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

Merry Christmas 2022

Just a very quick post to wish all my doll and craft friends a Merry Christmas 2022 and a Happy New Year for 2023.

I've been too busy with other projects and work to have much time for the dolls recently however during the past week I have taken out the wonderful Julie Ruleman smocked dresses which were souvenir outfits my daughter and I received at the 'Christmas in July Sasha Doll festival' and put them on Melanie and Florence. Tonight I dressed Reuben and Nicholas James in the two new Dollydoodles Christmas tops and the new trousers I bought at the Chat 'n Snap in October. Of course, we had to dress Laura and Edmund in their chorister robes from their Dress a Sasha appearance at this year's festival too. This afternoon I enjoyed listening to Carols from Kings on the radio with Once in Royal David's City starting Christmas for me (we watched the recorded TV version this evening too).

This year my elder daughter sent us a Seeds Advent Calendar, part of which you can see on the wall behind the dolls. I've just opened envelope 24 and it is the seed for a Christmas tree in 2028! 

The dolls are standing on a table beside our new potted Christmas tree which replaces the one we used for 3 years but didn't do well in the long hot summer this year.

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James in their Christmas outfits

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James at Christmas

Reuben, Laura, Edmund, Melanie, Florence and Nicholas James with the Christmas tree

Hopefully in the coming week between Christmas and New Year I'll find a bit of time to relax with the dolls.

Guess the name of the doll raffle

 About 18 months ago when we were on one of our night time dog walks around our town, my daughter and I spotted a modern play doll in a charity shop window. The following day I went to buy her, she was in very good / almost unplayed with condition and her long hair was very shiny and smooth, not tangled and matted like many played with dolls. She is an 18" Chad Valley DesignaFriend doll, usually sold at Argos in the UK. She has a soft body and vinyl head, arms and legs. The commercially made dress she was wearing was clearly not original to her (very short, different scale). My daughter brushed her hair and plaited it then for a year or more she languished on a box in my doll/craft room waiting for attention. 

When I was working with a friend on the craft stall plans for our annual church Christmas Fayre this year, I decided to sort out some outfits for the doll, and turn her into a Guess the name of the doll raffle prize.

In the event, I was able to buy 3 pairs of DesignaFriend shoes, plus a pair of DesignaFriend boots with jeans. In our stash of 18" doll clothes, my daughter and I found a blue/purple/pink shirt, the pink, purple and white stiped hoodie and a small pink rucksack we'd won at a Sasha Celebration weekend raffle a few years ago. I bought a new doll hairbrush and got to work on outfits to go with the 3 pairs of shoes.

In July while we were in the USA, after the Sasha Festival, our friend took my younger daughter and I to a wonderful fabric shop not far from Boston, where we spent time finding buttons in the button bin (quite a relaxing pastime filled with interesting discoveries) plus some fine print red/white/blue fabric and a couple of other pieces of fabric. I made a dress with the fabric (using Simplicity 4364 18" doll clothing pattern), found some pink fabrics in my off cuts box to make a tank top (which uses 2 of the pink flower buttons from the USA) and boxer shorts, and make a plain turquoise A-line skirt with an elasticated waist, using patterns from 'Sew the Contemporary Wardrobe for 18-inch Dolls' by Joan Hinds. My friend and I made scrunchies for her hair and wrists.

I took photos of the doll wearing each outfit. 

The tank top (with pink flower buttons), boxer shorts and pink sparkly slippers

The shirt, skirt and turquoise trainers outfit

The hoodie, jeans and boots outfit

The dress and smart shoes outfit

My daughter wrapped a large shoe box in silver wrapping paper, I stitched 3 of the outfits onto pink card and dressed the doll in the dress. My daughter did super French plaits for the doll (after I'd taken the outfit photos!). In the display the jeans and hoodie with boots outfit was put in the lid of the box, while the other 2 outfits were placed on the table in front of the doll.

The doll with her 4 outfits before we took her to the craft stall

My daughter and I compiled a list of over 200 names into a spreadsheet, I printed these out with spaces for people to write names and contact details alongside their chosen name(s). 

The doll and her outfits on display on the craft table at the Christmas Fayre

We sold several names at the Christmas Fayre today on the craft stall and will continue to sell names until a week before Christmas (I don't expect to sell all the names!). The chosen names will be put into a spreadsheet and a random number generator used to pick the winning name (so as my daughter said, it should have been 'Pick the name' not 'Guest the name' because we've not pre-chosen the name. This was a fun project to do on the fringes of my spare time, will hopefully raise a bit of money for our church funds and become a played with doll by another child after her first owner no longer played with her.

Chat n Snap 2022

This year Dee changed the theme of the Chat 'n Snap in response to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The idea was to find a picture of the late Queen, King Charles or any of the British Royal family and replicate it with a Sasha doll or two. We had done some sorting through our large collection of clothes for Sasha in the week before the event and I had no time to make something new. We chose to depict Princess Charlotte as a baby in a smocked dress with a ribbon in her hair, because that style of clothes is regularly used for dressing younger members of the British Royal family. My younger daughter carefully styled baby Daisy's hair after dressing her in a smocked dress made by the late, lovely Marilyn H.

Baby Daisy as Princess Charlotte

Princess Charlotte with the Scottish piper

The display this year was in front of the St Ippolyts wall hanging rather than on the stage. It was a small but lovely display of several dolls depicting associations with royalty.

The Scottish bagpiper piping for the King

Katherine, Princess of Wales

A close up of the Princess of Wales

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis

Modern royal children always wear very classic traditional clothes for official occasions, such as the baptism of Prince Louis

The late Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee this year

Jennie W made a replica of the late Queen wearing her Platinum Jubilee outfit

The late Queen Elizabeth II with her corgi, handbag and Paddington bear

A very regal outfit for the late Queen

Many other dolls had come to the Chat 'n Snap and were displayed on a couple of tables nearby. We had changed some of our dolls into fresh outfits, so Trendon Elliott got to wear one of the Sasha Festival souvenir outfits (the snow suit), Nicholas James put on jeans to go with the rainbow hoodie I had bought for him at the 2021 Chat 'n Snap, Miranda wore an outfit she won on the raffle at the Sasha Festival, Laura still wanted to wear her goth style outfit she had won in the raffle at the Dolly Jolly and Florence wore a dress I won in the 2021 Chat 'n Snap plus a jacket I bought at the festival. Toddler Louisa wore an outfit I bought from Lynne F at the Festival and Edmund wore his union jack waistcoat made some years ago by my younger daughter. 

At the Dolly Jolly in May we had won a baby Ginger on the raffle, along with her quilt, a second outfit and a teddy bear. Baby Amy wore the second outfit (made by Rosie Laird) and they shared two pairs of green / lime shoes, wearing one of each pair while playing with their monkey (knitted for me by a church friend last Christmas). While she was admiring our red haired baby twins at the Chat 'n Snap, Jennie W suggested a name for our newer baby: Robin.

Our babies Amy and Robin with their monkey, toddlers Louisa and Edmund, with Trendon Elliott, Nicholas James, Miranda, Laura and Florence behind them, surrounded by some Little Darlings, Teddy's BJD and Sasha dolls, with Hans the studio doll in the background

Alice's boys dressed in their shorts

Some of Alice's dolls on display

I think these Sasha dolls also belonged to Alice

Hans the studio doll, Curly and the rare Trendon toddlers

Gotz and Trendon girls in cardigans, with a pair of rerooted girls in the background

Three girls wearing name tags, plus a Sasha who I think belonged to one of the children attending the event

Three little ones with some unique hair styles and colours

An assortment of Sasha dolls

The two Jackie Rydstrom rerooted girls

I didn't take photos of the sales tables this year, except for this one photo of Trisha's beautiful sewing and embroidery, before the sales officially opened.

Tricia's lovely girls and needlework

We had limited ourselves to only buying for the boys this time as our recent sort out of all our Sasha clothes revealed plenty of dresses and outfits for our girls, with far less choice for our boys. We bought two pairs of trousers (cargo pants and corduroy trousers) from Ginny, 13 Sasha World magazines from Jocelyn, a Christmas sweatshirt and a Christmas hoodie from Dollydoodles, and some gorgeous fabric and tiny buttons from Jane.

Teddy had brought his restringing equipment and spent much of the time restringing dolls for people, I got a ring side seat for taking photos as Teddy and Alice were at the same table as us for the day.

A beautiful No Philtrum girl was restrung ahead of being shipped overseas to her new owner

The notorious Curly had his arms restrung (too much use of your gavel Curly)

One of the dolls whose arms needed restringing was Hans the studio doll.

Hans before his arms were removed for restringing

Threading through the new elastic cord

Teddy restringing Hans

Tying the knot in the stringing

Hans being redressed after his arms were restrung

Hans being redressed

Hans holding up his arm to show he can do so!

Close up of Hans, photo taken with my macro lens to show his beautiful Sasha hand-painted eyes

Another doll who attended the Chat 'n Snap was Amelie, the very rare Sasha baby who is a life size version of a new-born infant, she is made of some kind of wax compound so has a translucency to her appearance which does make her look very fragile and lifelike. I held her while my daughter Dmd took photos of her with my macro lens and camera on the tripod.

Baby Amelie being held by DollMum

Baby Amelie

Baby Amelie

Close up of Baby Amelie, taken with the macro lens by DollMum's daughter

We were fortunate enough to win 5 prizes in the raffle (which raised £400). Our prizes were two Dollydoodles outfits (sweatshirt, tracksuit bottoms & beanie, plus jeggings), some fabric (blue fat quarters), a green patterned pinafore dress, a tartan skirt and red cardigan.

Thank you Dee and family for another very enjoyable Chat 'n Snap.