Sasha Festival 2024 Day 1 - arrivals and gift exchange

The 2024 Sasha Doll Festival was held in Hotel La Tour, central Milton Keynes, UK from 20-23 June. it was organised by Petrana, with advice, help and assistance from Dawn L and many others. The overall theme was 'Embracing Sasha's Magic, Creativity and Friendship in England'.

The 2024 festival was local to us so we only had a 15 minute drive to the hotel, where my husband dropped us off with all our boxes, bags, dolls and display items. We arrived at the hotel on the Thursday afternoon to be greeted by several Sasha enthusiasts in the lobby, a wonderful meeting of old and new friends. Once we had checked into our room, we went to the refreshments area on the conference floor to chat with others, I handed over my donations to two of the 5 special doll raffles, helped JoAnn a little with setting up a Raffle doll display in the conference room and brought the festival journal down from Dawn's room on my trolley to Kim B who was setting up to run registration. Then it was time for registration, after which we entered the conference room for the gift exchange.

For the gift exchange activity, I had made a tweed skirt with a Shetland wool cardigan, wrapped it carefully and labelled it as instructed.

Melanie models the gift exchange outfit I made of a Shetland cardigan and tweed skirt

My daughter participated in the gift exchange, I watched and took photos. At previous Sasha festivals we have attended, the gift exchange has been done as a 'pass the parcel' activity in a big circle. This time, the gift exchange game was designed to encourage each person to talk about something Sasha related, our interest in Sasha, what we do with Sasha, which Sasha dolls we collect, etc. Janet had printed out cards with various topic options on them and the participants could choose which topic they would talk about when it was their turn. The first person was picked and chose a topic, talked for a few minutes, selected a gift from the bag and read out the name of the gift giver but did not open the gift. The gift giver became the next person to choose a topic to talk about and select a gift and so it went on. No one opened their gifts until the last person had spoken and received their gift, then everyone was instructed to open their gift. We found out lots of interesting things about each other and our dolls in this exchange of information and gifts, it was fun.

Janet explains the gift exchange activity

The gift my daughter received in the gift exchange game

Listening to Sasha stories during the gift exchange

Selecting a gift from the bag

Opening the gift

Wow - panda outfits for baby and toddler by Olga of Ukraine, donated by Kim O - thank you

Dressing our baby Nina in her Panda outfit

Baby Nina as a panda sitting with another baby dressed as a lion

Edmund wearing his panda hood and boots, Nina wears her panda onesie

The gift item we had donated to the game was received by Jane W.

After the gift exchange it was 'dinner on your own' so we popped into the centre to pick up a takeaway snack as we had our main meal at lunchtime when still at home. Then we returned to chat to others before going to our room.

Trudi, Trendon Elliott, Louisa, Melanie, Nina and Edmund in our hotel room

Trudi - Part 1

When we visited Dorisanne Osborn in July 2017 after attending the Sasha Doll festival that year, we met some of her wonderful studio dolls. My daughter (Dmd) was smitten with one of them (Caroline/Meg) who subsequently found a home with our friend Peggy.

After our visit, I corresponded with Dorisanne about another doll she owned which she had not shown us. This doll had a small problem, namely a fine crack across her left eye. As Dorisanne explained in an email:

“When I purchased her in a Theriault auction she had a tiny crack by her eye which did not show at all. A few years ago, we had a long cold winter and when I looked at her (Trudi/Gertrud) the crack had spread. It still does not show unless you look at her very closely. She is a rare farm girl and is pictured in my book on pages 6, 16, and 24.”

The doll is called Gertrud or Trudi, named for Trudi Löffler/Loeffler who was Sasha Morgenthaler’s atelier assistant. She is a CI which means her body type is C (from the 1950s-70s Sasha used a synthetic moulding material for the hard bodied Studio dolls) and her face shape is Type I of the four shapes (I, II, III, IV).

A long layaway commenced in 2018 with the aim of collecting Trudi at the 2020 Sasha doll festival in Pittsburgh which we planned to attend, however the pandemic meant the 2020 Pittsburgh festival was postponed by a year (usually location and organisers change each year), and we were not able to attend it in 2021 because of travel restrictions as the worldwide pandemic continued. It was a relief that we were able to attend the 2022 Sasha Doll festival in Syracuse NY, so on our road trip from Newark Airport (via a town in Pennsylvania to see our 90 key mechanical concert organ again after previously seeing it in 2017) we visited Dorisanne in her new home and met her daughter Jeanne.

The day before our visit, Peggy visited Dorisanne and helped redress Trudi in her original farmgirl outfit in readiness for our arrival (she had been wearing an outfit by Ruth Hartley). Dorisanne presented Trudi to me in a special carrier bag with Sasha doll photos posted in the side pockets, she explained it would help when I carried her around at the festival, which it certainly did, because Trudi barely left my side.

When I first took Trudi out of her carrier bag I examined her carefully. I had only previously ever seen photos of her sent to me by Dorisanne and those in Dorisanne’s book. She has several items of clothing in her summer farmgirl outfit: a short sleeved white shirt, red and white striped pantaloons trimmed with red rick rack, a red/blue/white plaid underskirt, a denim blue weave overskirt, a red/blue/white check/plaid apron with embroidered pocket, grey knitted socks and lace up black leather boots, plus a pink/white plaid scarf which was over her head, though can also be used as a neck scarf. Her reddish-brown hair was loosely plaited/braided, one tied with a pale blue cord, the other with a white string, because Swiss mountain children as observed by Sasha were not wealthy so satin ribbons would not have been appropriate.

The fine crack across her left eye and bridge of her nose was the most obvious, there were a few other fine cracks on her head and neck including one on her right arm, however, they did not look bad and her beautiful face and eye painting make her very special. Once I had redressed her, we had tea, cake and conversation which included Dorisanne telling me more of Trudi’s story:

Trudi was auctioned by Theriault's in 1985 and purchased by Bambi Bovee who returned her to Theriault's in 1993 under the Gold Horse guarantee. When she reappeared in Theriault's auction again that year, Dorisanne bought her and named her after Sasha's assistant, Trudi (Gertrud) Loeffler/Löffler, and Dorisanne’s Aunt Gertrude.

We took some photos of Trudi with some of Dorisanne’s dolls and the Sasha dolls we had brought into the house with us, plus my SCW Charity Course doll Russell.

L-R Emmalee Rose, Russell, Melanie and Trudi

It was good putting Russell between Dorisanne’s two Sasha Course dolls which she had made under Trudi Löffler’s supervision in Sasha’s atelier in 1993. They are named Amelia and Frederick after Dorisanne's paternal grandparents.

Dorisanne's two Sasha Course dolls Amelia and Frederick, with Russell the SCW Charity Course doll my daughter and I made in 2019

Close up of Amelia, Russell and Frederick

I was also delighted that Emmalee Rose was wearing the shweshwe outfit I had made specially for her, as I had brought along Melanie who wearing the identical smaller version of the outfit, so we were able to photograph the two of them together.

Melanie with some of Dorianne's Sasha Studio dolls L-R Alice, Studio bebe Kit, Christopher Charles, Emmalee Rose and Melanie

Emmalee Rose and Melanie in matching shweshwe outfits

Dorisanne's dolls Alice, Studio bebe Kit and Christopher Charles

Emmalee Rose and Melanie in their matching shweshwe outfits.
Dorisanne made the bead necklace herself and had the shoes made to match.

Trudi with Dorisanne's Studio dolls: L-R Alice, Kit, Christopher Charles and Trudi

Trudi sits on Charlie's special chair with Dorisanne's Sasha Course dolls and Russell. Charlie was Dorisanne's late husband whom we met in 2017 and the wicker chair belonged to him. 

L-R back row Alice, Emmalee Rose, Christopher, Melanie and Trudi, front row Russell and bebe Kit are flanked by the two Sasha Course dolls Frederick and Amelia

Alice, Emmalee Rose and Christopher Charles

Emmalee Rose, Christopher Charles, Melanie and Trudi

Russell with Dorisanne's Sasha Course dolls and Studio bebe Kit

Charlie's special corner (featuring his sailing boat and chair) with me holding Trudi, Dorisanne, Dmd and Jeanne, and the dolls in the chairs

In my blog posts last year about the festival, I didn’t include photos of Trudi as I wasn’t ready to write about her at the time. Now I am sharing them, as they reveal some of the joy that Trudi brings.

Thank you Dorisanne for allowing me to adopt Trudi and for your patience with that long layaway. I am so happy to have been entrusted with Trudi. My next blog post will be about the gentle restoration to stabilise the fine cracks.

At the meet and greet 'ugly Christmas sweater' event on the first evening of the Sasha Doll Festival.
L-R Edmund, Russell, Louisa, Melanie, Florence and Trudi

Trudi with a Sasha Studio bebe on her lap at the Sasha Doll Festival, they look fascinated with each other

Anne Votaw cradling Trudi on the Saturday evening at the Sasha Doll Festival (Anne is one of the three authors of 3 books about Sasha dolls which every collector needs)

Anne and Trudi at the Sasha Doll Festival - I think Anne's smile expresses the sheer joy of Sasha Studio dolls

Trudi with some of my Sasha friends
L-R Fran, JoAnn, me holding Trudi, Dmd and Peggy on the last day of the 2022 Sasha Doll Festival

Our Sasha dolls and SCW Charity doll in our hotel room after the Sasha Doll Festival
L-R: Florence, Reuben, Laura, Russell the SCW Charity doll, Edmund, Nina, Louisa, Trudi, Timothy and Melanie

Bibliography

From Childhood to Sasha profile Number 4 - Dorisanne Osborn (2015), published by TwizelTheresa on The Sasha Emporium, 27 October 2015, available at https://thesashaemporium.org/2015/10/27/from-childhood-to-sasha-profile-number-4/ (accessed 20 April 2023)

Osborn, Dorisanne (1999) Sasha Dolls through the years, Gold Horse Publishing. ISBN 0-9112823-86-0

The Sasha Doll Festival website http://sashafestival.com/Home.html 

Information about Sasha Morgenthaler is available at the following websites:

http://sashamorgenthaler.org

http://www.sashadoll.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Morgenthaler

USA 2022 - Sasha festival part 2

Friday morning of the Sasha festival 2022 and the first event of the day was 'Dress a Sasha'. Set up was from from 7am in the lobby area where buffet breakfast was served at 8am.

This was our third Sasha Festival (previously we attended 2012 and 2017) and at each festival both my younger daughter and I have participated in the 'Dress a Sasha' competition. The rules are always no more than 3 dolls in the 18" x 18" space allowed. There are 2 categories (outfits made by the entrant, scene and outfits assembled by the entrant) and 3 age groups (adult, teen 13-19, child up to age 12). 

As the overall theme of the Festival was 'Christmas in July', the organisers had suggested the following themes for the 'Dress a Sasha' entries: a favourite Christmas carol, a Christmas activity, a Christmas movie or a Christmas story.

This time because she had been doing examinations until a month before the festival my younger daughter did not have time to make any outfits as she had done in 2017, so she raided our large collection of Sasha doll clothes, plus our Christmas decorations to put together a Christmas activity scene: decorating the Christmas tree. We had been given a pop up Christmas tree a few years ago by a Sasha friend, so brought some lights to string around the tree, and found some bows on elastics from old crackers to use as the decorations to add to the existing baubles on the tree. Timothy, Louisa and baby Nina were the 3 dolls chosen for this activity. She used the placemat I'd brought from Yangon in November 2019 as a rug under the tree and some ready-wrapped little parcels we've used for the dolls in previous displays. Baby Nina played with a felt wreath while Timothy and Louisa put golden bows on the tree. Timothy wore a red Dollydoodles long sleeved t-shirt with Rudolf the red nosed reindeer, baby Nina wore a red dress set decorated with snowmen and Louisa wore a sundress I had made for her one Christmas in green and red.

Timothy, Louisa and Nina enjoy the Christmas activity of decorating the tree

Nina plays with the felt wreath, while Timothy and Louisa add bows to the tree

Timothy and Louisa choosing where to hang their bows on the tree

I had spent so much time on the Shakespeare Dream Coat, I didn't have much time to make the 2 outfits for my 'Dress a Sasha' display. I had chosen my favourite Christmas Carol for very personal reasons. 

'Once in Royal David's City' is my favourite Christmas carol because for me at least it heralds the start of Christmas, after 4 weeks of Advent, on Christmas Eve, when a solo chorister sings the first verse then the choir joins in harmony for the second verse before everyone else joins for the rest. Most of my childhood Christmasses were in hot weather, the equivalent of 'Christmas in July' in the USA, so my memories of the coolness of St George's Cathedral, Cape Town on a hot sunny Christmas Eve conjures up a familiar and special atmosphere of excited anticipation of Christmas Day. My late brother Russell was a boy chorister in the Cathedral (he became Head chorister) during the 1970s and sang the first verse one Christmas. Many years later, his niece, my elder daughter, sang in the Nine Lessons and Carols service in York Minster when we were able to be there (Christmas 2021), the choir started with that carol while standing under the Heart of Yorkshire window which is above the great west door. In that vast space the sound of that beautifully tuned choir intoning the start of Christmas was sublime and it brought tears to my eyes.

A few weeks before the Sasha festival we had visited my elder daughter as she sang in York Minster (she finished her choral scholarship the day before we flew to the USA, so we were unable to be with her for the reading out of the singers who were leaving, but watched that Evensong live on YouTube). After the Sunday Evensong we attended in June, she took us to the robing room and held up her hood and the surplus (the flowing white gown which goes over the robe) for me to photograph, showed me how the red robes were designed, and how the amice (the white collar around the neck under the red robes) was tied on. I was able to put the photo of her graduation hood into Publisher, trace around the outline with a drawing tool then print off that drawing as the basis for the pattern on A4 paper, it was just the right scale for a Sasha doll. The hood is a curious shape.

Sewing the hood - just after I'd finished stitching it together and had clipped the seams

The sewn hood waiting to be turned right side out

Once the hood was made (her University graduation hood is bright salmon and orange, with royal blue trim), I drafted patterns for the robes, adapting a pattern which had originated in the Venus A. Dodge Dolls Dressmaker book when I'd previously adapted a jacket to make Reuben's red tailcoat when he played trumpet in the Muppet band at the 2018 Sasha Celebration Weekend. I scaled the robe pattern down to suit a toddler after drafting it for a Sasha. Once Laura and Edmund had their red robes, I designed and made their white surpluses, a simplified version of the surplus my daughter wore as a choral scholar. 

These were all sewn just a few days before the festival. I packed a few sewing accessories, including some white bias binding in my luggage so I could do any last minute adaptions, and made the white ruffled collar for the chorister in the hotel bedroom the night before 'Dress a Sasha' from the white bias binding by hand stitching the tiny pleats. The amice was some white woven tape about an inch wide, wrapped around their necks, crossed over their chests and tied at the back of the waist, in a similar fashion to the amice my daughter wore.

The backdrop for my Dress a Sasha was slightly problematic - it needed to be very portable and lightweight and I didn't have an A3 printer (which would have been ideal) to layout all the pictures I wanted to include and print on one large sheet. So I printed out the pictures on white card and took those with me to cut out at the hotel, along with the portable stand my daughter had used for the Happy Birthday banner for her 2017 Dress a Sasha entry. I tied red patterned ribbons to the dowels in the stand and used mini plastic pegs to attach the individual pictures to the two pieces of ribbon stretched between the dowels (I provided tension between the top of the dowels by tying ribbon to the tops and stretching that round underneath the stand, it worked quite well). 

Backdrop for my Dress a Sasha entry, showing all the photos of York Minster (left top and bottom) and St George's Cathedral (right top and bottom) I attached to the ribbons

I made little music sheets for the dolls to hold from thin card. I brought blutak with me for the dolls to hold their music, but when setting up on the day couldn't find the blutak so Pat P very kindly let me use some of her Mini-hold wax paste (I later found the blutak where I had put it inside the box of mini pegs!).

I borrowed my younger daughter's two red-haired Sasha dolls for this scene with Laura representing my elder daughter (wearing her graduation hood over her robes and surplus) and Edmund representing my late brother Russell. My younger daughter carefully did Laura's hair in a long braid/plait which is often how my elder daughter wore her hair when singing in the Minster. 

The photos of the backdrop are of York Minster's Heart of Yorkshire window (including a photo of my home Advent window version from 2020 made with black paper and tissue paper), the York Minster Advent wreath, nave choir stalls and magnificent newly restored pipe organ, plus my photos of St George's Cathedral's wonderful stained glass windows including one depicting Mary, Joseph and the donkey on the way to Bethlehem, the great rose window and the Ascension window, plus my home Advent window version from 2018 of the boy choristers, including my brother, singing (tissue paper).

I used dark green fabric with tiny gold stars as a mat to disguise the doll stands and the backdrop stand, it set off the red and white outfits really well.

Laura and Edmund in my Dress a Sasha of 'Once in Royal David's city' carol on Christmas Eve

'Once in Royal David's City' - my favourite Christmas carol 

This was what I put on the card introducing my entry:

"Once in Royal David’s City is my favourite Christmas Carol, as it is used at the start of the traditional Nine Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve in churches and Cathedrals around the world. The young chorister represents a red-haired boy singing the first solo verse in a hushed large space, in St George’s Cathedral Cape Town in the 1970s. The older choir member represents a red-haired young woman singing as an alto choral scholar (with the tenors, basses and counter-tenors) in the vast space of York Minster, York, England in 2021. She wears her graduation hood of orange/salmon/blue."

Side view of Laura, showing the graduation hood

Laura and Edmund have their sheet music for 'Once in Royal David's City'

I was pleased with how my 'Dress a Sasha' turned out, considering how little time I had to make the outfits and my elder daughter thought I'd done a fairly accurate copy of her graduation hood.

As at the 2017 festival, my daughter was the only teen entry. There were 3 entries from children (all assembled by entrant), 4 entries for adult made by entrant and 5 entries for adult assembled by entrant.

All the entries were really impressive with several being humorous, others very imaginative and ingenious, and the other 'made by entrant' entries were all very well designed and constructed outfits.

Child - all items assembled by entrant

Child entrant 1 - fireplace, wreath, cards and tree all made by the entrant

Child entrant 1 - a lot of excitement with all those gifts

Child entrant 1 - lovely gifts and felt tree for these lucky Sasha dolls

Child entrant 2 - waiting for Father Christmas/Santa

Child entrant 2 - peeping through that window at Father Christmas bearing gifts

Child entrant 2 - the baby Father Christmas in the sleigh with gifts, and a spotty reindeer

Child entrant 3 - Baby enjoying a bumper Christmas gift selection!

Child entrant 3 - what a lucky baby receiving all those vehicles for Christmas

Teen - all items assembled by entrant

Teen entrant 1 - Decorating the Christmas tree (my daughter's entry)

Adult  - all clothing made by entrant

Adult - All clothing made by entrant voting slips bag and notice

Adult clothing made entrant 1 - A Ukrainian Christmas story

Adult clothing made entrant 1 - beautifully hand embroidered Ukrainian national dress for this Sasha girl

Adult clothing made entrant 1 - Father Christmas comes to Ukraine, and helper

Adult clothing made entrant 2 - Nestor the long eared Donkey (A Christmas story)

Adult clothing made entrant 2 - Nestor the long eared Donkey (A Christmas story)

Adult clothing made entrant 3 - 'Once in Royal David's City' favourite Christmas carol (my entry)

Adult clothing made entrant 4 - Decorating the tiered Christmas tree village

Adult clothing made entrant 4 - Decorating the tiered Christmas tree village

Adult clothing made entrant 4 - wearing her splendid red dress for doing the Christmas decorations

Adult - all items assembled by entrant

Adult all items assembled by entrant - voting slips bag and notice

Adult assembled by entrant 1 - Father Christmas enjoys Christmas in July on the beach!

Adult assembled by entrant 1 - the perfect place to spend Christmas in July

Adult assembled by entrant 1 - relaxing in the shade on a hot July day in that warm Christmas suit!

Adult assembled by entrant 2 - carol singing in the neighbourhood

Adult assembled by entrant 2 - the carol singers outside a house

Adult assembled by entrant 2 - the young carol singers had their music (and there was a recording of children singing carols playing)

Adult assembled by entrant 2 - all three carol singers need their glasses for singing in the snow

Adult assembled by entrant 2 - carol singing in the snowy neighbourhood in July!

Adult assembled by entrant 3 - Christmas activity of playing with new toys

Adult assembled by entrant 3 - enjoying their new toys for Christmas

Adult assembled by entrant 3 - Baby has a new racing car for the speedway

Adult assembled by entrant 4 - A Christmas Story (1983 film) with Ralphie Parker in his pink bunny suit (this film is very popular in the USA but wasn't one we had heard about before the Sasha festival)

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - Choosing their favourite ugly Christmas sweater from the clothes rail

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - 'would Santa know if I took one cookie?'

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - 'this one is my favourite'

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - A Meowy Christmas sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - a snowman sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - Merry Christmas bear sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - a green reindeer sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - tinsel and pompom sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - Christmas tree sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - Christmas flamingos sweater

Adult assembled by entrant 5 - Holiday hot mess sweater

Each festival attendee was given an envelope with ballot slips in it which were colour coded for the different categories, so we had one vote per category (based on this year's entries this was 4 categories as there were no teen or child 'made by' entries so those ballot slips were not used).

At lunchtime the ballots were counted and the winners were announced at the end of the lunch meal, but that is for another post.