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B&B’s Paper Doll Sorceress Gowns Continue!

May 5, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Tridents, Water and Ancient Greece

So, back in early April, I posted the first part of my Sorceress’ Gowns Project (I always come up with the most creative names.) In that intro post, I explained that I had a variety of potential long term projects, tossed them out to my Patrons and this was the winning idea.

I had kinda been hoping Space Princess would win the poll, but you can’t have everything in life. And nothing is stopping me from embracing Space Princesses as a future plan.

Anyhow, today’s sorceress gown is based on Water, just like my last gown was based on Fire. I wanted to pair fire and water with a similar ancient Greek influence. Mind you, this a very Hollywood idea of Ancient Greek clothing owing more to Xena: Warrior Princess than actual history.

I wanted to capture the shades of water I tend to think of which are not light blues. I tend to associate water with such a dark teal that it looks nearly black which is what I remember from Southeast Alaska where I grew up.

Her magical staff is based on a trident which is a nod to Poseidon, the Greek God of the Ocean. It’s probably not a very functional trident, what with the center prong being a jewel encrusted thing, but there you have it.

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A Fancy Outfit For A Paper Doll’s Fancy Events

December 6, 2020May 4, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Prom Season

It is prom season and while I am not in an age group that is going to prom, I have noticed a strong trend towards crop tops and full skirts.

While I did enjoy the proms I went to, I will openly confess that there is no force in the universe that could make me want to go back to high school. That was just a dreadful part of my youth.

While I was helping a close friend shop for a wedding dress, I noticed a lot of prom dress styles were showing off the midriff. This isn’t a new thing, by the way, midriff revealing evening wear dates back to the 1940s- here’s one example from the movie Lady Eve. It’s a hard dress to find a decent picture of, I confess. There’s also one in Casablanca, but I can’t seem to find a picture of that dress. Sigh.

Anyway, the point is the showing of your midriff in evening wear is not a new thing, but certainly hasn’t been in style for a few decades. It certainly wasn’t “in” when I was in high school heading off to Prom. That was the era of dressed based on the movie Titanic’s Jump Dress and also styles like this from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Seriously, I knew at least three people who wore short satiny dresses under sheer layers to formals in high school.

I digress.

I had way to much fun drawing the huge oversized floral on the skirt of this outfit. I really wanted something that the full skirt to accommodate, so giant floral seemed like it would be fun.

Other then that, I’m just glad I got to share this dress before Prom season was completely over, though I strongly suspect it has mostly wrapped up by now.

So, tell me fearless readers, did you go to Prom? I did, but not my Senior year. We had a joint Junior and Senior prom at my school. I also went as a Sophomore, because I was invited by a Senior. That was actually the most fun one since many of my friends in High School were older then me.

Not bad memories, but, as I said above, no force on this planet could make me want to go back to high school.

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

The Sprites Explore Tudor Fantasy Clothing

May 3, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Tudor Era Clothing, Kinda

I go through phases. This probably isn’t any different from anyone else who does something creative. There are no double periods when someone really feels like playing jazz on the piano or when someone really seems to be into crocheting hedgehogs.

I, on the other hand, seem to fall into patterns where a specific paper doll theme seems super fascinating to me. During this stretches, I often add images based on the theme to my pinterest boards with abandon. About half the time, these spasms of interest don’t actually lead to paper doll outfits, because I have the attention span of an ADHD raven sometimes. However, on occasion, they do.

So, after a few weeks of being really into Tudor influenced fantasy clothing, I actually drew some for the Sprites paper dolls. See? There was a point to that weird ramble that I started today’s post with.

If you hop over to my Pinterest fantasy board, you will not doubt notice the large number of Tudor influenced dresses there. A few of the ladies dresses that inspired me are this one, this one and this one. I also really liked this men’s doublet and this men’s doublet.

The lady Sprite outfit is really only fantasy, because I couldn’t be bothered to do any real research and I refuse to call something historical unless I actually have sources I can cite. The guy Sprites on the other hand… well, that outfit has a lot more fantasy going on. I just think a lot of men’s clothing from the Tudor period looks pretty absurd. What can I say?

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

A Printable Paper Doll Fantasy Outfit Inspired by Turkish Dress (And Accidentally by a Movie)

May 2, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Turkish and Persian Clothing and This Picture on Pinterest

So, I rarely draw things that are as close to the reference image as today’s paper doll fantasy outfit. I saw this picture on Pinterest and I really liked it. I later realized that this it is basically Kiera Knightly’s costume from Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World’s End. I was almost ashamed that I drew it after that, because I really dislike that film.

Still, once it was done and saved and ready to go, I didn’t want to just abandon it, because it was based off an awful movie costume. The costume is okay I guess, but the film is just so bad. Anyway, I decided I should just get over it and treat it like any other paper doll creation.

So, a little background- the coat in the picture and in this paper doll is based on a traditional Turkish clothing from the 19th century. Here’s an example from The Met, another one from The Met and a Victorian era rendition of the same garment.

There are, of course, a lot of differences between my version of the caftan, the biggest being that it closes all the way up to the neck. This was not how women really wore them back in the 19th century, but that’s what fantasy clothing is for, isn’t it?

I couldn’t see the bottom of the picture, so I decided mine was a gown and the wide leather belt and layers of armor were likely decorative. The paper doll’s boots were my attempt to draw upturned toes on shoes such as these ones and were another nod to Turkey.

What do you all think? Good paper doll outfit? Bad Movie? Thoughts? Let me know in a comment. I love to hear from you all.

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

Favorite Novels: Treasure Island and a Fantastic Pirate Paper Doll Outfit

July 26, 2017April 28, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Treasure Island, One of my Favorite Novels

As some of you may recall, in January, Boots, Julie and Myself started a collaborative paper doll project, all drawing clothing for a shared base doll. Missy joined us shortly there after and we have continued to create, each month, an outfit for our shared paper doll lady.

For month four, our theme was Favorite Novels. For me, I knew immediately that Treasure Island was the novel I was going to work with. I fell in love with Treasure Island when I was a child. It has everything- a coming of age story, pirates, buried treasure and lots of adventure and betrayal.

The lack of ladies in Treasure Island never bothered me, but since our paper doll is a lady, I created some fantastic pirate attire for her to wear. And there were plenty of lady pirates in the real world, though I doubt many of them wore things like this.

Back when this whole year long collaboration project was proposed, I thought there was basically no chance it would survive four whole months. Call me a cynic, I suppose, but here we are in March of 2017 and there’s another batch of paper doll outfits on the horizon for my wonderful fellow paper doll creators- Boots, Julie and Missy.

So, check out Popculture and Paper Dolls, Miss. Missy and Paper Doll School for three other literature inspired paper doll outfits.

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

The Poppet’s Get a 1920s Spring-Time Dress and Matching Cloche

May 19, 2020April 27, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:1920s Children’s Clothing- One of my True Loves

Today’s Poppet 1920s Children’s Wardrobe Collection contribution is a spring time dress. I sort of thought of it as an Easter dress when I designed it, but Easter was a few weeks ago. I chose a pale color scheme with soft blue and pink for the dress. With the dress is a matching cloche, because lord knows the 1920s loved a good looking cloche.

I know I’ve spoken before about how much I adore 1920s children’s clothing. There’s just something about clothing of that era that I adore. I have equal love for children’s clothing of the 1930s, but I haven’t had as many opportunities to draw that.

Maybe that’s a project for another time.

I openly confess that I don’t have a good record of what I used as reference when I drew today’s dress. I am pretty sure I used Children’s Fashions 1900-1950 As Pictured in Sears Catalogs, 1920s Fashions from B. Altman & Company and/or Everyday Fashions of the Twenties: As Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs. All of these books are from Dover which is a great source of reasonably priced fashion history books. I think I own almost all their 1920s fashion books.

The realization that fashion history books are a justifiable business expense has made it a lot harder to talk myself out of buying them.

I do realize that recently most of what I have posted for the Poppet’s paper dolls to print have been either from the Fairy Tale project or the 1920s project. Never fear, there are also normal clothing on the horizon. I mean, even paper dolls need jeans.

So, what do you think of today’s 1920s paper doll dress? Love it? Hate it? Wish it was purple? Let me know in a comment.

Meanwhile, if you want to support the blog, then think about becoming a Patron or liking it on facebook and tune in tomorrow for a paper doll outfit inspired by one of my favorite novels.

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

Ms. Mannequin Printable Paper Dolls Get 1970s Dresses

April 21, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: The dresses of 1974 like Simplicity 6605 and McCall’s 3936

Let me be frank, I don’t really love the fashions of the 1970s, but they are starting to grow on me a little. There’s something about the bold colors and the big collars that I kinda have a fondness for.

So, I might never been a die hard “1970s YAY” kinda girl, I am at least learning to enjoy some of the looks of the era.

Last year I drew my first 1970s stuff and this year I wanted to continue dabbling in the era. While I think the Ms. Mannequin dolls look kinda odd as Vikings (their pose just doesn’t work), they make much better swinging cats of the 1970s.

Both of these dresses are based on pattern cover designs. I love using vintage pattern covers to design paper doll dresses. They are usually pretty easy to draw from too, which I am grateful for.

The dress on the left is from Simplicity 6605 and McCall’s 3936 and McCall’s 3936 which was apparently a “carefree pattern” which I think meant it was supposed to be easy to make. The dress on the right is from Simplicity 6605 which was a “how to sew” pattern. It would teach you, apparently, how to make set in gathered sleeves.

These days, I use online videos when I don’t know how to sew something, but I suppose that wasn’t exactly an option in 1974.

Also, I don’t sew people clothing. I am strictly a doll clothing sewing kinda girl.

Well, what do you all think of today’s 1970s dresses? Is this a decade of fashion you really love? Do the Ms. Mannequin dolls need maybe a jumpsuit or something to do with their dresses?

Let me know in a comment.

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Marisole Monday & Friends: A Tudor Inspired Printable Paper Doll Dress

April 20, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Fashion Plate from 1880 and Things the Scare Me

Yesterday I posted fantasy garments based on some traditional Asian attire. Today I am hopping back to Europe to post a riff on 15th and 16th century dress.

Today’s Marisole Monday & Friend’s paper doll dress crosses Italian clothing in the late 1400s with English costume in the mid-1500s. There’s a definite Spanish Farthingale thing going on in that skirt shape. Spanish Farthngales were hoop skirts of their era and gave dresses a distinct cone shape. It was all the rage in England towards the end of the 1500s. Here’s an example of what I talking about.

The sleeves of today’s paper doll gown are pretty Italian. The style in Italy at the very end of the 1400s and the beginning of the 1500s. It was considered fashionable to have the shift sticking out through the spaces the sleeves- my paper dolls are nothing if not fashionable. Here is an example of the sleeves I mean and here is another one.

When it came time to color today’s paper doll, I fell back on the colors I tend to like when it comes to Tudor feeling things. I settled on copper and black for the color scheme. While I experimented with brighter options, I loved the sophistication these colors created.

As with many of my fantasy paper dolls, I added shoes and stockings to round out the outfit. After all, I do love to draw shoes. These shoes are neither English nor Italian, but more a pair of modern ones. So, that continues the cross-cultural experience here.

So, what do people think of my English-Italian Renaissance love child of a paper doll dress? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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

A Curvy Fire Slinging Sorceress & The First Dress of a New Project

April 18, 2017April 18, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Fire & Ancient Greek Fashion

You know what every paper doll needs? Sorceress outfits!

As some of you may recall, I posted the first part of my creatively named Sorceress’ Gowns Project on April 10th. You can read that post here.

My first four gowns (three of which are done) are all based on the elements- fire, water, air and earth. I have fire, water and air all finished. Earth is… well, giving me some trouble.

I have faith I will finish it eventually.

Each gown has two accessories- a staff to channel magical power and a pair of boots.

Today’s fire gown was inspired by ancient Greek dress. I start most of my paper doll creations with a thumbnail doodle and I did the same here. Then I expanded the doodle into a full on paper doll dress.

I share my doodles mostly on Patreon, but once in a while one appears on Facebook, usually after I’ve shared with it my Patron’s first.

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

Hazel’s Runway Ball Gown for Glamorous Printable Paper Doll Events

December 6, 2020April 17, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Evening Gowns and Boots’ Paper Doll Series Catwalk Couture

I think one of the great benefits of the internet is that it has created a world where people are willing to share their work. I try to visit all the active paper doll blogs I am aware of and comment on them as much as I can.

I love seeing what other artists are working on like Julie’s amazing bunny project from last week and Miss. Missy’s super cute Easter paper doll.

Boots has been working on a Catwalk Couture paper doll fashion series where she has been drawing the designs of some of the great contemporary designers. I was inspired by her work to create an evening gown that could have come off the runway.

I was heavily influenced by the designs of Marchesa one of my favorite evening gown designers.

Hazel’s hair is based on this beautiful natural hair up-dos like this one and this one. I’m worried it looks less like a natural up-do and more like a turban, but maybe I’m just being hyper critical.

Since I am not black, I always feel a little self-conscious when I draw things like natural hair styles.

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

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