Bilby Girl : Traveling Art Doll

Fabric_-Animotion 1994

Further adventures in Australia of the Traveling Art Doll.( please see the previous posts for more information -Australian Inspired Traveling Art Doll and Art Dolls Only Traveling Art Doll)

Today is Anzac Day, so it was a quiet afternoon and I set to completing Lulu's doll. Here is what she looked like early this morning. As Lulu lives in USA, I wanted to give this doll an Australian touch ,too.

Lulu's doll as she arrived.

I had intended to use the"Yalke" design fabric which I used on Martha's doll but once I held it against her body, with the fringed yarn already in place, it just didn't seem to work. This doll has a "spirit" look and I first thought of the Australian classic children's novel, "Playing Beatie Bow" about the ghost girl who couldn't find her way back to 1873.... No....calico pinafore - a bit boring! Then I remembered a vintage looking piece of Australiana fabric with a bright pink gum blossom. I have had this for a very long time. In theory this shouldn't work - the pattern was far too large for this little delicate body, but I just had to use the piece with the gum blossom, so like the fringed yarn.

Machine stitching, Gum blossom fringe from sewing thread.

Frayed fringe and organza underlay.

With a little more of the fringed yarn I had in my own stash and the stitched piece of Animotion, I think she looks like a "bush spirit" ,but why is she so sad?

Australian Bush spirit girl

Then I had a thought - "Animotion "= animal + emotion. She is Binda, the bush spirit girl saddened by the loss of many native animals. . So, I made her a bilby companion from the same fabric. A bilby is a desert dwelling Australian marsupial. One of the species became extinct in the 1950s and the other Macrotis lagotis remains endangered. The term bilby is a word from the Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal language of northern New South Wales, meaning long-nosed rat. In Australia, at Easter, many people replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby, raising awareness of the campaign to " Save the Bilby" . Binda is also a name of Aboriginal origin meaning " green place".

Binda, the Bilby Girl

Binda will be posted to return home to USA tomorrow, and as there are only three of us in this Art Dolls Only team, I will now wait for my doll to come home. You can see her now at Ayala Art and before at Lulus Apples. Thanks to other members of my team - Ayala Art and Lulus Apple for participating and letting me work on their dolls.

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Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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