One of my favorite folk songs goes:
"There were three sisters, side-by-side;
Sing aye-day, sing aye-dum..."
It's always had a special place in my heart, as I am the oldest of three sisters myself, but especially as I've had three little girls of my own!
These cute little Matryoshka Dolls came about because I was experimenting with the idea of using sawdust as a stuffing for 'toys'. (We happen to have A LOT of sawdust lying around right now, because of our fence-building project...and as you all know, I hate to let anything go to waste!)
I decided to try my hand at creating a felt doll in the shape of a traditional Matryoshka doll, as the shape lends itself very well to this sort of thing! If you don't know what a Matryoshka is, click here, to find out more them. Obviously these don't open up...but they do have the look of a traditional Matryoshka doll.
Anyway, as I experimented I found that the felt was too porous for the sawdust filling.(Ah, well...I guess the sawdust will just go into out compost pile!)
I didn't want to abandon my creations, though, so I decided I'd finish them up with polyester fiberfil, instead! Each doll is made from simple acrylic felt which is hand stitched with embroidery floss; then stuffed and stitched closed! The embroidery was done before the doll was stitched together...and I decided to make each one 'look' like one of my girls, so they each have different coloring and personalities! A special thanks goes to my Aunt Linda who taught me how to do a Lazy Daisy stitch, a French Knot, and a Blanket Stitch!
The girls love them...especially my youngest who keeps wrapping up all the 'babies' and carrying them all over the house!
I'm going to develop a simplified pattern that I will sell in my Etsy shop...maybe with diminishing sizes of dolls...so keep looking for that new item! I want to have it up before Christmas time...I can just see a whole bevy of 'sisters' in christmas colors sitting on the mantel!
P.S. This project is entered in this fun contest! Go check it out!
