Round Gown, Court Gowns and a Caraco Jacket: 18th Century Paper Doll Dresses

logo-18th-cent-3Four more 18th century dresses for the Pixie paper dolls today. So, by now I think I’ve already covered the various sorts of gowns women wore in the 18th century with a fair bit of detail.

On the left, we have a caraco jacket and a square hooped court gown. The caraco jacket was inspired by this gown from LACMA. The court gown was based on this gown in style and this gown in color scheme. Square hooped court gowns like this one were the most formal of a ladies wardrobe and, like court gowns generally seem too, stayed in style even after square hoops were disappearing else where.

Moving to the right, we have a dress based on this gown from the MFA in Boston and a round gown from the Met. Round gowns were the least formal of all these gowns.

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Most of my color choices here came from the source gowns above. My favorite of the gowns, the caraco jacket with petticoat on the upper-left was the most painful to color. Those detailed floral patterns get my every time, but I just love the way they look. There is something about 18th century sprawling viney florals that I can’t get enough of. Even in my own house, I have an apron in that style of pattern that I wear while baking and simply adore.

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I should say, I think, word about her hat. There are small dotted lines along the outside edges of the ribbon and you will need to clip those if she is going to wear her hat, as well as cut out the white area. That is best done with a sharp blade, like an exacto knife. I don’t usually use an exacto knife in my paper doll cutting (I am clumsy with those things), but for some things it really is the most effective option.

If you’ve missed any parts of the 18th Century Pixie Series, they all can be found here.

And Today in my Sketchbook…

So, one of the perks of where I work is that I can borrow an SLR camera sometimes. Not that I have any idea how to use an SLR camera, but I am trying to experiment with decent blog photos, so I borrowed one last weekend and decided to photograph my sketchbook.

All things considered, I think the photos came out fairly well. So, here’s a little peek at what is currently in the sketchbook. I would say these were “coming up soon”, but let us all be realistic. I take forever to get things from “idea” to actually paper doll. It is probably best that I promise nothing.

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The Poppets are getting some historical outfits here with a dress and coat from the 1940s and a swimming outfit and sailor suit from the 1890s. I really like historical children’s clothing.

sketchbook-aug-2So, this started as a faun set and then I was like… I need more then just faun legs, so I added some mermaid tails, because that made sense. Okay, maybe not, but I am excited at the outcome. Of course, who knows when this one will be ready either.

sketchbook-aug-3Marcus as a knight has been at the top of my “To Do” list for a while. I also feel like Marcus maybe needs some male friends to hang out with, so I am thinking about that too lately.

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