Bright Boho With Summer Styles

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I wanted to draw a sort of trendy paper doll. Two trends inspired this paper doll, one from Summer 2023 (boho) and one from fall 2023 (red). However, while I try to keep my paper dolls up to date (as best as I can), the fact is that there’s a bit of lag between when I draw a paper doll and when I actually finish a paper doll. Things move fast in the fashion world.

Fashion is a world that is pretty alien to me, as I live in Alaska and mostly wear hiking boots, cardigans, and hoodies, though the resurgence of grudge means I am marginally in style these days. It’s very weird. I’m not used to that at all.

Most of the paper dolls that I say were inspired by previous work, I think it’s kinda obvious. This one is a little more subtle, because it really took a very different turn than the original set. Wings and Petals, a paper doll set from 2010, inspired this set.

African dutch wax print patterns inspired the colors of today’s trendy paper doll. If you’ve never checked them out, I love dutch wax print fabric. I just adore the color combinations.

Jewels & Gemstones: Floral Elves Paper Dolls

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Well, when I decided to shift to this newsletter and monthly update schedule, I did not consider the downsides. The biggest one being that it’s much harder for me to step away as might be needed from time to time. I need to think on that, but I am enjoying the newsletter most of the time.

This month has just been very busy with non-paper doll related tasks. The statewide library conference was in-person for the first time in years, so I went to that. And I have two more library related conferences I’m attending this year. Plus, I’ve been working on a side project that isn’t quite ready for prime time (soon it will be and I couldn’t be more excited). And I’ve been prepping things to become prints for the paper doll party in May. Any leftovers from the party, I plan to offer for sale on Etsy, so maybe that’ll be an interesting change of pace.

Anyway, about this paper doll set- I admit that I started on these paper dolls largely, because I wanted to work with an old Marisole Monday set- Fabulous Fairy that I’ve always had a fondness for. Originally, I had planned on drawing wings, but actually ended up running out of paper in a sketchbook and not having a back up one. Opps. I really didn’t want to deal with paper I didn’t like. So, needless to say, the wings never happened.

Influences were largely flowers and the fact that I like gardens. I’m not much of a gardener, though I keep thinking I should take it up. I rent, so I don’t really know if tearing up the yard would be okay. I do keep herbs on my porch when spring comes and I like flowers. Flowers are pretty, useful to insects, and smell nice. It’s hard to be opposed to them, really. Plus, you can eat some of them.

The other big influence over this drawing fantasy hair which I don’t get to do nearly as much as I’d like. I love complicated hairstyles. You can check out some of my influences on my fantasy section of my Hair pinterest board.

If you’re a patron, there will be a Vivian gown sometime next week (exact date depending on how life shapes up) and we’ll continue on from there.

Jade in Circus Inspired Fashions

A printable circus paper doll coloring page with a 12 part wardrobe. Her clothing can mix and match.
A circus paper doll to print for free. Her mix and match wardrobe was inspired by vintage circus posters.

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I really love the visuals of circuses. I always have. After all, I have a whole pinterest board devoted to them, after all. So, sometimes I draw a circus paper doll like today’s to play with those visual motifs. One of the challenges of circus paper dolls is the color scheme. Generally, I do a black, white, and red for a circus paper doll, but I have played around with pink and blue as well.

For this circus paper doll’s color scheme, I decided to go with more a muted, softer cream over using black and added a moss green to add some depth to the whole thing. I wanted her swimsuit/bodysuit to be really a part of the set, so you can easily layer the skirts or hats with it. There’s no floating tabs for the top-hats, so you may need to make your own. I have faith in you all.

I hoped the addition of the green and the cream would make the whole thing feel more vintage. You might have seen the prototype for today’s paper doll a few weeks ago. In that version, I had played around with some weird lipstick for the doll, but I ended up scrapping it. Sometimes I think something will work and then realize… no, no it really doesn’t. Also, I got rid of the face makeup, because it read “evil clown” to me and that was not the vibe I was going for.

Another inspiration for all this was clowns. I don’t mean creepy party clowns or something, I mean traditional masked clowning which is super hard and very old. Goes back to commedia dell’artethat semi-improvised form of Italian masked theater which dates back to the 1500s. I mean, we’re talking old old forms of art here. There’s something universal about masked theater. It seems to show up in most cultures in various forms.

As usual, if you love the blog then become a patron. It helps keep the blog on the internet and you get more paper dolls.

Spring Princess Gowns for Jade

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Sure, there’s still like feet of snow on the ground here and sure yesterday the high was under freezing at 29 degrees, but it is spring darn it! (Signs of spring include a longer day, muddy streets, and trees that are starting to bloom.) It’s just been a much colder spring than usual, but I would rather have a long slow slide into break up than a rapid one, so I’ll take it.

I will also complain loudly about it.

I can have contradictions in my life.

All righty, so let’s talk paper dolls. Back in 2019 or 2020 or something, I started drawing some very fancy big-skirted princess gowns that I called the Princesses and Their Gowns collection. Not really because I thought it would be a big collection, but because all the gowns used the same basic color scheme and style, so I figured it would be simple enough to group them together.

All of last years additions to the collection ended up being Patreon content, so I knew I wanted to add some more for this year and make them blog content.

I chose daffodils to decorate these gowns, because my mother always planted them and they were a favorite flower of mine. I remember my mother would always order her bulbs in the fall and sometimes they wouldn’t arrive until after the ground was frozen and, not about to let that stop her, she’d go out with boiling water and spade to plant them anyway. They always came up, one way or another.

My other favorite flower is peonies which has nothing to do with this paper doll set, but are gown up here and are just amazing in a few weeks when the farmers’ market reopens.

So, do you have a favorite flower? Let me know in a comment!

A 14th Century Fashion Paper Doll With Citrine

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It has been a while since we had a Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper doll, hasn’t it? It feels weird to have taken a two week break from them, but here we are.

So, I actually had this drawn last year, but I needed one more piece of clothing to fill out the set, so I had to draw some last minute shoes which delayed it’s debut until now. But I technically meant this to go along with my 14th century Pearl set. While I never meant for the 14th century to become such a common time period on this site, every time I draw another 14th century paper doll set, I feel like I learn more about the period and get better at rendering it. And I like the learning aspect.

So, Citrine here has two patterned dresses, a veil, a hood, and an extra pair of shoes. The paper doll’s shift is based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v.) at the National Library of France from around 1370-1380. I’ve used the same one for my 12th century and 13th century paper dolls, so they can all share clothing. Shifts are not the easiest thing to find reference images for in this era, let me tell you. Her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz (my usual shoe source for anything this early.

The dress on the left is a sleeveless surcoat (unlike a sideless surcoat, sleeveless surcoats didn’t have huge armholes). I based the pattern on it from BNF Arsenal 3481 Ci commence li livres de Lancelot du Lac (fol. 65r). However, I’ve noticed these lines and dots patterns show a lot in medieval manuscripts and I don’t know if that is because they were easy to paint or if that is because they were commonly worn. The sleeveless surcoat shows up all over the place in early 14th century manuscripts. Here it is in Français 761: Artus le Restauré (fol. 25v) from between 1325 and 1350, in BNF Français 1433 Le Chevalier au Lion (fol. 67) from 1300-1350, and in BL Yates Thompson 13 The Taymouth Hours (fol. 107v). I think it is reasonable to say the style was super popular.

The dress on the right is a patterned surcoat with buttons which I sometimes see referred to as a Cotehardie. I don’t know enough to know if that term is correct (it is for men, I know). I was inspired to draw the pattern, because Roman de Giron le Courtois is full of these elaborate patterned dresses. The text is Italian and I wonder if that is why. Anyway, was the specific inspiration for this one was Folio 44v and Folio 75r. I have no idea what the manuscript is about, but there’s a lot of decapitated heads in it. In case you’re wondering, medieval manuscripts use Folio rather than page number, because most of them lack numbered pages.

Now that I’ve done two 1300s Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls (see Pearl here), I feel like I should do something from the 1400s, which is not a period I know as much about. However, the only way to learn is to try and so I guess I’ll add that to my to do list.

On Patreon I have a poll right now about the next time period to tackle. So, if you join us there, you can vote.

DDJ: A Medieval Inspired Set of Fantasy Gowns

A paper doll printable coloring page with fantasy gowns.

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So, I tend to categorize my fantasy paper dolls in my head based on the time periods that inspired them. This paper doll is vaguely medieval while last year I did a Renaissance inspired Twilight paper doll set. Evening is my newest member of the Dolls Du Jour family who I created because I wanted a more medium-brown skin-tone.

Evening has two dresses which in my head are a Winter Dress and a Summer Dress, though I suppose they could be anything you might want them to be. I had particular fun with this color scheme that I wanted to feel soft and muted, but also rich. I am of the Lord of the Rings Movies generation, so those costume designs have long impacted the way I have thought about fantasy gowns for paper dolls.

Evening, like all the Dolls Du Jour, was named with the help of my Patrons. So, as always a big thank you to those folks without whom this site would be a lot less fun. Also, tomorrow is a newsletter day, so sign up here if you want to get that sent straight to your inbox.

Jade in the Lady-Like Looks of the 1930s

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I am always struck by the femininity of 1930s fashions. Both 1920s and 1940s fashions tend toward the more masculine, but the 1930s always feels very girly to me. I think it’s all the small florals and the puffy sleeves and the ruffles. 

Jade here is in the same color scheme as my Diamond 1930s doll and my Amethyst 1930s doll, so between the three of them I think you get a pretty nice collection of fashions from the era, hats and shoes.

Enjoy!

1930s Suits and Dresses with Amethyst

A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll coloring page with four dresses, two shoes and hats.

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A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll with four dresses, shoes and hats.

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No secret that I adore doing my historical costume paper dolls and the 1930s is a time period I feel like really has two sort of looks happening. The first is a very soft, floral, feminine, lots of little details kind of country look from the feed sack prints of the era. This is not the look of today’s paper doll.

Contrasting with that aesthetic is a sophisticated, shoulder details heavy, suits and jackets of the 1930s. There are still plenty of bows, but the lines are sharper. The dresses don’t feel soft, but almost prickly to me. This is the look I wanted to explore with today’s 1930s vintage fashion paper doll.

A few references- her hair is based on the hair of Gertrude Micheal in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios, her swimsuit is from the V&A, and one of her dresses is from McCalls 8461. Over on Pinterest, I have more of my inspiration images for this 1930s vintage fashion paper doll, but I also used several books, including A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I just picked up and Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs which I’ve owned for years.

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