Swiss Dress Plans

I decided that I need at least one Swiss-style doll dress to bring to this year's Festival, so I plan to make one. Hopefully posting about it will give me the motivation I need to complete it. Since I don't own a sewing machine right now, I'm going to have to sew by hand. Ugh! I chose the pattern, purchased fabric and lace, and am ready to get started.

Now all I need is patience, perseverance, and a whole lot of free time!

♥ 2010 Sasha Festival ♥

The 2010 Sasha Festival is happening July 15-18 in San Francisco, California. This year's theme is "Sasha Returns Home to Switzerland". The registration deadline is May 8, so there's still time to send in your registration if you haven't done so already. Registration information can be found at the official website.

Here are some additional details from Jan Johnson regarding this year's "Dress-A-Sasha Contest".

Themes:
1. The Life of Sasha Morgenthaler
Base your entry on one facet of Sasha Morgenthaler's life. Your entry could represent Sasha as an artist, midwife, humanitarian (aiding refugee children after World War II), world traveler or doll maker.
2. Switzerland
Your entry can represent one of the following aspects of Swiss life:
The story of Heidi by Johanna Spyri (perfect for Sasha as Heidi and Gregor as Peter)
The story of William Tell (Gregor as William Tell and a Toddler as his son)
Clara Barton - Founder of the American Red Cross (inspired by her 1869 trip to Geneva, Switzerland)
Watch-making (Gregor would make a great watchmaker!)
Swiss Banking
Chocolate-making
Cheese-making
Mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps

Classes of Entrants:
Youth: 12 to 17 years of age
Adult: 18 years and up

Categories:
1. Outfit made by entrant.
Adults only - all clothing must be made by entrant, except shoes, socks, underwear and accessories.
2. Outfit assembled by entrant.
Adults and youth - clothing may be purchased or made by someone other than entrant.

Blue Bicycle

As of this posting, there is a great picture with a blue bicycle on the Sasha "welcome" page at Let's Play Dolls. It shows a redhead no-navel riding the bike with a brunette baby girl sitting on the back rack and a basketful of toys. My Sashas wanted a bike like that to ride too, so I did some searching online and found several on eBay (turns out it's an American Girl item for Molly, which was retired in 2006). The bicycle I purchased is missing the mirror, but otherwise in great shape. It's a little bit large, but Gregor is a big enough boy that he can handle it.

His blue t-shirt came from Rosie Bloom, where I bought the most adorable pair of shoes a while back. Not only is it more appropriate for pedaling around than his long-sleeve checked shirt, but it makes his beautiful blue eyes really stand out.

That's Toto in the basket, part of the 2008 Festival Outfit (pictured here) which I won in the Children's Fund Auction at last year's festival.

Two Marinas

There are two distinctly different Sasha dolls known as Marina. The Early English Sasha dolls are often referred to by their original clothing, in this case a sailor or "Marina" outfit. These dolls were produced from 1981 to 1986. The later Gotz dolls were given unique names, and their similarly-dressed girls are named Marina. They were produced in 1999 and 2000.

I call my 1980's brunette Cindy. She was purchased nude, and I have no idea of her history. She may or may not have been a "Marina" as she could also have been a "Red Pinafore" or "Dancing Dress" (the other brunettes from the same time period). I found her an original "Marina" outfit and have dressed her as such for these photos with my Gotz Marina.

The dolls themselves are quite different. Gotz Marina is a green-eyed redhead with freckles, while English "Marina" is a brown-eyed brunette who is considerably taller (as is the case with most of the dolls from the 80's). They both wear navy blue and white sailor outfits, but with the top and skirt colors swapped. Gotz Marina has a tie with long tails attached to her collar and low ankle socks, while English "Marina" has a tie with short tails around her neck and tall knee socks. Their shoes are completely different styles; Gotz Marina wears blue ankle-strap shoes, while English "Marina" wears black laced shoes.

I think they look marvelous together:

Blonde No Navel Duo

I've introduced two blonde no-navels so far, and thought it might be fun to show them together for comparison. Liesel is a blue-eyed blonde from 1970 and Lucinda is a brown-eyed blonde from 1969.


It's lovely spring weather here, so they've changed into jumpers designed and made by Peggy Trauger. I won the embroidered "flying kite" jumper at the 2009 Sasha Festival, while the painted "watering flowers" jumper came from the collection of Audrey Femmer.