Antique Christening Heritage Collection for Sasha Dolls
Over the years, I have been collecting antique christening dresses - each one a treasure with its own story of celebration and love. These precious garments once marked life's most precious moments: a baby's blessing, a family's joy, traditions passed down through generations. Rather than allowing these beautiful textiles to fade away forgotten in storage, I have carefully reimagined each piece to honour its heritage while creating something entirely new for your beloved Sasha doll.
You won't find two identical dresses in this collection. Each design celebrates the unique character of its source material - whether it's intricate hand-sewn pintucks that took hours to complete, delicate laces crafted by skilled artisans, or embroidery techniques that are rarely practiced today. The quality of these vintage materials surpasses anything we see in modern fabrics - finer threads, more durable construction, and attention to detail that reflects a different era when craftsmanship was an art form.
While the original christening gown silhouettes are thoughtfully transformed into charming Sasha-sized fashions, the soul of each garment lives on. These dresses represent more than beautiful doll clothing - they're a bridge between past and present, ensuring that the love, skill, and artistry of previous generations continues to bring joy to new collectors and their dolls.
When you choose a dress from this collection, you're not just acquiring a beautiful outfit for your Sasha doll - you're becoming the next guardian of a piece of textile history.

--- A little more about how I work with antique gownsFor anyone interested, here is a little more about how I source, care for and store the gowns I use.
I have a large collection of antique christening gowns — by now it fills a whole wardrobe. All of them have been bought from eBay over many years. When a gown arrives, I inspect it quickly on the outside, and then it goes straight into a zip-lock bag and into the freezer for at least twenty-four hours. I have a huge stash of fabric in my home, and I never want to risk bringing moths in, so everything goes into the freezer first. After that, I wash the gown gently by hand and hang it to dry outside, or in the bathroom if it's raining.
I store the gowns between acid-free paper. In the beginning, when there were only a few, it was easy to keep them flat and wrinkle-free, but now there are so many that I can only line the bottom and sides of the wardrobe with acid-free paper, and sadly they have to be stacked. I don't iron a gown if it won't be used soon. When I do press, I use a steam generator rather than a regular iron — in my experience, a normal iron set for cotton becomes very hot and can yellow whites, especially antique ones.
From each gown there are almost always remnants of fabric I'm not using for that particular project. I remove the seams and keep the remaining material folded into a neat packet, so it doesn't get mixed in with everything else. I love to be organised, so all the remnants are stored in an IKEA shelving unit in my sewing room, separated by what they can be used for. If a piece is large enough to make a dress for another doll, it goes to that section. If it's not suitable for a dress but would work for an underskirt or a slip, there is a separate section for that. And I keep another shelf for pieces where the lace is still beautifully preserved and can be reused — occasionally, when that shelf becomes full, I take some pieces, carefully remove the lace to keep, and let the rest go.