Smallwork.com ~ Baba Yaga & Vasalisa Dyad Doll Pattern

This Award Winning
Double Doll Pattern has both characters from the Vasalisa Folk Tale: Baba Yaga the wild woman and Vasalisa the maiden.

Baba Yaga won first place
in "Needle Sculpting"
at the Santa Fe Doll Art Festival
in April 2000.

Inspired by the Russian folk tale of Vasalisa the Wise, who carries her intuition doll in her pocket on her heroic adventures in the forest to earn the fire she needs from wild Baba Yaga! By following the advice of a doll given to her by her dying mother, Vasalisa learns to trust her own intuition and gains entrance into adulthood. Included in this package is the 26-page story book containing the Vasalisa folk tale and an exploration of the symbolism and the meaning of intuition. The story is printed for you to cut and fold into a book, 3 inches by 5.5 inches.

This original pattern by Melinda Small Paterson comes with complete instructions to make the 19 inch double doll.

This project features face masks created with a trapunto quilting method. Melinda's purpose was to design a cloth face without a seam down the middle of the forehead and nose and instead all the seams are in places where wrinkles naturally occur in the face. The details are sewn by machine first on flat fabrics and stuffing in varying densities between fabric layers brings the mask into a 3 dimensional face. Creating the mask eliminates exact needle sculpting through the entire head.

Baba Yaga & Vasalisa Dyad Doll Pattern

The hands have an innovative pleat sewn at the knuckles so the fingers bend on their own!

The package has 10 pages of illustrated instructions and 6 pages of patterns for the doll faces, the body and arms, the costumes and hats, and the torch and broom.

Anyone with intermediate sewing skills can finish their own well made doll. In addition there is information about ethnic and folk costuming.

Tools & Materials You Will Need
A basic sewing machine (no fancy stitches are necessary), scissors, needles & thread, pins, tacky glue, toothpick, stuffing, doll hair, paint or colored pens, 4.5" bamboo skewer and metallic threads or tinsel for torch, stuffing fork and a "Bow Whip."

Pattern Information:
Freezer paper can be used for pattern pieces. It is thin enough to lay on the pattern to trace the shape and cut it out. You can also iron it onto the fabric to hold it in place while tracing the outline or sewing the seam. All the pattern pieces shown here are in outlines but the actual pieces are covered with extensive notations about seam allowance, fabric grain and other details labeled with dots and letters.

Tips on the Finishing Touches Faces:
The pattern instructions give you a detailed guide to drawing and painting the faces and the "trapunto" method to make the face masks.

Torch:
There are 3 different patterns for the symbolic torch that Vasalisa receives from Baba Yaga. Most like the skull on fire torch but there are instructions to make a fabric flame or thread flame if you would prefer.

Story Book:
The book is printed on two 11" x 17" sheets of paper. When cut as instructed, it folds into the 26 page Vasalisa Story Book. You may use the cover as printed or embellish it with fabric and trim. Additional 11 x 17 printer's spread copies of the Vasalisa Story Book can be purchased.

Then turn the doll over to hide
Baba Yaga under Vasalisa's skirt.

Here is Baba Yaga with
Vasalisa hiding under her skirt.