Aug 1

Aug 1 Twinflowers: Linnaea and Borealis.

I think I finally succeeded in making twin dolls! They are not exactly the same of course, but they are so close and I am very happy about that. Sometimes the smallest victories are the ones that bring the most happiness.

Linnaea, a waldorf-inspired natural doll by fig and me.

I wanted to try and downsize the Little Fig doll pattern, to use it as instructions for one of my doll making video series on Patreon. Total success and the dolls that came out of this experiment have taken a strong hold in my heart. Let me present you both: Linnaea and Borealis. Two little dolls inspired by the beautiful Twinflowers that grow in the boreal forests of the world.

Borealis, a waldorf inspired doll by fig and me.

I went about downsizing the pattern, adding weight with glass beads, enlarging the feet, stuffing with my preferred technique and needle-felting the faces and here we are: two bundles of absolute joy.

I normally don’t complain about my inability to portray the dolls as pretty as they are, but with these two I will. There is something absolutely magical about them and it doesn’t come through in the photos, not even one bit. I am going to try to make a little video of myself playing with them, just so you understand the level of cute.

I am quite smitten!

Linnaea, waldorf inspired doll by fig and me.

Linnaea over here is the one that was born first. We call her “Linny” and though she is mere minutes older than her sister, she is quite Miss Bossy Pants. She is the one that made all the choices regarding hair colour, fabrics, yarns and even accessories. But she was so cute being so bossy that we just followed her lead.

They are both wearing as much pink as we could muster. I seem to be going under a very exhuberant pink phase and no other colour seems to be motivating my hands other than this one, so I hope you can oblige for a little longer.

I made them all the same clothes (something I also have never done before) but I just had to change a little something: their shoes, necklaces and barrettes are different. Other than that, they wear the same.

They both wear a cotton voile dress in a floral print, with linen raglan sleeves and collar. A mother of pearl button at centre front and hand-sewn snaps at the back. The dress is trimmed with two different styles of cotton lace at the sleeves and lower hem. It is ample and very breezy.

Linnaea wears wooly two-tone booties with wooden buttons at the front. While Borealis wears pink cotton maryjanes.

We call her Little Boris, by fig and me.

They each have a reversible bonnet made in cotton chenille and lined in pink knit cashmere, with rope ties. Linnaea prefers to wear hers on the white side, while Borealis wears hers either side without preference.

They are both made with cotton fabric, Linnaea’s skin tone is slightly warmer than Borealis, which is much lighter. Both have brown eyes and tiny thread mouths. They are stuffed with wool and weighted entirely in their torsos with glass beads. They are not quite 10” tall but they sure are very proud of their 9,5” height.

You probably can’t tell them apart, their necklaces or their shoes might help. They are ready to find a family of their own so you can find them both in my Bigcartel shop. Price is $365 USD with $25 shipping to the US/Canada. International will need a revised quote. If you visit the shop you can find them there, but I won’t make the listings live until Friday August 2nd at 12 PM EST. This to give more people the chance to see them and be ready should they want to buy them. I hate when people miss the dolls!

Linnaea, sitting pretty for me, by fig and me.

Aside their dresses, bonnets and shoes, they also wear little elastic-thread necklaces with wooden beads and the tiniest of knitted collars, made with a soft virgin wool in vintage pink. I have three skeins of this vintage yarn and I am jonesing to knit a whole dress with it.

Stripy underpants for tiny dolls, by fig and me.

Of course they also have tiny underpants in red and white stripes. I had to giggle a lot while I was sewing these as they are, I believe, the tiniest I have made in a while.

I have to confess I had a lot of fun using this simple pattern to create these two. I already set some plant-dyed fabrics aside and will be making another pair next month, so if you like them as much as I do, there will be more coming. I feel so refreshed and invigorated after making them!

Thank you for coming to visit them and if you want to take one home with you, there will be waiting in the SHOP. Tomorrow at Noon EST. Thank you!