Category Archives: Florence of the 1870′s

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Inking paper dolls still terrifies me every time I start. Still, when I finally erase the pencil lines and the paper doll is sort of revealed, it is a magical kind of moment. I felt that way about this dress and these hats. I wasn’t sure if I liked it until I’d finally lost all the pencil.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on it. I think it turned out well. So, I seem to have come down on the “liking it” side of the spectrum. Never would have guessed that two hours ago.

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So, I’m be bit belated today. Okay… very belated and, to be honest to entirely pleased with either paper doll dress. I wasn’t when I first drew them and I’m still not. I liked the masquerade costume more then the ballgown. I was terrified of drawing the train and I still don’t like how it came out. Oh well, it just means I’ll be doing another ballgown for Florence. It’s been quite a few months since I did the old one, I think I could do it better now.

Trains are totally impossible for me. I need to keep practicing on them.

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Strangely, the seaside walking dress is drawn from a fashion plate which depicts a woman standing on a cliff face, as though she’s been hiking. This leads me to suspect the dress was actually intended for seaside walks and the shorter skirt also hints at this option. I would doubt if women actually wore such a thing hiking, but I have seen photographs of women in the 1900′s wearing high heels standing on a Glacier, so I don’t doubt they did it.

Who said fashion was practical?

The swimming costume has a cap with it to cover her hair. Though it was drawn after a plate, her hair style made it a little more awkward then it otherwise would have been. Still, as reader pointed out when I first posted the paper doll’s swimming costume I had forgotten to give her the swimming cap any Victorian lady would have worn over her hair. I have not omitted it this time proving I am trainable.

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Florence’s traveling costume is based on this fashion plate from the NYPL’s digital gallery (I say based on because it is fairly obvious where the paper doll clothes and the actual plate deviate). The dress is labeled in German and my German is practically non-existent.

I’ve been meaning to ask my German speaking co-worker to translate it for weeks and keep forgetting. I tried babelfish and it didn’t exactly work. It game me an answer, but the answer made no sense. Truth be told, I don’t know if its a traveling suit or not, but it looks fairly similar to others I have seen. Anyway, Florence is my paper doll and if I want to declare this her traveling costume, I darn well can. My life might be full of other sources of chaos, but my paper dolls do as they are told… sometimes.

Suits for women were in style in the 1870′s, so it seemed only reasonable to give Florence one, since she is the most fashionable of paper dolls. I also wanted to use the opportunity to make a few tops to go with the same skirt or several skirts. I expect I shall do this more often and a smart color-er of these paper doll clothes would be wise to consider this for future mix and matchable clothing options. It was common to have two bodices to go with one skirt during this era, so one bodice might be a formal dinner dress while the other bodice would be an afternoon or a visiting costume. The very smart lady (or paper doll, in our case) could, of course, turn an afternoon costume into a visiting costume by adding the right jewelry and a smart hat.

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Florence is an interesting case of paper doll uncertainty. Unlike Marisole whose paper wardrobe is organized based on how I am feeling on any given moment or Curves who have no real trend either, Florence was always intended to end when I had finished a complete trousseau. Of course, the site crash delayed that point, but I am forging onward trying to finish her, so that I can move on to other Fashion Doll Friday Ideas (like a regency wooden doll or a nineteen fifties hard plastic or a civil war era china head). The problem is that every time I think I’m done, I find another thing I want to make for her. Today, we have a re-print of two paper doll costumes I posted once before.

On the left is the Dinner Dress. Dinner dresses were deisgned to be more formal afternoon frocks and often had long sleeves. A dinner dress could also be worn to lectures or other evening entertainments which were not formal. Another evening activity which required a special sort of dress was the Opera. Opera toilette were intended to be more fanciful then dinner dresses, but still long sleeved. These dresses could be easily redone to be worn as dinner dresses or for other semi-formal occasions.

So, Liana of Liana’s Paper Doll Blog colored in my Regency Teddy Bear paper doll which it very exciting. You can find the black and white original paper doll here. I love what she did with it. Makes me want to start playing with my colored pencils… But I have too much school work right now.

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It is late. I am sleepy. I wish I had something intelligent and in depth to say about this paper doll, but I’m afraid I don’t. The pattern took a long time to draw on the dress, but I think it was worth it. I don’t remember if I based this gown on any real costume. I drew it a while ago and then it languished while I tried to decide what sort of pattern I wanted to decorate the dress with.

I walked home from work today and it was lovely. The walk is mostly flat which is nice and there was a slight breeze. I’ve learned how to walk to avoid the busy street that smells like car exhaust.

I am going to bed now, because I am sleepy.

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So, here I am all slacking after everyone was so gracious about my little foray into steampunk on Monday. Oh well, that’s just how things go sometimes here in Library School Land where I spend most of my time. I hope, in some small way, these two Florence costumes rather then one make up for it. They are both based on fashion plates from the 1870′s. House dresses were worn often in the mornings or in the afternoon if the lady of the house wasn’t planning on visiting and didn’t expect to be receiving any visitors except those whom she could be casual with such as family. Neither costume has a hat, though the one of the left does have a decorative head covering. The dress on the left comes from this Victorian fashion plate and the dress on the right from this Victorian fashion plate.

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New thing for the Florence paper doll today. It’s very exciting. Well… I think it’s exciting…

(I might need to have more thrills in my life.)

So, this dress was drawn off this fashion plate from the LA Public Library’s Casey Fashion Plate Index. It’s a fantastic collection of plates.

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Imagine there is a witty intelligent blog entry here rather then some random sentence I wrote before going to bed early since I have a horrible head ache.

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This promenade dress for Florence is based on an image from a Godey fashion plate in Feb. of 1873. The gown was purple, black and white, but I’ve left it uncolored, so it can be any combination you like. The skirt is shorter then the carriage dress allowing for easier walking, though such things are rather subjective. It is the 1870′s after all.

I don’t think I would want to dress like a Victorian lady.