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