See also the Borrowers page for ready-made items inspired by these stories.

Toys in Miniature: Frances Armstroong

Kits 5 Borrowers scenes

Mary Norton's series of books about Borrowers should be read by all miniaturists.   They made me wonder whether dollhouses had their own versions of Borrowers.  This kit offers my miniaturized version of part of the home in which the Clock family are living in the first book, but you can use some of the same ideas to put together a scene of your own, perhaps in your own dollhouse.  The books will give you all kinds of ideas.

See also the Borrowers page for ready-made items inspired by these stories.

Kit for a Borrowers' Home in Miniature This kit includes all materials for making what you see in the picture above, plus many details that aren't visible.  The home is situated in a "crawl space" under an imaginary floor, its walls being the beams supporting the floor. On the left is a storage room, with useful items being kept at hand.  In the middle the mother is knitting at her table, the father is making shoes at his workbench (once a child's ABC block), and in between them their daughter Arrietty is almost hidden behind her huge diary.  On the right is Arrietty's bedroom, the bed made from a jewel box, its canopy from a cigar box, and her chest of drawers from a matchbox. Details like stamps for pictures and a ring for a tiara are there too, just as in the book. Some of the tinier items are provided ready-made, and full instructions and materials will allow you to make the rest.  You can also adapt the kit to fit a setting of your own: under a window seat, perhaps. The kit as described above costs $35, including a detailed instruction booklet.  Postage is $5. Kit for What the Borrowers Borrowed This kit gives you a chance to restore in your 1/12 scale dollhouse the items the borrowers used.  There are instructions and materials to make a 1/12 scale jewellery box, a diary and pencil, a cigar box, a funnel, spools of thread, ABC blocks, a pocket watch, and some matchboxes. This kit costs $15 (plus $2 postage), or you can buy the two for $50 (plus $5 postage). Kit to make the Borrowers themselves These figures are made of wood, wire, and fabric, and are fully posable.  The techniques used are a little different from those in my other doll kits, and slightly more tricky, but people who've tried them have produced excellent results. The $15 kit includes the three figures pictured here. Postage is $2. All three kits come to $65, plus $5 postage.

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This page was last updated on: May 7, 2002

For ideas for scenes from the Borrowers books, click here: