Happy Easter!

Adeline is all dressed up for Easter in an adorable rabbit outfit by Nikita (ebay seller eseascaper7) and shoes/socks by Ruthsdolls. I love the placement of the rabbit trio on the bodice and how it makes her blueberry eyes look almost blue-grey.

She has an Easter basket full of yummy treats from the Etsy shop USA Girl Dolls. I bought these last year, but due to a shipping snafu they didn't arrive until a few days after Easter. No worries - my Sashas didn't mind and the "candy" is still fresh for this year (and next year, and the year after that ...).

I think she looks rather sullen for a girl with such a large basket of yummy treats. Maybe its because she'd rather be eating candy than posing for pictures.

Happy Easter everyone!

1968 Blonde Quartet

While I was taking pictures of my fringe girls for the last post, I decided to take a few pictures of ALL my 1968 blondes. Here is Audrey with Allegra and Alison. She also has a wide cord dress, but hers is quite faded.

Audrey's bangs are several rows deep, starting higher up on her head than those of the fringe girls.

And lastly, a picture with my waif Adeline. She seems to have a wider face than the other three. Another wide dress, but not corduroy; this one was made by me last summer from the Migros pattern.

1968 Fringe Girls

I have two 1968 blondes with a single fringe - one is wispy while the other is more even. Both have gorgeous blue eyes. I thought it would be fun to photograph them side by side for comparison.

They are wearing their wide corduroy dresses, Allegra in blue and Alison in brown.

Alison will be coming to the festival with me. This may be out last hurrah together, as I'm contemplating selling her. Never easy to part with a Sasha, but my collection is still a bit unwieldy.

Meet Allegra

The eBay situation with Annabel left me feeling unhappy, but I cheered up when I found a 1968 blonde fringe girl for sale on Shelly's site. Since her descriptions are always accurate, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed again. Allegra is just as described, and oh so much nicer than Annabel. And she's a blue cord, like most of my other early English blondes.

The weather wasn't great for picture taking today and I didn't have time to mess with lighting, but I managed to find a spot of light coming through a south-facing window. It was so bright that I was having problems with shadows, but I like how this picture turned out.

Luckily I also wound up with a decent shot of Allegra's spectacular pale blue eyes. If you're curious, she's standing in front of Boo's doll armoire.

Meet Annabel

Since my last few posts have been about dolls that I don't own anymore, I decided to introduce another doll that is no longer part of my collection. She was purchased in a very negative eBay experience, but enough time has passed that it's not particularly upsetting now. Plus I learned two valuable lessons: early blondes can have major hair problems, and avoid sellers who appear mentally unstable. Since my 1968 blondes all have names starting with A, I thought it would be fitting to call her Annabel.

This poor girl's hair was very stiff and matted, and started falling out and/or breaking off before I was able to shampoo it. My assumption is that the hair was damaged by some sort of hair styling product which was used on it years ago (hence the stiffness). Her eyes were lovely, but it's my opinion that a fringe girl has lost most of her cachet if she's balding. I had to get Customer Support involved, but fortunately I was able to return the doll for a full refund.

These pictures were taken after her hair had been wet, so it looks quite smooth and silky here. But if you look closely it's broken off in places, especially a big chunk of her bangs.

You can see lots of shorter hairs from this angle, and also a ding on her hand.

Her face is quite lovely, though also quite grubby.

The cost was too high (both financially and emotionally) for me to regard her as a waif and fix her up. Alas, I can't save every doll. She was sold again on eBay for a lower price, so hopefully someone else did/will save her.

Meet Paloma

I love how the early English brunettes look, but resisted buying them at first due to concerns about falling hair. I managed to find a few with stable hair, and then added a few more who only lose a hair or two when combed. Paloma is in the latter group, so I pretty much leave her hair alone. It is quite thick, with very deep bangs, and a part way over on her left side. I decided I could handle minor hair issues on such a gorgeous girl. From Susanna's charts, I'm almost certain she's a 1968 Brunette Gingham.

She looks so different in this picture to me, even though they were all taken at the same time. Her face appears wider from this angle, and her hair appears lighter, almost highlighted in the sunlight from the window.

And finally a couple of close-ups, so you can really see her beautiful big brown eyes.

Table Hostess

Only three days until I leave for the festival, and I'm still busy working on various projects. Tina Gross and I volunteered to be Table Hostesses together, and I've been pushing the boundaries of my creativity. I'm going to keep the gifts a surprise until after the festival, but will definitely share pictures when I return. For now here's a sneak peak at part of one project, a montage of my 1968 English Sashas.

1969 Brunette Parties

My favorite posts involve comparison photos of my dolls. I love to see (and share) the similarities and differences between the "same" dolls. Here is my new Lorrie with Lilith, another 1969 side-part Party. That's not a ding on Lilith's nose, just a light reflection; her vinyl is far less matte than Lorrie's.

Just for fun, here are Pandora, Lorrie, and Lilith ... pretty maids all in a row. Pandora (who I originally called Layla) is from 1968, and has almost-black brunette hair. She was most likely originally a Gingham, but was dressed in Party attire by her previous owner.

1968-69 Dungarees

When I wrote a post comparing my Blue Cords, I noted that Audrey (my one 1968) looks delicate/dainty compared to the others (all from 1969). I feel the same way about Fiona when I look at her compared to my other Dungarees. She definitely stands out in all the groupings I tried, not just due to her wispy bangs, but also her eyes.

Here she is between my other "dark" Dungarees: Hayley (left) and Harlow (right).

Here she is between my Dungarees that have narrower faces: Hayley (left) and Hester (right).

Compared to my Redhead Quartet, I think Fiona looks most like Hayley. They might pass for cousins or even sisters, but certainly not identical twins.

Meet Fiona

This doll was an eBay gamble that worked out in the end. I knew she had white stringing in her arms and flecked in her legs, so she was a fairly early doll. The seller described her as having no bangs (which I doubted), and thought there might be a groove under her nose but wasn't sure (the pictures weren't clear enough for me to tell). It wasn't until she arrived that I knew for sure that she had both bangs and a philtrum.

I forgot to take a "before" picture of her tangled hair, but I washed it and uncovered her fine fringe. This picture was taken to show the seller ...

... because while she had beautiful hair now, she smelled awful!

I showed the seller that the doll had bangs, and also complained about her very smoky odor. She replied that the doll came from an estate sale and she hadn't noticed the smell due to a cold. After checking with her doll resources/friends, she concurred that the smell would be very hard to remove, if not impossible. She had a return policy, but instead we agreed on a nice discounted price.

I then set about trying to remove the smell from Fiona, my first 1968 Redhead Dungarees. First I aired her on my screen porch for several months, then I made a leap of faith. Instead of trying traditional odor removers -- baking soda, activated charcoal, kitty litter, coffee grounds -- I decided to use Biocide. We have a camper that was also in need of de-stinking, so I took Fiona apart and placed her inside it while the Chlorine Dioxide did it's thing. I consider the treatment to be a success; it does not appear to have damaged her in any way, and even to my sensitive nose she is nearly odorless!

Here are a few pictures of her in her original outfit, which cleaned up nicely with Perk. Now I just need to see if I can repair the straps on one of her sandals.

Comparison photos with some of my 1969 Dungarees will follow shortly.

Meet Adeline (after)

I finally sent Adeline to Pat's Sasha spa in Florida, and she returned home in December (this is one of the posts I was planning before Christmas but didn't get around to creating). The lighting was bad for her "before" pictures, but even discounting that she looks so much better now. Pat cleaned her inside and out, restrung her, washed and dried her hair, and re-rooted some hair plugs.


She had 11 hair plugs fixed -- there were just nubs here at her hairline.


Her original stringing was thin white in the arms and striped in the legs, so I'm pretty sure she dates from 1968. Knowing that, she would have been dressed as Jeans (which I would call brown corduroy overalls), Brown Cord, or Blue Cord. As planned, I dressed her in a 1960's blue cord outfit with replacement socks. From a distance, she looks almost like new ...


... except that she was the victim of a young hairdresser at some point, so her hair is somewhat uneven. It's slightly shorter on her left side at the front, and has a shorter layer on her right side at the back. It's a bit dry at the ends, but has lovely shade variations.


Up close she has a graze on her nose and her lip color is pretty much gone, but just look at those beautiful blue eyes!


I was planning on keeping Adeline as part of my collection, but have decided to offer her for sale at my bonanzle booth instead (I have plenty of late-60's blondes already, and am saving for a special doll I've found). I should have her listed there sometime this week.

More Audrey

I introduced Audrey in December, on an overcast day that wasn't conducive to picture taking. Those indoor shots really don't do her justice, so I decided to try again. When I had my blue cord girls outside for pictures on Sunday, I took a bunch of Audrey alone in several different poses. Enjoy!

1968-69 Blue Cords

My husband took the kids to the park yesterday afternoon, which gave me some free time to take my blue cord dolls outside for comparison photos. I took pictures of my three 1969 Blue Cords back in April, before Delia's arrival. This time I added Audrey (from 1968) to the mix as well.

Here are the three with similar bangs: Dolores, Delia, and Audrey. Dolores and Delia look quite a bit alike, but Audrey's 1968 eyes are different from their 1969 eyes. (As usual, clicking on the photo takes you to a larger version.)


Here are the four 1969 girls lined up: Dagmar (a side part), Devereux, Dolores, and Delia. Delia doesn't have an ID bracelet yet, but I'll make her one eventually so she's not left out of the "club".


Here are all five of my blue cord girls lined up: the four 1969's as pictured above (Dagmar, Devereux, Dolores, Delia), with Audrey added at the far right. Her dress is quite faded, but it's the earlier wide version.


Here's a different grouping of the 1969's, with Devereux and Dagmar in back and Delia and Dolores in front. It's amazing how different they look considering they're all the "same" doll.


And the same grouping with Audrey added to the middle of the back row. She looks more delicate/dainty to me than the other four.


What a beautiful group of blonde haired blue eyed girls. I love them all!

Meet Pandora

Pandora is my most recent Sasha purchase, and has jumped to the head of the blog queue. I bought her as a birthday present for myself, and thus it seemed appropriate to introduce her on my birthday. Isn't she a beauty?!


Her original stringing (white arms, striped legs) and almost-black brunette hair indicate she is from 1968. But Dorisanne Osborn's book notes that "A factory created side part was used on some of Sasha Brunette 'Party' (4-108) made in 1969-1970." Since she is not wearing her original clothing, I can think of two possibilities: she was either a very early Brunette Party, or a Brunette Gingham with an atypical side part. It doesn't matter to me either way, as she is a truly lovely doll regardless. I like her as a Sasha Party, since she makes a nice foil for Lilith, my other brunette side part.