Nisse Folk Dolls

A Nisse (Denmark, Norway) or Tomten (Sweden) is a humble household pixie that will look after your house or farm in the weeks running up to Christmas. They are very important and historically took care of the livestock and animals that winter on the farms. Please don't offend them by offering them smart clothing or they will get ideas above their station and leave you to do all the work yourself. It is also very important that you offer your Nisse a bowl of porridge on Christmas Eve which must have a large pat of cold butter in it so it will melt slowly and he can see it, because if he thinks he's been done out of his butter pat he will throw quite a tantrum! Although they are now quite keen on the Ris a l'Amande which is a sweet rice pudding made with almonds and whipped cream served on Christmas Eve. I was brought up with them and from December 1st when they would descend from the loft, Christmas was never Christmas without them around the house but we had to respect them because if we offended them they could cause such chaos you could run the risk of the cat leaving home.

Day 1 will concentrate on making a doll and Day 2 will be making clothes.

StudentRequirements 
Calico: for the body and limbs although it is fun to make their arms and legs from stripy fabric so you can play around a bit before committing to cutting out.

Toy filling

Fabric for clothes. Cotton is good for bloomers and the dress or you could use cotton or linen just for the bodice and then some tweed or wool for the dress. You can play around as the skirt of the dress is stitched onto the bodice separately you have plenty of scope for imagination. The little boy wears a wool top but this can be made from cotton and you could roll the sleeves up and show his arms which you can maybe stitched in a contrasting fabric.  I used felt for his trousers and turned them up.

Sewing kit and machine

Little bits of fabric to embellish on the dress, make cuffs (optional) and neckline patches.

Hair:  I used Wensleydale sheep wool which was lovely and curly and you could mix in all different yarns, ribbons, tie some bells on the ribbon at the end.