A while ago now onecrazywoman contacted me with the proposition to swap dotee dolls.  She is making me a dotee doll with a Texan theme and I am making her a dotee doll with a Scottish theme.  I’ve been making this doll on and off now for the past month and finally last night I finished.

This is Morag – she is a traditional highland Scot but a bit kooky at heart which is why she wears a traditional plaid outfit but it’s pink!  She her unruly hair – she never brushes it and the wild Scottish winds have whipped it into a bit of a bird’s nest!

She’ll be on her way to join onecrazywoman’s dotee collection in Texas next week.

~ You can also find onecrazywoman as lovetoquilt2 on SwapBot.

I made this lion dotee doll for a swapbot tag.  I’m having trouble parting with this one.

It’s felt with embroidery thread and seed bead detail…quite simple really.  It was really windy when I took this picture so I had to hold onto the tail to keep it steady…it’s a basic tassel.

Dotee dolls are small fabric dolls with a face, hanger and tail (no arms or legs).  They are often also decorated with beads.  This style of doll is based on the work of a blogger called Dot and has become popular amongst the SwapBot community where many crafters join to swap dotee inspired dolls.

I have joined a number of these swaps now, the latest one being a Matryoshka Dotee Swap.

I’ve never tried to replicate the style that Dot has used for her Dotees; to be honest I would rather adopt my own style for crafts.  So, with a nod in the direction of Dot but with a personal twist I give you my dotee inspired doll collection…it’s quite small and actually not my collection because these all have new homes in America, but I hope you get the idea anyway.

matryoshka dotee

new year dotee – she’s got her PJs on because I tend to go to bed at New Year

the very first dotee I made

If you fancy having a go at something like this yourself, well, I’m not going to insult anyone with a pattern and besides mine never follow the same pattern anyhow.  What to do is take two pieces of fabric and adorn one with a face and other embellishments, attach to the other piece of fabric (wrong sides together), turn and stuff.  Sew on a hanger and tail….done!  The  first ever dotee inspired doll I made was just a square piece of fabric folded over and sew around the open sides.

Seriously, anyone who is willing to give it a go can make these.  In fact, many people who have never sewn a stitch in their life are joining in this craze with some good results.