Raggedy Ann and Andy stitched their way into the heart of Wolseley grandmother

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/08/2004 (7809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT would appear that nothing warms the heart of a little child, or her grandmother, like a doll. That’s why Lorraine Rousseau continues to make Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

The 71-year-old Wolseley resident has made over 100 of these cuddly creations that people buy as toys and decorations, but she doesn’t have any of her own because they always go fast.

“People like dolls,” says Rousseau. “Raggedy Ann and Andy are making a comeback. They appeal to grandparents. They last well.”

She makes the washable dolls in three sizes (15-inch, 20-inch, and 25-inch), but she prefers the small ones. Each doll is a time-consuming project. For example, one day it took 90 minutes to do a head of hair. And every doll must be hand-stuffed and embroidered with a heart and ‘I love’ you on the chest.

Rousseau was introduced to the wonders of Raggedy Ann when a friend made her daughter Christine one for her fourth birthday. That was 35 years ago.

“She loved it and she still has it,” says Rousseau.

Of course, Christine’s younger sister Toriann had to have one too. So Rousseau bought a pattern and made her one. Then she made her son Robert a Raggedy Andy. The two-year-old called it Raggy Danny and loved it well.

Over the past 34 years, Rousseau has worn out three patterns. Her current one is reinforced, the pieces glued to heavier paper. Her sister Lucille’s daughters are older than her own, but Lucille’s granddaughters all have dolls made by their aunt.

She’s come a long way for a sewing student who was told, after two weeks at a summer sewing factory job, that she should take up a different line of work.

“I wasn’t fast enough,” she says. “That ended my career as a seamstress.”

Rousseau went on to work in offices. She was inspired by her mom, who sewed clothing without a pattern for Rousseau and her five siblings, and by an aunt who worked in a sewing factory. Her own experiences as a student in the home economics/sewing program at St. Edward’s School and at Daniel McIntyre High School did not deter her.

“I was not terribly good,” she says.

When her first child was born, Rousseau started sewing fancy embroidered nighties for her. She kept sewing, and went on to make clothing, curtains, and seat covers for chairs with material she wove herself.

Although she has sometimes told herself she won’t make any more dolls, she continues to enjoy the process. It has also helped her to make use of the sewing materials she inherited from her mother and aunt, and the materials she had access to when she was with her ex-husband, a tailor.

“My niece recently found a Raggedy Ann and Andy I made for her, and gave them to her two-year-old daughter. She was in heaven,” says Rousseau.

For further information on her dolls, call Rousseau at 775-6793.

PHOTO LINDA WENSEL/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS