Textile fragment, printed

Description

South Carolina textile manufacturer Springs Mills printed this stuffed doll pattern in 1978. The pattern contains front and back panels of three characters from the “Raggedy Ann” children’s books: Raggedy Ann herself, her brother Raggedy Andy, and their dog, Raggedy Arthur. Printed doll patterns like this first became popular around the late 19th century and featured multiple views of animals or other characters, which only had to be cut out, sewn together, and stuffed for consumers to make their own soft toy at home. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.