Clothing

1960s Dresses from the Pages of Sears

A pair of 1960s paper doll dress straight from the pages of vintage Sears catalogs. Both dresses are available in color or black and white.
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First off, I know this is Christmas Eve and while I don’t celebrate, I wanted wish a Merry Christmas to everyone who does. I hope your holiday is full of laughter, joy and a minimum of family drama.

And now… paper dolls!

If you’re interested in the history of clothing (as I am), Sears catalogs are a goldmine. Unlike the fashion magazines which often show the latest styles of the top designers, Sears (and others) show what most women actually wore day to day. The pricing and color information also provide a valuable window into how much items cost and what sorts of colors were popular.

Due to copyright, full reproductions of Sears catalogs aren’t always possible, but Dover has a series of books that reprint selected pages. Everyday Fashions of the Sixties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs was the source for today’s dresses.  The dress on the left is from 1967 Sears catalog and the dress on the right is from 1960.

The purse is from 1960 and you can see it on The Met’s website.

On a slightly sad note, today’s post is the last Dames & Dandies post for a while. There have been over 120 Dames & Dandies paper doll posts, so there’s plenty to explore there.

For the first quarter of 2019, I plan to be working on a new series called Jewels & Gemstones (yes, the ampersand is my favorite piece of punctuation). I am super excited about this new series and it will debut on December 31st. Wednesday, there will be a longer preview post and Friday the last of the Paper Doll Collaborative 2018 will post.

Questions? Ask me in a comment and I will reply.

Need some clothing for today’s paper doll? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

1960s Dresses from Sewing Patterns

1960s sewing pattern cover inspired paper doll dresses. One from 1961 and one from 1967. Both dresses are historically accurate and free to print.

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One of the fascinating things about fashion is that it is never one thing. Simultaneously to the mod fashion movement that the 1960s are so associated with, there was a second thread of fashion that was more sophisticated and modest. Think Jackie Kennedy vs Twiggy, you know? (If you don’t know, check out the books at the bottom of this page.) So, today’s dresses are both of the more conservative, clean styles that were popular as well.

(And yes, yesterday’s Abigail paper doll can wear that hat, despite her insane beehive, I made sure.)

The dress on the left is based on this sewing pattern cover, the dress on the right is based on this sewing pattern cover, the hat I sort of cobbled together based on a bunch of different hats and the purse is Gucci and you can see it here.

But wait, you’re thinking, what if I want more 1960s costume history? What if I want an actual bibliography of the books you used for this week and Monday?

Well, I’m so glad you asked.

1960s History Fashion Sources

Hill, Colleen. Paris Refashioned, 1957-1968. Yale University Press, 2017.
Magidson, Phyllis, and Donald Albrecht. Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip. Monacelli Press, 2017.
Olian, JoAnne. Everyday Fashions of the Sixties As Pictured In Sears Catalogs. Dover, 1998.
Walford, Jonathan. Sixties Fashion: from ‘Less Is More’ to Youthquake. Thames & Hudson, 2013.

These are all great books that I highly recommend. You can probably get them all from the library. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A 14th Century Surcoat With Tibbets and Headdresses

Dress up a paper doll in historically accurate 1300s clothing including a surcoat over a kirtle and two head-dresses.

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First off 14th Century week continues with today’s surcoat over a kirtle and some headdresses. Second off Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrated yesterday.

Surcoats were worn over kirtles (I did one of those on Wednesday). Like a lot of surcoats, today’s has slits in the front that provided access to the purse worn off the girdle underneath. Think of it as the 14th century solution to pockets.

Today’s paper doll surcoat with kirtle was inspired by the Romance of Alexander from the Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 264. There’s a bunch of different examples of this short sleeved surcoat in there, but I based this dress off the red dress in this miniature and the blue dress (and pink dress) in this miniature.

One of the interesting things about those miniatures and many others from this era (check out my 14th Century Dress Pinterest board for more) is how many of them show women with their hair uncovered. Unlike later eras (and some earlier ones) the 14th century seems to be a time when women could go around without covering their hair.

(Women shown with uncovered hair in miniatures from other eras are often depicting vice and/or wickedness and this is indicated by the uncovered hair. The scandal of showing one’s hair in the 15th century was intense. )

However, some women did still cover their hair. Here’s one miniature with some hair covered and here’s another and here’s a third one. You also see head coverings in statuary. One thing I do when I am trying to decide what to include in these historical sets is to try to find multiple examples of something. That’s why you see some duplication of types of images on my 14th Century Dress Pinterest board.

That’s also why when I am dealing with an era I don’t know much about it can take me a long long time before I am comfortable drawing a paper doll of it. I learned a lot of history from Tom Tierney’s historical paper dolls and I want mine to be as helpful and accurate as I can make them. 

If you want some say in the time periods I create paper dolls for, think about supporting the blog on Patreon. I tend to listen to my Patrons when they make requests. Here’s a post about what patrons have made possible from earlier this week. 

Have you enjoyed 14th Century week? Let me know. I love to hear from you. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A 14th Century European Kirtle & Shoes

A 1300s kirtle for a paper doll with matching shoes and headdress from paperthinpersoas.com. A great way to teach kids history and a super fun coloring activity.

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In the world of 14th century dress in Europe, there’s a lot of layers. On Monday, you got to see the shift, the stockings and the shoes which were the first layers. Over that, women wore a kirtle.

Technically, add a girdle (belt) to keep your purse (which was also as close as anyone got to having pockets in the 14th century) and you were fulling dressed. This kirtle example has a spiral laced front and buttons on the cuffs.

Her girdle is based on this example. I looked at a lot of carved sculptures of the Virgin Mary when designing this set like this one and this one.

Her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz. It’s a great resource. Her stockings would have been held up by garters, because bias cut wool doesn’t stay up on its own. However, based on my current understanding, the stockings would be rolled down over the garters to cover them, so that’s why the garter’s aren’t visible. 

If you want a historical doll to wear this example of 1300s clothing, than you can go grab Alice whose wearing a shift and has many pair of period shoes. 

Right now, I am thinking about what to do with Paper Thin Personas in 2019. I have a poll and please answer it if you haven’t. 

[poll id=”22″]

And leave me a comment if you like or consider supporting the blog on Patreon if you want to pledge. Here’s a post about how Patrons have helped. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A Pair of Retro Inspired Dresses for the A Pose Paper Dolls

A pair of retro rockabilly inspired dresses with a matching purse to print and dress up some paper dolls in.

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Today’s paper doll dresses were inspired by retro-rockabilly styles. I’ve been thinking about rockabilly dresses ever since I posted this version of Aisha and Julie, of Paper Doll School, suggested that the pink haired version needed some rockabilly dresses in pastels.

Well, I confess that pastels just didn’t seem seasonal, so I went with autumn tones (which perhaps don’t go as well with the pink hair), but if you head over to the Patreon page you can download the spring time pastel version.

Meanwhile, there maybe some changes coming to the blog in the new year, so I’ll be putting up some polls looking for thoughts and I hope folks will respond.

And, as always, if you like the blog consider donating to the blog, following me on Instagram, or leaving a comment. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Autumnal Blouses and Boots for the A Pose Ladies

A set of autumn dress up doll fashions with a blouses and boots. Free to print in color or black and white as a coloring page.

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One of the things I love to do is draw paper doll clothing from fashion catalogs and magazines. Clear pictures are useful, but so it seeing clothing I might not have thought up myself.

This set of paper doll fashions were based on the latest Autumn trends. Sleeve details and ruffles are not super popular. So are blouses, so here we have some blouses with sleeve details. To go with this pair of blouses, there is a pair of skinny jeans tucked into boots. The paper doll also has a matching purse.

I chose a color scheme inspired by Pantone’s Fall 2018 color report.

I hope you all enjoy this contemporary fashion addition to the A Pose Ladies fashion wardrobes.

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Retro Astronaut Paper Doll, Because… Space!

A retro astronaut paper doll outfit inspired by retro futuristic fashions of the 1950s through the 1970s. Printable in color or black and white for coloring.

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I am prepping for some quick travel over the next few days, so this post is going to be short. I still have to figure out how to fit all my liquids in a single baggie.

Meanwhile, I had a lot of fun drawing this retro science fiction astronaut. I know I haven’t done a real astronaut yet, but I am having so much fun with these zany retro ones.

For those of you who don’t know, I keep Pinterest boards as one of my favorite ways to collect images. My Retro Futuristic Fashion board has all sorts of images that influenced today’s paper doll.

Also, if you have a moment and want to do me a favor, there’s a poll about the blog post images over on Patreon. You can vote even if you’re not a Patron and I hope you do! It’s all about how the post images I create of each paper doll set should look.

And speaking of voting, if you are in the USA, I hope you will vote on Tuesday (or perhaps have voted already, if you live in a state that allows that). It’s super important to vote, so please go vote!

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A 1920s Paper Doll Dress With Hats Based on Designs from Catalog Pages

1920s paper doll dress and hats based on the catalogs of B. Altman and Company and Sears from paperthinpersonas.com. Available to print in color or in black and white.

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And once more into the 1920s my friends. Once more.

Today’s dress, hat and purse are both based on a design from B. Altman and Company. B. Altman and Company was a luxury department store, so the clothing tends to be very fashionable and on the more expensive side. 1920s Fashions from B. Altman & Company is a collection of reprints from their catalogs from Dover Publishers that I used.

The other hat was adapted from a design from Sears, another major department store of the era. Also from a Dover book, but that time I used Everyday Fashions of the Twenties: As Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs also from Dover. Both of these books are pretty easy to find on the secondary market for reasonable prices.

In case you’ve missed any of my 1920s paper doll series, here’s what I’ve created so far.

The 1920’s Doll & Her Dresses

In the works is some 1960s clothing for the paper dolls (as voted on by my Patrons), but I have no idea when those dolls will be done. I also really want to do some more older historical styles like the 13th century, but I haven’t really tried to tackle that yet. Soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, enjoy my foray into the 1920s.

And if you’d like to help support the blog (I very much run PTP through the NPR model- no ads and maybe people will be nice enough to help me offset costs) consider becoming a Patron.

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A Pair of Pastel Cocktail Dresses for the A Pose Lady Paper Dolls

A pair of paper doll dresses for printing with matching purses. They can fit any of the A Pose paper dolls.

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Last year, there was a real influx of pastel colors into fall and winter looks. It’s been going on for a while. I’m not sure this is still on trend (my September fashion magazines were pretty slim this year, sadly), but I drew these paper doll cocktail dresses a while ago. I wanted to contrast the black with the pale colors.

I also wanted to play around with shape.

Plus the A Pose Dames don’t have any cocktail dresses and that seemed just criminal. Poor paper dolls. They need something to wear to evening parties, after all.

There’s a second color scheme for these over on my Patreon page, but it’s Patron only- so you’ll need to join if you want to see it.

Meanwhile, follow the blog on Instagram for more pictures of my sketchbook and bread-making adventures.

And, of course, I’d like to wish anyone fasting today for Yom Kippur  an easy fast. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A Medieval Fantasy Wedding Gown for the A Pose Ladies

A medieval wedding dress design trimmed in pink roses and pale blue with matching shoes for the paper dolls. Available to print for free in color or black and white.

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Whenever I post a wedding gown I seem to start by saying that I don’t often draw wedding gowns. Yet, since I seem to have posted several wedding gowns this year, maybe I should stop saying that. I guess what I would say is that I was never one of those people who was obsessed with weddings or wedding gowns. I like pretty dresses, of course. I draw a paper doll blog for goodness sake.

But there’s a ton of baggage wrapped up in wedding dresses.

I think that’s part of why I have such mixed feelings about the genre.

The medieval wedding gown here is part of the Fantasy Maiden Series. Fundamentally, there’s no reason I couldn’t have recolored it in bright purple or something and not called it a wedding gown. However, the source gown was described as a fantasy medieval wedding gown and who am I to argue?

As long time readers will know, I am a wee bit obsessed with bridal trousseaux and I kinda found myself thinking of the Fantasy Maiden Series in that context. Once I did that, I knew I had to draw a wedding gown.

While this certainly isn’t the last of the Fantasy Maiden Series, I thought it might be neat to see all the gowns together.

The Fantasy Maiden Paper Doll Gowns Thus Far…

It’s very easy for me to lose track of what I’ve done and feel like there is never enough. So, for me, putting together these little galleries reminds me that I have achieved something. That there are a few different gown options. It’s helpful for me to see things as a collection and not just a series of posts. I hope it is helpful for you all as well.

What do you think? Should I keep going with the series? Comment if you like and let me know.

I’d like to add a Happy New Year to everyone who (like me) is celebrating today. Shana Tova! Happy 5779! May you all have a sweet wonderful year.

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing