Doll-A-Day 2017 #274:Hungarian Matyo Dolls

   This post has been updated, thanks to a couple of astute readers who informed me that these are,in fact,Hungarian dolls. The text has changed throughout, so if you have read it before, you haven't really...
 Today's dolls are these two colourful little ladies.

They are Hungarian dolls, dressed in the traditional costume of the Matyo region of Northeastern  Hungary,particularly from the town of Mezokovesd.

Matyo is known for it's unique and colourful embroidery. There is a great page with loads of pictures and a video, which you can find HERE.

I originally thought they might be German dolls with pom pom hats.. Like this:

They have beautiful faces.           

They look identical at first, but look closer. they really aren't.

I'm guessing that's the result of hand painting.

They have bendable arms.

And they are both carrying lace hankies.

"This thing's full of holes. How are you supposed to blow your nose on it?!"

And of course, they have those pom pom hats.

Holy cow! Those pom poms really are almost as big as their heads!

There's so much colour and detail in their clothing.

Their aprons are embroidered.

The aprons tie in the back with this trim...

...that reminds me so much of the trim used on these two dolls,which these girls remind me of alot:

This doll is mine, and you can read and see more about her HERE.

This doll is Ivy's, and you can read and see more about her HERE.

 Other than being more pale than the other dolls,and the older girls being slightly smaller,( just under 6" to these girls' 7"), there are a lot of similarities. The random fabric the clothes are made of,like maybe they were made from leftover fabric pieces,the hand painted faces, which are also similar in style,and some of the fabrics used. They all have the exact same ribbed pink fabric for arms.

 

Their legs are made of an unribbed fabric. I'm thinking it would have looked more realistic to have the arms made out of the unribbed, (Who has ribbed arms?) and the legs made out of the ribbed fabric,so it would look like tights. 



The new girls have shiny plastic shoes that are sewn similarly to the older dolls' shoes.

The shoes being plastic, instead of the leather or leather look fabric the other girls' shoes are made of, make me think that  the new girls are not nearly as old.

Their dresses have a lot of pleats,and trim.

Only the one has the flared skirt, so I'm thinking it may have not been intentional!

  I spotted these at a thrift store last week and got really excited,because they reminded me so much of the other girls, which I LOVE.

They're what's known as 'travel dolls' or 'souvenir dolls',because they are made to sell to tourists and their clothes represent authentic regional folk costumes.

See you tomorrow when we'll look at another doll.