  Although many double white dwarfs (DWDs) have been observed, the evolutionary
channel by which they are formed from low-mass/long-period
red-giant-main-sequence (RG-MS) binaries remains uncertain. The canonical
explanations involve some variant of double common-envelope (CE) evolution,
however it has been found that such a mechanism cannot produce the observed
distribution. We present a model for the initial episode of mass transfer (MT)
in RG-MS binaries, and demonstrate that their evolution into double white
dwarfs need not arise through a double-CE process, as long as the initial
primary's core mass (Md,c) does not exceed 0.46M$_{\odot}$. Instead, the first
episode of dramatic mass loss may be stable, non-conservative MT. We find a
lower bound on the fraction of transferred mass that must be lost from the
system in order to provide for MT, and demonstrate the feasibility of this
channel in producing observed low-mass (with M$_{d,c}$ < 0.46M$_{\odot}$) DWD
systems.
