Sasha Doll

In what seems another life, I used to relaxed from child rearing and household management by sewing and knitting for the family, which included their dolls of many shapes and sizes, and even an action man.

These were the days when children of a certain age wore what you gave them with minimal questioning, and dolls were even more acquiescent.

My two younger daughters each had Sasha dolls with an extensive wardrobe of handmade clothes. This is one of them dressed for an exhibition in the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London in October. She leaves Glasgow this afternoon dressed in a warm woollen outfit leaving behind her grey coat with the hood trimmed with white ‘fur’. She’ll be very warm, but the ball gown with sequins would not have been appropriate.

How I had the energy and patience or even time to fiddle about with dolls’ clothes after the children had gone to bed, I’ll never know, other than being 30 years younger. It says much about the effect of years when I can just about manage the odd scratchy jumper for an unwilling grandchild or a mis matched pair of socks for the local charity shop.