Sasha sundresses and a touch of South Africa

Today, before I posted my donation to the Ann Chandler Raffle doll for the 2025 Sasha Doll Festival, I took some photos of 3 versions I've made of the traditional sundress with brettels from the Sasha Doll Clothes and Patterns book.

This gave me a good reason to dress Trudi in her summer outfit, new to her, though actually made back in 2017 as a prototype test of the enlarged pattern before I made the sundress for Dorisanne's Emmalee Rosie in 2017. Earlier this year the prototype dress and hat returned to me from Laura who had sold her studio doll Sela who had tried out the prototype for me.

Melanie (my Cora) has a shweshwe dress using the same fabric colour and pattern combination I used for Emmalee Rose. I dressed Miranda (blonde Green dress girl) in the Ann Chandler raffle donation outfit.

Miranda in the shweshwe protea dress for the Ann Chandler doll, Trudi in her sundress (fabric from a skirt I once made for myself) and Melanie in her shweshwe dress

Two entirely different colourways of shweshwe sundresses on Miranda and Melanie

In April our family spent just over 2 weeks in South Africa for my niece's wedding, which was a long road trip from Cape Town, in the heart of the Karoo (I made a handfasting stole they used and the dress I wore for the wedding). 

While we were staying in the tiny hamlet of Nieu-Bethesda over the Easter weekend where the wedding took place in the autumnal forest on a beautiful day, I commissioned a tote bag made by the Bethesda Arts Centre sewing co-operative based at the Bushman Heritage Museum. They had made incredible fabric collage wall hangings depicting different Bushman stories and folklore, and every guest bedroom at the Bathesda Tower Bed and Breakfast had gorgeous fabric collage cushions, they had some for sale along with some tote bags, but none of the tote bags had the panel I really liked with the ostriches. When I was a toddler and we visited an Ostrich farm at Oudtshoorn, I apparently called them 'ostrips'! So Yvonne, one of the creative fabric artists, who also served us our breakfast every morning, showed me a selection of panels she had already sewn but not yet turned into cushions or tote bags and I was able to choose my ostriches! The panel is actually also an outside pocket for the tote bag. It is almost too wonderful to use but I did use it while we were travelling about in South Africa. Now it hangs on a door in our home waiting for me to use it again. So I did use it for the photo shoot involving the Sasha dolls in their sundresses. Melanie's dress in particular matches the colours on the tote bag very well.

Miranda, Trudi and Melanie pose in front of the tote bag (hanging on a picture)

Shweshwe sundresses with the ostriches on the tote bag

My pair of ostriches (ostrips) on my Nieu-Bethesda tote bag by fabric artist Yvonne Merrington

Nieu-Bethesda is known for The Owl House (curiously haunting sculptures by Helen Martins, Athol Fugard's play The Road to Mecca was inspired by it) and its Camino hiking trails in the Compassberg mountains. We did visit The Owl House on Easter Day just before a thundery rain storm, but I didn't photograph my 8 inch dolls there as I had intended, they stayed in my camera bag.

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

Reuben and Melanie explore the Eastern Cape

International travel - that gift and privilege that many of us have been unable to enjoy for 2 years due to the global pandemic. Despite having covid-19 at the beginning of February, a month later, still recovering from its effects, I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa with my cousin to visit my elderly aunt and see my sister, another cousin and families again. In my hand luggage I carried 4 dolls. Reuben and Melanie, two of our Sasha family, came with all their Shweshwe clothes, though only one outfit each actually got photographed. I had intended dressing them in their Basuto and Xhosa outfits (which I made for the 2017 Sasha Celebration Weekend) while in the Eastern Cape. Joy and Kolisi (two of my Kruselings) came too. But only the Sasha dolls managed to get out and about with me for some photos on a couple of occasions. My energy levels for doll photography was vastly reduced as I recovered from the virus.

While in Cape Town, my cousin and I visited The Waterfront. One of the stalls in the big craft building featured slot together dolls houses made by a local small business. Ikhaya crafts make eco-friendly toys to promote play, I was interested to note that they had two ranges - what looked like a 1:12th scale range (for 7-13cm size dolls) and a Barbie doll size range. The Kruselings are between the two sizes, though possibly some of the Barbie furniture might have suited them, but I didn't have them with me at the time to try them for size. The dolls houses, their furniture and accessories were very well designed and nicely made (laser cut). 

Ikhaya crafts stand at The Waterfront

Ikhaya crafts stand showing some of the dolls house rooms and accessories for sale

Ikhaya crafts outfits for Barbie dolls

Barbie dolls wearing some Ikhaya crafts outfits

My aunt lives in the Eastern Cape Town of Makhanda/Makana (Grahamstown), so after spending two and half days with my sister, cousin and niece in the Karoo at a game reserve (where the warm, dry salty air helped my lungs) then a few days in Cape Town with my sister; my cousin and I flew to Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), hired a car and drove to Makhanda to stay for several days. 

Makhanda nestles in the hills of the Eastern Cape

Grahamstown / Makhanda Cathedral in the heart of this Eastern Cape town

It was only on our last day there that I did some doll photography. The previous day I had visited the History Building of the Albany Museum as I had vivid memories of discovering its displays, which had included playthings from the past, as a child. Reuben and Melanie came in my bag as I had hoped to photograph them looking at the displays, but photography in the museum was forbidden, so I spent time reading the information and looking but not taking photos. 

The first room had a fascinating display about the last 200 years of the cultural influences on the area, showing the experiences of the indigenous populations and the European immigrants, including the 1820 settlers. During the apartheid era in the 1980s, when I had last visited the museum, the focus had very much been on upholding the legacy of the 1820 settlers and all they had done to build the town. This newer display was more balanced as it revealed additional perspectives on the evolution of the Eastern Cape meeting of peoples and cultures though it looked tired and some of the labelling was hard to read (it needs refreshing, but funds are limited). 

There was also a gallery about the character and story of Makhanda/Makana the Xhosa prophet (1780-1819), a gallery with some of the artefacts and furniture of local families (but far fewer toys and playthings than I remembered seeing in gallery above that space back in the 1980s), an Art gallery upstairs and a fascinating display about Rev James Arthur Calata (1895-1983) who had done much for musical education (he founded a choir and composed music for it) and was also the first black canon at Grahamstown Cathedral. 

As we were leaving Makhanda, Reuben and Melanie had a brief visit to the Monument, which was built to commemorate the 1820 settlers but is also the venue which hosts the famous National Arts Festival events each year. It contains theatres, an atrium, conference facilities and stands on the hill above Rhodes University and the Botanical Gardens. I remember the Monument when it was very new. 

The Monument above Makhanda

Entrance to the Monument

Inside the Monument:
"Nor wild Romance nor Pride allured me here:
Duty and Destiny with equal voice
Constrained my steps: I had no other choice...
Something for Africa to do or say." (Pringle)

Inside the Monument atrium

Commemorative plaque about Nelson Mandela's visit to the Monument in 1996

A replica of a cow given to Nelson Mandela when he visited the Monument in 1996.

The Monument's position provides fabulous views of the town below and this is what Reuben and Melanie saw.

Reuben and Melanie standing on the steps outside the Monument to gaze at the town below

It was quiet on the hill above Makhanda as Reuben and Melanie looked at the town below

Melanie and Reuben in their Shweshwe outfits on the steps beside the Monument above Makhanda

Reuben and Melanie above Makhanda

Our next destination was an AirBnB house on the banks of the Sunday's River. We arrived to enjoy the sunset on the river and I left the following morning for my flight to Cape Town. Melanie and Reuben explored the cactus garden at the back of the house, which had been dramatically lit in the evening and also looked wonderful in the morning light. I was able to photograph the nearly full moon, with its Southern Hemisphere face (much more symmetrical than its Northern Hemisphere face).

The cactus garden at dusk

Just after sunset on the Sunday's River

The cactus garden at night

Moonrise above the Sunday's River

The Sunday's river after sunrise

"Look Melanie, the river is so wide" said Reuben

"I wish we could go out on a boat" sighed Reuben to Melanie as they gazed at the Sunday's river

Sun rising over the Sunday's river

"Look at this amazing cactus Reuben, it is taller than us" exclaimed Melanie

"I cannot even see the top" said Melanie

"This one is more our height, like a cushion, but I wouldn't want to sit on it" said Reuben to Melanie

The top of the very tall cactus

Bird feeding on the cactus flowers in the morning

I took the doll sized Shakespeare Dream Coat I've been making as my contribution to the Susanna Lewis raffle doll prize for the 2022 Sasha Festival to work on while in South Africa, I did manage to do a bit of the embroidery while in SA though not a lot.

I bought some more Shweshwe fabric from my favourite little shop Mnandi Textiles in Observatory, Cape Town. The colours and patterns are such fun, maybe some of the doll family will gain more shweshwe outfits sometime soon, though only once my contribution for the Dolly Jolly raffle and the Shakespeare Dream Coat are complete.