contemporary

Tanya has a Formal Evening

Printable paper doll coloring pages with a black paper doll and her five evening gowns and three pairs of shoes. The dolls has an afro-puff.
Printable black paper doll with her five evening gowns and three pairs of shoes. The dolls has an afro-puff.

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Today, we have Tanya with some evening gowns. This set has actually been sitting on my computer for way longer than I like to admit. However, it’s done now, so that’s okay.

Tanya’s last collection was very fantasy themed, so I thought she should get some more modern things, but I confess now I feel like the poor girl needs some pants. I’m not 100% in love with how her afro-puff came out, but I can live with that. I think that angle is wrong…

I digress.

All right, so yeah, paper doll! I know for like Search Engine Optimization I should really try to write between 300 and 500 words per post, but I haven’t got that much to say here. It’s a cute printable black paper doll. That’s kinda all I got today.

Pearl’s Lavish Evening Gowns

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I recently rediscovered the show Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars when it showed up on one of the streaming services and I have been watching through the seasons I missed. I mostly just like getting to see the runway looks at the end, but I have never been much for reality TV show drama. Still, I love seeing the looks the drag queens come up with for the end and they always fascinate me.

So, yeah, that’s the context of today’s printable paper doll- I wanted to draw some slightly over the top dresses that really emphasized her curves. Bright colors and rich designs, I thought would be super fun. Not really inspired by Drag Race, but sort of inspired by the idea of evening gowns gone a little more wild than I usually do.

To give credit where credit is due, these dresses were inspired by the contents of my evening gowns pinterest board. However, none of them were specific to any of those I don’t think. At least, I’m pretty sure they weren’t. Who knows? Sometimes my brain doesn’t remember where I get my ideas. Enjoy!

Regency-Core: A 2022 Fashion Trend

A printable paper doll coloring page with an eight piece mix and match wardrobe of regencycore inspired clothing with trousers, two dresses, shoes and purses.
A printable paper doll with an eight piece mix and match wardrobe of regencycore inspired clothing with trousers, two dresses, shoes and purses.

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Today’s printable paper doll is all about regencycore. Which does lead to the next logical question… So, what is Regencycore?

Well, it’s sort of a hyper feminine style inspired by the Regency. Not the actual regency (I doubt we’ll see a neck-ruff revival), but the ideas people have of the Regency thanks to shows like Bridgerton. I’m a big Bridgerton fan and I was struck at how much I started noticing this trend in my fashion magazines and my online puttering around.

There’s a nice article about Regency-core from Women’s Wear Daily I think I highlighted this in a newsletter a few weeks back. This was my major inspiration as I designed this particular printable paper doll set. I wanted soft pastels, raised waists and lots of puffy sleeves. I also didn’t want to do a paper doll set of nothing, but basic babydoll dresses (there’s just one) and nothing else. That felt boring and not really modernizing regency. As for the puffy sleeves, I tried to get in as many variations on that shape as possible.

Along with the dresses, there’s a pair of high-waisted pleated front trousers (a trend that is returning which I am not so keen on) and I cropped most of these tops to match. I do like the fact that modern cropped tops are being paired with high-waisted pants. It’s a much better look than the hip-huggers of the 1990s.

The paper doll’s hair is based on the hair cut of Daphne from the Bridgerton tv-show. Normally when I see bangs in historical dramas I wince, because straight bangs were really not a thing in the 19th century for ladies. There were like curled ringlet sort of bangs in the Regency (see examples here), but not the bangs the paper doll or Daphne rocks. However, as mentioned, Bridgerton is a fantasy, so I am willing to embrace the bangs.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how this turned out.

Meanwhile, I want to let my Patrons know there will be patron exclusive content on Friday! So, look forward to that- Vivian is getting another outfit in her steampunk trousseau.

Happy 4th of July with Paper Dolls

A 4th of July paper doll coloring page and her vintage styles with a nine piece wardrobe. Fun kid's activity for the 4th of July holiday.
A 4th of July paper doll and her vintage styles with a nine piece wardrobe. Fun kid's activity for the 4th of July holiday. Blue hair and stars abound here.

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Creating a 4th of July paper doll was hard this year, but I have been wanting to try to get a paper doll done for all the major holidays I can. The thing about these holiday paper dolls is that they are super handy to have around (like instant social media content) and easy to draw (theme’s kind of done for you). However, I confess that I’ve been pretty angry and depressed about the current state of affairs in the United States. So, it was harder to build up enthusiasm to draw Americana then usual.

Still, I have so many fond memories of the 4th of July. It’s a big holiday in my hometown. There’s two parades, fireworks at midnight on the 3rd (the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm) and huge bonfire organized by our family friends. I do mean huge- it’s like several stories high and designed by architects and engineers made from pallets. There’s usually a theme for the bonfire- it’s been a T-rex, the throne of swords from Game of Thrones, and many other structures.

We make our own fun up here in the Northland.

Anyway, today’s paper doll is a riff on my Valentine’s Day vintage themed paper doll. She originally had different hair, but it did not look good. I didn’t have time to redraw it, so I borrowed the hair from the Valentine’s doll. Of course, I made a few little changes in photoshop, but it’s basically the same . I’m still trying to hit my 10 DDJ paper dolls in 2022 goal and this gets me a little closer!

By the way, there are some changes coming to Patreon (more on that later). So, just an early heads up for folks. You might start seeing posts on the site like these which are blocked unless you’re a Patron. Basically, I’m slowly adding old Patreon content to the blog in the months when it appeared on Patreon. Just so no one is super confused as to what is happening.

Meet Tashi- Talia’s Friend and her Refined Winter Wardrobe

A printable paper doll coloring page set with one doll and a 17 piece wardrobe.
A paper doll printable with a 17 piece fashion wardrobe.

Download the 2 Page Black and White PDF | Download the 2 Page Color PDF | More Talia Tuesday & Friends Dolls

Meet Talia’s first friend Tashi! My patrons helped me name her. Tashi is a Tibetan name that means “good fortune” and beat out several other names to win the poll I shared on Patreon. Thanks Patrons for helping me name her! I had planned to wait a while to share her, because I had several other Talia dolls finished, but I really wanted to show off her and her fun winter looks, so she jumped the line- as paper dolls sometimes do!

According to my research into Winter trends for this year, I noticed a few things- tapered trousers, pleated skirts, mini-skirts, puffed sleeve sweaters and crop tops with high waisted styles. Interestingly, I also noticed that these lady-like styles got paired with more chunky masculine boots which felt very 1990s. Anyone else getting Doc Marten’s with floral dresses flashbacks? Anyone?

Colorwise, lilac has been an on-trend color for Fall 2021, so I decided to embrace that when I was coloring this paper doll set. I really like pastels for winter, but you have to keep them dusty and vintage feeling, or else you get into saccharine sweet territory.

If you want to get to help me name paper dolls, than join us on Patreon.

Ombre Stripes in Purples with Lapis

A printable paper doll in pwith a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe.
A blond printable paper doll in purples and teals with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe.

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So, according to the internet, source of all wisdom, lilac is a big color for Winter 2022. I wanted to really focus on two colors- purple and teal- for the this paper doll. The set was supposed to be a look at monochrome colors which isn’t something I do a lot in my paper doll coloring.

Recently, I got a question from a reader asking if I did anything with my finished paper dolls. At first, I didn’t understand the question. What did “do anything with” mean? I wondered. I told her about my messy files, my boxes of sketchbooks in my office closet, but that answer didn’t feel right. It’s been percolating in my brain for the last week.

What do I “do with” my finished work?

And then the answer occurred to me as I was working on scheduling this months paper doll posts and it was utterly obvious…. What I do with my finished paper dolls is this. PTP is what I do with my finished work. Completing things is deeply satisfying for me and how I complete my paper dolls is sharing them with all of you.

Once I thought about for a while, the answer was obvious. So, thank you for being a part of my process and a part of my little corner of the inter-webs. If you’d like to support my little corner of the internet further, I have a Patreon page, Etsy store, and a newsletter.

Happy Valentine’s Day with a Rockabilly Vintage Paper Doll

A Valentine's Day printable paper doll coloring page with a mix and match wardrobe. Great idea for kids crafting over the holiday!
A Valentine's Day printable paper doll with a mix and match wardrobe in teals and pinks. Great idea for kids crafting over the holiday!

Black and White PDF | Color PDF | More Dolls Du Jour Paper Dolls

I have a deep fondness for Valentine’s Day paper dolls despite having a long history of having truly awful Valentine’s Days. However, my grandmother used to send me and my sister cards for Valentine’s Day and they often included paper dolls, so I like to continue that tradition here in her honor.

So, first off, Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope it is, if not great, at least uneventful and, tomorrow, there’s a lot of cheap chocolate available which always seems like a nice perk. It’s also a good time to get some roses on sale if you like roses. I confess to being more of a peonies person myself, but each to their own.

For today’s Valentine’s Day paper doll I wanted try out something I hadn’t done before, so I slipped into the world of vintage inspired rockabilly fashion. If that wasn’t a stretch enough, I then gave myself the challenge of coloring the whole thing without using any red, because I do think the color schemes for Valentine’s Day can get a little boring. How. much pink and red does one person need?

If you’re looking for even more Valentine’s Day fun, I did a Valentine’s Paper Doll Coloring Page in my first newsletter of 2022. (Sign up here if you’d like to get it.)

Meanwhile, you can get any number of additional Valentine’s Day paper dolls from previous years here and let me know if you’ve got plans for the holiday in a comment.