In 2018, Viki Neville knew she was doing something right when a little girl did a double-take of the creations displayed in her booth at the Picc-A-Dilly Flea Market. “I thought, ‘Oh, I think I have something here,’” says Neville, a milliner who used to have a hat shop at the 5th Street Public Market. 

Neville describes herself as “one of those people who’s always making things.” Her idea for animals made out of wool fabric came to her when she had spare material and decided to make something out of it. She’s made different types of animals, but she mainly sticks to cats. While she doesn’t have an exact name for them, many kids have referred to them as “stuffies,” the popular term for stuffed toys.

Each stuffie is handsewn, and she usually makes three at a time, taking about one hour per stuffie. The designs are simple, and they tend to follow a pattern. But as she notes, each is unique, and she believes that being handsewn makes each one individual. “They’re popular because each one has a little bit different personality,” Neville says. “I think that’s what makes them appealing.”

But during the pandemic, she had to take a break from making the cat dolls that had been gaining a small fandom because flea markets were closed. “I don’t remember selling anything while things were shut down,” Neville recalls. 

During that time, she occupied herself with watercoloring and creating piles of watercolored sketchbooks. After the worst of the pandemic was over and things slowly came back to how they were before, she put down the paintbrush and picked the needle back up — making the stuffed animals that she and many others love.

At first, she thought her stuffies were for children, but adults have also become fans of her woolly creations. Many adults will buy them for themselves, sometimes collecting up to five or six. “They are collectible, I guess, and they’re the reason why I keep doing it because they’re popular and people like them. So there’s just something about them,” she says. 

For the former milliner, making the dolls followed the same trajectory as her hat-making career. Originally making clothes, Neville decided to make a hat one day, and its popularity enlightened her as to what direction to take her career. And as with hat-making, when she made the woolly stuffed animals on a whim and saw their popularity, she knew that was the next phase of her creative career.

Neville’s dolls are sold at Maude Kerns Art Center and at Neville’s booth at the Piccadilly Flea Market. Prices range from $8 to $20. Being sold at such affordable prices, if it weren’t for her being retired, Neville says she may not have been able to focus on bringing her woolly cats to the world, knowing it wouldn’t be feasible to make a living off of them. “I don’t like to think what I’m making an hour because I don’t think it’d be very much,” she says. 

At the flea market, it’s common for people to tell Neville that they’ve mailed the cat dolls to a loved one. She recalls a story about a customer buying a doll and sending it to a newborn grandchild. When it arrived, the older grandchild wanted one, too.

What’s most special to Neville about the dolls is people’s reaction to them. “I kept making it for that reason,” she says. 

Find Viki Neville and her stuffies at the Picc-A-Dilly Flea Market, Jan. 18. or reach out to her via email at VikiCreates@Yahoo.com. Her stuffies can also be found in the gift shop at Maude Kerns Art Center, 1910 East 15th Avenue.