Meet Sasha...

Okay so I'm still relatively new to sewing and knitting for larger dolls (tho my practice with several types of smaller dolls is certainly serving me well right now) and I've only recently begun to make outfits for larger (18") dolls like Madam Alexanders, but all this working with larger dolls got me to thinking, what about that doll I remember seeing way back when... that doll.

In case anyone's unfamiliar, this is a Sasha doll. and I was 14 years old (hey, the same age I started knitting) when I first saw one. This doll was on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop back in 1984, often sitting in the background wearing fabulous knitted garments made by the master herself.

I was quite taken with her placid, almost Buddah-like grace, so different from most American dolls, years later with he advent of the internet I found out what she was called and thought, someday I'd like to have one... then things ran away with themselves, life went on and Sasha was slowly becoming a distant memory.

Then I discovered Blythe and my childhood love of dolls returned. Since I started this blog and my knitting blog Picking Knits over 10 years ago I've been knitting (and sewing) clothes for dolls of all sorts: Blythe, Leggy, Makie, Barbie and Ken of course... but then I started trying to make clothes for 18" dolls and it hit me *that doll* Sasha! Was she still out there? Was anyone still making her? I looked her up and apparently the last Sashas were produced in the 90s and then they went cold. But they were of course still out there to be had... and last week, after much watching and waiting and looking for the best quality girl I could afford I found her, the very girl you see in the pic above, and here...

She's the 20th anniversary doll that came out in '85, what with her being over 31 years old now I was concerned about how she'd be. The seller said she was in excellent condition and she certainly looked it. He'd reduced her price for a quick sale and I thought, what the heck, she was exactly what I wanted, a blond, blue eyed Sasha and the price was fantastic, so I bought her and now she's here :D

...and in a new little outfit I made her to boot. I'm so pleased with her, her hair is excellent, she poses beautifully, she's everything I could have hoped for...

I'm very pleased with the dress I came up with for her, and as a special treat for myself, I bought Elizabeth Zimmerman's knitting patterns for Sasha dolls :)

I'm hoping to work my way through every single one of them (yes even the bell bottoms) So along with my other crafty postings stay tuned for some vintage Sasha apparel *hope* It may take time but I will get them done. Happy crafting.

Blue Bonnets...

Apparently it's a Texas tradition to take your family members out and take pictures of them in the lovely Blue Bonnets that come out every spring, Well I missed my chance last year but this time I quickly toted Wren off to the car and stopped at every good place we could find with patches of the pretty things...

And wren insisted on sporting one of the Day of the Dead dresses... I think we've finally acclimated to Texas. :D

New Pattern... Short Sleeved Lace Bottom Jacket for 18" Dolls

Alright-y then, after thoroughly going over it, I've gone ahead and written up my new pattern for 18" dolls. A lovely little short sleeved jacket with a lace bottom. It knits up quickly and the lace was actually quite fun to do.

Match this up with a bright and springy color of your choice. The pattern is available in my Etsy shop here, and on Craftsy here.

Happy knitting, and please contact me with any questions.

When it rains...

So with all my little jaunts into sewing I felt I should get back into knitting for dolls for a bit. It's always so enjoyable completing a project that much sooner (and with small projects for dolls you get that quite quickly). I thought I might try knitting (and possibly sewing too) for an 18" girl. My mother-in-law Joan has been sewing for them for years and though I may not have skills at her level I was feeling that I might give it a go, and I felt I could most certainly come up with some knitted patterns for them that would work. I decided on a Madame Alexander play doll. I liked the look of them when I was last visiting Joan, helping her with their hair and making them look presentable. It was great fun. The American Girl dolls are quite cute, but there was just something about the classic beauty of the MA girls that captured my attention and wouldn't let go, not too mention that they cost far less than an AG girl.

So with a bit of searching... careful searching as I'm on a budget, I looked for a girl I could clean up and get ready for dressing in hand sewn/hand knit clothes. I checked second hand shops first but had no luck, so I turned to Ebay and this is the girl I eventually chose...

I payed about $23 including shipping (like i said, budget). I think I got her so inexpensively because her left leg is shifted a bit forward, thankfully this did not interfere with her ability to pose in the least. Her hair was a bit of a rats nest (as I'd been informed it would be -- apparently MA girls have lovely soft hair, but without a bit of help it can become quite a mess. Quality-wise according to what I'd read they were as good - or better- than AGs but the hair... well, as I said I'd been warned).

So I got her home and after a clean up and a bit of futzing with her locks (including redoing her two little braids) I knit up a dress for her and here's the result.

I gave my husband the honor of naming her ( I always name all the Blythes) and he dubbed her Camilla, I've been calling her Cami for short. I had a friend called Cami once and I do think the name suits her.

Then something odd happened, a few days after Cami arrived I was at Thrift Town and I found this...

And yep, sure enough, she's also a Madame Alexander... I was delighted at the $5.99 price tag and snapped her up. Aaron named this girl Chloë. I cleaned her up with a Magic Eraser, got rid of all the nasty marks on her, and then went to work on her hair, and --OMG!!!-- her hair!!! If I thought Cami had it bad.... anyway, I knew I'd need to repaint her lips so I went down to Michaels to get lip paint and found this girl on clearance for only $6.99...

She's a Springfield girl... a knockoff of AGs. I almost left her there because as I said, I'm not as keen on the look of the AGs (though I've seen some really cute ones), but I figured at that price I couldn't pass up the opportunity to knit and/or sew for a slightly different body type. Aaron named this girl Tiffany. Right now she's just in Cami's dress but I'm going to come up with something just for her later. I think she was so inexpensive because her box was a bit bashed up and she had a black rub on her nose, Magic Eraser to the rescue! It doesn't show well but I added some faint freckles to her as well. I wasn't sure about her at first but she's terribly photogenic and I'm very pleased I got her.

Oh, here's Chloë all fixed up...

And here she is in a cute little outfit I made for her. I wanted something bright and springy, and as we're coming up on Easter I thought this fit the bill nicely. The lace gives it a nice touch I think, I may go ahead and put the patterns out there for others after I give it a more thorough going over.

So yes, I suppose when it rains, it really can pour. :)