A Stylish Paper Doll July: A Suit from 1915

A black and white line drawing of a suit from 1915 with a straw hat trimmed in flowers and roses. The suit is trimmed in braid at the waist, collar and cuffs. A printable paper doll coloring page!

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Today’s 1915 paper doll drawing comes from Perry, Dame & Co. was a New York department store which also did extensive mail order business. The Internet Archive has a few of their catalogs available online one from 1915 and one from 1919-1920.

One of my favorite sources to draw from are clothing catalogs which I did for this 1915 paper doll suit. I love flipping through old catalogs and I love knowing that what I am drawing is clothing women could actually purchase. It’s not hypothetical, as many fashion plates are, or something very high fashion, and it’s fully styled unlike museum pieces.

This suit is from the Spring-Summer 1915 catalog. I didn’t love the original hat that was put with it, so I picked out a hat I liked more from the millerinry section of the catalog. Of course, my modern eye is very different from that of a person from 1915 and who knows if this hat would really have gone with this suit. I chose the hat partly because I wanted to practice drawing feathers in Procreate and I chose the suit in part to allow me to try working with a double line brush that helped me do the complicated braided trim that decorates this garment.

So, this was certainly a “Rachel tries out some new Procreate things” creation. I am pretty happy with how it came out.

I confess I’ve got other things from this catalog in progress, so you might get really sick of the 1915 Spring Summer Perry Dame & Co catalog by the time this month is out!

Do you like 1915? Or is that a fashion era that doesn’t do it for you? Let me know in a comment. I’m super curious.

Sources:

Evening with her 1920s Dresses

A free 1920s printable paper doll coloring page with two dresses, three hats and purses.
A free 1920s printable paper doll with fashions. She can be printed and played with.

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So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll was something I drew, because I was a little tired and the great thing about historical paper dolls from time periods I know pretty well is that they aren’t a ton of work. Especially because resources like Good House Keeping can be found online in their complete run. It makes this fun!

Some of you may recall from my Goals of 2022 was more historical paper dolls and more Dolls Du Jour, so I am super psyched that I got to kill two birds with one stone. Metaphorically speaking, I do not condone bird stoning.

This is my 10th historical paper doll for 2022! I reached my goal and it’s only August. It’s only my 6th DDJ paper doll, I still need four more to reach my goal. I like goals.

I digress.

So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll has two gowns designed to fit in with the theme of a 1920s wardrobe. The dress on the left is a blue and cream day dress and the dress on the right is a coral colored evening dress. It’s not really a super formal evening dress- more like something for an evening garden party. You know, if you have a lifestyle where evening garden parties are your thing.

The blue dress was based on this McCall 5120 sewing pattern from 1927. I assume this is a day dress, but I don’t know for certain. It seems to be more casual daywear. That’s a guess based on other dresses I’ve seen. Her clutch was based on this one, but I modified it to match the dress better.

The coral colored evening gown is from 1924 and was first published in Good House Keeping from June 1924. The dress is described as a light weight option for summer parties. I am always playing around with how to show transparency in linework. The purse comes from a French design and I made the color match the dress.

The paper dolls underwear was inspired by this combination from the Met Museum. You can see similar styles here and here. These teddies or combinations seem to have been pretty popular given the number that have survived.

Sometimes people ask me if my paper dolls are historically accurate and I wince a little. Not because I can’t tell you my sources (I clearly can, I just did), but because the entire idea of historical accuracy is sort of impossible. We simply don’t know enough about the past and we never will. So much about the clothing a person choses to wear has to do with unwritten rules that people conform to in society.

I have no idea how an actual woman from the 1920s would feel about these dresses and I never will. That’s impossible. As a result, I have no idea how accurate anything I draw really is. All I can do is tell you where I found my sources and what decisions I made.

And I hope you enjoy these little expeditions into historical clothing as much as I do.

1940s Fashions with Jade: A Printable Paper Doll

A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

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A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

I love drawing historical fashion for paper dolls. It’s a little more time consuming than some of the other things I do, but well worth the extra work I think. I tried to capture the broad shoulder of the 1940s with all these pieces and I think some of them were more successful in that than others. Color-wise, I wanted things to be super mix and match. Plus, of course, today’s 1940s Jade paper doll can wear any of the dresses for last week’s 1940s Topaz paper doll. For my patrons, there was a 1940s Lapis paper doll who can also share.

Jade’s hair is based on that of Butterfly McQueen. I often use actresses for vintage paper dolls hair reference images and I don’t have a strong collection of vintage black fashion magazines. Since I work with historical documents for a living, I have no desire to add piles of old magazines to my world. I do enough of that at my job. You can pop over to Pinterest to see more of my 1940s fashion inspiration for today’s paper doll. As always, I also used my books which are a big part of my paper doll research universe.

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1950s Dresses with Sapphire

If I had to pick one period of fashion that I think I would look pretty good in it would be the 1950s. In the real world, I might be a strictly hoodies and jeans sort of girl, but if I do dress up, the the 1950s tight waist, full skirt, is my go-to silhouette.

Also, historical paper dolls are what I mostly collect and were my favorites as a child. So, it is a win-win all around for me. I did this series last year for the larger scale Jewels and Gemstones. It was fun to put them together as a set. I have even more 1950s stuff, so there will be another set of these.

Let’s talk some sources. Her dresses are Vogue 8596, Simplicity 3572 and Simplicity 4966. Two of the hats are from the Montgomery Ward Spring Summer 1950.. All of the other Accessory inspirations are from the Met including- this purse, these shoesthis hat, and these shoes. Her underwear is this corset from the V&A. 

A 1950s black fashion paper doll to color with retro dresses and underwear. She has three dresses, three hats and two pairs of shoes.

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For Sapphire’s hair, I based her style off the hair styles worn by Dorothy Dandridge and Leana Horne two black stars from the 1950s. These photos of Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge (Here’s the same hair again on Dorothy Dandridge in 1954) were my inspiration.

They were also super interesting people. Dorothy Dandridge was an actress who was the first African-American woman to on the cover of Life magazine. She died quite young, sadly. Lena Horne was a wildly successful singer. She got blacklisted after being accused of being a communist.

A 1950s black fashion paper doll to print with vintage dresses and underwear. She has three dresses, three hats and two pairs of shoes.

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I tend to love the color red. However, for this set, I chose to try to avoid using it, even though I tend to always want to. Her only red is the lipstick. I love the idea of wearing hats, even though I don’t. So, the hats as universal as possible, so I matched them to shoes.

The show Lovecraft Country made me want to finish this set. The character Ruby has the most amazing outfits. I love seeing a curvy, black woman dressed up in the finest 1950s fashion. The actress Wunmi Mosaku does an amazing job with the character and I love the costuming choices like this dress and this dress. Seriously, I want her all clothes.

I don’t know if I’d universally recommend Lovecraft Country, because it is a horror show and there’s some pretty graphic violence. I like it, but I know it won’t be everyone’s taste. Plus, it is uneven- hits well when it hits, but when it doesn’t… (much like Lovecraft’s writing) it’s a little painful. There’s also some transphobic stuff which I found pretty troubling. I think the show has good and bad things about it.

I digress. Enjoy today’s paper doll and if you love the blog (and want more paper dolls) join us over on Patreon.

1955 Summer Dress With Hat and Purse

A lovely Mid-1950s Summer Dress with hat. The dress is from Vogue in 1955. The hat is from Montgomery Ward in 1950. The purse is from Sears.

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Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll
There’s a few silhouettes one tends to associate with retro 50s fashion. There’s the tight waisted, full skirt look (like this) or the narrow fitted suit look (like this). There’s also a few variations on this and one of those variation is the dropwaist version of the full skirted look.

A dropwaist is when the waist (aka seam where the bodice meets the skirt) is lower than the natural waist on a person. A highwaist is when the waist is raised above the natural waist, but below the bust. An empire waist is when the waist of a dress is located right under the bust.

More than you maybe wanted to know about fashion terminology. I digress.

Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
Summer is coming rapidly to Alabama. I love the Fall in Alabama and I like the Winter. I could leave the Summer without any sense of guilt at all. It’s hot and humid and my allergies are exploding. Ugh!

Anyway, I always think women in retro spring fashion ads look so wonderfully cool and calm and it probably sucked living in Alabama in the 1950s when air conditioning was rare and petticoats were common. None the less, I loved the concept if not the reality.

Specific Source Images: Vogue 8596, Montgomery Ward Spring/Summer 1950 hats pages and Sears (I used Everyday Fashions of the Fifties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs)

Learn/See More
On the Blog: More Jewels & Gemstones paper dolls & More 1950s Paper Dolls
Around the Internet: Closet Historian regularly posts images from vintage catalogs in her collection and they are fascinating.

Last Thoughts
I’ve done two more 1950’s paper doll dresses and shared them with my Patrons. They are a 1950s suit and 1950s day dress. Join Us on Patreon if you’d like to support the blog (and get more paper doll content!)

Also, if you’re thinking- Well, I wish I had a 1950s paper doll to wear this stylin’ 1950s dress, I’ve made a version of the ever delightful Sapphire in 1950’s underwear. So, you can print her, but, as always, this dress will fit any of the Jewels & Gemstones paper dolls. Retro 50s fashion is so popular right now.

Pirate Costume for the Paper Dolls! Sailing the High Seas

We're having fun with pirates today with a printable pirate costume for the paper dolls including a top, hat, sword, pants and boots.

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Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll
My favorite book as a child was Treasure Island. I’ve read it many many times now and I love it more each time. I even listened to it on audio while driving between states during my move. The characters are incredible and every-time I read it, I notice something new I didn’t see before.

Through Treasure Island, I fell in love with super old-school adventure novels. By high school, I had read Robinson Crusoe, Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo and Kidnapped. My first love though remains Treasure Island.

Three Musketeers is a close second.

So, I like to draw pirate outfits. I blame is enjoyment on my love of Treasure Island. I suppose I could blame it on something else, I don’t know what I would point to.

Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
Pirates, of course. Not real pirates (who I expect were rather smelly and dirty), but fantasy pirates who are much more fun and less likely to have scurvy.

Specific Source Images:This image from Pinterest

Learn/See More
On the Blog: More Pirate Paper Dolls, Another Jewels & Gemstones Foray into the Genre & More Jewels and Gemstones Generally
Around the Internet: My Pinterest board section devoted to Pirates.

Last Thoughts
By the way, I’m doing March Meet the Maker on Instagram (mostly, though I am also posting to Facebook when it makes sense) and if you want to follow along, you can follow me on Instagram.

My patrons got a Pirate set on Monday and that set does mix and match with this set. What more paper dolls? Then come join up on Patreon.

What were your favorite books as a kid? Did you love pirate stories or something else? I was a pirates and fairy tale fan. Not shocking, I know.

Steampunk Paper Doll Costume For The B Pose Dames

A steampunk paper doll costume for the B Pose paper dolls with pants, boots, hat and shirt. You can print it in color or print it as a coloring page. That's up to you!

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I’m going to close out this week with steampunk paper doll styles. This is the first and then there will be a steampunk B Pose paper doll to wrap up the week. Next week, I’ll be debuting a new paper doll post image style (I hope) or I won’t get it anything done and I’ll have to go on hiatus to catch up.

At least I’m honest, right?

Meanwhile, I really wanted to design a steampunk paper doll costume that wasn’t “fancy” and felt a little more like what a working person in a steampunk world might wear. I decided to do a similar color scheme for today’s outfit as I did for steampunk Changrui which was a big inspiration, I confess. 

Sometimes when I am drawing one paper doll set quickly brings me to another paper doll set in a sort of paper doll cascade.  

What do you think? Do you prefer your steampunk more “street” or more “fancy” with ruffles and top hats? I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment. 

Need  a doll for today’s clothing? All the B 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 Foray Into Goth Paper Doll Fashions

A set of goth paper doll fashions for the A pose paper dolls from paperthinpersonas.com. The set includes a black picture hat, scull covered leggings, a t-shirt with a coffin on it and a black tunic with a corset belt. You can print them in color or black and white for coloring.

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All fashion styles (main-steam and not) go through evolution. The goth fashion of my teenage years is not the goth fashion of today. Sure, there is some similarities- lots of black, references to death, and corsets. However, like all fashion, it has trends like anything else. When I was younger, goth fashion was a lot of long flared skirts, corsets, crop tops to show off belly-button rings and boot-cut vinyl pants.

Today’s goth fashion (as far as I have observed) is a lot more leggings, tunic tops and large picture hats.

So, I wanted to capture that when I was designing today’s set of goth paper doll clothing. The first challenge was the leggings. A lot of Gothic style leggings are heavily patterned. I chose skulls (something I’m not great at drawing) and roses to go on mine with a background of polka-dots. Conceptually, I wanted the shoes to feel a bit Victorian boot like, but I’m not sure I succeeded in that. I think I should have made them more chunky.

The blouse is based on several I saw online, primarily this one. The hat comes from images like this and this. I wanted it to be clear that the corset belt it part of the blouse, not a separate piece, but I’m not sure I succeeded. Frankly, this whole set is one that I feel like I could have done better on.

The red shirt with the coffin was really my attempt at a gothic t-shirt that wasn’t a band reference, a pentagram (I have several pagan friends and I try not to depict religious symbols in my art that aren’t my own) or a sarcastic saying. Lettering is challenging at the scale I tend to work at.

I made the shirt red, so I could make the coffin black. Otherwise, you can’t really tell it is a coffin.

And on the coffin is a wee little skull.

So, that’s how I ended up with today’s goth paper doll fashions.

All right, so how did I do with my goth fashion attempt? Are there any goth fashion affection-adios out there who can tell me if I am totally off the mark? Let me know in a comment.

And if you love the blog and want to support it, I’m always happy to get more Patrons. You can sign up here.

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