred” Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls she has given to nieces, nephews, other family members and the children and grandchildren of friends. The children who receive the dolls are usually ages 1 to 5.

“I like making them,” Libby said, “even though they are one of the most time-consuming dolls I make.” As she makes each doll, she likes to think about the child who will receive it and dresses the doll to reflect what the child likes. “It comes from the heart – a little blessing on the baby it’s made for.”

One child, she said, loved ladybugs. Libby recalled how she found fabric in a ladybug print and used it for Raggedy Ann’s dress. The child, she said, was delighted with the doll.

Libby embroiders the eyes of each Raggedy she makes to match the eye color of the child who will be given custody of the doll. She uses yarn in the traditional red for the doll’s hair, using a loop stitch to attach it to the doll’s head. Then she cuts the loops to create a shaggy mane. That way, she said, there are no loops for little fingers to get snagged in. Plus, if the child wants to drag the doll around by the hair of its head, the hair won’t pull out.

Generally, Libby likes to dress the Raggedy dolls in calicos, with a white apron for Raggedy Ann.

To make the dolls, Libby uses McCall’s pattern 2531, which she bought in 1972. She likes the pattern so much, and has used it so often, she bought three others just like it over the years to be sure she would always have one.

She laments that the pattern is no longer in print. The pattern sold for 85 cents in 1972 and includes patterns for 15-inch, 20-inch and 25-inch dolls, and iron-on transfers for the dolls’ faces and placement lines for the yarn hair. An inset on the front of the pattern package says, “This is a Raggedy Ann pattern.”

The current Raggedy Ann pattern in print, Simplicity 9447, Libby doesn’t care for very much, even though she owns a copy. “It calls for a painted face,” she said. “I prefer Raggedys with embroidered faces.”

The Simplicity pattern makes 15-inch, 26-inch and 36-inch Raggedy dolls. The hair is made by wrapping yarn around cardboard to create a sort of tassel that is spread across the doll’s head and hand-sewn into place around the doll’s face and the nape of its neck. The nose is a snippet of red felt appliqued in place and the eyes are buttons. Cheeks, eyelashes, eyebrows and mouth are painted.

In 1996, McCall’s Crafts pattern 8551 was available. It made 13-inch and 20-inch Raggedy Anns and Andys in a “countrified” version using tea-dyed fabrics. The faces are embroidered, but the hair instructions call for the tassel method rather than the loop technique. That pattern, now out of print, did not find its way into Libby’s collection of Raggedy patterns.

Libby’s favorite size to make is the 25-inch doll because “it’s just the right size to hug,” she said. Some of the children, relatives have reported, use the Raggedy dolls as pillows in their beds at night.

Libby was a stay-at-home mom and had time to make lots of Raggedys, including one for each of her three children, Aaron, Ron and Bethany, all of whom are grown with lives of their own.

“I made a wardrobe for Bethany’s Raggedy Ann,” Libby said. “I was home with my kids and I loved to sew.” During those years Libby also made a Bruno the Bear toy for her daughter, which Bethany still used as a counseling tool when she was in college and studying education counseling. “You could hug Bruno the Bear and he would look up at you with trusting eyes,” Libby said.

At one point, after her children were grown, Libby made other types of dolls, which she sold at a craft mall, now closed, in Patten. She made cow, pig, bunny and Cabbage Patch-type dolls.

Most recently, she made Raggedy Anns for two friends who had become grandmothers for the first time. Her intent was for the women to give the dolls to their newborn grandchildren.

“But they loved the Raggedys so much they kept them for themselves,” Libby said, laughing.

For 34 years Libby stitched dolls on a Kenmore machine. “When I got engaged [to her husband, Ken Libby] instead of a diamond, I asked for a sewing machine, so he got me one. I didn’t need a diamond. When we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, my present from him was a new sewing machine, a White, because I’d worn out the Kenmore. I finally got the diamond, though – on our 30th anniversary.”

Libby advises those who want to make a Raggedy Ann doll to buy a good grade of muslin for the body and to take great care when embroidering the face, to make it appealing.

“The face makes the doll,” she said. She suggests stuffing the doll body firmly with polyester fiberfill. If the doll becomes soiled from lots of play, Libby said, put it in a pillowcase, tie it closed and drop it into the washing machine.

Although she has far less time to make dolls because she teaches full time, Libby has made four in the past year.

“I want the Raggedy Ann dolls I make to be played with and not set on a shelf,” Libby said. “I want the children [I give the Raggedys to] to love them into the ground.”

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net