Mer Baby

I've been thinking of making some kind of friendship/spirit/goddess dolls for my table at the Llammas Fair later this year. I've made a start by adapting my 'Simple Stanley' pattern to make a Mer Baby. This is the 'tester':


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For simplicity, the body and tail is in one piece. The tail fins are not stuffed. The fabric for the body of this 'tester' is a sandwich of synthetic washing up cloth and a very fine semi-sheer cotton with a woven pattern in it, filled with chocolate wrappers (Mingles!). I first of all machine stitched vertical lines of running stitch along the stripes to hold the sweet wrappers. Then I machine stitched horizontal rows of a programmed scalloped stitch to represent scales. After I had stitched the body pieces together, but before I stuffed the body, I decorated it with hand stitching to represent seaweed and added sequins and beads. The face is hand painted and the hair is knitted novelty yarn.

Here's another view:


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and the back:


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Unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to capture the way the chocolate wrappers sparkle through the top fabric. I was after that shiny fish scale look, and she really is quite 'silvery'.

Country visitors

Here's a pair of 'Rustics' calling in on their way to the coast to buy salt. Cousins from the provinces, they stand out in their rough homespun clothes coloured with plant dyes and decorated with berries, as they pose for a family photograph.








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