Winter Weather

Brrrrr its cold here. Fortunately not any snow though, so no snowmen ... except on these sweaters.

Aren't they the cutest! I bought several holiday/winter sweaters from Carol Marsh, who sells on ebay as user bjbcuddles (her storefront is called carolanns sewing room). Maybe I'll find time to post pictures of more of them before Christmas, but don't hold your breath. Fortunately dolls don't change size and thus I will be able to use (and photograph) these sweaters for years to come.

This is the first picture posted of Emma and Esme together. Can you see why I think they're a great pair?!

Sasha Festival 2013 - post 7

Hard to believe that I came back from the festival over a month ago and still hadn't finished taking pictures of everything. Note the past tense "hadn't" as opposed to "haven't"; I unpacked the final suitcase and hastily took pictures yesterday. And I do mean hastily, with Esme as my lone model making quick changes and little time spent on composition.

First up are a couple of dresses that Boo bought for herself in the sales room:
A New Zealand fabric dress made by Lorraine Tyler.

A Shirley Temple dress (plus tights) made by Wilma Robards. I wasn't sure if the ribbon was intended as a sash or a headband, but I tied it in her hair since that's what Boo does when she is Shirley Temple for Halloween (which she has been for the past three years - she'll outgrow her polka dot dress eventually, unlike Sasha).

Next, my sales room purchases:
Two baby dresses, a blanket and booties, and a smocked bishop dress, all from Millie Dingham.

I still had a bit of time after I'd taken pictures of everything, so Esme modeled the bishop dress.

A sundress made from vintage linens by Marti Murphy and a pair of Macon Street Studio sandals made by Monica Jarpey (along with a second pair of MSS sandals).

Here is a close up of the sandals. I'd seen the purple and silver blinged pair online and desperately wanted them - lucky me! Monica had a bunch of cute styles, many of which can now be ordered through her blog.

An outfit made by Ann Chandler, hand-sewn from vintage fabrics. Esme is showing off the undergarments first, as they're too nice to remain hidden.

And then the full outfit, including wool felt shoes. My favorite part is the pinafore, which was made from a tea towel with applique and embroidery.

A knit baby romper made by Pat Pellerito, bought as a gift for Boo's new baby Kelly.

My final purchase in the salesroom was a nifty saddle-style Sasha doll stand made by Lauri Bolland's husband Eric. (Esme is wearing the same undergarments and shoes, but has changed into the dress I received in the swap.)

Though it would be visible with pants, the stand is pretty-much concealed by a dress. I think I should have bought more than one ... perhaps one for each of my dolls someday.

Here is a picture of the dress where you can see the detail better. It's tagged "Jinny Lee Collections", made from a vintage handkerchief by Virginia Myers.

Boo's kid-swap swag (they had a separate swap for the kids this year).

An assortment of gifts and helper items:
I won the dress in the helper raffles; the pink-haired doll, pail, and green panties were helper items that were given to Boo by generous folk who saw her disappointment at not winning anything. The other items were gifts as well. One of the purple leis was given to me by Meg, but everything else is Boo's. She was given the shoes at Sunday brunch as a gift for Calla and Rose who had to stay home - isn't that sweet. People like to give gifts at the festival, especially to the children.

I'm not certain who any of these came from, but all were given to Boo at Sunday brunch while I was wandering around taking pictures. I hope she remembered to say thank you! And yes, there are three taggie blankets, one for each of her babies.

This studio-style dress and pantaloons set is tagged by Heidi Wheeler, and I'm pretty sure it was Boo's gift for helping out with the auction and helper raffles.

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.