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A 1927 Paper Doll Dress for the 2017 Collaborative Paper Doll Project

August 25, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Montgomery Ward Catalog 1927

As many of you know, this year on the last Friday of most months (we’ve also done the last day of the month), Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land, Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and I are all posting a black and white outfit for a shared paper doll. This has been such a rewarding project.

I confess there were times I wondered if I would really get it done.

And there have been times when I’ve wondered if we would stick with it.

But, here we are in the 8th Month of the year, August, and here’s another paper doll outfit.

I couldn’t be more thrilled.

So, today’s Collaborative Paper Doll 2017 Project theme was Favorite Historical Period. I chose the late 1920s.

And choosing one historical era wasn’t easy, because I love all sorts of eras. I have so many favorites, I felt a little absurd being asked to pick just one. How could I decide?

In the end, I chose the late 1920s, because it is an era I have loved for a long time. It is an era that I know I could never wear. I have both hips and a bust, which means the 1920s will never look good on me. I also chose it, because there was something about the base doll’s pose that reminded me of the 1920s, as well.

So, here it is! The dress was based on an illustration from the Montgomery Ward Catalog of 1927, sections of which are republished in the book, Montgomery Ward Fashions of the Twenties. I just got the book which is the other reason that I drew clothing from this era.

This month’s Paper Doll Collaboration theme was was really fun. Head over to Paper Doll School, Popculture Looking Land and Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls to see what other folks created to celebrate the theme.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here.

The Sprites Get Some Leather Armor and Fantasy Clothing

May 19, 2020August 23, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Pinterest… This image and This image

My addiction to Pinterest is pretty well documented on this blog. Partly, I like it, because it is a storehouse of images I find inspiring. There’s a bit of a myth that inspiration sort of just “appears” and that artistic work can only happen when you are “inspired.”

This is patently false and rather dangerous way to think about things.

Inspiration, or motivation, isn’t some magical force that will come to you if you just wait. Rather, it’s something you seek out by being disciplines and driven about what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter if your goal is to write the a novel or draw paper dolls, waiting until some thing happens to make you want to do something, is pretty much a sure fire way to never do it.

I’m not suggesting torturing yourself through hobbies you don’t enjoy, but I find the most inspiring thing to do is to be doing the thing already. The best ideas come when I’m already drawing, not when I’m thinking about drawing.

So, Pinterest, fashion magazines, my ever growing collection of costume history books, my doddle sketchbook, these are all tools that I use to help me get ideas, but none of them involve sitting about hoping ideas will happen.

Today’s Sprite paper doll clothing set is the first set in a Month. The Sprites are always a little harder than my other sets, because I have to draw a guy outfit to go with my girl outfit. Today, I was inspired by this image of a fantasy dress for the lady Sprites and this image of some armor for the gentlemen Sprites. Both images come from my fantasy armor Pinterest board.

What do you think of today’s paper dolls? Do you use Pinterest? How do you find inspiration? Let me know in a comment.

Looking for some Sprite paper dolls to wear these outfits? Pick out Sprite paper dolls here.

Summer Time Sun Dresses for Marisole Monday & Friends

August 21, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Sun Dresses

Personally, when it comes to sundresses, I am strictly a maxidress kinda girl. However, paper dolls get to wear anything I feel like, so we have a mix of two sun dresses today for Marisole Monday and her Lady Friends. These dresses will not fit the gents, I’m afraid.

I have been neglecting the gents of the Marisole series as of late. I should really do something for them soon.

Until then, I created these dresses for Marisole. They are both based on lightweight knit t-shirt sorts of dresses I have been seeing in the stores and in the magazines I read. I am very proud of the pattern on the warm grey dress, but not completely happy with the purse. It feels too structured for the dresses, but too late for it to change now.

I confess that until school starts, I tend to not get a feel for what students are wearing. I work at a college, so when the classes are in session, I feel like I get a good feel for what college students seem to be into these days.

(At least, college students at a small college in the South, which is a pretty limited sample size.)

As always, I love to hear what y’all think in the comments.

Oh, and I hope people take 15 minutes out of their day to go see the eclipse today! I’ve got my glasses thanks to my Mom and am ready for the event.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here.

Janette as a Fairy Tale Maiden

August 18, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fantasy Woodcutter Daughters

It seems to me that many fairy tales have wood cutters daughters involved in them. I’m not sure why, exactly, but there you go.

There’s also a fairy tale about how a bird, a mouse and a sausage are all sharing a house. It is perhaps the weirdest fairy tale I have ever read. I digress.

The point is that I tend to draw fantasy princesses, but not every princess starts out as a princess. There are plenty of cases where people start out as woodcutter’s daughters and then, though a series of strange events, start spitting up gems every time they speak.

Am I the only one to whom this sounds super painful? (This is another weird fairy tale called Diamonds and Toads.)

Anyway, I decided that this is a fairy tale maiden sort of outfit. The kind of outfit that probably never existed in the real world, but that’s never stopped my paper doll creations before.

If you’d like some more “fairy tale maiden” sorts of paper doll clothing for the Mini-Maidens, than I would recommend the Faye in the Woods collection. It’s fairly close in feel to this dress.

I’m super curious which of the paper dolls this week have been people’s favorites, so here’s a poll to help me find out. In case you missed them, Monday’s Janette was contemporary and Wednesday’s Janette was sic-fi.

[poll id=”21″]

As always, I always love to hear from you all in comments. I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

Janette in Space! The Paper Doll Frontier Apparently Involves Short Shorts

August 16, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Science-Fiction Television

Once I decided I was going to devote the whole week to Janette, I knew I needed to draw three really different versions of her. The first set on Monday was Janette: Contemporary Edition and now I’ve got Janette: Science Fiction Edition, or as I have nicknamed her- Janette in Space!!!

(Yes, all three exclamation points are needed.)

I love sci-fi tv, especially if it isn’t too heavy. I think I’ve mentioned before that I am super enjoying watching Dark Matter on Netflix. I just finished Season One (No spoilers please) and I am going to dive into Season Two soon. I also binged Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency recently. I’m also watching Midnight, Texas which I can’t decide if I like or if I think is sorta dumb.

The Midnight, Texas books are pretty good, if you like Charlene Harris‘s brand of goofy absurdist paranormal fiction, which I always have. She also has a great blog that I read for her book recs.

Anyway, to get back to the paper doll, today’s Janette has a ray-gun, or regular gun, it’s really up to you. I like that some of the latest sci-fi shows are just showing normal guns in space, rather than focusing on laser guns. I think it makes the violence feel more authentic, in a good way. Disintegrating people makes it too easy to pretend that wasn’t a person who just got killed on television and softens the danger in a way I often dislike.

I have no idea if that last paragraph made a lick of sense to anyone whose not me, so let me know in a comment.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone enjoy’s today’s Janette Mini-Maiden paper doll and there will a third Janette posting Friday. If you like her style, but aren’t sure about her specifically, I have a bunch more sci-fi and cyberpunk paper dolls to choose from.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

Meet Janette, The New Mini-Maiden Paper Doll

December 12, 2020August 14, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fashion Magazines and My Patrons

A few months ago, I asked my Patrons to vote on a name for a new Mini-Maiden paper doll. A lot happened and I just didn’t get around to finishing her until recently, but I am super excited to present Janette. There will be a Janette paper doll every day this week to get her off to a solid start as an addition to the Mini-Maiden family.

Janette can, of course, wear any of the already created Mini-Maiden clothing and share shoes with Faye, Greta, Hazel and Isadora.

(As it happens, I name the Mini-Maiden‘s in alphabetical order, because… I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time?)

The first of the three Janette’s that will be posting this week is a contemporary Janette. I thought it was a nice place to start.

She has a sundress based on designs from my fashion magazine obsession, as are her sandals.

I wanted to give her a short contemporary looking hair cut, as this it the “contemporary” Janette.

On Wednesday, Janette will go to Space!

As always, a big thank you to my Patrons for helping me pick out her name.

Well, what do you think of Janette? Let me know in a comment. I always love to hear from you all.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

A Bodacious & Buxom Adventuring Outfit

August 11, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Pathfinder and Adventuring

I play a fair bit of Pathfinder. It’s a d20 based RPG which has so much in common with Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 that people joking refer to it as Dungeons and Dragons 3.75. I started playing when I moved to Alabama, because it was a way to meet new people.

Plus I like spending my evenings killing imaginary monsters (and also sometimes, there’s pie.)

When you start out as a first level character, you get an outfit of clothing. The book is pretty vague on what this clothing actually consists of, but I was thinking about it recently. I always try to decide how my characters dress, because clothing is a physical manifestation of their social and cultural values.

(If you want to see an amazing version of this on screen, watch Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. The costuming is fabulous. The show is super weird and wonderful.)

Today’s paper doll is my version of what a beginning adventurer might wear. This isn’t someone who can really afford a super nice set of armor yet and they’re still kinda just figuring things out. So, we’ve got a tunic with a vest over it, a bit of armor, leggings and boots. There’s no lavish decorations.

There’s also a sword.

I figure any good adventurer probably has some famous sword to carry around, so she’s got one too. Maybe it’s magical?

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday. Next week, there will be a whole week of Mini-Maiden paper dolls.

Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.

A Fitted Dress from 1956 for the Ms. Mannequin Paper Dolls

August 9, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Vogue 8972, A Sewing Pattern from 1956

I’ve written before that part of what I like about drawing from fashion magazines is the simplicity of it. You see a shirt. You draw the shirt.

Thanks to the Vintage Pattern Wiki, I can apply a similar feeling to drawing vintage historical paper doll clothing. There are hundreds of vintage pattern covers in the Vintage Pattern Wiki, so if I feel like drawing 20th century clothing than I find it doesn’t take a lot of energy to track down something I like and draw it. I just pick a decade and start looking.

I’ll openly grant that this isn’t exactly the best research practice, but it’s fun and I like picking out things to try to recreate.

Today’s dress from 1956 comes from Vogue 8972. The Vogue pattern company began as a feature in Vogue magazine. In 1909, Conte Nast bought Vogue magazine and the pattern company was formed in 1914. This was around the same time most of the other big name pattern companies were getting started as well.

It might be confirmation bias, but Vogue patterns, even today, seem to be more couture styled than others.

When I chose to draw Vogue 8972, I thought it was an afternoon or dinner dress, but the pattern isn’t specific. I chose to make my a grape purple, because I like purple.

I am a little concerned that I might have made the skirt a bit shorter than it should be, but fashion figures have such freakishly long legs it can be hard to tell where the skirt actually stops.

There’s a few other patterns from the mid-1950s with similar narrow skirted silhouette are McCall’s 3461, Vogue S-4627, Simplicity 1678, McCalls 4615 and Advance 8368. There are dozens of others, but those were a few I thought shared traits with today’s paper doll dress.

Well, what do you think of the 1950s? It is a favorite fashion period of yours? Let me know in a comment.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick out a Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Here

A Printable Paper Doll Princess Ball Gown for Marisole Monday & Friends

December 6, 2020August 7, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fantasy Gowns

Today’s Marisole Monday post is princess paper doll ball gown with a full skirt and double puffed sleeves. It’s pretty over the top, though not the most over the top thing I have ever drawn.

I love drawing what I think of a traditional princess paper doll ball gown. You know the type with big skirts and puffy sleeves. The kind of gowns you imagine being worn only in cartoon movies with musical numbers and never by actual people in the real world who need to get through doorways.

All paper dolls are about fantasy to some degree. After all, much of the armor I draw wouldn’t protect you very well and plenty of the gowns I draw would be hard to walk it or move in, but I still draw them. I do care about some levels of realism. I like the for my paper doll clothing to ‘make sense’ in so much as, I want them to actual be able to exist.

It matters to me that layers layer properly and such. Fabric looks like fabric. You know, those sorts of things.

But practicality belongs somewhere other than in the realm of paper dolls.

This dress went through three color schemes or so, before I decided I like this yellow, blue and orange option.

One of the other color schemes, is up on the Patreon page for my patrons. So, if you’re a patron hop over to see it and if you’re not, consider joining. It’s a fun time.

As always, I love to here what you all think in the comments.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here.

Summery Printable Paper Doll Clothing for the Mini-Maidens

August 4, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: What I see in the Summer Fashion Magazines

So, for today’s paper doll clothing I created a skirt and two sleeveless blouses for the Mini-Maiden’s printable paper doll series. The designs are straight from the fashion magazines that seem to pile up on my coffee table while I’m not paying enough attention.

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of summer. I dislike the heat and I really dislike the humidty. I never felt this way until I moved to Alabama and now I’ve learned why people don’t like summertime.

I do, however, enjoy looking at the seasonal fashion magazines though and seeing different clothing ideas. Flipping through fashion magazines always seems to make me want to draw. I see all sorts of things I’d like to try to recreate for my paper dolls.

Today’s pair of sleeveless tops and skirt all come from different fashion magazines. I tend to use Instyle and People StyleWatch most often. They have very easy to see photos of clothing.

In the magazine, the paper dolls booties were heavily decorated with cut outs. When I tried to draw the cut outs, they ended up looking really odd. So, I have omitted them from today’s paper doll.

You’ll just have to imagine cut outs.

Love today’s paper doll clothing? Hate it? Let me know in a comment.

Need a Mini-Maiden paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Mini-Maiden Paper Doll Here.

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