I decided I needed a lot more “bling” to give my babuskha doll that traditional matryoshka “feel”. I sorta just started embroidering and kept going! Anyway, here she is… waiting her final destination… which I haven’t decided on, so she isn’t sewn onto anything yet! But I am done with the directions, so if you’re interested in making your own babushka doll, she’s good to go!

Just a couple of FYIs. First, this doll measures 9″ but you can enlarge or reduce her to meet your needs. If you’d like to make multiple dolls in decreasing size, place the original patterns in your printer and reduce at 90%, 80%, 70% etc. until you get the set you like. Also, if you look at any traditional babushka dolls, you’ll notice that the paint jobs are not perfect. If your eyes are crooked, if your smile is askew… well, that’s more or less traditional, so don’t panic! Also, the faces on traditional matryoshka dolls become more and more simplistic as they get smaller, so follow suit when embroidering faces.

Finally, I did not include my embellishments on the pattern… since Michelle had already finished the pdf before I was done embroidering. I used 6 strands of floss, making lazy daisy flowers and French knots in the center of the flowers and as the dots on the babushka.

HINT: To get the flowers and dots placed evenly, I cut the shapes out of graph paper, decided how close together I wanted the flowers and dots, then poked holes where I wanted the embroidery to go. I then laid it over the doll, and using a sharp pencil, made small dots in the holes. I then had perfect placement for my embroidery. So, without further ado, the pattern for the Babushka Dolls. Enjoy!