About BestDollClothes.com

Hi my name is Karen and I would like to introduce you to my wonderful Sasha/Gregor sewing patterns.

I have been sewing since I was about ten years old.  In this time I have had many dolls. My favorite is the Sasha doll by Sasha Morgenthaler, the Swiss doll artist and designer of my Sasha collection.  

I have decided to make some of my own designs available to other collectors and seamstresses.  My goal is for all to enjoy sewing for their dolls as much as I do.  I am trying to have a few beginner patterns with simple sewing by hand. 

History of the Sasha Doll

According to Niklaus Morgenthaler, the history of the Sasha Dolls is as follows:

The "Sasha doll" was named after her designer, Sasha Morgenthaler who lived in Switzerland and died in 1975, aged 82 years. Many people knew her her reputation for making wonderful, one-of-a-kind, hand made dolls.  She was an artisan, trained in painting and sculpture, and a humanitarian.  Her world travels influenced her desire to create dolls that represented children of all races and cultures. 

She started to make toys, animals and dolls for her three children in the 1920's. The toys, available in the shops, were expensive and she did not like them at all. She tried to make her dream come true and was determined to produce human-like dolls which could be loved by children because they have a 'living' expression.  
Later, with the help of a young sculptor and moulder, Sasha began to make moulds in order to give solid bodies and limbs to the dolls. These hand-made dolls later became very expensive. Today, they are 'portrait' dolls for parents or doll collectors and are considered museum quality works of art.

However, she always wanted to make a doll for children that could also be bought by parents who did not have a lot of money. In 1963, the first opportunity arose to develop a serially produced doll. The difficulties to overcome where huge. It seemed as though it was impossible at all to give the human-like expression to those dolls that had always been so important to her. After many trials, the first production was successful which was then stopped in 1986, as the new factory managers did not want to continue the doll's production.

In 1988, the licence for serial production of the dolls was given to an old friend of Sasha Morgenthaler who was already importing her hand-made dolls into the U.S.A, in order to sell them in New York. Unfortunately, this licence was never followed by production, as this friend and licensee died in 1993 after a long and serious illness.
But in 1994, the heirs of Sasha Morgenthaler found a producer in Franz and Marianne Götz, with whom a new licence contract could be signed.  The "Götz-puppenfabrik" in D-96472 Rödental is the best guarantee for the new future of the "Sasha Doll", as they, together with Sasha Morgenthaler, thirty years ago had already developed the serial manufacturing process of the Sasha Doll and made it fit for production with great success.

Sasha® Doll is a trademark of the Inheritance Community of Sasha Morgenthaler.