Regency Paper Dolls by Amanda Kastner AKA Story Seamstress: A Review

So, here is my review of the new paper doll book, Regency Paper Dolls by Amanda Kastner. There are things I love about this book and things which, frankly, I found a little bit less then ideal.

Let me start by saying, I am 100% behind more artists making paper dolls. I have been keeping track of paper doll new releases for my newsletter. So, when I saw a paper doll book was out by someone I didn’t know and it was historical fashion, I ordered it. Is there anything that could be better than that combo?

I think not.

The basics- This book is by Amanda Kastner, also known as Story Seamstress. It is published by Amazon’s self-publishing imprint, I believe. It is letter sized and has three dolls on the covers, a title page, 20 pages of clothing/furniture/stuff and two blank pages in the back. There is also a coloring book version.

I love the art, the line-work is delightful and there’s a sweet whimsy to it. It feels friendly, if that makes sense. The dolls all have very different faces and the hair is fantastic. Plus, each face is distinct looking, though I am like 80% sure the chins are duplicated. But I am not going to be upset about that, I reuse heads all the time in my own art. Who am I to judge?

While there’s some variation in skin tone, I’d love to have seen at least one dark brown paper doll rather than two different shades of white and one sort of tan paper doll. The lack of paper doll diversity in historical paper doll books is something I rail against often (and plan to continue to do so.)

Moving on, the style of Regency Paper Dolls feels almost like collage. Each page is double-sided with cutouts on one-side and a pattern on the back. The patterns on the dresses are repeated in the backgrounds in a different scale. The effect is super charming. Plus, she has drawn bonnets really well and I super need to get better at that, so I’ll be studying those closely.

And now, the downsides…. Most of these have to do with the Amazon Print on Demand situation, I suspect. The book feels cheaply made. I know when using print on demand that authors have limited options, but I can’t ignore this when paper dolls are so tactile. The covers are super thin and flimsy. The interior paper is nice and thick, but the whole book feels floppy. My cat already bent the cover by laying on it, so I’m not sure how it would stand up to actual children.

My biggest complaint is that the clothing is the same 5 plates repeated in different color schemes. There are over 100 pieces though and that’s super impressive. Never the less, I would have loved to have seen a long sleeved dress, a riding habit, a few more bonnets, a winter walking costume trimmed in fur… there are so many options!

One thing that stumped me is that the dolls have hair pieces on the title page. Even after staring at them for a few minutes, I’m not 100% clear on how the hair works. Do you glue them to the back of the doll’s heads? There was no explanation which surprised me since the rest of the instructions are wonderfully clear with little diagrams. Seriously, I wish I was this good at writing instructions for paper dolls.

Do I regret my purchase? Not at all, I am happy to get to add a paper doll book my an artist I didn’t know to my collection and I hope she does more. I would love to see her do some fairy tale paper dolls, I think her art would be lovely for that.

You can grab a copy of this paper doll book and the coloring book version I didn’t get from Amazon. I don’t think the printed books are offered elsewhere, but you can get downloads from her Etsy page to print your own.