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CALUMET -- Inside her cozy room, Vicki Waatti is hard at work sewing together different patterns and designs to make clothing for Barbie dolls.

Waatti's one of kind designs started after a house fire destroyed her collection of dolls.

"I decided to take them out of the boxes and clean them up a little bit, and they weren't worth anything anymore, so I started recreating them, and I decided to give them away instead of keeping them for myself because I knew there were others out there that needed these Barbies more than I did," said Waatti.

Waatti gives the dolls to adults and children who are in need or just to put a smile on people's faces. Sometimes the dolls she gets are dirty or have marks on them, so the first step is to clean them up to give them a brand new feel, and then it's time to design new clothing or accessories.

Waatti says you do not have to know how to sew to make creative designs for dolls. You can glue the outfits or use seam binding to keep the clothes together.

Everything she uses is either donated or she buys the items herself.

"I don't feel like making a profit would benefit me. It just makes me feel better in my heart to donate something of my time," Waatti said.

That is just one of the many things that makes her dolls so special.

"It's a little piece of me going out there. I'm unable to have children, and this is my way of making other people's children happy,” Waatti said.  

Waatti says she is always looking for old and used Barbies, and if you are interested in sending some her way, you can e-mail her at vickiwaatti@yahoo.com.