GRANITE FALLS — A line of dolls in Seahawks blue and green perched on the back of the couch, a string of stuffed arms hung nearby and fabric was spread out around the sewing machine.
“Yours are all on the chair waiting for hair,” Carrie Clark told Granite Falls Police Chief Scott Robertson when he stepped into her colorful studio apartment.
She gestured to a pile of nearly finished dolls, their cheerful painted faces crowned by bald heads.
Clark’s work is the latest donation she’ll be making to Granite Falls police so they have handmade dolls to give out when they respond to a call that involve children.
“It’s just to make kids happy, people happy,” she said. “It’s to give them something to think about other than what they’re going through.”
Clark, 56, works with mostly donated materials, including fabric, elastic, lace and fiber fill for stuffing the dolls. She washes the material, cuts the pieces for her pattern and draws on faces or attaches buttons for details.
“And then I sit and sew and sew and sew,” she said.
Once the parts are sewn except for one opening, she stuffs them and stitches them closed. She makes outfits to dress the dolls in and then does the hair, looping and knotting each strand of yarn into the head so it won’t come out when kids tug on it.
She makes dolls in six different sizes, ranging from 10 inches to 3 feet tall. They’re all different characters. She’s made superheroes, farmers, sports stars and Disney characters. She wants to have something for every child to relate to.
“I don’t have any favorites,” she said. “It’s kind of fun when someone asks, ‘Can you do this?’ and I don’t know, but I’ll try.”
Tiny stocking stuffer dolls proved to be more trouble than they’re worth but full-size Christmas-themed dolls were a hit. She’s going to try some Halloween dolls this year but isn’t sure how they’ll turn out.
Recently, Robertson let a young boy stuck in a bad situation go through the table of dolls at the police department. The agency is run by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The child looked over each one to make sure he found the perfect friend, Robertson said. The boy loves baseball and ended up selecting a Mariners doll.
“She wants these dolls donated to kids who need a little bit of comfort,” Robertson said. “This is when something is happening in their lives they don’t understand and she helps us build those relationships. It’s nice to build trust like that.”
The chief picked up 30 donated dolls in September and by last week the department was down to five. Clark had 10 on the chair, waiting for hair, and she plans to make more.
“This is an all-day job for her,” Robertson said. “She gives something that takes her hours and hours to do just to make someone happy. She’s really special.”
Clark has been making dolls since the 1970s. She used to sell some, but now she only donates them. She’s given dolls to Children’s Hospital, the fire department, local fundraisers and friends.
Her wrist and fingers often are sore, but she loves her craft. She’ll take help when she can get it. A few local students are supposed to come learn from her sometime soon, she said. She’ll have them help her cut and sew the fabric.
Clark laughs often and has a bright, fearless sense of humor.
“I tell people, ‘I gotta go home and make some babies,’ ” she said. “You should see their faces when they hear that.”
In all the years she’s been making the dolls, she’s never kept a set for herself. She’s tried a few times, but someone always sees the dolls and comments on how much they like them, so Clark gives them the dolls. She likes to see the smiles.
“You need to do good things for others, not just for yourself. That’s what I believe,” Clark said. “God put us on this earth for a reason, and I think this is mine.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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