Thursday, January 8, 1998

Made In Your Own Image

Little Folks Shop a big hit with unique look-alike dolls

 

By Bonnie King

Staff Writer

Ginger Harris may have created the perfect product for children who like to play house -- dolls that look like them. The dolls may be the ideal gift for little girls who like to play mommy and little boys who want to try their hands at being dads, or for real mothers who want to capture their little ones' faces at a precious and fleeting age.

Harris, owner of the Little Folks Shop, makes these unique and handmade look-alike dolls that are as close a replica to real people as she can get them. Harris runs the Little Folks Shop with the help of her husband, Ray, and her sister, Jean O'Connell. Specializing in unique and handmade children's clothing for infants up to size 14, the store opened in St. Augustine seven years ago.

Lately, however, it's gathered a following and a local reputation for its dolls made and sold on the premises and made to look like real children, Harris said. The look-alike dolls became a specialty item a few years ago when a customer asked if she could buy one of the baby mannequins in the shop along with the outfit it was dressed in, Harris said. It wasn't long after when another customer saw another mannequin in the Little Folks Shop window that looked just like the customer's grandchild, Harris said. That customer also asked to buy the doll mannequin in its clothing, and from there, the idea was launched to make dolls that look like real children, she said.

"I buy the faces with the color eyes that I want, I buy all the wigs and then I put wigs on the heads," Harris said. She chooses one of nine different head sizes and shapes to match the face and head to the one that most resembles that of the child she is replicating, she said. Sometimes they come out and look almost exact, and other times they match pretty closely," Harris said.

"Lately, I've been doing dolls for people who say, 'Gee will you do my mother?,'" Harris said. She's received many orders in the past year for dolls of people at tender young ages who are now senior citizens, she said. Harris makes dolls of older people and younger ones from photographs, she said. As well as matching the face of the baby doll to whomever she is replicating, Harris also makes clothing that resembles what her model is wearing.

The mother of four and grandmother of four and counting, Harris said she sewed her children's clothes when they were young and started sewing again in earnest when her grandchildren were born. While working in the real estate business she sold children's clothing in arts and crafts shows, but she really wanted a better market for her clothing, she said.

It was O'Connell who inspired and urged Harris to open a specialty clothing store for children, Harris said. "I sewed all my life when my children were young and growing up," Harris said. "Jean came down here from Massachusetts about 12 years ago, and she was influential in getting us started. "She always had a gift for sewing, and I knew she was talented enough to succeed," O'Connel said.

Along with its original line of unique clothing for children, the Little Folks Shop also sells clothes that fit The American Girls Collection of dolls, Harris said. Doll clothes can be bought to match girl's outfits sold in the store, she said.

Harris attends fabric shows twice a year in Atlanta, and that is where she buys most of her fabric for her clothing line, which she changes seasonally, she said. She employs three sewers who work at home to help with the cutting and sewing of the shop's clothing.

Specialty items that can be ordered from Little Folks include flower girl dresses, First Communion dresses, christening sets and clothing for husky and handicapped children, Harris said.

Since it started marketing and selling the look-alike dolls, Little Folks Shop has sold 264 dolls, Harris said. The shop will take orders for dolls and ship them. Orders take four to six weeks to fill, and dolls sell for $175 each, Harris said.