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The Topsy Turvy Huldra Doll

© Valerie Borey

In Norway there is a creature known as the Huldra, a feminine creature, who much like a troll, sports a cow’s tail. The legend goes that, if she is able to get a man to marry her, she will immediately transform into a beautiful woman and shed her wretched tail. This month I’m writing about transformations and what better way to do it than by showing you how to make a Topsy-Turvy Huldra doll?

The Topsy-Turvy doll is a two-headed upside-down doll that takes on one identity when held upright, but transforms into another oppositional identity when flipped over. Its origins are actually rooted in the slave period of the United States, when slave children were thought to have hidden their forbidden black dolls by concealing them with a reversible white doll. Later on, these dolls were adopted by storytellers across the world as an interesting way to narrate stories of transformation and conflict. I’m continuing this tradition of metamorphosis by adapting it to Norwegian culture. For more on the history of Topsy-Turvy dolls, click here.

What you will need:

Dressmakers pencil
Scissors
Sewing needles
Strong, all-purpose thread
Fabric of your choice
Stuffing or polyfill
Huldra pattern (download word document: http://www.suite101.com/files/topics/133... )

Begin by downloading and printing the Huldra pattern and cutting out the individual pieces. You’ll be cutting out the double-necked torso, a head, a nose, and a limb for use in making your doll. Fold your choice of fabric so that it is doubled and the front or main side of the pattern is face down. Trace around the pattern pieces with a dressmaker’s pencil (a colored pencil will also work). When you are done, you should have the outline for 1 torso, 1 nose, 2 heads, and 4 limbs.

Since your fabric is doubled, you should be able to sew the front and back pieces together quite easily. Just stitch along the lines you have drawn. Make sure, however, to leave a relatively generous opening in at least 1 of the necks, at the shoulder end of each limb, and at the base of the nose. You will need these openings in order to turn the pieces out and insert filling later.

Once you have sewn the outline for all pieces, go ahead and cut the forms out of the cloth, leaving a generous inch or so on the outside of your stitching. Snip a small opening in the center of one side of each head and use your finger to turn it right side out. Then grab a pencil and, using the eraser side, turn all 4 limbs and the torso right side out as well.

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