Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll In a continuing theme of Rachel draws paper doll outfits based on topics of which she knows very little, I am pleased to share my latest dance creation. I made a big list of dance styles and one I knew I wanted to draw was hip-hop dance.
I also rapidly discovered I don’t know much about dance. However, I did my research (as much as Googling- Hip-Hop Dance counts as research) and went from there.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Anyway, here’s my attempt at a hip-hop dance outfit based on styles from Discount Dance, a dance supply store. Also, I know stage makeup is a thing, but children photographed in stage makeup look… surreal. Under bright lights, the makeup makes sense. In the regular world, it’s kinda creepy.
Last Thoughts By the way, my Patreon supporters get extra paper dolls every Friday. So, consider subscribing if you’d like to help support the blog.
Friday there will be a round up of paper dolls I’ve created in Regency dress. I am running a little low on round up ideas, so anyone have something they’d love to see? Let me know in the comments.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Melissa of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls  and Julie of Paper Doll School have done such a better job of keeping up with this collaboration than I have. I confess I have several months drawn, but never finished.
My natural instinct is to feel guilty about this (I have an overdeveloped since of responsibility), but since in the last three months I have moved across the country, gotten a new job and moved in with my partner. I really don’t think I should feel the least bit guilty about any of it.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll The theme for September was pattern and I was super excited to explore that theme. I really love working with patterns, though I think some patterns are easier for me to draw than others. My fights with plaid are a thing that I wish I didn’t have quite so much. I also think some types of patterns render bettern in my style of pen and ink than others.
Anyway, since I knew the patterns were going to take center stage, I chose to do two very simple silhouettes for my paper doll outfits- a pair of a-line dresses. Neither of these pieces would be warm enough for Alaska in February without some serious tights. There was ice on my car last week! But they’re both fun and I can pretend warm weather is going to continue a little longer.
Specific Source Images: Well, I did look at some gourds, but… nothing I can point to today!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll So, I am still working on the 1100s, 1200s and 1300s paper dolls. The 1300s paper dolls aren’t even drawn yet. So, I’m sticking with the 1100s and 1200s. I’ll get to the 1300s when I have a moment.
Anyway, meanwhile, there’s this 1100s gown known as a bliaut. Can I confess that I’m not sure how to pronounce that word? Anyway, it’s the wide sleeved garment that most of us associate with the medieval era. Despite being popular in pop culture, it’s actually gown there’s a lot of debate about how it was constructed.
The bliaut was worn by men and women, often in layers. The length seems to have been regional. In France, they look really long, but in Germany there’s often a shorter bliaunt illustrated over a longer kirtle. So, there seems to be some variation in the regional styles.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Okay, so I looked at a lot of pictures and a lot of statues and I read a bit. Here’s what I understand: The bliaut is the subject of a lot of debate, as I mentioned above. Statues of the time show a very wrinkled, almost pleated fabric effect (like this), but illustrations by and large don’t. When they do show horizontal wrinkles across the abdomen they tend to be more subtle (like this). Additionally, smaller statuary (like this one) doesn’t show wrinkles across the abdomen.
There are, at the moment, several theories as to why and how wrinkles abdomens got formed, from cutting the fabric on the bias and lacing the sides (to create wrinkles across the stomach) to making a separate bodice and attaching it to the skirt.
I chose to go with a more subtle wrinkled look in my illustration, because outside of the giant statuary outside French cathedrals, the wrinkles just don’t seem the tight or distinct in the art of the time.
Specific Source Images: Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres Statuary (see this picture) & Stuttgart WLB, cod. bibl. fol. 57, origin: Zwiefalten abbey circa 1125-1130, f. 55 as pictured here (retrieved 9/9/2019).
Last Thoughts While I don’t have a real opinion on how bliauts were constructed, I do find it interesting the amount of debate there seems to be out there on the topic. The only theory I find least plausible is the separate bodice with skirt theory. I’ve seen some illustrations that seem to back it up, but never with proper citation. Cite your sources people! Additionally, separate bodices would have had to have been invented and then ignored for like 300 years and that just seems implausible. Not impossible, mind you, but implausible. However, I always love to hear from folks to know more than me on these topics, so share away in the comments.
(But do try to keep it polite. I’ve had strange debates and oddly angry emails over medieval clothing before which, odd the true, still boggles my mind.)
Mean while, on Patreon, there’s an extra paper doll outfit every Friday! Plus previews of what I’m working on, polls and whole different paper doll series called Vivian. It’s a fun group. Check it out!
And if you need a paper doll with proper hair and undies for this era, grab Topaz in her 1100s underwear. The 1200s Lapis can also do in a pinch, if you’re more partial to redheads.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll I am super excited about this collection of paper dolls. I love costume history. Sometimes, I feel like despite my love of the topic (or perhaps because of it), I get a little paralyzed feeling like I have to do so much research before I can create something and worrying about the quality of my sources. This worries me less in eras I am confident in, such as the 19th and 20th century, and worries me more in eras I am not confident about.
But then I won’t learn or get better if I don’t practice drawing these periods, so I think it is okay to not be perfect. Even more importantly, I think you have to start with in perfection or you never move forward.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Like last week’s Lapis, this week’s Topaz is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois on Folio 87v. The manuscript dates from between 1370-1380. Illustrations of women in just shifts are exceedingly rare, so even though this is 200 years after the 1100s, I am still using it. I made my version shorter and tighter than the originals probably were to facilitate the paper doll layering clothing over the shift. Paper dolls have to layer.
Additionally, Topaz’s shoes all come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, a book on archeological footwear finds. It’s fascinating, but very densely written work. Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles: With 453 Illustrations, Medieval to Modern by Georgine de Courtais was the book I used for her hair and headdress, along with this statue, Enthroned Virgin and Child, from The Met.
Last Thoughts I’d like to give a shout out to my Patreon supporters, because without you all, the blog wouldn’t happen.
Additionally, later this week there will be a gown from the 12th century (aka the 1100s) and I am excited to share that though I am also nervous about how little I know about this era. However, this is how I learn, so there you go!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Today’s paper doll dress is a surcoat (over-dress) over another dress. As far as I can tell, this style came into fashion in the second half of the 13th century and sticks around in various forms for over 100 years. As I said when I was showing off Lapis and her 13th century undergarments, I am not an expert on this time period. At best, I am a dabbling amateur. However, one thing I did notice as I looked at many many pictures was that the 13th century is similar to the 14th century, if they hadn’t yet mastered curved seams and tailoring techniques.
So, while in the 14th century they have sideless surcoats over fitted kirtles, that is not what you see in the 13th century. You see their predecessors- a sleeveless surcoat over a dress where just the sleeves are visible and there’s no waist as far as the eye can see. This style does continue into the first part 14th century- here is an example. Later the armholes lengthen, these surcoats are in the later 14th century style.
Clothing rarely confines itself to neat time ranges, but rather tends to ease over years and decade markers.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll As usual, the shoe designs come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, an excellent, in exceedingly dry, book on historical footwear. The surcoat is based on this illustration and this illustration while the headdress comes from here, but also from all the looking at headdresses I did when drawing Lapis.
Last Thoughts I previewed a lot of this collection over on Patreon. So, thank you to all my Patrons to encouraged me to continue even though I was a little nervous. Reminder: There’s an extra paper doll outfit every Friday, plus previews of what I’m working on and polls and things. Check it out!
Rarely have I wished I knew more medieval Latin, but when I am looking for primary source illustrations of clothing I do. It’s very hit and miss, but I do my best with my limited knowledge. I respect people who do recreations of these garments, but I wish more of them properly cited their source images. It’s very frustrating to find a great illustration from an illuminated manuscript, but have no way of knowing where it came from. I won’t use anything that doesn’t properly cite a source. I’m a librarian, after all. I have some standards.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll There are time periods where I feel like I know a fair amount and then there are time periods of fashion history where I feel (and I am) quite ignorant. The 1200s are one of those time periods. It’s not an era I have a great deal of natural interest in (sorry 1200s) and I don’t really feel like devoting the long hours of research to it. Also, I think the headdresses look funny.
So, all of that is to say that I noticed the basically the only different from the 1100s through the 1300s was headdresses and the undergarments all stayed pretty much the same. There are some documented differences in the 1400s, but I’ll get into that when I get around to drawing it. The result of this discovery was excitement when I realized I could draw the same shift and basically have a period underwear wearing paper doll for a 300 year time period.
This was very exciting. (Listen, I know this wouldn’t be exciting to normal people, but I make my own fun.)
So, this is the first of a series of paper dolls from the 1100s, 1200s and 1300s.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Lapis is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois on Folio 87v. The manuscript dates from between 1370-1380. Yes, I realize that’s like 100 years later than this paper doll, but here’s the thing- illustrations of women in just shifts are exceedingly rare, so I am going to take what I can get. A few differences in my rendition are that the length is a little shorter and the style is quite fitted. Both of these changes were done to facilitate the paper doll layering clothing over the shift.
Her headdresses are in the style of the barbette and fillet. The barbette is the piece that goes under the chin and the fillet is the pillbox hat looking piece that wraps around the head. One point I couldn’t quite sort out was whether the fillet was open or closed at the top. This manuscript illustration looks closed while this manuscript illustration it could go either way. These ones look closed while this one is definitely open.
In the end, I went with Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles: With 453 Illustrations, Medieval to Modern by Georgine de Courtais where fig 13 on shows it closed and that was my decision. I maybe totally wrong. The book was originally published in 1986, which while not super current, is current enough for me to feel fairly confident in it. Unlike, for example, books on historical costume first published in the 19th century when I have serious doubts about the quality of the scholarship.
The designs for her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, an excellent, in exceedingly dry, book on historical footwear.
Last Thoughts I’m tossing this out to the audience today, because there’s a high chance someone out there knows way more about 1200s clothing than I do. That would not be hard. Was the fillet open on the top or closed? Because I can’t seem to get a clear answer on that one. Thoughts? (And if you tell me your sources on why you think one or the other, I would be eternally grateful.)
Over on Patreon, there’s an extra paper doll outfit every Friday, plus previews of what I’m working on and polls and things. Check it out!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Let me start by saying that I don’t really believe in “artist’s block,” because I think the way you get over such things is by actually drawing. I will confess that sometimes when I am stumped on what to draw, I end up looking at my Master Paper Doll Index and picking out a theme I haven’t done yet for the Jewels and Gemstones.
The four I know I need to work on include gothic, punk, astronauts, and ninjas.
Well, gothic, punk and astronauts will have to wait. Today, I decided to explore ninjas.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll One of the perks of having drawn a lot of paper dolls is that sometimes I go back to my own older work for inspiration, but I also wanted to look at other things as well. One thing I knew I didn’t want to do was an all black ninja outfit. Seriously, coloring things in all back is kinda boring. This is likely why I haven’t done that gothic set yet, now that I mention it.
Last Thoughts Mostly, I base my ninjas outfits on wrap designs, but I wanted to draw a qipao inspired piece instead. Maybe I should have said that up under my inspiration…
Joining on Patreon means getting extra paper doll content and now is a great time to join, because I just posted the August rewards.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll So, I think of these paper doll posts in two ways. On one hand, each posts needs to be complete in and of itself. Like, I try not to just post a random pair of boots and nothing else, you know? On the flip side, I also think of them as all being part of the Jewels and Gemstones series and therefore part of a large art piece. So, they are not individual creations and bits of a bigger creation.
As a result, I was realizing I didn’t really have a lot of like basics for the Jewels and Gemstones. I’ve only done one pair of jeans so far. That seemed like a hole I should fill.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I feel like someone asked for shorts and a t-shirt, but I also wanted to just draw some basics. Jeans and a shirt and shorts. They can be mixed and matched with all the other Jewels and Gemstones contemporary clothing.
Specific Source Images:This one was a big influence on my Firebird design.
Learn/See More On the Blog: The One Other Pair of Jeans & More Jewels & Gemstones paper dolls Around the Internet: Hmmm… I had no idea what to link here, so let’s just move on!
Last Thoughts I’ve noticed there’s a lot of really unexpected color schemes in floral patterns these days, so I wanted to match that when I picked out colors for today’s set. I really didn’t want to make it a pink flower, though that was my first instinct.
If you’d like an extra paper doll outfit every week, join us on Patreon. It’s super fun.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Occasionally, I just sort of decide that I want to draw something random and then I do so. I know, maybe not the most exciting rational, but I have come to peace with it. I was doodling some super hero outfits and this was one of them.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Um… It’s a superhero outfit? I dunno. I grew up watching the X-Men Cartoon, so I still tend to like my superheros in wacky costumes made from spandex.
Last Thoughts First off, I’d like to give a shout out to my Patreon supporters, because they really do make the blog happen and I am super-duper grateful.
So, I have this robot vacuum now and I have a cat. The combination is fascinating. The cat varies between being totally calm and okay with the vacuum to deciding it is a strange invader that must be followed around the house with suspicion. She hasn’t actually attacked it yet which is for the best, I think.
The irony to me drawing superhero costumes is that I really am not into superhero comics. On the other hand, I draw a lot of things I’m not super into myself. I do enjoy the wacky color schemes and color blocking. That’s fun!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Every-time I introduce a new Jewels and Gemstones paper doll. I try to makes sure I do a “shoe set” for her, so she has lot of shoes to wear with the different outfits I create for the paper dolls. Shoes aren’t as mix and match able, because skin-tone is often visible.
This doesn’t matter with black and white paper dolls, of course, because you can color their skin any way you like. But while I do offer coloring page versions of the Jewels and Gemstones, the paper dolls are, in my head at least, very much a color collection.
I was never a big colorer as a kid and so I think I tend to prefer paper dolls in color, though there are some artists whose black and white work is really beautiful and doesn’t need to be colored.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Her hair was inspired by a hairstyle magazine I picked up. I love hair style magazines for ideas. Anyway, it reminded me of a sort of modern take on a 1930s wave.
Specific Source Images:Â One of my many hairstyle magazines.
Last Thoughts Quick shout out to myPatrons– thank you all for your amazing support.
I’ve been watching absurd amounts of the Great British Baking show and I find that I now really want to learn to make a jelly-roll cake, which probably isn’t something I really want to do, but watching other people make them is intriguing. Actually, the one thing I would love to learn to make are French macaroons.
I do sometimes think the thing that keeps me from eating French macaroons all the time is that I don’t know how to make them. Maybe I should keep it that way.
