Carma Sutton is just about out of the Barbie doll business, but they’ve certainly been a part of her life for a long time.

She and Barbie go back to 1959, the year Barbie was introduced by Mattel and when her daughter, Jeannie, received her first one.

“Jeannie had one of the first Barbie dolls out and she got me started making clothes,” Carma said.

Jeannie surely had the best-dressed Barbie in the area. Even after she was finished playing with Barbies, people remembered her mother’s miniature dresses and sweaters.

People still asked Carma for doll clothing and she used to sell a few items. She would knit tiny sweaters, crochet a dress and sew a blouse.

Years later—decades later—Carma’s work with Barbie dolls led to a project that has brought a Merry Christmas to dozens and dozens of little girls.

When a shopper at Fayette’s St. Vincent de Paul store found a clean, bright-looking Barbie, it was Carma Sutton who had made it look new again.