Dolls have always been a major part of my life;
Barbie, Kissy, Baby Dear, Shirley Temple, walking dolls,
talking dolls, and countless others -- my dolls were the
sisters I always wanted but never had. 2 brothers, one older,
one younger, were what I ended up with instead.
2 wicked, evil brothers who should have been locked up forever for kidnapping and terrorizing my dolls!! lol...
I've always loved dolls...and sewing FOR my dolls. My mother taught me how to sew when i was about 8 years old...I would 'inherit' fabric scraps after she had sewn a new dress or blouse, and I would immediately become 'Judy the designer', making one of my dolls a new outfit to wear!
At the age of 13 or 14, my mother won a sewing machine for excelling in her job as a World Book Encyclopedia salesperson. She gave the machine to me -- motivated by the trail of tangled spools of thread, snaggled bobbins, missing pins, broken needles....you get the idea...basically she wanted me AWAY from her machine! lol...
I felt pretty darned lucky to have my very own sewing machine at such a young age. I sewed most of my own clothes, and doll clothes, and really enjoyed expressing my creativity through the cool clothes I would make. I was dubbed the 'seamstress of the family'!
In the late 1980's, I had a part time job in a wonderful little doll shop that had just opened up in my area.
It was there that I discovered SASHA!!
I immediately fell in love with her voluminous hair, and her sweet and simple clothes too.
I debated whether or not to purchase one of these mesmerizing dolls, when my employer informed me that the Trendon production was going to come to an end, if I wanted to buy any Sashas better do it soon while we still had a selection.
It wasn't long before our stock of dolls and outfits was nearly depleted.
My first purchase was two Coras in the blue corduroy dress, having been
told these would be the most difficult Sashas to find in the years to come.
I bought two so I could 'play' with one, and stash the other away as an investment. Almost immediately, a girlfriend talked me into selling my 'investment Cora' to her...
Selling one of my Cora's DID free up a little more cash, so I contemplated buying another doll..hmmmm...
Only after being assured I could put more than one doll in layaway (under these special circumstances) AND still receive my employee discount, I debated WHICH ONE did I want?? Oh woe!! I wanted them ALL!!
Well, I finally decided on the blonde haired girl in the blue jumper!
All right! I was ignited now! So I selected a beautiful red head next! I was on a roll! lol...
If ever there was a time I was grateful for employee discounts and layaway, this was the time!
There was absolutely NO DOUBT that I had caught the SASHA FEVER, and I wanted to FEED that fever in a major way! lol...
My eye had landed on a brunette Sasha...A cute little brunette Sasha in a red jumper who looked like she had an attitude and a half! I HAD to have her, I couldn't LIVE without her, but there was just this one teensy weensy little problem;
she was already in 'layaway' for someone else -- a customer.
Hmmm...this posed a bit of a dilemma indeed...hmmm.
But
that little brunette had become my 'obsession',
I couldn't WAIT to get to work so I could hold her in her box...
I even started dropping by the store on my DAYS OFF so I could look at her! (Was I sick or WHAT??)
But I KNEW!! I just KNEW deep in my heart that THIS doll was meant to be MINE! Can't explain HOW I knew, but I just somehow FELT that she would be mine one way or another!
I tried to convince my boss (whose name just happened to be Judith) to call the customer and tell her there was an error and the doll wasn't supposed to have been on the sales shelf, and oops! sorry, but come in and we'll cheerfully refund your down payment.
Now, you might think that because we had the same name that she'd say 'oh sure I'll do that tomorrow for you!!. HAAA! guess again!
No way on earth will I do that, she told me.
Well, I started fantasizing about how cool it would be if that customer decided she didn't want the doll after all!! and I shared this daydream with my boss. .
Yea, dream on she told me.
A couple of weeks later, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, when I was up on the 6' ladder dusting, stocking, straightening, etc., the
telephone rang.
Being the only one in the shop that day, it was, of course, up to me to answer the phone. Now, HAD I KNOWN
who was on the other end of that telephone line, I probably would have JUMPED down instead of climbing down from the ladder to answer that ringing telephone!!
MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!! Need I say more?
On the other end of that phone line was (you can see this one coming, can't you?? lol) that caller was none other than -- you guessed it! -- it was the very customer who had the brunette Sasha in layaway.
and she told me that she had changed her mind about purchasing the doll and would be in later that week for a refund of her down payment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND SHE EVEN APOLOGIZED for baling out of the purchase!!
I wasted NO TIME assuring her that no apology was necessary!!
>
The second I hung up the phone, I grabbed (soon to be) MY little
girl's box and danced gleefully around the store!
I was so elated I even called my boss at home to tell her
what had just happened!!
She verbalized her suspicions that I must have either said or done something to cause that customer
to change her mind. Despite my insisting I had had no contact at ALL with, nor had never even spoken to, that customer, she
refused to believe me until after she had refunded the down payment and spoken with the customer herself...
My boss told me I could buy the doll if I still wanted her...and I happily plunked down a partial payment for her...but things were never quite the same again between my boss and me and it wasn't long after that I found myself without a parttime job at the doll shop anymore. -- but at least I had my Sashas!
Sometime later, while visiting another doll shop in the area, I encountered a Limited Edition Harlequin. I was drawn to her colorful dress and bright red guitar. Did you know that the Limited Edition Harlequin is the ONLY Limited Edition Sasha doll to have rooted hair?
The Harlequin cost considerably more than the other Sashas, and I sure wished I had a discount! but I put her in layaway and eventually paid her off and brought her home. She came with a certificate telling what number she was: number
1984/1468 out of 4,000. I was excited to have an extra 'special' doll and I wanted her to retain her value, so I stored her away in the closet.
She remained tucked safely away inside her box for numerous years. She was 'special', she was
'limited', she was expensive! It took me a long time before I felt comfortable even removing her from her
box and transferring her to a clear plastic display unit I had purchased especially for her from a doll supply company.
I felt so sad for her, standing all alone on a separate shelf...sometimes, it seemed as though she were watching the other Sasha dolls in the other shelf unit....
but I couldn't 'play' with her, I had to preserve her value and
condition, right?
well, RIGHT???
When I moved several years ago, she was packed safely back into
her box until the Fall of 2002, when I discovered the Sasha community online...,I had been debating whether to keep this lovely Harlequin, or sell her, keep or sell her, hmmm. ( I had already
decided I no longer wanted any dolls I couldn't 'play' with) I also realized I may never encounter another
Harlequin in my affordability range, let alone the fact that, DUH!! I already HAD ONE!! - so why even
THINK about selling her and already be scheming to replace her someday? . . . and then a member of the
Sasha group challenged me to
transform her into a companion doll --hmmm!
In mid July, 2002, right around
my 47th birthday, I took that beautiful Mint in Box Harlequin out of her
box, and stood her on my dresser for several days. More contemplation and weighing the pros and cons.
Hmmmm...
Then one afternoon, I just did it - I broke through that wall of hesitation and I REMOVED
HER ORIGINAL CLOTHING!! AND I DRESSED HER IN OVERALLS!!!!
She is enjoying being out of her box and
has just a lovely personality! There was never a question as to what her name would be: ANDREA, of course! for the friend who challenged me to make her a companion dolly...
and since then, Andrea has renamed one of HER Sasha dolls after me - Judy Marie!
Limited Edition Marking
I traded items from my Barbie collection in order to acquire a second Brunette Sasha.
This gorgeous girl was
'different' in a very special way -- she had been a display Sasha and had the hole in the
bottom of her foot and ballet slipper -- alas she had no box, no tags, no booklets, but her expression was so sweet, and she had such lovely hair -- and I knew I wanted her. The man who had her was a Barbie collector, and didn't quite know what to do with this Sasha - but he had acq;uired her through working at a toy store...and when he learned I was 'into' Sashas, he made me an offer to work out a trade! I've never regretted that transaction!
'Display hole'
Gregor was purchased through an ad in Collector's United doll newspaper.
I didn't know if I really even WANTED any of the boy dolls,
but decided to buy this one and see.
Shortly after his arrival, his prior owner wrote me and offered to buy him back...she missed him and
shouldn't have sold him, she said.
I told her if ever I wanted to part with him, I would let her know...
No way on earth would I part
with this little guy!
My 'oldest' Gregor is a beautiful little blonde fellow who came in the Crayon Tube: a brightly colored cardboard tube with metal lid.
These were how Sashas were 'boxed' in the earlier stages of the Trendon production in England.
I had encountered a doll dealer at a show, and she told me about this Gregor in a tube. I was curious ...a tube?? We made plans to meet at her hotel at a designated time, and the second she removed from the tube, I fell in love with the little guy! As I debated, she knocked his price down, as his stringing to his head was rather limp. Hmm. she lived out of town, said she couldn't promise she would still have him later...I just couldn't resist him and bought him on the spot!
In 1990, Kansas City's Toy and Miniature Museum was host to an elaborate, extensive Sasha exhibit. I
learned about the exhibit through the Sasha Newsletter.
It was a wonderful opportunity to see and experience the earlier dolls in person. I managed to 'hook up'
(via the Toy Museum) with the 2 ladies who would return to dismantle the exhibit at it's conclusion. I wrote
and
expressed my desire to be there when the exhibit came down, and that I would really enjoy either 'helping'
or just staying out of the way, but 'taking it all in' nonetheless! They replied that it would be fine with them
and
they would call me when they arrived in Kansas City.
That much anticipated phone call came on the
final
day of the exhibit telling me what time I could come to the museum to 'watch'. I felt like a kid in a
candy store for the first time - actually being able to 'touch only' a few of the oldest Sashas,
hold a couple of others, marvel at costumes, outfits, accessories and props, and babble a nonstop stream
of questions all the while! I felt very priviledged indeed and the memory of that experience is one I will always cherish.
My neice, Maria, recalls visiting me as a little girl, and playing with my Sasha dolls. I would let her carefully change their dresses and brush their hair, and sometimes make something new for Sasha AND herself to wear.
Meet My Family Part II
Return to Directory.
Last updated February the 24th, 2004
I felt pretty darned lucky to have my very own sewing machine at such a young age. I sewed most of my own clothes, and doll clothes, and really enjoyed expressing my creativity through the cool clothes I would make. I was dubbed the 'seamstress of the family'!
In the late 1980's, I had a part time job in a wonderful little doll shop that had just opened up in my area.
It was there that I discovered SASHA!!
I immediately fell in love with her voluminous hair, and her sweet and simple clothes too.
I debated whether or not to purchase one of these mesmerizing dolls, when my employer informed me that the Trendon production was going to come to an end, if I wanted to buy any Sashas better do it soon while we still had a selection.
It wasn't long before our stock of dolls and outfits was nearly depleted.
My first purchase was two Coras in the blue corduroy dress, having been
told these would be the most difficult Sashas to find in the years to come. I bought two so I could 'play' with one, and stash the other away as an investment. Almost immediately, a girlfriend talked me into selling my 'investment Cora' to her...
Selling one of my Cora's DID free up a little more cash, so I contemplated buying another doll..hmmmm...
Only after being assured I could put more than one doll in layaway (under these special circumstances) AND still receive my employee discount, I debated WHICH ONE did I want?? Oh woe!! I wanted them ALL!! Well, I finally decided on the blonde haired girl in the blue jumper!
>
In mid July, 2002, right around
my 47th birthday, I took that beautiful Mint in Box Harlequin out of her
box, and stood her on my dresser for several days. More contemplation and weighing the pros and cons.
Hmmmm...Then one afternoon, I just did it - I broke through that wall of hesitation and I REMOVED HER ORIGINAL CLOTHING!! AND I DRESSED HER IN OVERALLS!!!!
She is enjoying being out of her box and has just a lovely personality! There was never a question as to what her name would be: ANDREA, of course! for the friend who challenged me to make her a companion dolly...
and since then, Andrea has renamed one of HER Sasha dolls after me - Judy Marie!
Limited Edition Marking
This gorgeous girl was
'different' in a very special way -- she had been a display Sasha and had the hole in the
bottom of her foot and ballet slipper -- alas she had no box, no tags, no booklets, but her expression was so sweet, and she had such lovely hair -- and I knew I wanted her. The man who had her was a Barbie collector, and didn't quite know what to do with this Sasha - but he had acq;uired her through working at a toy store...and when he learned I was 'into' Sashas, he made me an offer to work out a trade! I've never regretted that transaction!'Display hole'
In 1990, Kansas City's Toy and Miniature Museum was host to an elaborate, extensive Sasha exhibit. I learned about the exhibit through the Sasha Newsletter.
It was a wonderful opportunity to see and experience the earlier dolls in person. I managed to 'hook up' (via the Toy Museum) with the 2 ladies who would return to dismantle the exhibit at it's conclusion. I wrote and expressed my desire to be there when the exhibit came down, and that I would really enjoy either 'helping' or just staying out of the way, but 'taking it all in' nonetheless! They replied that it would be fine with them and they would call me when they arrived in Kansas City.
That much anticipated phone call came on the final day of the exhibit telling me what time I could come to the museum to 'watch'. I felt like a kid in a candy store for the first time - actually being able to 'touch only' a few of the oldest Sashas, hold a couple of others, marvel at costumes, outfits, accessories and props, and babble a nonstop stream of questions all the while! I felt very priviledged indeed and the memory of that experience is one I will always cherish.
My neice, Maria, recalls visiting me as a little girl, and playing with my Sasha dolls. I would let her carefully change their dresses and brush their hair, and sometimes make something new for Sasha AND herself to wear.