Hehe! Did that title made you laugh? It did make me when I wrote it. So somber, yet hopeful, am I right? That’s how I like to think of the crazy time Miss Macha decided to be born in. Now, grab a cup of tea so you can read all about her.

Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

You might have heard of my weird custom, I don’t even know how it started or if in true form it has always happened like that but I do know I strive for that goal: to never let a doll leave me with entirely idle hands. I strive to have a girl “lined up” sort of speak, before departure of the one that is finished.

This has proven quite the task, as not only keeps me eternally looking forward to walk into my studio but it also continuously reminds me of how though I may be pained and saddened at some departures, the dolls will keep coming. I just have to trust my hands and the process.

I have been educating myself this year, in other areas than dollmaking, and one thing I have been reading a lot since last year actually is creativity. Its boundaries, how it operates, trying to extrapolate what I read to how I actually work, and how I work best. As an extremely insecure persona, I have a hard time believing in my very own creativity.

Yes, I know. You might think that is very weird coming from me, with twelve years of doll work behind me, and I would agree. But knowing how it feels from this side, from the person stitching and dreaming, the mother and the wife, the human and the dollmaker, the photographer and the storyteller, the story reads quite different than what you might imagine it to be.

One of the areas of creativity that really intrigues me, when it comes to my dolls that is, is their stories. I see them always in a dream. Some days I wake up with a very vivid sense of their personality.

I walk into the kitchen, groggy and all, waiting to pour a double-shot of espresso for my morning latte, knowing today is a day for a bit of sketchwork and maybe some ideas. I already know there is a doll in my head. Sometimes I don’t remember the dream very well, not until I start sketching or writing in my journal.

Quilted petticoat. Doll clothing. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Certain visions come first, sometimes it’s their hair. Or their hair texture. Some other days is the overall vision of their clothes. But most, most often, it’s their personality. Who they are. I can hear them. Hear their voice, their laughter, how they talk, what books they like. I can see them moving, tending, playing and living on a shelf.

When I start to work on a doll, some of those details may change. I may have “designed” a fanciful crown or golden capes, and the dolls let me know they have changed their mind. I mostly agree with a greateful smile, after all I am not the one who will eternally wear said clothes. I also agree because experience have shown me the dolls know better.

People find it very intriguing I know the dolls, especially their names, before they even arrive in my hands. This is true. I would say most dollmakers work the opposite way: they wait to see the doll before they can connect with her or him. They wait until they have the personality in front of them to find them a name that speaks to them. That has happened to me very few times. I did not like not knowing who they were, though they had just come out of my hands. It all felt a bit disjointed, so accustomed to work the other way around.

The real truth is I mostly pull them out of me “fully formed”. They are already who they are and I normally already know this. Perhaps not to a T but I do have a very, very strong sense of who this is.

Smocked over skirt. Doll clothing. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Maybe this happens because they dance in my head for so long, coming to me in my dreams so often, that by the time I manage to sit down and sew their little bodies we are already friends. We have had chats, communions. We’ve become dear old pals.

When I started dreaming Macha, I can’t even remember. I “promised” myself to work on her right after I finished with Coco. I had made this promise a few times before, and I wasn’t ready I guess. I dropped the ball. But once Coco was getting ready to flee the coup I knew I was going to need a special doll to hold me over. I am glad it was Macha’s turn. This time for reals.

Now, the time she chose or I chose, for her to be born, couldn’t be weirder. I can’t even wrap my head at how much and how quickly the world changed for all of us. How a few weeks of time have stretched reality so far. I wonder if this was Macha’s special gift to me.

Aside the fact that she allowed me to finally downsize the pattern of the Petite Fig, for which we are eternally grateful dear Macha, she did come bearing other gifts. I won’t enlist them all here, but they are contained in her clothing and also in the time she allowed me to practice patience with myself. So here is a little story about Macha.

This Morning

“A brave new world” is a strong and hopeful phrase, a phrase that gives you courage to get up every morning.

Pehaps not this morning as the early April chill is coming into the bedroom through the thick-pained window and not even the curtains will help contain it. You struggle under your blankets, stretching your toes, feeling the heat of your body keeping you safe, why venture outside of this textile coccoon? you wonder…

The light starts invading your domain inch by inch, carving more and more out of the shadows. The room and its contents start getting into focus, yet you pretend to be asleep. Quiet as a mouse, not moving much, shallow breathing. Playing semi-consciously with a tuft of hair on your finger, willing yourself to go back to your last dream.

Why does it have to be morning, every single day? Could we skip it once, just this once? Stay in bed all “day” and skip the whole thing until “tomorrow”?

I guess that already happened, or did it? Today is tomorrow. Now I am getting confused.

Then something magical happens. You remember that little phrase and it gives you a little shock of energy. You remember all the brilliant things you can do if you only get out of bed. The people to talk to on your way to town, the animals to say hi to, the flowers soon to be growing by the side of the road.

You remember what it is to go swimming by the crooked tree in the river, to run under bluer-than-blue skies, to feel tired at night, to read fat books under the shade of the veranda. You remember your awake life.

It’s time to say good-bye to your comfy bed and get up.

A dash of fresh water brings you to more immediate and pressing matters. Must stoke the fire.

Standing on the rug by the bed keeps your feet off the frozen wooden floor, but still, socks are of the first morning priorities.

In this type of weather the only sensible thing is to wear them layers. One, two, three, as many as one can handle.

You love to run the hands over the pebbly bits of your clothes: a geometric thread on the smocking of your skirt, the puffs of your quilted petticoat, the ruffles of your underdress. Fat stitches here and there. Garter stitch love in the shape of a shawl.

Doll clothing. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Boots on and the day can start now more properly. But not without a headband.

We are here for the roses. All the roses.

Art doll photography. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

What is that? asks your inquiring nose. Wafts from the kitchen are seducing the senses. Ancient smells, esoteric sounds: the kitchen is also alive. We best head there first, lest we arrive a minute too late for the dowsing of cold yellow butter and bejeweled jams in fat glass jars.

Nobody can ever wait for the second batch of toast.

Art doll photography. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

And so Macha starts her day, in a brave, a brave new world. Belly pumped full of food and a gorgeous smile to welcome whatever the day may bring.

Artful blogging and doll photography. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

As much as I love making dolls, I love writing stories for them more. Maybe I make dolls to write stories or maybe I write stories because I make dolls. They go hand in hand. It’s very hard nowadays to separate the two things.

So Miss Macha here is up for adoption. She has waited long enough and I am out of excuses. First I said she needed more layers. It took me close to 30 hours to quilt, embroider and sew her petticoat. That was layer number one…she did look a bit put out. I promised expediency with subsequent layers.

Doll photography. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

I was under watchful stare the whole time. If I dilly-dallied I got a bit of sass. I am under extreme pressure with these dolls. Especially with Macha. I think she knows me too well.

Doll photography and artful blogging. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Macha is a 16” tall version of my Petite Fig doll pattern. She is around 8 years old and full of personality. You can look at the previous blog post for photos of her body style: very petite proportions, round belly, skinny limbs and a head that moves in all directions.

Macha is made with swiss fabric, stuffed with canadian wool and weighted with glass beads.

Her hair is made with british Teeswater locks, wefted by myself and hand-sewn to a wool cap attached to her head. Her hair can be styled with your fingers.

Contemporary art dolls. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Macha’s torso and face have been sculpted with needle-felting techniques. Her freckles are hand-painted and her eyes embroidered. Macha has many sweet body details, like chubby ears, a cute belly button, little thumbsm, round knees, left and right foot, etc.

Doll clothing details, Macha: a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Macha comes wearing a very beautiful and suitable attire:

A cotton print dress with tiny leaves. The dress is very long and has a major ruffle at bottom to fill up her petticoat. Dress has a circular yoke, wider than most sleeves, closes at back with sewn-in snaps and has been decorated with cotton lace on the sleeves and embroidery stitches throughout.
Cotton underpants with elastic waist.
Wool boots done in crochet.
A quilted petticoat, lined with cotton flannel to add more warmth. The petticoat has an inner layer of organic cotton batting and it was quilted by hand. Added embroidery stitches added just a bit of colour. A linen waist band was added and the petticoat also closes at back with sewn-in snaps.
An over skirt in very thin cotton. Waist is smocked with heavier cotton (an upcycled piece, I did not do the smocking myself). I added a waist band and trimmed the entire skirt with double hem by hand. It overlaps quite widely at back and also closes with sewn-in snaps.
Knitted triangular shawl, made of cream wool, which wraps comfortably around her entire torso and can be self-tied at back.
Cotton lace headband, adorned with a crochet wool rose and an angora/wool one too. Leaves are made of green cashmere knit fabric.

Macha is looking for a home that can put up with a bit of sassiness every now and then, also a home that can be understanding of the slow process of waking up. Macha is full of mischief and promises hours of laughter and creative imaginative play. She is an art doll suitable for children 12+ or adult collectors. Her price is $1450 USD plus postage ($50 to Canada and the US, International postage will need a revised quote).

If you would like to welcome Macha into your home, kindly enter your details in the form below. We will leave the form open until Sunday 26 of April at 6 PM EST. We will close the form then and choose a name at random to purchase Macha, by sending an email to the chosen entry and a Paypal request. Invoice is due upon receipt. Our main wishes are that only serious buyers enter their details and only on behalf of themselves if they are personally interested in buying the doll, not on behalf of someone else.

EDIT - MACHA HAS FOUND A LOVELY HOME. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE THAT OPENED THE DOORS OF THEIRS EXPECTING TO BRING HER INTO YOUR DOLL FAMILY. YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT IS WHAT KEEPS MY DOLLMAKING JOURNEY GOING.
MUCH LOVE, FABS.

As you can see Macha sits very well and also stands pretty good when propped. I had to stop taking photos of her because I dropped my darn camera on my toe, otherwise I would still be up there, snapping photos galore and playing with her hair.

She is precious to me and I am in love with her. On the whole, I am in love with all my dolls so I know I am extremely biased. Can’t be trusted.

Dolls of the world. Macha, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Thank you so much for reading my stories and following my doll making journey. I hope my dolls bring you light, mischief and a softer attitude towards life. I create them with that intention.