Full Circle Clothing

I have a little handmade doll that I love.  I bought her from an old woman fifteen years ago in Mexico when that woman and her daughter came to the place where I was attending a continuing education seminar, to sell their crafts.  The doll’s clothing is painstakingly made — the little jacket is purple with tiny white buttons, her skirt a purple and green plaid.  She has a petticoat, her face is hand embroidered and she even sports nifty striped underwear.  Everything is hand sewn. The daughter of the woman who made the doll explained that her mother takes clothing donated mostly from the United States, cuts it up and makes the duds for these handmade cloth dolls.  This is her only income.  I thought about clothes I have donated over the years to various charitable organizations and wondered if some of it might have ended up like this. I donate, she cuts and sews, I buy back.  Full circle.