jeans

The Curvy Girls Get Some Tunics and Jeans

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Stuff I saw When I Went Clothing Shopping

Curvy paper dolls fashions including tunics and jeans. Available in black and white or in color.

A dress from 1820 for the B&B curvy paper doll series based on a gown from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to color and print.

I find that with my new daily posts, I seem to shy away from contemporary clothing in a way that I didn’t before. I just finished a bunch of future Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll posts and not one of them is a contemporary fashion set. (There is, however, a super cool 1920s golf outfit that’ll go up in a few weeks and it’s darn cute.)

The point is that I do believe in paper doll diversity. That doesn’t mean that I only want to have a lot of skin tones. It also means that I want variety of themes.

I like variety. Variety keeps me amused.

So, anyway, I am going to try to draw more contemporary stuff. After all, sometimes paper dolls want to flounce around in huge dresses and sometimes they want to wear skinny jeans.

Today, I decided that the Buxom & Bodacious got some cute modern clothing. A few months back, I went shopping for some casual clothing and I tried on some things a lot like these. First of all, none of them look good on me, but that’s what paper dolls are for!

Just as a friendly reminder, I now have an Etsy Store! There is a coupon code good for 25% off an order of 4.00 or more until the end of March. Visit the shop and use the code: READER2017

If you’re not in the mood for shopping, then think about supporting the blog by becoming a patron.

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

Mini-Maidens in some 1970s Fashions

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Simplicity 6931 from 1975
A black and white paper doll coloring page with 1970s fashions based on a vintage pattern cover. From paperthinpersonas.com

Today, the Mini-Maidens are visiting 1975 with an outfit and hair inspired by the looks of that era. I’ve never been a big 1970s fashion fan, but I confess the period has grown on my lately. I think it’s the sideburns.

One thing I do love are vintage pattern covers. Everything about them from the pose to the styles are so much of their era. A 1975 pattern cover from Simplicity inspired today’s paper doll 1970s fashion. The pattern had two options- a dress or a blouse, but I liked the blouse better. Somehow, the dress reminded me a little too much of a nightgown. A lot of 1970s maxi dresses remind me a lot of nightgowns.

If you’re a sewist, Wren Feathers has a super cute pattern for a blouse in this style sized for slim body 18 inch dolls. I haven’t sewn it up yet, but it has been in my “to sew” pile for a long time. Just in case your non-paper dolls need some 1970s fashion.

Greta, one of the Mini-Maiden dolls, is modeling the outfit and has a 1970’s shag haircut. The pattern cover inspired the jeans and platform shoes too.

One thing I find fascinating about 1970s fashion is that a lot of it looks very contemporary. Sometimes it is just the hair or the textile that gives away the age of the garment. You could probably get away with the jeans and shoes today. I’m not so sure about the blouse. Something about those sleeves kinda feels very dowdy to me.

What do you think? Are you a 1970s fashion lover or is it a decade you could see less of? Let me know in a comment.

Tomorrow there will be 18th Century Sprites Clothing. Yes, male historical clothing. Shocking, I know.

Meanwhile, have you thought about donating? It’s quick and helps keep the blog around. Sign up through Patreon.

Also, happy MLK Day to everyone who is celebrating.

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

Marisole Monday & Friends: The Gents Get Some T-Shirts and Jeans

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: T-shirts and Jeans, Nothing More, Nothing Less
A pair of paper doll t-shirts and a pair of jeans for the boy printable paper dolls. Available in black and white or in color. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

A pair of paper doll t-shirts and a pair of jeans for the boy printable paper dolls. Available in black and white or in color. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

Maybe this isn’t the most “thrilling” set of guy paper doll clothing. I mean, maybe if you were like, “I want to go fight a monster” than you might want to reach for something more like this or this. However, if your paper doll guys want to go to the store or take one of the paper doll ladies or gents out on a nice casual date, than they need some gear for that.

While I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life drawing nothing but paper doll t-shirts and jeans, today’s versions are pretty fun. I am trying to learn to think of them as blank canvases which have options for dynamic design. The basic form of a t-shirt is always the same, but there are cool things that can be done with one.

I’m actually pretty happy with the jeans. I am still working on learning how to make folds look natural on men’s pants. I think today’s jeans are a pretty good middle ground.

One of my goals for 2016 was to create more guy paper dolls and I’ll confess that guy paper doll clothing has challenges. Truth is that I find it pretty much “same old, same old”. Still, as I said above, I am trying to learn to embrace it as a blank canvas.

As 2016 is coming to a close, I have to confess I am struck with how many things I “tried” on the blog this year. I’m thankful for everyone who stuck with me through trying to sort out what I wanted to blog to be. Also, everyone who supports the blog on Patreon or leaves a comment or who follows me on Twitter or who just comes to read. Your support means a lot to me.

And that leads me to the question, more guy paper doll content in 2017? Is that something y’all want to see?

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

Sprites: Casual Jeans, Sweaters, Shorts and a T-shirt

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:  College Guy’s Clothing, Shirts Under Sweaters and Slightly Failed Color Schemes
Jean shorts, t-shirt for the guy paper dolls and a sweater with skinny grey jeans for the lady paper dolls. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

This is the first of two outfits for male paper dolls this week. Shocking, I know.

The truth is that compared to women’s clothing, I confess I find a lot of men’s clothing boring. Despite that, I am trying to draw more for the guys and I do find this new format liberating in that regard. One guy outfit is much less pressure than say… three.

The Sprites are a challenge, because I want the guy and girl paper doll outfits to match in some way and I think in this set, I kinda failed to do that very well. The boy paper doll gets jeans and shorts and our lady paper doll gets a sweater and skinny jeans. I thought if I used the same grey it would kinda pull the outfits together, but I rather think it fails to do that. Never the less, not every coloring job is a success.

I work at a college, so I see what college students wear. 99% of the time, guys wear t-shirts. Sometimes they mix it up with a hoodie, but generally it is a t-shirt. In that respect, I enjoy trying to find interesting ways to pattern the t-shirts of my male paper dolls. Meanwhile, the lady paper doll is wearing one of my favorite looks which is a shirt under a sweater.

I haven’t got much else to day about these guys. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I am in full on pie making mode. I hope everyone who celebrates has a great Holiday tomorrow and everyone who doesn’t celebrate just has a lovely Thursday.

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

B&B: Some Casual Street Clothes, Cause Every Girl Needs Jeans

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Skinny Jeans, Mid-Century Modern Shapes and the Color Yellow.

Paper doll clothing pieces- two tops, a purse and a pair of skinny jeans. Designed for the Bodacious & Buxom series.

I originally drew these printable paper doll clothing pieces to be part of a modern B&B paper doll set which, frankly, was pretty uninspired. Most of the paper doll clothing pieces were boring and simple. So, I picked out my favorite pieces and put them together into this little mini collection for the B&B paper doll series.

Can I be blunt? I like you all, so I feel like I can be blunt.

I am totally enjoying getting to post whatever I feel like. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t really call this week “random.” I carefully picked out which designs would go up and in what order. These things do matter a rather lot to me. Never the less, I like the variety in my printable paper doll designs and I hope all of you do as well.

This doesn’t mean that when the mood strikes that there won’t ever be a weekly theme ever again. For example, next week there will be, but more on that when we get there. It’s not like I could ignore Halloween completely.

Today’s set of printable paper doll clothing for the B&B series has a pair of jeans, two blouses and a matching purse. I would wear both of these blouses. The teal one would have to go under a cardigan, as I am not too keen on exposing my upper arms to the light of day.

Now, if you like the blog and check it out regularly, then think about supporting it through Patreon.

Tomorrow, we’ll be closing the week with a viking inspired set of fantasy clothing. Who doesn’t want that?

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

Faye’s Casual Afternoon: Paper Doll Coloring Sheet

fayes-casual-logo Today, we have a paper doll coloring sheet for Faye of Mini-Maiden fame. One thing I try to do with the contemporary casual style Mini-Maidens is make sure there is some unique pieces to each set, but also that every set could be combined. I mean, think about it, if you put together Greta in Autumn, Meet Faye, Isadora in Ruffles and Bows, Faye’s Fashionable Geometrics, Meet Greta, Hazel’s Geometric Style, Meet Hazel and Hazel’s Fresh Fashions than you would have nine paper dolls and at least 98 pieces of clothing and shoes. I decided not to even count the necklaces and purses and things.

The point I am trying to make, all be it maybe obliquely, is that every Mini-Maiden paper doll coloring sheet builds on every other one, allowing a ton of options that are fun. Because all the clothing can be shared among the paper dolls, there really are endless options.

Plus, if you’re hosting Easter and you need something to distract some small children, might I recommend printing out a few black and white paper doll sets to color? I swear it works. One friend told me it got her five year olds to be occupied for a whole 30 minutes.

Not to brag or anything, but seriously, have you tried to occupy five year olds before? Totally impossible.

A fashionista paper doll with a big wardrobe. Exclusive to paperthinpersonas.com.

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Anyway, moving back to today’s paper doll and away from the difficulties with occupying small children- I did something I haven’t done in a long time and tried to do a tweed texture on the skirt. I used to do a lot of texture in my black and white sets (here’s a better example of the “tweed texture”) and then I kinda abandoned it, but I’m trying to get back into the practice. I also did a crop top. I might hate them, but they seem to be coming back into style.

Though… I mean, I lived through the 90s and I would really rather not have to live through them again fashion-wise.

If you want more paper dolls featuring Faye, there are quite a few here.

So, Monday there will be some black and white Marisole Monday paper dolls I found in my archives and then I will probably be going on a haitus for the month of April. I need some breathing room right now and I think I should take it.

Thoughts? Comments? As always, I love to hear from y’all.

 

Summer Garden: A Paper Doll and Her Clothing

logo-floral-marisole-color I love color. I have teal dining room chairs, after all and a red cabinet in my dining room that holds my larger serving dishes. My favorite sweater is lime green and very fuzzy. I call it the Mountain Dew sweater. The point I am trying to make is that if I have the choice between neutrals and a color- you can pretty much count on me picking out a color. And this helps explain why I decided to go so bright and rich with Marisole’s paper doll clothing.

Someone, I think it was Boots, remarked that she was picturing a lot of yellow and green. Well, she wasn’t wrong… Yellow and Green are definitely here. I wanted color in this paper doll set- the sort of vibrant colors I love in flowers when they are in full bloom. Of course, right now it’s cold and damp here in Alabama, but eventually it won’t be and then the bright colors of spring and summer with come.

And I can complain about the heat on this blog, thereby continuing my theme of never being happy about the weather. (Though I suppose this isn’t true, I do enjoy Spring in Alabama.)

summer-garden-paper-doll-color

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One of my grand frustrations with Marisole’s pose is that you can’t actually layer a long sleeved top under a skirt and expect the skirt to stay on the doll, because of her right arm which is against her stomach. This is one of the annoyances that occurs to me when I am designing mix and match paper doll clothing for her and I want to do things that just won’t work.

I’d scrap the series and redraw, but it is uber hard to give up something that I’ve been doing for six years. There are about 240 Marisole Monday & Friend’s posts on the blog. It is my most popular series and so I feel a little bound to it. It’s also a tiny bit weird to be working on something I drew over six years ago. I remember drawing the first Marisole doll. I was in grad school sitting in the library killing time between class and when I had to go to work.

And now I live in a totally different state and she’s still around. Kinda crazy, honestly.

(Don’t fear, I don’t plan on getting rid of Marisole Monday & Friend‘s anytime soon. Just thoughts about the paper doll series.)

As always, I love hearing comments from readers and, if you want to support the blog, here’s the Patreon page for it.

And Happy New Year to those celebrating the Year of the Monkey!

Summer Garden: A Paper Doll Coloring Page

A black and white paper doll dress up set of sixteen pieces including two pairs of shoes, five tops, two dresses, two skirts, two pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes. Normally, I try not to post two fashion paper doll sets in a row, but somehow my life just didn’t let me finish up the other sets I had hoped to have done. Sometime’s life is like that, so for today’s paper doll dress up, you’ll just have to live with another contemporary fashion set.

A lot of these pieces are based on things from fashion magazines.

One of my goals with this set was to use more pattern on each piece. So, I decided to focus on floral patterns. It was fun to create the patterns for these pieces. Of all of the different pieces, my favorite is the drop waisted floral dress. (The polkadot covered jeans are a close second, I confess. They are based on a pair owned by my sister.)

I will openly confess that I really don’t remember everything I was thinking when I designed this set, except that I really wanted to play with pattern. See? Not very set has a deep philosophical story behind it.

A black and white paper doll dress up set of sixteen pieces including two pairs of shoes, five tops, two dresses, two skirts, two pairs of pants and two pairs of shoes. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com.

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I’m not sure exactly what season this clothing would really work for. I mean, the turtlenecks are much more autumnal, but the florals are certainly a summer thing. I gave it the title Summer Garden, so I guess it’s summery?

A friendly reminder that if you like the blog and you’d like to support it, I do have a Patreon page where you can donate to keep things around here up and running. It’s also home to the Vivian Project.

I’m also pleased to show off my draft version of my new paper doll index page. It’s still being tweaked, so I’d love to hear what people think of it as well.

Greta in Autumn: A Printable Paper Doll in Black and White

Mini Maidens Logo. Greta In Autumn. Today’s printable paper doll in black and white is Greta sporting an autumnal wardrobe. Greta’s wardrobe was inspired by what I see the college kids on the campus where I work wearing in the fall. Most of my paper dolls are pretty high fashion, or at least very trendy. This has to do with my source materials which tends towards InStyle and Bazaar, but most college students I work with seem a lot more attached to their jeans and t-shirts.

(In college, I lived in a hoodie, jeans and flip-flops- even when it was pouring rain.)

This more casual version of Greta has some jeans, shorts, capris and then a few tops. I focused on sweaters on this set and just gave her a casual t-shirt dress which seems to be a style I see around a lot these days. I can not wear t-shirt dresses, but hey- paper dolls don’t complain when you dress them. 🙂

Great in Autumn is a printable paper doll in black and white with a thirteen piece mix and match wardrobe. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com

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This is my fourth paper doll of 2015 with glasses. I am really embarrassed when I realized that in 2014 I only did one paper doll with glasses. So, one of my unstated goals of 2015, was to do more paper dolls with glasses. While four isn’t that many, I suppose, it is still better than one. I really want to do a historical paper doll with glasses ever since I saw this portrait from 1839 with the cutest glasses. I just haven’t gotten around to it. Researching accessories is an often time consuming part of historical paper doll production.

Right now, I am polling my readers on what they might like to see in the future, that is NOT paper doll related (or at least not a printable paper doll.)

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As always, if you like the blog, I’d appreciate your support on Patreon. Thank you to everyone who already supports me. You guys rock!

A Little Retro Style: Printable Paper Doll

retro-contemporary-logo-colorLike any good printable paper doll should, today Marisole is showing off her full color autumn paper wardrobe complete with some sassy boots. The colors I chose are rich jewel tones for these paper doll clothes. I wanted something that said autumn to me and nothing says autumn like jewel tones.

There are color schemes I come back to over and over again in various forms and one of those is teal, dark pink, and green. I just love these colors together. I do confess that I sometimes I tell myself I can’t use “pink” or I must use “green” and that forces me out of color scheme ruts.

I confess this is a color scheme that I have done before, or at least, I feel like I have done it before. Maybe I’m wrong… anyway, it feels awfully familiar to me.

retro-contemporary-style-color

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Every once in a while, I return to things in the deluded belief they are going to come out better. Like red hair and dark skin, I return to it even though I feel that I have yet to actually get it right.

There’s a term for doing the same thing over again expecting different results. They call that, “insanity.”

Anyway, I once again tried red hair and dark skin. I think this attempt was better than several of my other attempts (Mint and Roses, I am looking at you).

There’s a big announcement coming up Wednesday, so stay tuned for that.