Dotee Dolls

Good morning to you all! Crackers and I have a new hobby, and a new project for all of you! Have you ever heard of a Dotee Doll? I had never, until I joined a group at swapbot.com and they were all making these "dotee dolls". I had to message someone and ask what a dotee doll was, and she told me to Google it. Guess what? There is a lot of information out there on dotee dolls. They are small hand-sewn cloth dolls with a sack-shaped body and an appliqued face. Dotees are supposed to be therapeutic to make, be kinda crazy looking, and are meant to be traded or given as gifts, not sold. The original was made by a Russian lady named Dot, hence the name "dotee" doll. Well, I made my first one and I'm hooked. I just finished my second one, that's 2 in 3 days! And I'm giving them both away to ladies at swapbot.

I think these little dolls are a good beginner project for little hands that want to learn to sew. They can be made from fabric or felt, beaded or not, embroidered or not. The styles for hair are limited only by your imagination. So girls, get grandma to help you make one (you can both make one at the same time) and get started swapping them with your friends. Here are some pictures of dotee dolls, and there is a group at Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/groups/doteedolls/  where there are literally thousands of them to see.

http://www.madestuff.co.uk/2009/02/02/matryoshka-dotee-doll/

http://www.lemontreetales.com/lemon_tree_tales/2009/06/dotee-doll-by-linda-misa.html

http://www.lemontreetales.com/lemon_tree_tales/2009/05/dotee-doll-off-to-the-north-pole.html

http://www.squidoo.com/dotee

http://plaidpepper.blogspot.com/2008/08/dotee-doll-bloom-where-your-planted.html

 Now, here are the two I made.

 As you can see, they come in all kinds.......pretty, ugly, funny, cute, even well-known characters. I saw a Jack Skellington, from Nightmare Before Christmas, that was adorable! Okay, this was your introduction to dotee dolls. Next week, we'll make one! Hope you'll join me, young and old, as we create our very own dotee dolls. And I'm going to keep that one! Crackers will be making her first dotee doll, too, so this ought to be interesting.

Here is a list of supplies to gather before we start.

Several different colors of felt

Embroidery thread in lots of different colors

An embroidery needle

A sewing needle and thread

Scissors

Assorted beads and buttons

Yarn for hair

Anything else you want to use for decoration

A small amount of stuffing

Come back on Tuesday and we'll get started. Until then, goodbye and love to all.