Sasha Doll Style

Monday 21st March 2011

Just after Christmas... after some computer troubles... and the discovery that my software that I used for my website was no longer compatible with the new Windows software...  

This has meant that although my website Sasha Doll Style is still on the web I have been unable to update it or make any changes to it since early January... 

I knew that the time to give my Sasha Doll Style website a complete overhaul had arrived...

I have been working on the colour schemes for 6 new collections...

These are few photos that I took of the fabrics, wools and inspirational images for the purples collection.

I have started work on the outfits for the Pretty in Pink Collection...

I am hoping that the new website will be completed fairly soon... I hadn't realised just how large Sasha Doll Style had become over the wonderful years that I have been on the web...

5 September 2010

It never ceases to amaze me how ideas seem to keep arriving...  I start off collecting images within a colour family for my inspiration noticeboard...  a photograph of the noticeboard is in my samples sketchbook on the page above...

Then the fun starts as I start going through my huge collection of wools, yarns and fabrics... choosing colours that work within my chosen colour theme...

At which point I am ready to start sampling... I am thinking all the time about different weights of fabric and yarn... different textures... how the colourway will work together as a collection...

In my notebook I think about the different shapes and styles that I want to create in the collection... how they will look on the different Sasha dolls... which Sasha dolls I want to use for modelling each of the outfits...

and suddenly the collection is taking shape not just in my imagination... or on the page of my notebook... but on the Sasha dolls lined up on my shelf wearing beautiful outfits at different stages of development... and in my minds eye I can visualise what the new collection will look like when it is finished...

4 September 2010

I have finished my sampling for the next collection of Sasha outfits... 

But my mind is an absolute blank at the moment for a name.  Technically the colour scheme is analogous colours using the purple/blue/magenta colour families but I think I want to have something nicer for the name like Starry Nights... or... Purple Daze... or...

I always find that seeing the colours and samples together with images that inspired me really help to focus my mind on the final look I am visualising.

This is a two page spread of some of the samples...  I am still deciding on the accessories for some of the outfits such as styles of hat, scarf, bags, mittens, socks... etc...  But which I choose is dependent upon whether the outfit is for a Gregor or a Sasha.

A closeup image of my thoughts for the hat/sock combination to go with the boys sweater that co-ordinates with the White Horses in Starlight outfit...  I try to choose colours that will enhance the colours that are in the trekking maxima wool that I chose for the sweater...  At the moment for this outfit I think that the light blue used for the main colour works beautifully...

11 July 2010

I thought I would add a photograph of my new inspiration wall for the next collection.  I have been choosing the wool colours and beautiful fabrics which I will use to create the collection. 

I absolutely adore the rich colours included in this selection from the blues of the delphinium to the star like purples of the allium and the rich magenta colours of the parrot tulip.  The colours that I am working with are gorgeous and blend through each other wonderfully well. 

Blues, pinks, mauves, lilac, iris, lavender, deep dark purples, magenta, cyan, and  a hint of green.

8 July 2010

I have been thinking about colours that would look beautiful with a very dark green corduroy duffle coat.

Some of the options I have thought about included the beautiful Araucania Ranco Multi hand dyed wool.  The colours are just gorgeous when knitted up.

This option includes a lovely araucania ranco multi yarn which would be used for the hat and mittens.

The dark green, blue and softer grayish green are lace weight shetland wool.  I have photographed them with the duffle in the background.

The original colour scheme which I used in the Evergreen collection.  I have been thinking of different options to give a bit of choice.  It has been fun looking through all my boxes of wool.

This option shows the selection of lace weight wool that I think would look lovely for the scarf with the araucania ranco multi wool that is shown in the first two photographs.  The mauve and blue tones along with the dark greens look striking with the duffle coat.

This option shows a lovely chocolate brown, dark green and blue shetland lace weight wool for the scarf and a gorgeous richly coloured Lorna's Laces shepherd sock hand dyed wool as the multi coloured option for the hat and mittens.

In this option I thought that the natural tawny, turquoise and dark green shetland lace weight wool looked gorgeous as a foil for the araucania ranco multi option for the hat and mittens.

The original scarf and hat that I knitted to go with the dark green duffle coat.