Every year in March during Spring Fashion Week the big fashion magazines bring out their issues on the trends for the next year. It’s one of the few times I buy fashion magazines, because I love getting to see what’s on the runways.
I know there’s lot of websites that do the same thing, but maybe it’s because I stare at a computer screen most of the day (and even more now that I’m working from home!) that I really find myself craving something that isn’t digital to look at. So, I still pick up my fashion magazines and crack them open.
Inspiration
So, I was pouring through the fashion magazines for March and I noticed a lot of these sort of soft tie-dyed stripes. Well, I can’t draw soft tie dye very well in pen and ink, so I decided to do this instead. It’s sort of an soft semi-monochrome stripe.
Also, just fyi, the new Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 I mentioned last week will debut next week. I am super excited about this.
Ask me if you have any questions!
And if you want more Jewels and Gemstones clothing, check out the Patreon page.
I have just a few of these posts to share before I wrap up the Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 and roll out the new Jewels and Gemstones 2.0. I am super excited to share them.
So, this week will be the last week of Jewels and Gemstones 1.0.
I designed this set to be a set of military inspired steampunk clothing. Throughout history, the military uniforms have influenced fashion (as all current events do) and this is particularly obvious during the Regency era when the Napoleonic wars ragged and suddenly everyone was wearing bass buttons on their walking coats.
Also, the Civil War and World War 2, though World War 2 had other interesting influences, because of the fabric restrictions placed on clothing.
I digress.
Inspiration
Steampunk, obviously. Steampunk is an aesthetic which combines the Victorian era fashion with contemporary looks. I think it’s a natural response to the digital age, much as the craftsman movement of the turn of the century was a cultural response to industrialization.
However, I do find the whole genre’s tendency to glamorize an era that was rife with social issues and colonialism problematic. I mean, there’s no perfect era of history, but… the Victorian era was pretty grim.
Want more paper dolls? Head over to Patreon where I share an extra Jewels and Gemstones paper doll outfit every week.
I don’t suffer from a lot of delusions of grandure. I’m a librarian/archivist who draws paper dolls for her micro-business and also can gut a salmon in six cuts. I’m not qualified to say anything about our current pandemic, except that I’m staying home a lot more and for some reason, there is no flour in town.
Bread, yes. Flour, no. I’m so confused, people.
So, instead of telling you to wash your hands (because I hope you are), I am going to focus on what I do- draw paper dolls and occasionally make weird jokes about the strangeness of 1830s hair styles.
Meanwhile, here’s a fantasy princess paper doll dress. And over on Patreon for everyone there’s two other versions of this dress- a blue version & a yellow version.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
This dress really doesn’t have a source image. I just kinda was drawing one afternoon and it happened. It wasn’t planned or carefully sourced in anyway. If I go way back to this post Green Princess, you will seem a similar silhouette.
By the way, in my head, this is a special dress that was commissioned by the princess to wear to a chess match. Because nothing calls for a new dress, like a chess match. Maybe, she’s in the chess match? I have no idea. I am super bad at chess.
Okay, I know I spent a lot of this post making fun of the 1830s, but really how can you not? Also, I doubt a decade can really be offended and in honor of poor hair choices, I had a bowl cut for most of the 1990s.
In my defense, I was 10. I also had a rat tail which I asked for. It was a thing.
There’s something fun about designing flower fairies. I think it might be, because the dolls leafy undies always make me think of fairies.
It’s very cold up here in the sub-arctic where I live. There’s still snow and it’s been over 20 below more days than I like to admit. Did you know that when it is -40 is the temperature where Celsius and Fahrenheit meet?
I sort of wish I didn’t know that.
However, nothing for a cold, snow covered March like imagining spring and flowers are a sign of spring.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
There wasn’t a specific source image for these fairy paper doll clothes. I sort of was inspired by a bunch of images from my Fairies and Fauns Pinterest board.
So, I do enjoy Cicely Mary Barker’s flower fairies, I also confess an affection for older, darker fairy folklore. The book Fairies in Tradition and Literature by Katharine Briggs is a great study of the darker views of fairies and their stories, if you want to read some more grim thoughts on the fairy world.
Also, please everyone stay safe right now. Things are stressful, but we can still be kind to each other. Also, wash your hands.
As always, if you like my paper dolls and want more of them, I do share a paper doll piece every Friday for my patrons along with other fun things. Head over to Patreon to learn more.
In 2019, I decided to do some Jewels and Gemstones with party dresses. This one was Ruby’s contribution to the collection. One of the others was this version of Sapphire.
I really do enjoy drawing party dresses- partly because I think everyone needs a fun party dress. Also, because I think they’re a style of clothing I don’t wear very often, but they still seem critcal to a well rounded wardrobe.
Given that I never wear them, I do wonder why I still seem to think they are critical.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
I wanted to draw a dress where the gown had an interesting shape. I also wanted to draw something that would make sense to go on the sheet with the doll. I think the complex cutouts of this dress would be a pain to cut out in the real world, where as they work well as part of the dolls skin.
Dresses with cutouts like this seem to be pretty popular right now.
Because I have hazel eyes, I wanted to do a hazel eyed paper doll. It’s a harder color to capture in my style, but I like how it turned out.Â
Last Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll & Her Party Dress
One of the things I really am happy about this year is having a few favorite Friday patreon pieces to share with you all. Not only does it let me try to convince a few of you to join us over on Patreon, but it also it means I have a little built in black log I can tap as needed.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea that my perception of the blog and the reality of the blog might not always be consistent. My experience of this ongoing art project is very different from other people’s experience. Not sure where I am going with this, but it has been on my mind lately.
I wanted to draw some more contemporary clothing for the Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls. I’ve been thinking a lot more about creating print products and what that might look like. So, the desire to have a robust mix and match set that could be eventually turned into a printed set has been on my mind.
To do that, however, I need more mix and match option for the Jewels and Gemstones- hence the desire for more contemporary clothing for them.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Outfit
My sister wore an outfit like this one when I was visiting her for Thanksgiving this year. Cropped tops with high waisted pants are very much still in style- though I openly confess that it is not a look that I wear very often. My sister is more adventurous when it comes to clothing than I am.
On the Blog: More Jewels & Gemstones paper dolls & more Sweaters for Paper Dolls Around the Internet: Hmmm… I don’t know. Not sure what to link to for cropped sweaters and jeans today.
Last Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Fashion
I was a child of the late 1990s and early 2000s, so back when I was younger the look was cropped tops and low slung jeans. I do think the high waisted pants with crop tops is a bit more of a forgiving style, as the other is pretty hard to wear unless you have amazing abs.
(I do not have amazing abs.)
If you enjoy my paper dolls and want more paper doll goodness every week, head over to Patreon where I post an extra Friday paper doll outfit and have some other super fun project going including my 365 Day project where I am sharing a paper doll piece every day.
(Okay, almost every day, I’ve missed two days so far, but I’ve caught up. Progress, no perfection.)
The last mermaid thing I did for the blog was this Mermaid Costume which was very much intended to be a costume, not an actual mermaid. If that makes sense. I mean, arguably everything I draw is a costume of sorts.
Anyway, on Patreon I have posted two other mermaids. I’m like 99% sure. I just couldn’t seem to find the second one. Patreon’s searching ability for posts- really not great.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
Fun fact: Mermaid tails are one of the few things I draw that I always draft on a separate sheet of paper before I sketch them in my sketchbook. Getting tails to curve is hard! And I want to make sure I cover the whole paper doll’s lower body with the design.
While I wasn’t thinking of goldfish when I designed this paper doll by the time I was coloring it, I really didn’t want to do blues or greens. So, that was when I started looking at fish and I learned- there are a lot of tropical fish out there and a lot of them are orange.
But then, when I was actually writing this post, I couldn’t help but think how much this felt goldfish inspired. I mean, there’s something about it that makes me think goldfish.
There used to be paper doll birthday cards. And one I loved was Melinda the Mermaid and I was super excited to see that paper doll on Teri Pettit’s paper doll site. She’s got lots of lovely paper doll scans you can look at and print.
And yes, I have been waiting to post this paper doll mermaid so I could link to the birthday card.
Somehow I often come back to evening gowns when I’m feeling unsure of what to draw. I’m sure I’m not the only artist who has things they come back to over and over again, but I like drawing evening gowns and they don’t require a lot of thought. I think of them as like the chicken and dumplings of my drawings- comfort food.
Last Thoughts on Today’s Princess Fantasy Paper Doll
If you want an extra paper doll piece every Friday, than join us on Patreon. There’s a bunch of great projects going over there including my 365 day paper doll project, extra Jewels and Gemstones and my lovely Vivian paper doll series. It’s super fun and I am so grateful to everyone who helps support my art.
Not exactly sure what will go up next week, but I’ll no doubt make some decisions as I start scheduling those posts.
I love drawing ruching, but really this dress just isn’t that complex. The color scheme with the rainbow skirts makes it feel more elaborate than it actually is and I really like that
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
I really love designing these over the top princess gowns and this one started as a doodle I drew on my phone. I wanted something that felt like a jumper, but was a bit more formal than that. You know, an evening jumper.
Last Thoughts on Today’s Princess Fantasy Paper Doll
My patrons get a Friday patreon paper doll and I am excited to share a few of these pieces this year. If you want to see more, get more paper dolls, join us on Patreon.
Not exactly sure what will go up next week, but I’ll no doubt make some decisions as I start scheduling those posts.
Some of you may recall that last year, I started drawing these full-skirted fantasy gowns for the Jewels and Gemstones. I’ve always loved the idea of a trousseau- all the dresses a woman needed for one year. The idea was to go into married life without needing to spend money on a whole new wardrobe.
The term was also used for describing fashion dolls who had extensive wardrobes in the 19th century. I’ve always been smitten with the idea of dolls with trunks full of tiny perfect little garments.
Shocking? Not really.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper
I wanted to draw a dress where the pattern on the fabric was more important than the complexity of the gown. So, I decided to draw a complex Jacobean floral design which did mean I had to then color the complex design. I always wonder what I was thinking when it comes time to color these sorts of florals.
Last Thoughts on Today’s Princess Fantasy Paper Doll
There will be another Princess Trousseau dress later this week, a Friday Patreon one from last year that I am eager to share. One of the things I really am excited about this year is having a few favorite Friday patreon pieces to share with you all.
