Topaz in her Early 1940s Fashions

A black and white printable 1940s paper doll coloring page with vintage fashions to color. Four mix and match dresses, plus hats and shoes.

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

A printable 1940s paper doll coloring page with vintage fashions. Four mix and match dresses, plus hats and shoes. The dolls wears a 1940s style swimsuit.

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

When I am drawing a historical fashion set, like today’s 1940s fashion paper doll, I always struggle a little to find sources. Since most things after 1924 are perceived as being still in copyright, there’s just not as much out there on the internet. I won’t get into my personal opinions about that one, but I did discover an amazing resource when I was working on this 1940s fashion paper doll was this site called Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wishbooks. It doesn’t just contain Christmas catalogs, but also have general Sears, Montgomery Ward, and a few JCPenney catalogs from the mid-20th century. Super fun to look through- one thing I noticed was the gradual decline of space given to the topic of hats for women in the catalogs from the 1940s to the end of the 1960s.

You can see more of my sources on my 1940s Fashion Pinterest Board. I also used my books, as I usually do. There’s going to one more from this collection. The first one was last month’s Patreon paper doll. I’m also doing a Patreon poll on the next decade I should do (I already have a 1960s and 1930s sets in the works). Currently, the 1980s is in the lead. If you are a patron, go vote!

Want to know more about my paper dolls? Subscribe to my Very Occasional Newsletter!

Want to support the blog and access to more paper dolls every month? Join us on Patreon!