Serbian dolls

I thought I would start with some dolls from Serbia as these are by far and away the most commonly found of the range of  Yugoslavian folk dolls available and consequently nearly half of my collection consists of Serbian dolls. One of the reasons for this is I think because the Serbian costume is bright and colourful and fits in with our notions of European folk dress; full skirts,embroidered bodices, ribbons and fitted vests.

This couple are 8 inches tall and were made by winding wadding around a wire frame and then covering it with stockinette. They have hands made of felt. Sometimes all five fingers on each hand are cut out, sometimes it is just a mitten style. The facial features are all sewn on and the hair is made of thick wool but may also be mohair or floss. The shoes, known as opanci, are woven leather and are most often in brown or black but do come in other colours such as red,green or the light blue pictured here.

These dolls wear a costume from the Sumadija region of Serbia. 

The man is wearing a hat which here is made of velvet but can also be of wool or thick thread. His vest and trousers are made of brown felt and he has some embroidery on his shirt and tiny buttons. A striped sash sits around his waist with a fringe at one end. The socks are here trimmed with material but often are embroidered with flowers and he wears the leather shoes known as opanci. The small wooden flute or recorder he holds is a frula, a  Serbian instrument traditionally played by shepherds while they tended their flocks.

The woman wears a cotton blouse embroidered with flowers,trimmed with lace and finished with red ribbons. Her waistcoat is felt and has the gold thread commonly found on these dolls.Her apron is blue velvet and her skirt is a thick woven material tucked into the sides of her belt. I shall deal in more detail latter with the aprons and skirts found on the female dolls.

The couple pictured below show a couple also in the folk costume from Sumadija but the man wears  the small material bag sometimes found on the dolls.

Both sets of dolls have their original  tags which indicate they were made in Yugoslavia and distributed by the Narodna Radinost company probably in the late 1950s early 60s, In an upcoming post I will discuss the company in more detail.