Dress Up

I brought home lots more things from the festival that I plan to take pictures of and blog about, but we've had no sunshine and/or very busy weekends lately. So ... I am interrupting festival coverage with some quickly taken pictures of Boo's dolls. She played dress up with them today, dividing them into girl-baby pairs each with a theme. She wanted to try other outfits (which she's doing as I type), so she asked if I would take pictures of them for posterity.

First up are Rose and Kelly dressed in "old fashioned" clothing.

Then Calla and Kitty in modern attire.

And finally Poppy and Madden showing their patriotic spirit.

 

I am soooooo happy that my daughter shares my love of Sashas. And I love seeing her creativity.

80's Girls Original Outfits

A while back I was perusing Sasha group facebook posts and realized that the newer dolls are so often overlooked in the excitement surrounding the older dolls. Of course the newer English dolls aren't all that new, since they're 30ish years old themselves. And while they lack the hand painting of the earlier dolls, they are still gorgeous in their own right.

Here is a group shot of all the 80's dolls in the house at that time, my six and Boo's two. From left to right: Cathy, Rose, Cameo, Calla, Cybil, Chloe, Cindy, and Iris. This picture is currently on the main page of the sashafestival.com website. 

It was a long photo shoot, with lots of chatting between takes.

And here are just my six, the Five Amigos and Iris (who never really warmed to the idea of being an Amigo). The size differences are really apparent when they're all lined up.

Cathy: Blonde Sweater. She has the most serene face, and just might be my favorite of this group (but shhhh, don't tell the others). She wants to be a pilot someday.

Cameo: Honey Blonde Silk Dress. She is so petite compared to the others, and likely from the early 80's. She also likes to stand with her toes pointed out - ballet training in her past?

Cybil: Redhead White Dress. She came to me in mint condition, still strapped into her box. Not a great way to spend 25 years in my opinion, but she's made up for it since.

Chloe: Cora Flower Dress. She came to me in gingham, but given her age this is the correct outfit for her. She is the first Sasha doll that I ever bought. Hard to capture in photographs, but very pretty.

Cindy: Brunette Red Pinafore(?). She came to me nude, and could possibly have been a Dancing Dress, Marina, or Red Pinafore. She toyed with being Marina, but decided the pinafore suited her style.

Iris: Black Haired Sari. She was named for the color of her sari. At one point I had four of these girls, ~1% of all made! When I decided to sell all but one, she wasn't the one I originally planned to keep. But she was my mom's favorite, which prompted a second look - and a second decision.

Return to MY Childhood

I was a table hostess for the Friday luncheon at this year's Sasha Festival. In 2010 I co-hosted with Tina, and we created something in line with the "Return to Switzerland" theme. This time I did a spin on the "Return to Childhood" theme, creating a gift that returned to MY childhood in the late 60's and early 70's.

This was a family project. My mother crocheted ponchos for me, miniaturizing an old pattern and modifying it to fit easily over Sasha's head. My husband made 1:3 scale copies (just covers, no pages) of three favorite books I'd saved from childhood. I found tiny tan teddy bears similar to my own bear Fletcher, discovered miniature Magic 8 balls at a party store, and created daisy headbands -- I remember tying together stems of dandelions to make hair pieces as a child. And Boo served as the model for a big-little photo that I used on cards explaining the story behind the gift. Everything went into a little plastic milk crate, as if it had been stored away in an attic for several decades.

One piece of the gift isn't pictured here because it wasn't finished yet, black cord necklaces with peace sign charms. I did not have a suitable crimping tool for the style I'd planned to make, so my husband offered to bring his home from work for me to use. This didn't happen until the last minute, at which point I was scrambling and decided to postpone them until next year. Simon stepped up and assembled the necklaces for me while I packed on Wednesday evening, making me (and the people who sat at my table) very happy.

Play Dolls

I think one of the things that I love most about Sashas is that they are play dolls. While mine mostly stand on shelves, Boo's can be found in various places and situations around the house. While she treats they with care, she interacts with them rather than just admiring them. This was the scene in her bedroom about a month ago: Rose, Calla, and Madden resting on a makeshift pallet with a stuffed horse and monkey for company. Kitty was sleeping separately due to her "broken arm" - fortunately just imaginary, but wrapped in a handkerchief sling.

I helped Boo dress them in their new togs on her birthday and pose them in the same spot for another group picture. Many days she'd rather play video games, watch tv, ride her bike, or whittle sticks, but it's nice that she has sturdy dolls she can play with when she's in the mood. And such lovely, serene dolls too.

Birthday Girl

Boo's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. One of her gifts was matching tops for her and her Sashas from Jackapotamus/Sashapotamus. I was worried she might declare that nine was too old for dolls, but luckily that didn't happen. Not only did she wear her "pirate bear" shirt to school the next day (with leg bone leggings!), but she brought her babies in their onesies too.

Kitty and Madden traveled to and from school in a basket, then hung out in the kitchen later like the basket was a playpen.

The next week she and Kitty and Calla went to school wearing pink kittens. I custom-ordered the onesie specifically for Kitty, and Boo was thrilled with it.

They also traveled in the basket and hung out in it for several days afterward in Boo's bedroom.

I'm glad that nine still isn't too old to play with (and dress like) dolls.

Birthdays

Today is my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday GramMarion!

As a birthday gift to her, I thought it would be fun to share the birthday gifts that she's been sending to me. You see, my presents have been mom-made doll clothes. She used to knit and crochet clothes for my Barbie dolls when I was young, but now is creating clothes for my Sasha dolls. I am such a lucky girl!

Three years ago she bought a set of the Golden Hands patterns on eBay and surprised me with several outfits for my birthday. Aren't they marvelous?!

Last year my Mom had been testing knitting patterns for Susanna Lewis, so I received the items that she made - a ribbed sweater and an assortment of socks (these patterns are in the new book Sasha Dolls, Clothing and Patterns). The chest of drawers in this picture was part of Kendal's table hostess gift at the recent Sasha Festival in Stratford. I haven't introduced this girl yet, but you may know her as Shelly's model Addison - now renamed Raven.

This year she created crocheted summer jackets, modeling them after a jacket that my Grandmother made for one of my Mother's dolls when she was a child. I think I have seven different colors of the jacket, plus one made up without sleeves as a little cape. Alas I ran out of photography time today, so here is a picture from Stratford. Alison is wearing the cape, while Calla, Rose, and Kitty have on three of the jackets. I'll post more pictures at some point in the future.

Thanks Mom!

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 9

I probably should have included this next picture in my previous post, since it was the "Lucky Dip" gift that Boo received for helping show the auction items. Each of the young helpers received something different, and all that I saw were fantastic. Boo is thrilled with her fairy outfit, which fits with the theme of the festival.


I bought another pram from a friend, who also threw in diapers, socks and tights for Boo's babies, and a few treats for me. The red and blue berets are the perfect colors for one of my sales table purchases.


I would have put a beret on Alison if I'd thought about it when I was taking this picture. Here are the clothes and shoes I bought from the sales tables (plus another knit baby outfit in white).


I was a bit rushed taking photos, so I left these sweaters in their boxes. The weather in NC is hot right now, but I'm sure you'll eventually see them on my dolls in future posts.


It's hard to tell with nothing else in the picture for reference, but those books are the perfect scale for Sasha. I had been admiring them online, and plan to buy more in the future.


Boo chose some clothes for her dolls from the sales tables. The middle baby outfit has a kitty pattern for Kitty to wear.


She also chose some little props from the sales tables, though the silver case, colorful purse, and tiny coins were all gifts from dear friends. Yes, the whoopee cushion works. She has all these treasures tucked inside the locking case (along with the hippo baby outfit).


I think these are the remaining new items we're bringing home. Boo won the puppy outfit in the raffle (it's not a baby outfit, but works on baby "Puppy"). The pink jacket was a gift to Boo from someone who won multiple raffle items. Along the side are three half-meter pieces of Liberty fabric that I purchased on sale in Stratford.


Hopefully I didn't miss anything while I was taking pictures in the hotel room. It's hard to believe how many extra things I have to pack, including several large delicate items. I'm heading home soon, and will work on a labeled picasa album/slideshow like I've done in past years. Until then, I'll leave you with a picture that I took as we were gathering our things at the hotel - Calla and Rose wearing their new frog dresses.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 7

I always like to take pictures of the festival souvenirs. The more time passes and the more festivals I've attended, the more likely it becomes that I will forget what came from where. I took speedy pictures at the hotel on Sunday afternoon, since I know life will be busy when I return home and it could have been ages before I got to it.

I included Boo's name tag, auction card, and mug in this photo, but she has a duplicate of all the other items too. The festival bag was a red tote bag with the Sasha logo and festival information printed on it. It contained: the festival journal (which I've only managed to skim so far, but is fantastic!), catalog of auction items, auction cards (I was #51, the picture on the backside of Boo's is just to the right), name tag on printed lanyard, booklet from the Museum Lindwurm, card with information about the new Sasha clothing book, and printed pen. Also included in the bag but not shown in the picture: flyers advertising Sasha clothing websites, and pamphlets of things to do in the Stratford area. There was also a printed mug and another pen at each place during Saturday's luncheon.


I've showed pictures of pieces of the souvenir outfit as we received them, but it's far nicer to see the entire outfit on a doll. Since we had three girls with us, I put two in the different colored warm-up suits, and one in the shorts, singlet, and sneakers.




Here are a couple of close-ups of the embroidery on the warm-up suits.


I'll finish this post with a picture of the table hostess gifts that Boo and I received. I love this festival tradition, as each gift is a reminder of the table hostess and a link between the 10 people at the table. Only one mask is shown, because I managed to lose one after brunch while I was rushing around taking pictures. Fortunately it didn't stay lost forever.


Next post will be auction and sales table purchases.