One year ago, Juliette Pelchat and Maggie Crompton were looking for something to fill the rainy days of autumn, while waiting for the snow to fall. They started to create stuffed animals out of scraps of fabric and old clothes. Hand stitching quickly switched to sewing machines, and the animals to rag dolls. They got inspired by looking at books, Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids and The Making of a Rag Doll by Jess Brown, and Jaggie’s Dolls were born. The name is a combination of both of their names, and an affectionate nickname used by their parents to refer to the girls who are often joined at the hip. The dolls are made with muslin, some of which they dyed and stuffed with tea to give different colors of skin, and a pleasant smell., such as chamomile and lavender..
“ I think little kids will really like the scents and hopefully it will help them fall asleep!” – Juliette
All of the clothing, hair and accessories are made from fabric scraps and recycled pieces of clothing. Each doll is unique and is given a name and a personality, many being inspired by friends and family, “Julie likes to snowboard, drink coffee, do yoga, and drive her VW van.”
The girls had their first shot at retail a year ago at the Waldorf School’s Winter Craft Fair where their dolls where a great success and sold out. This inspired the girls to pursue it again, and have been working on the dolls since the summer, preparing for the upcoming Bratz Biz. Their dream is to save enough money to buy a VW van and travel the world for snowboarding.
“ Good thing we are only in grade 6, because we are going to need to sell a lot of dolls for that! – Maggie.
They are very excited to be selling their latest dolls at the Bratz Biz 10th Annual Winter Artisan Market taking place on Nov 28 & 29th at the Whistler Conference Center, and hope you will come to meet the dolls and see what they have created.