Working an idea.....................

Someone said that these little pieced cotton dolls reminded her of native indian babies in their papooses:


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My daughter doesn't like my spirit dolls because she says they look like babies trapped inside the 'carrots'. Obviously, I liked the idea of papooses much better, and it fired my imagination. So I googled a bit. I found some pictures and discovered that most of these baby carriers were based on a board made of wood that rested flat against the mother's back. The covers were made of bark or hide, securely lashed to the backboard and laced around the baby. Mostly they had a hood to protect the baby from the weather and were often lined with fur or soft fabric. Often the covers were highly decorated.

Then I started to work on the idea, based on my original 'carrot dolls'. I would have to simplify a lot of the details or the dolls would become far too complicated.

Lots of lashing and lacing - so I moved the stitching to cover the front panel and used the back panel to interpret the backboard and lashing of the cover. Interlaced and spiky stitches:


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a variation of interlaced chain band, with a long anchoring stitch to fasten the lacing, and


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laced cretan stitch. These spiky stitches also serve to represent the coloured quills that were often used for decoration. No beads, because these little things are just way too attractive to small children. My favourite trellis stitch represents the hood.

Let's change some of the printed cotton to a synthetic suede fabric to represent hide and see how that comes out:


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I think the facial features are too strong here. Trellis stitch, with its rows of knots, could make a substitute for beads. Some carriers were lined with fur - how to represent that?


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a wool fringe around the top of the hood. These features are much better.

Here are the results of my interpretation:


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I've had some fun with this, and there is yet more mileage in the original idea.

So, just a glimpse into the deranged mind of a doll-making embroiderer!

Thanks Marguerite, for providing me with some entertainment over a wet and grey weekend!