Limits of quasifuchsian groups with small bending

We study limits of quasifuchsian groups for which the bending measures on the convex hull boundary tend to zero, giving necessary and sufficient conditions for the limit group to exist and be Fuchsian. As an application we complete the proof of a conjecture made in \cite{S1}, that the closure of pleating varieties for quasifuchsian groups meet Fuchsian space exactly in Kerckhoff's lines of minima of length functions. Doubling our examples gives rise to a large class of cone manifolds which degenerate to hyperbolic surfaces as the cone angles approach $2\pi$.