dad

As some of you who've been reading for some time know, in addition to stuffed animals, I also repair (and actually make) cloth dolls. This part of the hospital is rather specialized, mostly all cloth dolls, not ones with plastic parts or mobile eyes or hand knitted ones. My specialty is fabric (including faux fur, obviously), and that's the equipment I have. But that does mean I get a lot of Raggedies. Raggedy Anns, Raggedy Annes (the name spelling really matters!) and Raggedy Andys. Today, I thought I'd share a story of a small handmade Raggedy Andy.

Andy had been loved for over twenty years when his person asked her mom to please get him fixed up. He had had a lot of adventures, and clearly some serious accidents! Here are his diagnosis photos:

And this is what he looked like as a young doll:

You can see that he's lost his face, and his clothes. Even his sewn on shoes were wearing off. And he had more injuries to his limbs and torso. You can also see that Andy was custom made... his face and clothing were both different from commercial raggedies, as was his foot shape.

I couldn't match his original jacket fabric, so I recommended his family choose a fabric they'd like and send that to the hospital with him. In addition to new clothes, and a new face, and other wound repair, he was going to get his shoes recovered and supplemental stuffing. Once he was in the hospital, we also agreed to recover the blue part of his hat (as it was quite worn, which is hard to see in the photos.

It took a bit of time, but soon, Andy was feeling more like himself. Here he is with his wounds repaired, new face, new pants, and new shoes:

You can see the torso and arm wounds were repaired, but the face is new. His pants button on, but his shoes (now velour) are sewn in place.

And here's Andy all spiffy in his full new outfit, ready to fly home:

His family wrote when they saw the photos:

Oh my goodness this is fantastic!! He looks amazing. I cannot thank you enough!! I love his new face and his heart is still there. Thank you for salvaging all you could. His outfit is wonderful. Thank you Thank you!!

And when Andy made it home they said:

Andy arrived!!  He looks amazing and just so incredible how he came back to life.  I am so happy and cannot wait to surprise my daughter. 

Amazing and just could cry.  This is her most valued memory from childhood.  Her Andy.

Thank you, thank you.