Dames & Dandies

What to Wear to The End of The World

A set of post-apocalyptic clothing for the free printable paper dolls from paperthinpersonas.com

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Originally, I was going to start the guys series with jeans, but after I thought about it, I decided the jeans were too boring. Realistic? Oh yeah, but… not exactly pulpy fantasy armor or an elegant fantasy gown.

So, I moved the jeans to Friday and instead decided to open up with these post-apocalyptic outfits. Plus a reader commented on my Facebook page about how excited she was for more post-apocalyptic clothing.

See? I do actually listen to people.

Anyway, I spent most of Christmas time with my parents in the Southwest. I also spent most of that trip working on paper dolls for this month like mad woman. So, the colors of this post-apocalyptic clothing really reflect the colors of the desert. The thing about the desert is that at first glance it just looks brown. When you really watch how the color changes when the light changes, you realize there’s a whole depth of ochre, hazy purple and soft mossy teal there. Suddenly, the desert doesn’t look brown anymore than a forest is just green. 

It is one of the things I love about the desert. 

It is also the same color scheme that I used for this Sprite’s paper doll set of apocalyptic clothing. I had planned on developing a new color scheme, but I rapidly realized that my “new” color scheme was almost identical to this older color scheme, so I decided to borrow it instead. 

Lazy? I prefer to think of it as time management. 

Design wise, I drew inspiration from this set of armor and this pair of pants. Both pieces come from my Post-Apocalyptic Fashion Pinterest board. I haven’t done it yet, but I think I really need to design something that used this amazing leather arm piece. I’m kinda in love with it. 

If you’re thinking “Man, I need more post-apocalyptic fashion paper dolls in my life” than I have a whole post-apocalyptic tag for you to enjoy. 

Either way, tell me what you think of today’s paper doll in a comment, if you have a chance. Always love to hear from you all. 

Need a a Doll to wear today’s clothing? All the C Pose Dolls & Clothing

Meet Changrui: A New Paper Doll Man

One of the Pose C paper doll men, Changrui is an Asian paper doll with three pairs of shoes. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

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Years ago, I was told that you should never apologize for your art. However, I confess that I sort of feel like I should apologize, because I’m not great a drawing paper doll men. I’ve never felt as comfortable drawing men as I do drawing women.

And my mother’s remark that my Post C paper doll men had “awfully narrow shoulders” did not help any.

Still, the only way to get better at something is to practice. I have come around, mostly, to the the idea that men’s clothing can be interesting. I would like to learn more about historical men’s clothing, for example, and that’ll require a lot of research on my part. It’s something I am not as comfortable as I am with women’s clothing.

The first of the Pose C paper doll men is Changrui. Changrui is a name with Chinese origins. Like a lot of Asian names, the meaning of Changrui depends on which characters are used to create it.

I suppose you might say the Pose C dolls are designed to be the “Dandies” to go with my Pose A and Pose B “Dames.” Anyway, right now poor Changrui can’t be feeling very dandy as he doesn’t have anything clothing yet, but don’t worry- later this week he’ll get his share of outfits to wear.

Meanwhile, let me know what you think of Changrui in a comment and, if you like the blog, consider becoming a Patron.

Quick shout out- Toria of A Paper Closet has started posting again after a bit of a hiatus. She’ll be updating weekly and if you haven’t than I would encourage you to hop over and check out her beautiful black and white paper dolls.

Need a Clothing for today’s doll to wear? All the C Pose Dolls & Clothing

Wintertime Paper Doll Fashions: Jeans & A Warm Coat

A warm winter coat for the paper dolls with jeans and boots. Free to print in color or black and white.

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One of the ironies of my working style is that I somehow end up with lots of paper doll content that ends up posting way out of season. Shorts in the winter cold are not at all uncommon in my paper doll world. However, since I drew all these outfits for the next few weeks in December, I felt wonderful about posting some honest to goodness winter clothing in January.

It’s been so chilly these last few weeks in the South. I’m not used to it threatening to freeze so much here. I’m keeping my heat on when I leave the house and a faucet dripping. I would leave my under-sink cabinets open, but my cat is very curious and I worry she’d get into the cleaning supplies I keep down there. These are the choices one makes when one has a cat, I suppose.

So far, no pipe problems. It is warmer this week than it was last week and cold weather kills off the bug population, so I am trying to be positive about the whole thing. Meanwhile, I’ve broken out my wool coat, gloves, boots, scarf and hat.

The B Pose paper dolls have done the same with today’s outfit. One fur collared coat, a pair of boots, long sleeved t-shirt and jeans. For truly cold places, you can imagine the jeans are lined in flannel. I really do enjoy drawing coats and I should do more of them, I think.

There’s an alternative version of today’s paper doll outfit over on the Patreon page for anyone to download if they like. While you’re there, consider becoming a patron. It helps pay for the blog’s server costs and such.

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

The Warrior Woman’s Impractical Armor

Pulpy ladies fantasy armor designed for the free printable paper dolls- Dames and Dandies from paperthinpersonas.com.

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All right, so I grew up watching Xena: Warrior Princess and I refuse to apologize for my love of completely pulpy, totally improbable fantasy warrior outfits. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t realize that this armor would be about as useful in a fight as an actual cocktail dress, but it’s never stopped me before.

One of the great joys of paper dolls, if I may get philosophical for a moment, is that they can be anything or anyone. Any character you can imagine, can be created with just a change of clothing. Starting a new series a little daunting after having created works like Marisole Monday & Friends where there are, literally, hundreds of paper dolls. 

Now, I both get the excitement of revisiting themes I always have enjoyed (like my pulpy armor today), but also the overwhelming realization that there’s hundreds of themes I haven’t explored yet- astronaut, circus, pirate, Lolita, post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk, all of fashion history and, of course, mermaids.

But those will be explored in due course, I suspect. This isn’t going to be the last set of fantasy armor for the Dames and Dandies, though it is the first. 

Meanwhile, is there a theme you’re dying to see? Let me know in a comment. And enjoy today’s pulpy armor.  

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Meet Beatrix: The First Pose B Paper Doll

A black paper doll with curly natural hair to print in color or black and white for coloring from paperthinpersonas.com. She comes with three pairs of shoes.

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This is Beatrix, a name I knew I wanted to name her the moment I drew her. I have no idea why, but she looked like a Beatrix to me.

She is also the first of the Pose B paper dolls for the Dames and Dandies series. This is version one of Beatrix, which I intentionally made pretty neutral. A doll and some shoes. There will, no doubt be a version 2 and a version 3 eventually.

But we are starting with version one.

My original plan for Beatrix version one was micro-braids, but I seriously screwed them up while I was inking them and I decided to do something different instead. I draw a lot of micro-braids, after all. Instead, I thought I would stretch my wings a little and try a side parted natural hair style. 

I think it came out pretty well.

Let me know what you think on a comment about today’s paper doll? I’d love to hear from you.

Need a clothing for today’s Doll? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Let’s Visit the 1970s & Get Some Clothing

A set of printable paper doll clothing from the 1970s. A pair of tops and pants from home sewing patterns of the era.

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It’s taken a while for me to start liking the 1970s as a fashion era. For a long time, I just wasn’t that into it. So much of the clothing from the 1970s felt clown like to me. Over the top.

Which is odd when you consider my other favorite eras are all about over the top. I mean, have you seen the 18th century? Over the top is kinda the defining concept of the Rococo era.

What I’ve slowly been realizing is that while a lot of 1970s fashion is not to my taste, there are pockets that I simply adore. The folkloric stuff is right up my alley and I have a strange fondness for a lot of the more absurd platform shoes and the black power African influenced stuff.

Today’s paper doll designs are from home sewing patterns of the era. Sewing patterns tend to be closer to everyday wear than designer things you might have seen on the runway.

Pants became totally acceptable for women to wear in the 1970s. This was a slow process that started way back in the 1920s with lounging pajamas. So, these pants are from Simplicity 9374. They have a laced up fly (which is false) and a back zipper.

Front flys on pants were still seen as a little too risque.

The shirts are from McCall’s 5021. One of my favorite things about clothing from the 1970s is the embroidery. I love embroidery on clothing. It’s also back in style which makes me giddy as a schoolgirl. 

It just occurred to me as I wrote that that “giddy as a schoolgirl” is a trifle sexist. Hmm… I’ll have to think about that. 

Meanwhile, let me know what you think of 1970’s clothing in a comment. Do you like it? Hate it? Is there a historical era you’d like to see me draw for the new series? 

And, if you want to help out the blog, consider joining Patreon. Every little bit helps. 

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

And Then There Was a Fantasy Gown

A fantasy gown design for the Dames and Dandies printable paper doll series from Paperthinpersonas.com. Free to print in color or black and white.

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It’s hard to know with what paper doll dress to start a new paper doll series. It’s full of both excitement and worry. I decided to make the first outfit in the series a classic fantasy gown design. It’s actually the first gown I drew for the new series after I had the dolls finished, so I suppose it is a fitting place to begin. 

I picked a rich dark blue as the primary color scheme for the gown with red and ocher. It should come as no surprise that her accessory is a book. I do love drawing books for my paper dolls. It’s the librarian in me. The garters are very decorative and I don’t know how practical they would be, but they do look nice. 

Inspiration wise, the fantasy gown design owes a little to the 12th century dresses like the bliaut, but there wasn’t a specific gown I based today’s dress off of. If you’re not sure what a bliaut is, than picture the stereotypical medieval dress and you’re pretty much there. Historical bliaut’s were more loose and less fitted. 

 Today’s design probably owes more to Victorian interpretations of the bliaut like the one in The Lady of Shallot by Waterhouse or The Accolade by Edmund Leighton than actual 12th century bliauts. It’s astonishing to me, sometimes, how much the visions of the medieval era are shaped by the romantic paintings of the Victorians (and, to be technical, the Edwardians as Waterhouse was later.)

Meanwhile, I’ve got an alternative color scheme for today’s gown over on the Patreon page for my patrons to check out. Join if you’d like to support the blog! 

As always, I would love to hear what you think in a comment. 

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Meet Alice: The First of the New Printable Paper Doll Series

A blond paper doll with three pairs of shoes. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

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Happy New Year!

This is the first post of the new series, Dames and Dandies. I really should be calling it the only paper doll series, but we’ll stick with new paper doll series for now.

There will be three poses for these printable paper dolls. This is the A Pose. There will also be a B Pose. And a guy paper doll pose called the C pose. Right now, we’re starting with the A pose. Wednesday and Friday, I will be posting clothing for the A pose and then next Monday I’ll post the first doll in the B pose series.

C pose guy paper dolls will post the week after that. Nice and alphabetical, you know? Also right now, I have more guy content than either the A or the B pose ladies. Weird… that has never happened before in my paper dolling life.

This is Alice. She is the first of the A pose dolls and this is the first version of Alice. Other Alice versions will, I suspect, follow. In fact, I already have a few in process so… not only do I suspect it, I know it to be true.

While I would love to switch to a daily updating schedule, I just don’t think there’s really very sensible with my graduate school classes starting up again in a few days. So, right now, the blog will update Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

And so, it begins… 🙂

Feel free to ask me any burning questions you may have or even just non-burning ones. The truth is that I might not have an answer yet, but I do want to hear everyone’s thoughts and concerns.

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