I finally made a babushka/matryoshka/russian doll!  I've been wanting to do one of these for a while as I have some lovely fabric that I bought back from Singapore which I thought was perfect.


So firstly I looked at some blogs and free pattern sites and came up with my own take on it.  I am quite proud that I designed the pattern myself, but it needs work as I need to exaggerate more.  It has been a learning curve but I've got a good result at the end of it!


So here are my steps:

So, I drew my pattern and tried to exaggerate features, making it very simple.

Cut the component parts and picked some trim and a button for the centre of the scarf.  This is the body with the other component parts after I had sewn on the face and hair with embroidery floss.  I was orginally going to put a fleece pouch on the front, but then decided against it, as I wanted to show the fabric pattern.

The front, fully embroidered , with trims, ready to be sewn on to the back (below).

Here she is, the finished article.  You can see that I really need to exaggerate the pattern in terms of the body and head shape. For a first attempt (and let's face it I'm a total novice and don't really know what I'm doing) I don't think it's too bad.  I won't bother with the bottom trim next time, just keep it simple.


When I prefect the pattern I'll post it for others.  In my inspiration searches here are some other good free patterns and tutorials that I found:
Blinking flights Russian doll
April's mini matryoshka's
Nesting Babushka dolls by Dolls and Daydreams (not a free pattern but inspiration as I'd like to make nesting dolls eventually)
Matryoshka doll tutorial by Jane Blogs


Next time I'm going to change the pattern a little and do her with a purple scarf section and patterned body section.  I'm going to keep the face the same (I think she's pretty) and I really like the vintage button in the centre of the scarf and the trim.


Now for a name for her...

Nikki

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