Printable Paper Dolls from Paper Thin Personas

Sprites Get Some Summer Paper Doll Clothing

July 11, 2017June 21, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Vintage Inspired Contemporary Clothing & College Students

I wanted to make some summer paper doll clothing, but I confess men’s clothing isn’t my gift. Drawing contemporary men’s clothing still is something I find rather challenging, because I struggle to regularly come up with new ideas.

The guy Sprite’s t-shirt today is based off one I saw a student wearing on the campus where I work. The orange shorts are well, just a pair of orange shorts.

I mean, sometimes even guys want non-neutral pants, right? (I have no idea if this is true, actually.)

The Sprites ladies top is from a contemporary catalog. Her jeans are flares which I have been told are in fashion. I added the designs to the bottom when I decided there was something sorta vintage 1970s going on. Those designs were originally going to go on her top, but I thought that was too busy. The

Sprites, just like every series, I think think need a mix of clothing. I really enjoyed contemporary paper dolls when I was kid, usually ones from Golden Books which had punch out dolls and clothing. I preferred the cut out books, because with the punch out books the tabs often got ripped.

So, when I design contemporary stuff I’m always thinking of those old books, though today’s summer paper doll clothing owes more to what I see on the college campus where I work.

Speaking of all clothing types, tomorrow there will be a historical dress and then Friday there will be something sci-fi. I’m super busy this week and will be traveling a bit, so I will try to respond to comments and emails and such, but that might not happen.

What types of paper doll clothing do you like best? Let me know in a comment!

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

Poppet’s Paper Dolls Go A Bit Tom-Boy & There are Rocketships

June 20, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Little Boys Clothing & Rocket Ships

I will confess that I tend to like girly clothing for the Poppets. Lots of skirts and ruffles and things, but I realized not every one shares my feelings, so I wanted to do some tom-boy clothing for them as well.

I’m not sure about the rocket. I think it would not make it to space, but oh well… not every rocket is a winner, as they say.

I want to give the pants deep pockets for collecting important things, like interesting rocks and other treasures of childhood. The colors were chosen to be masculine without feeling stodgy or old. It’s a riff on a primary color scheme, really, with some orange added in for good measure.

The scheme was my original plan for the Asian Poppet paper doll that I posted earlier in the month, but I didn’t like the yellow being in both the clothing and on the doll’s stand. But, since I did like the color scheme, I used it in today’s set of paper doll clothing.

I am all about recycling and limiting the work I have to do.

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

B&B Curvy Paper Dolls Visit the Groovy 1970s

June 19, 2017June 19, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: 1970s and Platform Shoes and Afros and People Whose Blogs I Admire

Years ago, Debbie of Black Doll Collecting asked for a 1970s fashion inspired black paper doll with a huge afro. It’s one of those ideas that has been percolating for a long long time.

But I super respect Debbie as the authority on black dolls that she is. She has opened my eyes to examples of early black dolls that are super rare like Cynthia from the 1950s and these early Effanbee dolls.

So, I decided that my ignorance was no excuse to not give it a go. I did some research on 1970s black culture and set to work on creating today’s paper doll.

The 1970s were an interesting era for black culture. The Black is Beautiful movement was in full force bringing with it respect for traditional hairstyles like the afro and dutch wax print fabrics. There were even Black is Beautiful paper dolls produced in 1969, another thing I learned from Debbie’s blog. Black owned toy companies, like Shindana, were bringing out black dolls for children. Meanwhile, blaxploitation films began flourishing in Hollywood when Shaft came out in 1971.

Now, that we’ve all learned about the 1970s, let’s talk today’s paper doll.

Her hair is the first afro I have drawn that I am actually pretty proud of. It’s a little big perhaps for the 1970s, but maybe not? There is that famous scene in Foxy Brown where Pam Grier pulls a gun from her afro.

Her dress is from McCall’s 2316 sewing pattern from 1970 and her shoes are both from the early 1970s as well. Both shoe designs were taken from 20th Century Fashion by John Peacock.

Normally, I steer clear of brown shoes on brown skin, but I actually really liked how the shoes colors (from Peacock’s book) coordinated with the paper doll’s ebony skin-tone.

In my research, I watched Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, which wasn’t very helpful about historical black fashion, but it was a fascinating window into a world I know nearly nothing about. It also made me feel super cheap for complaining at how much my hair cuts cost. If you haven’t seen it and you’re interested in fashion or culture, I strongly recommend it.

Meanwhile, I’d love to hear what you think of today’s paper doll in a comment. I love to hear from y’all.

Need to get some more clothing for this Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear? Pick out some clothing here.

Sprites Go Steampunk Fashion for Today

June 16, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Post Apocalyptic Fashions and Such

This is the second Steampunk set I’ve ever done for the Sprites and one of my goals has been to break away from my love of bustled skirts with steampunk sets. This doesn’t mean bustle skirts are going to go away, because my love of 1870s and 1880s fashion is extreme and will not be denied. You can not deny my love.

Thought totally unintentional these pieces really mix and match well with my last Sprite Steampunk collection that I posted on March 30th of this year. My goal was to make Sprite a focus this year and I am really proud that I have created 13 clothing set and 8 dolls for the Sprites printable paper doll series.

I confess that Sprites can be challenging, because men’s clothing just isn’t my favorite thing, but they have been growing on me and I am trying to get better at the whole male paper doll thing.

Also, I’ve clearly been on a thigh high boots for the Sprites gents kick, because the Space pirates had them too.

I hope everyone has had a great Friday. It’s Father’s Day on Sunday, so I want to give a shout out to my amazing Dad who once (I am not kidding) drew me a halibut paper doll. I love you so much, Dad.

As always, let me know what you think in a comment and have a great weekend.

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

Ms. Mannequin’s Urban Fashions Are Jeans and Tank Tops

June 15, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Summer Dresses

I wanted to do something kinda this hip-hop inspired week I did for the Ms. Mann last year. Unlike last year, I didn’t really do much research this time. I wanted to draw some stuff that would fit into that genre without being specific to anyone of the many hip-hop musicians who have become fashion designers.

Sometimes also called Urban Fashion, the style is defined by being influenced by contemporary city life and African-American culture. The word Urban is often a code-word for Black Inner-City Culture, such as Urban Romance.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this tendency in our society to avoid talking about racial and cultural differences by using euphemistic language. However, Urban Fashion is at least shorter and easier to write than Fashion Influenced and Evolved From Black Inner-City Cultural Elements and Then Made into a Commodity by Free Market Economic Forces.

To return to the paper dolls, I think all of these pieces could mix and match well with what I created last year. The white tank would go well with these green pants, for example. The jeans would look nice wit this black and white tanktop as well. These cutoff shorts would be cute with today’s purple top.

I left the space between the black bra and the white tank uncolored, because it should be colored to match the paper dolls skin-tone OR should be cut out very very carefully with an exacto knife or something. I leave the choice up to you.

We’ll be ending the week with some steampunk styles tomorrow, so be sure to tune in (so to speak) for that and follow the blog on Facebook.

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

Poppet Printable Paper Doll’s Little Miss Muffet Costume

June 14, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Little Miss Muffet and Kate Greenaway

Today’s Poppet paper doll dress is a Little Miss Muffet costume. In case anyone doesn’t remember the nursery rhyme, it goes like this:

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

So, I did a little research on the rhyme. It turns out that its origins are unclear (not uncommon in nursery rhymes) and it was first published in 1805. The truth is that you will sing ANYTHING to a baby to get it to stop crying (trust me, I know) which means many nursery songs have their origins in popular or political ballads.

When designing today’s Little Miss Muffet costume, I wanted something that was colored with cream accents, rather than cream with colored accents. I was inspired by Kate Greenaway‘s illustrations, but only in the sense that I like her work and always tend to think of it when I start drawing late 18th century inspired children’s clothing.

Okay, I know the rhyme involves a spider, but I am not a big fan of spiders and I was not about to draw one. Deal with it. Instead I made a bowl of curds and whey, which is a dish I’ve never eaten or really know anyone who has eaten.

Have any of you, fair readers, actually eaten it? I know it’s a dairy dish, since curds and whey are both part of the cheese making process.

Her shoes are pretty classic 18th century style (you can see a bunch more like them on my 18th Century Clothing Pinterest Board). She also has a mob-cap which may or may not fit depending on which Poppet doll you put it on.

You can check out my Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes board on Pinterest to see some more of my inspirational images and, of course, you can check out the rest of the Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme series for more fairy tale and nursery rhyme inspired paper dolls and outfits.

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

An Earth Inspired Sorceress Gown for the B&B Printable Paper Doll Series

June 13, 2017June 13, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Earth!

Today’s B&B paper doll gown is part of the Sorceress Gowns Project in which I am drawing gowns for sorceresses (a fact that might be obvious from the name). The theme for this project was chosen by my Patrons. I’ve started the series with a doll and the four elements. This is the element Earth. I’ve also done Water and Fire.

You can see all the Sorceress Gowns and Dolls under the Sorceress Gowns Project tag.

Earth was a surprisingly easy dress to conceive of. I knew I wanted to focus on rocks rather than plant life. The pattern on her under-gown was inspired by the layers and veins in rocks.

The bottom of her over gown is supposed to look like mountains. On her staff, I put a faceted crystal, because I wanted to capture more rock imagery.

While this was one of the easiest of the various Sorceress gowns to draw, it was one of the hardest to color. I went through three color schemes. I will confess I am still not completely satisfied, but at some point you have to say, “Well, I’m not redoing this again!”

There is an Air gown forthcoming, of course, and then another Sorceress doll.

After that, I’m not sure what I’ll do next. I do have an idea for an arctic/snow themed gown, so maybe I should do a desert/sand themed gown to counter balance it?

Decisions, decisions.

Let me know what you think about that idea in a comment or what you think about today’s gown.

Tomorrow there will be a new installment in the Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme series for the Poppets.

Several folks have let me know that there was a problem with the PDFs. I think I have it solved, but if anyone has a further issue, please clear your browser cache and refresh the page. It should solve the problem.- Rachel

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

Greta’s Ancient Greek Fantasy Gown

June 12, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Ancient greek fashion

Today’s paper doll is a black and white Ancient Greek inspired Mini-Maiden doll. I chose Greta to be the model for today’s Ancient Greek fantasy gown, though of course it will fit any of the Mini-Maiden dolls.

Her hair was also inspired by Ancient Greek styles, but her shoes were totally not.

I worry about strange things on the blog sometimes, like making sure every paper doll series has equal attention.

There are 52 weeks in a year. There are six paper doll series. That means there are about 8.6 dolls going to be posted per series. Since I don’t know what a .6 doll would look like anyhow, I have to round that to 8 for some series and up to 9 for others.

The truth is though, since I have done at least one all doll week (started on May 8th) I don’t really think my careful planning is going to create evenly balanced numbers of annual dolls per series.

Though I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t created a chart at the beginning of the year in a vague attempt to do this.

What can I say? I am a librarian through and through.

In my head, I categorize the fantasy dresses I draw based on their basic inspiration. There are medieval inspired gowns (like this one), renaissance inspired gowns (like this one), and Ancient Greek inspired gowns, like today’s Greta doll’s gown.

Further evidence of my tendency to categorize things.

And now that I successfully demonstrated what a strangely obsessive human being I am, I’d love to know what you think about today’s Ancient Greek fantasy gown. Leave me a comment if you’d like to share your thoughts.

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

Ms. Mannequin’s Elegant Paper Doll Evening Gown

June 9, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Evening Gown from Pinterest

The gown today’s paper doll is based on was white and I felt like that wasn’t very interesting. Also, you can always use the black and white version of today’s gown to be the white version if you wanted too.

What I really wanted to try to capture with today’s gown was the drape of the fabric clinging to the body and then flaring on the ground.

Another thing I loved about the dress I based today’s paper doll evening gown off of was the modesty. It is rare to see an evening gown with such a high neckline and thick straps, but I think it ads to the beautiful modernist style of the dress.

A few house keeping things- If you like the blog and want to keep it on the internet and ad free, then please consider supporting it through Patreon. I haven’t been mentioning this as much as I was previously, because I worry that I’m bothering people. But consider this- 1 dollar a month is 5 cents per paper doll outfit.

If you think the enjoyment you get from this little corner of the internet is worth a nickel a paper doll outfit, than hop over here.

If not, I totally get it. I know a lot of my readers are under 18 and I know a lot are not in the US, so no reasons need be given.

And if you’re wondering “where does the money go?” then check out this post from April about my first quarter income. It breaks all the expenses down.

I hope everyone has a super wonderful weekend. Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite paper doll this week has been?

For me, I gotta confess a strange soft spot for the Space Pirates. Partly, because it is super fun to write the words, Space Pirates as often as I have gotten too.

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

Marisole Monday Rocking Some World Ending Fashion

June 9, 2017June 8, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: My Post-Apocalyptic Fashion Pinterest Board

So, I tend to think of paper doll clothing I create as falling into several large genre categories- historical, contemporary, traditional fantasy, Asian inspired fantasy, steampunk/neo Victorian, sci-fi/futuristic/cyberpunk, or post-apocalyptic. When I am drawing for a specific series, I try to dip into several of these categories usually based what I have or haven’t drawn recently for that series.

Clear as mud? Excellent.

So, I was working on Marisole Monday and Friend’s clothes and I realized that I hadn’t drawn Post-Apocalyptic fashions for them for a while. I did a Mikhail pair last year in color and in black and white, but it has been a while since then.

So, here is a Marisole Monday & Friend’s lady paper doll outfit. Of course, it’s about as practical as yesterday’s Space Pirates, but we all know that practicality is never a criteria when I draw paper doll clothing.

I would never draw anything if practicality was a criteria.

She has a sweater at least, so maybe we can ignore her tragic lack of pants? Or maybe not. Hard to say, really.

I keep a Pinterest boards for most of my various paper doll obsessions- fantasy clothing, fantasy armor, cyberpunk/futuristic stuff, steampunk, and, of course, post-apocalyptic. So, if you want to see what is interesting me at any given moment, then feel free to check those out.

What do you think of today’s paper doll post-apocalyptic fashion? Let me know in a comment. I always love to hear from you all.

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

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