Meet Kelly

Boo got Madden at the 2012 Sasha Festival and was hoping to get another baby at the 2013 festival. I had a baby that I'd bought for myself but not even named ... and so I gifted her to Boo before the festival (that way no worries about finding the perfect baby there). Thus Kelly was born, another sexed little girl to be a twin for Kitty. Its easy to tell them apart since Kitty has "poofy" hair. I think Kelly may have replaced Kitty as favorite baby. Here is how I found her today when I went to take pictures, apparently recovering from some sort of serious accident. Still a little princess though.

Meet Madden

Here is another of Boo's babies who has been shown on the blog but not formally introduced, a sexed boy from the 70's. Madden was won in the Childrens' Fund Auction at the 2012 Sasha festival. Boo was a bit miffed to discover that while he was all in pink, he was actually male. I offered to sell him and buy a genderless blonde baby, but she was too attached to part with him. His subtle genitals aren't visible when dressed, so she decided to view him as a girl. S/he was dubbed "Puppy" to go with Kitty. I suggested Madden, which is an Irish name meaning "little dog" - technically a male name, but sometimes used for females as well. Perfect! 

Meet Kitty

You met Kitty when she was purchased at Boo's first festival in 2011, but she hasn't had a proper introduction post. Here is Boo's beloved baby Kitty, a sexed girl from the 70's.  She is wearing her Sashapotamus onesie, a special request to match Boo's (and Calla's).

Meet Emma Katherine

Everyone who has read my blog since the early days knows that the first Sasha dolls I ever saw (and loved) belonged to my childhood friends - sisters who owned a blonde and a brunette. I found a 1971 brunette that matched my memories and named her Esme. I already had a 1970 blonde named Enid, and while they were great friends, not quite the pair I remembered from childhood. Petite Enid with her full center part was just a bit off the mark. She has since traveled off to a new home, and I now have a 1971 blonde I call Emma Katherine.

Emma is a much better match to my memories. Her bangs are a bit wonky, but I think they can be sorted out and made at least a bit more even. The end pieces on the far right here come from behind the first row of hair, and searching through the pieces on the other side I see some short strands mixed in. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to coax them back where they belong.

I love her dark blue eyes, and even the pale color of her lips that this era often fades too. I think that she and Esme Elizabeth are going to be fantastic sisters.

Same But Different

I took this picture to share with a friend and felt it was too sweet not to share here as well. Did I really need to buy a second 1970 brown-eyed redhead no-navel? Most decidedly yes! The hair differences are obvious, but I also see such different personalities in these two.

I'll make a formal introduction after I find time and energy for a photo shoot. Hopefully enough time and energy for a double photo shoot... Did I really need to buy two new 1970 brown-eyed no-navels, both a blonde and a redhead? ;-)

Early Baby Duo

Unlike squirmy live babies, Erik and Elin were easy to photograph. He did take a bit of coaxing to look at the camera though.

Her hair is a bit longer than his and her face appears wider - subtle differences that I think make than an even more appealing pair than if they were simply clones with different hair color.

They look sweet in white, but I think they're going to look even sweeter in some of the coordinating outfits I've found for them. I'm sure I'll be sharing more pictures of these two at some point in the future.

Meet Erik

As promised in my last post ...
Erik is my most-recent Sasha doll, arriving here from England two weeks ago. He is a (sexed) Baby Woolly, which were only made in 1970. He is wearing his full original outfit as well as his gold wrist tag. He'd been described as "in gently played with condition with plenty of sand falling from his joints", and I was surprised by just how much sand when I took these pictures. I don't think his clothes have ever been changed.

So much to love about this sweet little guy, and his hair has a similar shape to baby Elin. While her eyes are greening slightly and her lips have whitened, his face paint is nice and vibrant.

They make a nice pair, but I'll save showing them together for my next post. Gotta spread out the pictures from last weekend's photo session, since who knows when I'll find time (and cooperative weather - today is rainy and dark) to take more.

Meet Elin

I used some (rare) free time over the weekend to play with my Sasha dolls. I changed clothes on a few of the girls and photographed a couple of the babies. Since I now have pictures, I can make another introduction. This is the second of my Sasha babies, a sexed brunette from the early 1970's who I call Elin. She retains her original nightdress, diaper, and blanket, as well as her large silver wrist tag.

I know I'm biased, but I think she's one of the most adorable Sasha babies I've ever seen. I love her full head of nicely-shaped hair (which is a bit dry/delicate but doesn't seem to be falling) and her wide face.

Up next, her male counterpart ...

Meet Marlena

Guess I need to get back to making introductions, as I have quite a few dolls that haven't been introduced yet. All of my no-navels are on the blog except for one, so I'll start with her. Marlena is a blue-eyed brunette from 1970, wearing her original brown farm pants outfit. My other brunette no-navels, Muriel and Miranda, are also from 1970 but have brown eyes.

She is similar to the Later Gotz Annett, except without a duffle coat. I'll include some comparison photos of Marlena and Annett in my next post.

Meet Noreen

Before I packaged Alice up to mail to her new home, I took some pictures of her with my other Gotz scout. She hasn't been introduced yet, so I decided to do that before sharing the comparison pictures. Meet Noreen, an absolutely stunning 1970 no-navel. She's a brown-eyed redhead who came with her complete scout uniform (including the pennant!). The color is a bit off in these pictures thanks to uncooperative  weather, but I didn't want to wait for a sunnier day to create this post.

She is my fourth no-navel from 1970 (with more subtle eye paint than those from 1969), joining Liesel, Muriel, and Miranda in my collection.

Early 70's Friends

Most of my English dolls are from the late 60's, but I do have three from the early 70's: Enid, Esme, and Cleo. Cleo is only a baby, but Enid and Esme appear to be fast friends.

They're pleading with me to come to the festival, but I've already decided to bring Muriel again and only have room for one other doll in my suitcase.

Meet Esme Elizabeth

I set up a "photo studio" on my dining room table yesterday, to take pictures to use in a table hostess project for the festival (more on that later). Since I had a space set up with a solid background and lighting, I decided to utilize it for pictures to introduce another of my dolls.

Esme is a Brunette Gingham, most likely from 1971 (that was Shelly's opinion from her stringing, clothes, eyes, tube, tag - the standard clues). Her hair may fall in the future, but seems to be holding for now; she lost a couple of hairs when combed by Shelly, but none when I gently brushed it today.

From my recollection, Esme is like the doll(s) I coveted as a young child, which belonged to sisters who were friends of mine. I'm certain that those dolls were from the early 70's, when they were being sold in the US by Creative Playthings. I would have been seven in 1971, which is close if not right on the mark. I believe my friends both had Brunette Ginghams, though one may have had a Blonde. They were like no other dolls I'd ever seen, with their cafe-au-lait coloring and serene faces. I remember thinking they looked a bit like Indians (we didn't refer to them as Native Americans back when I was a child), with their long brown hair and dark skin. My childhood wish ...

... has come true as an adult (on a much larger scale, since I only dreamed of owning one or two).

UPDATE: Memories involving these sisters are an integral part of my childhood. The younger sister was my age, and my best friend in grade school. The older sister was a year ahead in school, and was my close confidante in high school. I eventually lost touch with both of them after we headed off to college, but have been back in touch with the older sister through facebook for a while now. I hadn't told her about my Sasha collection, or my coveting of their childhood dolls, so I feared she might consider me daft when I sent her a link to this post. If so, she kept that to herself in her reply. She no longer owns her childhood doll, but confirmed the accuracy of my memories; she had a brunette gingham and her sister had a blonde. She remembers buying them at the Creative Playthings store in Boothbay Harbor. I usually give my dolls a single name, but have decided that she should become Esme Elizabeth in honor of my childhood friend.

Meet Liesel

It was late afternoon by the time I got around to taking pictures today. Fortunately there was enough light left, as I really wanted to introduce another doll this weekend. Liesel is my fifth Gotz no-navel, purchased from another collector who shares a fondness for these unique girls.


She is blonde like Lucinda, but with very different eyes. Lucinda has brown eyes in the 1969 style (with heavier brows), while Liesel has blue eyes in the 1970 style. She is wearing her original blue cord dress, which matches her eyes nicely.


While she doesn't really have a full center part, her hair styles nicely into braids. I love how innocent she looks.

Meet Miranda

The weather hasn't been cooperating lately; we've had rain or overcast skies whenever I have some free time to take pictures. I finally gave in and took pictures anyway.

Miranda is a stunner, purchased from the collection of Audrey Femmer. She is my fourth Gotz no-navel. Like Muriel she is a brunette from 1970, but unlike Muriel she has long uncut hair. She arrived nude, and I've dressed her in a yellow corduroy dress from Dayzees by Randall Craig.




Hopefully we'll see the sun soon, and I can take some pictures of Miranda and Muriel together for comparison. Muriel looks forlorn to me, while Miranda looks shy.

Meet Cleo

After seeing all the lovely dolls at the Sasha Festival, I added two new dolls to my wish list. One was a dark black baby girl. Not long afterward, I managed to find what I was looking for on Ruby Lane. She came in her original box with a styrofoam cradle; using Susanna Lewis' charts, I was able to date it/her as being from March 1972-1974 (a type II-A box). Her arms don't want to stay up, but I know that's easy to have fixed. Otherwise she is just perfect!




I have lots of clothes for her, and will take more pictures when the weather cooperates. She needs good sunlight or her features get lost (I have similar problems when taking pictures of Chloe). I followed the same naming tradition as my other "dressing" dolls (who are from the 1980's) -- starting with C, Greek origin -- but she has four letters rather than five since she's smaller.

Meet Muriel

I've used Muriel as a model for a couple of previous posts even though she hadn't been formally introduced; something about her just begs to be played with. She is a 1970 Gotz no-navel "waif". Over the course of 39 years she lost her original clothes, acquired a bob haircut, and suffered a few dings.


She had quite an adventure before joining my Sasha family. From her eBay listing:

"She left the UK to travel to the USA where upon her arrival one of her legs fell off. It appears the bar that holds the hook in place had snapped and she had to go for a repair. Jan Johnson who runs the Sasha Spa and Repair Workshop has done a wonderful job fixing her leg with epoxy and whilst she was there she was treated to a full spa treatment. Muriel has been well loved and bears the marks to prove it. She has a rub to the end of her nose and a little graze to her cheek, her hair has been cut though there is none missing and her lips rubbed away with only a slight hint of colour remaining. She is looking for a new home as her new owner was unable to keep her though I know she really wanted to."

I imagine she's had plenty of other adventures she would recount if she were able to talk. And there are still more to come -- she's going to the Sasha Festival in New York with me next month.

Blonde Trio

I took the pictures for posts about Dolores, Audrey, and Enid at the same time, so I snapped a few with them together. Here they're lined up by year in ascending order: 1968, 1969, 1970. I wish I'd put my spare blue cord outfit on Enid (I'm saving it for Adeline post-repair), but didn't have the time to deal with clothes changes before picking up my kids at school. Once I've finished introducing all my dolls there will be plenty of time for more blue cord comparison photos.


And here's a shot of just the two blue cord girls together.

Meet Enid

Enid is unique in that she is a 1970 doll with a full center part. And a really nice part at that! She has a few dings on her hands and a scratch on her nose, signs of love and adventure in her past. Enid came to me wearing pajamas, so I'm not sure what her original outfit was. She is currently wearing a gingham dress which I believe is also from 1970 (it is the shorter version with snaps at the cuffs) and white shoes with heels from an unknown year; both were eBay finds.