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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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Comments

  1. lulu moonwood murakamiApril 25, 2013 at 8:55 PM

    I love what you did with her, Wilma, and the little bilby, too! Thanks for teaching us about Australian culture and stories, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LuLuApril 26, 2013 at 2:52 AM

    Wilma :) she is fantastic! I love the fabric and the meaning behind it all Thank you so much for working on my girl! I will treasure her forever :D my Bilby Girl!

    ReplyDelete

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