Meet Sigmund

I added two dolls to my wish list at the Sasha Festival, a dark black baby girl and a redhead Unisex Gotz. I have since added both to my collection. Cleo was introduced back in October, now it's Sigmund's turn. Before I introduce him, I'd like to share a picture of Jan's redhead Unisex, the doll I fell in love with in Rochester. Isn't he a stunner!


And now here's Sigmund, as close a facsimile as I could find. He's wearing his original Apres Ski outfit for these pictures. I've ordered a lederhosen outfit from Jean, and will post pictures of him wearing it when it's finished.




In spite of his Unisex status, "Ziggy" is going to be all boy at my house.

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.

Happy New Year

Muriel would like to join me in wishing everyone a Happy 2010! She's still wearing her Christmas outfit, a nifty Rudolph dress made by the very talented Helena in Canada (AKA eBay seller dolliepatch). Sometimes I see one of her creations and I just have to have it, as was the case with this dress. I think it's just perfect for Muriel, who tends to look best in "big girl" clothes.


I did not make any resolutions, though I did set some goals for the year. One of them is to continue blogging at least once a week. I have lots of ideas, it's time that I'm always short of (and good weather for taking photos). I have a dozen more dolls to introduce, lots of clothing to share, more props and display ideas, dolls and clothing for sale (check out my booth on bonanza), and perhaps even details of my own sewing attempts (another of my goals).

Merry (Belated) Christmas!

I was hoping to write a couple more posts before taking a break for Christmas, but my schedule just didn't allow it. There's so much going on this time of year, and the kids have two weeks off from school which pretty much eliminates my Sasha time.

There were lots of Sasha-related gifts at my house this year. Boo received several presents for Calla and Rose under the Christmas tree, including Magic Attic clothing and accessories, and gorgeous hand-painted furniture. I hope to share pictures and more information once life quiets down a bit. I purchased a new doll on eBay as a gift for myself, a 1969 Brunette Party (with "perfect" hair, that of course turned out to be very fragile). I also bought this cute white tree from Prilly Charmin (thanks to Kelly for the information), which Boo decided Calla and Rose would enjoy decorating. My 9-year old son made the star for the top.


Calla's gingerbread men dress was made by eBay seller specialdelivery2006, while Rose's gold star dress is from Nellie Rose.

Display Cabinets

We're adding a puppy to our family (he'll be here tomorrow!). In preparation, I needed to make sure that all of my Sashas are somewhere safe. My sister had picked up a second display cabinet for me on a trip to IKEA, which sat in boxes for ages before my husband kindly assembled it for me. He also drilled additional holes in both of the cabinets so that I could create smaller sections at the top and bottom using the adjustable shelves. I plan to buy some archival binders and boxes to store my paper paraphernalia and special clothing in those spaces.

It took me a while to decide where everyone should stand, with lots of shuffling. Since almost all of my dolls are in the cabinets now, I decided to share some pictures. One cabinet contains my Gotz dolls, and the other contains most of my English dolls (my five "dressing dolls" are elsewhere in the house).

Here is the Gotz cabinet, grouped by age:


Here is the English cabinet, grouped by hair color (alas, poor Giselle's stringing is too loose for her to stand safely):


I'm really pleased with how these look so far. After the holidays I plan to spend some time organizing all the bits and pieces.

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.

Ballet Costumes

As a talented ballerina, Giselle has done a lot of dancing ... and acquired a couple of costumes along the way.

Instead of the traditional short white tutu, she wears plum when portraying the Sugarplum Fairy. This special outfit was made by Ruth at the Etsy shop from daisy daisy, and is simply stunning. Here's part of her description from the listing: "The ballet dress is made in a combination of lavender silk dupion and ivory tulle. The bodice is lavishly hand-embroidered with pure silk ivory ribbon rosebuds and hand-beaded with tiny faux pearls, and is underlined and lined with cotton lawn." It really is as luxurious as she makes it sound.



I'm particularly fond of Giselle's portrayal of Princess Aurora in the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Here she's wearing a pink sparkly Wee Wardrobe outfit that I found at Beverly's Doll & Bear Boutique, and a tiara crown purchased from ebay seller lovvbugg.



Doll, ballerina, princess ... I'm living my childhood dreams in middle age. :-)

Meet Giselle

Giselle is a very special Sasha doll. She is my first "no philtrum" (this groove between the nose and upper lip was added to the mold in 1968), and will probably be my only one since they are hard to find and quite expensive. As a redhead, she started life as either a "dungarees" or a "ballet". For a change of pace from my other early redheads (who all came to me with their original dungarees clothing), I've dressed her in a Repro Ballet Outfit from Ruths Dolls.




Giselle's neck/leg stringing is fairly loose, but she can stand by herself. And I'm still working on taming her hair, especially her bangs. She's beautiful now, and with a little work I'm sure she'll be even more spectacular.


Here's a final shot of her eyes. I just love her feathery lashes.

New Fall Dresses

The weather is finally cooling down here, so I've changed the "five amigos" into some lovely fall dresses made by Patty at The Sasha Wardrobe. I was thrilled to find five coordinating dresses at a reasonable price, and even more thrilled when I saw them in person. Perfect! It took a while to get all five girls dressed, mostly because I had a hard time deciding who should wear which dress, which shoes, and which tights/socks. And of course they all needed to have their hair brushed. Whew!

I wanted an outdoor picture with leaves in the background, which was easier said than done. They're all looking upward, since otherwise the sunlight overhead cast shadows on their faces from their bangs. It's as it they're watching something in the sky off in the distance -- an airplane, the clouds, or perhaps a hawk flying past.


I moved them onto the porch where the light was less harsh, but still no one wanted to look at the camera. I think they look lovely in their new dresses regardless.


Cameo (Honey Blond Silk Dress) is definitely the shortest of the bunch; she seems quite petite in comparison to the others. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest of the quintet.

Baby Clothes

Like many baby girls, Cleo has quite a wardrobe. Unlike a real baby though, she won't outgrow her clothes. It would take me weeks to find enough free time to photograph her in everything, so I'm going to start with just a few of my favorites.

This shiny red satin outfit is by Käthe Kruse, and fits perfectly. I think it's a nice change from all of Cleo's pastel-colored clothes, which make photography hard since they look washed out when I have enough light to see her features clearly. I found this wicker chair for her on eBay, and she usually sits in it when she's not having her picture taken (and sometimes when she is).


I bought this pink and white dress and lace-trimmed bonnet (and the unseen shoes and diaper she's wearing) at The Sasha Wardrobe, along with several other baby items. The dress was part of the 2009 Summer Collection. Cleo has four teddy bears, but I'm keeping my eyes open for other suitably-sized baby toys.


I couldn't resist these frilly baby pants from The Doll Works. My daughter Boo had several similar pairs when she was young. The doll quilt Cleo is sitting on is from my childhood.


This white smocked dress and matching bonnet is also from The Doll Works. It is so sweet, that I'm tempted to buy the pink version too. I bought these shoes there as well, though I had a hard time keeping them on her feet as you can see. Too bad they don't make those snap-on shoelace covers (you know, the ones with the bells on top) small enough for dolls.


This three piece layette is from eBay seller misspatau, who sells "Knits by Trish". The sock monkey is Boo's (a baby for the two full-sized sock monkeys my Mom made for the kids), but she let Cleo borrow it for a photo session.


UPDATE: I meant to include another photo when I created this post. Here's Cleo wearing a cute pink babygro from Ruths Dolls. My daughter wore very similar outfits when she was a baby (only much larger of course). Very sweet!


That's definitely all for now, but I'm sure I'll be taking pictures of more baby clothes sometime in the future.