Serbian dolls

Pictured here are a pair of 8" cloth over wire armature dolls wearing the folk costume of Sumadija in central Serbia. They are part of the 5 boxed sets of Narodna Radinost dolls I acquired some years ago. I have already covered Macedonia,  Montenegro and Slovenia.

The male doll wears a vest of blue woollen felt and matching  jodhpur- like pants.He wears a woven sash at his waist and a black woollen hat which covers his ears. The shirt is decorated with some lovely blue and red needlework and his cuffs are made of white ribbon. He wears brown leather opanci on his feet and his stockings have a simple pink cross stitch design.  He has a  black plastic strip around the stockings I presume to resemble the cord  found in the real versions attached to the top of the socks and wrapped around the leg to keep the stockings up.

The male doll also has a woven fabric bag which I understand mirrors bags worn by shepherds.

The female doll is particularly nice. Her white blouse is trimmed at the neck and cuffs with lace, red ribbons cinch the elbows and there is embroidery on her chest and arms. The vest or jelek is of red velvet trimmed with gold thread and her apron , also of red velvet, has a beautiful floral design on it.

The skirt is made of a heavy woven striped fabric which is pleated and has a lot of impact when traditional dances are performed. Her shoe are leather opanci.

Although hard to see in the photos she has a black braid across the top of her head which I have never seen on any other Narodna Radinost dolls.