Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Trial and Error

I have had an idea for a while for a soft toy matryoshka doll (Russian Nesting Doll) with an embroidered face and flowers. I'm excited about the embroidery and am waiting on the post for a beatiful book I recently purchased on Ebay from Russia. It is full of beautiful Russian embroidery and I hope will be an inspiration. When we were adopting Nikolai from Russia, I splurged on a beautiful matryoshka that features various Russian fairy tales. I love this artistic symbol of Russia and wanted to create my own version of it.

So, here is the final pattern version of my matriyoshka. I had never sewn or designed a three dimensional toy before. I took some doll making books out of the library to learn a little bit about construction and then sketched out my pattern. This little girl is version number 3 after a little trial and error. I haven't finished off the bottom yet, but am fairly confident on how to do that. I also want to add some rice to her base to help her sit upright.

This sample is made with an inexpensive (.99/yard) muslin. I love having muslin on hand for trying out new ideas and patterns so that I don't have to cut into my special fabrics. However for the finished dolls, I got my hands on some beautiful Russian themed fabric with a black background that I plan to use to make the basic doll. I then plan to applique wool felt that I have hand embroidered.

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