Playing with Pattern on Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Clothes

logo-ms-mannequin-6Today is Friday the 13th which is apparently bad luck, though I have no idea where that came from. Does anyone know? Anyway, I figured a good way to get rid of bad luck was to post some paper doll fashions. 🙂

As a lot of my longtime readers know, I am often playing around with patterns for my printable paper doll clothes. I think pattern, while a pain in the behind, is important for the diversity of paper doll outfits. Solid colors are all well and good, but most of us have some patterned things in our closets and there’s not real good reasons why paper dolls shouldn’t be the same.

When thinking about pattern, I tend to fall into the same styles repeatedly. I suppose I can only be so creative on any given paper doll set. Still, I am always looking for new pattern inspirations- even if they don’t make their way onto the blog. I really admire the pattern work of Julie of Paper Doll School. Her patterns rock.

(She can also use Illustrator. I’m so jealous. I have the program, but I think that like a wild dog it can smell my fear.)

Anyway… Miss. Mannequin and friends are getting pretty girly today with their full patterned skirts and rose printed strapless dress.

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Before I forget, I wanted to mention that I recently stumbled across a Peal Chang paper doll. Soft Film is a blog devoted to Chinese film, as far as I can tell, and the author commissioned a fantastic paper doll of Pearl Chang, who was an actress. I confess to not being at all familair with Pearl Chang, but I knew the name Kwei-Lin Lum from her incredible paper doll work. Check it out, it’s a pretty neat paper doll.

Of course, now I have to go on Netflix and see if I can find any of these movies. Does anyone know anything about her?

4 thoughts on “Playing with Pattern on Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Clothes”

  1. Thanks for the shout-out 🙂 I’m a little envious of your patterns. You take the time to hand-draw them and I don’t. Let’s switch for next year: you learn Illustrator and I’ll get out my pencil & paper!

    Lovely dolls, as usual!

    • Well… some of them are computer assisted, but I do like handdrawing things. Try as I might, I have so much more control when there’s a pen or pencil in my hand. 🙂

  2. i believe there are numerological reasons for the 13th being bad luck. also: judas was the 13th guest at the last supper, Christ died on a Friday, and there is additional superstition that if you have 13 guests around the dinner table and someone sneezes, the youngest or oldest member of the party will die within the year. aristocrats actually “hired” a fourteenth guest if the number fell to 13, or, if 14 were invited and only 13 showed up, they could sit in to keep things in balance.

    oh what a world.

    anyway, i am always impressed by hand drawn patterns ~ it’s one of the most beautiful aspects of fashion design. and i love yours here!

    • Those reasons all make sense. I did hear once that thirteen loops on a noose were traditional, but I don’t know if that’s really true or not.

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