Judy at Work
A Little About Us
Judy at Work
My husband and I live in the country far from the hustle and
bustle of city life. We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to have our own business
and work out of our home especially since it is something we love to do. My husband Hal
repairs dolls and I dress them and also design patterns when I can't find what I need for
a doll.
We started this business fifteen years ago simply as an extension of my hobby of
collecting orphans at doll shows and flea markets and bringing them home to clean up and
dress. When people started seeing what I did they began asking me to do their dolls also.
I started out the hard way...sewing for Barbie. But after making the rounds of all
available patterns I was hooked and wanted something more challenging. Soon I was finding
patterns for Princess Diana's wedding gown and could hardly keep up with the demand. One
thing led to another and after we moved to this small rural community about ten years ago
the word got around that we worked with dolls and people began bringing us dolls they had
had packed away for years to see if we could fix them. After a few basket cases under our
belts we felt confident enough to began advertising the fact that we did indeed repair
dolls.
We did very little actual advertising since it was expensive but word of mouth has brought
us a steady stream of business for ten years now.
I have been involved with several doll clubs which in turn led to being in many doll shows
which in turn led to much more business and many contacts in the doll world. And now we
are on the internet so people all over the country are finding out about us and what we
do. They don't mind sending their dolls to us by mail after they see the pictures of our
work on our web site. So far we've never had an unhappy customer locally or by mail.
If you have questions about a doll or an outfit or a pattern please e mail us and we'll
try to answer as soon as possible.
Judy & Hal Arrington
Judi with recently repaired and dressed dolls.