Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

1890s Paper Doll to Print with Lapis

My favorite thing about the decade of the 1890s is that short period in the middle of the decade when sleeves become truly absurdly huge. I mean, like sleeves the size of your head. It’s utterly charming and impractical and I love it. So, if I am going to draw an 1890s fashion paper doll, she is going to be the middle of the era.

By the 1890s, there’s a bunch of fashion magazines being published by home sewing pattern companies. The sewing machine has made this a super lucrative field. So, most of these pieces come from the Delineator Magazine which was published by the Butterick Company. One of the reasons I like the Delineator is that their fashion plates were all available for sale as patterns. So they aren’t a dress someone imagines, but one you know people could have actually made.

A printable paper doll coloring page celebrating the 19890s with two historical outfits, shoes, underwear and hats. Super great way to show fashion history to kids.

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The 1890s underwear is a combination with a corset over it. Combinations were a “combination” of pantaloons and a chemise. They went under corsets while on top of them a woman might wear a corset cover and slip or a slip that combined those two garments. V&A has a nice photo.

Lapis, our 1890s fashion paper doll, has two outfits. The first is an At Home Costume based on an illustration from 1896. You can see it on this page of the Delineator. In the 1800s, there’s also a lot of interesting things going on with women’s sporting clothing. Bicycles were super popular in the 1890s thanks to the new “safety bicycle”. There’s many different styles of women’s bicycle clothing from this period, but I chose a Turkish trousers ensemble which comes from the Delineator Magazine in 1894.

A printable paper doll celebrating the 19890s with two historical outfits, shoes, underwear and hats. Super great way to show fashion history to kids.

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Colors are actually pretty vivid in the 1890s. Thanks to chemical dyes, there’s a lot of richness. I was really struck as I poured through museum collections at the number of dark colored corsets I saw. While bright purple seems sort of scandalous, jewel tone corsets really do seem to be a thing from the decade like this purple one and this pink one.

Her At Home Costume I did in pinks and corals. The bicycle outfit I thought would be more practical in blues and browns. After all, it wouldn’t make sense in a world where laundry isn’t easy to be biking around in white or pale blue. I’m sure people did, but I mostly saw brown and blue in my examples.

Anyway, I had fun with this paper doll and I hope others enjoy her as well. If you have a few hours to kill, pouring through Delineator Magazine really is neat. I also want to thank my Patrons, because I don’t think I would have drawn this era if it hadn’t won a poll. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Summer of the 1970s: A Fashion Paper Doll to Print

My patrons over on Patreon voted for what time periods I should draw. The 1970s was one of three winners with the 1890s and Tudor. So, today I’m sharing my second 1970s paper doll.

So much of the 1970s feels super current. It’s tiny details that define it. As I was researching this period, I was attracted to summery casual clothing. I kept thinking about those 1960s surfer movies. Wrong decade, but the human mind is strange.

In the 1970s, there’s a long flat ironed sort of look (think Cher). It felt appropriately casual for the summer. I kept it a bit shorter than I could have, but super long hair causes problems for paper dolls. Someday I should write a whole rant about the complexities of paper doll hair, but I’ll spare you.

A black and white printable 1970s paper doll with 12 different mix and match pieces. A fun coloring page for vintage fashion folks.

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Most of my inspiration came from sewing patterns, as I often do for things from the last 50 years. Simplicity 7479, McCall’s 5539, Simplicity 5413, McCall’s 5084, McCall’s 4920, and Simplicity 5633 were a few of the sewing patterns that inspired me. Her swimsuit comes from Style 1930 from 1977. There’s another swim suit at the Met from 1971 which is the same style. Her purse was from 1975 and also the Met. I forgot to put the date next to it when I was dating everything.

The pattern covers also inspired the colors in today’s 1970s paper doll. I picked white as my primary neutral, because I liked the summery feel. These colors are also mix and match with some of the colors in my 1970s Sapphire paper doll. When it comes to make up, the 1970s was super into really neutral lips and very little color. So, I tried to capture that look with Opal’s face.

A color printable 1970s paper doll with 12 different mix and match pieces. A fun way to teach kids about fashion history or for vintage fashion folks.

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I’ll openly confess I always forget how popular crop-tops were in the 1970s. Crop-tops go all the way back to the 1940s, but come in and out of fashion as the decades go by. I was a child of the 1990s, so I recall those looks with a mixture of sighs and nostalgia. Crop-tops have returned, but fortunately, really low hip-huggers haven’t. It’s a much more flattering look.

Hip-huggers have their origins in the 1970s. The rise on those pants is much higher than we’d associate with same style from the 1990s or today. Opal’s white pants and her shorts are both in the hip-hugger genre.

By the way, all of Opal’s clothing can fit my 1970s Sapphire paper doll as well. So, if you would like to give Opal here a more office look or take Sapphire to the beach, you have that option. Truthfully, all the dolls can wear the clothing. Opal’s swimsuit might show under some of the other clothing out there.

If you’d like to vote on my future paper doll endeavors, head over to Patreon and join us!

A Foray into Medieval Fantasy with Lapis

Okay, so way back in May of last year, I created this version of Lapis. I knew I wanted to expand that set into something more robust, so I drew a few more dresses. This fantasy paper doll with dresses was a fun foray into medieval styles without having to worry about actual history.

When designing this set, I wanted to think about fantasy clothing that maybe wasn’t too fancy. Don’t get me wrong, I will always love my over the top gowns with huge skirts, but for these I wanted to draw something more simple. I inspired by kirtles from the 1300s, but mostly just by what I remember from reading too many fantasy novels in my life. The long underdress sleeves shoved up around the wrists are a nod to the style of the Anglo-Saxons and the girdles are a nod to the 12th century Norman dress.

Fantasy medieval maiden paper doll coloring page with three dresses and three pairs of shoes.

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A few things I decided early on were that I really didn’t want to use cream as a neutral as I often do in these sort of medieval sets. Instead I challenged myself to focus on the soft blue as the primary neutral color. I wanted the colors to feel like they could have come from natural dyes, but also be vivid. Natural dyes can be super bright and fun!

Her shoes were inspired from actual 13th and 14th century footwear.

A colorful medieval inspired fantasy paper doll with blond hair and three dresses. Great indoor activity for kids.

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Personally, I think my favorite is her bright yellow dress, but that’s just me.

Normally, I would link to other paper dolls I’ve made with similar style to mix and match with this set. These dresses would fit in with my 12th Century and 13th Century sets though they are not historical. However, if you want fantasy things like this, you’ll need to wait a few more months as I get those done.

And Lapis can wear any of the other dresses for the Jewels and Gemstones. Maybe she wants to get super fancy ballgowns or go to the 1970s.

Meanwhile, if you love paper dolls and want more of them, head over to Patreon! I share extra paper dolls for my patrons.

Fashionable Lady Of The Regency: Paper Doll To Print

Some of you may recall that in 2019, I posted a Regency Fashion Week. I’ve taken some of those pieces and reformatted them into a paper doll with Regency dresses. I specifically chose pieces from the 1810s as a starting place. I am always conflicted about calling this era Regency. The styles we think of as “Regency” stretch from about 1805 through about 1825 when the waist line begins to drop. It lowers steadily through the 1820s before settling at the natural waist around 1828 or so. The actual period is 1811 to 1820, only about 19 years.

 A Quick Primer on Regency Fashion is a nice overview of the era, I think.

A beautiful paper doll with regency dresses to print and play with. This fun coloring page has one doll and six different clothing pieces.

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Now let’s talk clothing! There’s a myth that in the early 19th century women didn’t wear corsets/stays. This is not true. Women totally wore corsets/stays, but since the styles were changing rapidly, there wasn’t a single silhouette. No woman with actual curves wants to not wear some sort of bust support. It is true corsets weren’t boned as heavily as they would be in later decades. This pair from the Met 1811 and this fashion plate from 1813 are the sources for her stays/corset/whatever you call it. Under that, she wears a shift like this Shift from the MFA.

Shoes at the Met like this pair and this pair inspired her shoes. These boots from the London Museum inspired her walking boots. Her two dress come from the late 1810s. This Dress from 1818 inspired the evening gown and the walking dress is based on this Dress from an 1817 fashion plate at the London Museum. The bonnet is from the same fashion plate.

A beautiful colorful paper doll with regency dresses to print and play with.

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The original color scheme came from specific items that inspired the paper doll outfit. Turkey red was a very popular color in this early era. Another popular color was cerulean blue, which was a very unstable color that tinted towards green. More about regency colors on this website.

Anyway, one of my personal missions has always been to draw historical clothing for paper dolls (because I love it) and especially for models that aren’t white (because it bothers me that history tends to be depicted as all white people until 1950). I think we’re getting better about this, but there’s still a long way to go.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy today’s paper doll with Regency dresses. There’s more where this came from, but I haven’t yet decided how to put those outfits together into a set.

13th Century Women’s Clothing Paper Doll Featuring Lapis

This was my second foray into medieval clothing for the Jewels and Gemstones and, at the time, my first foray into 13th century women’s clothing of Western Europe. I like to be specific, because this isn’t what folks were wearing in Asia or the Middle East in this era.

I tend to call these sorts of paper dolls “clothing” not “fashion.” While the idea of dress as a social marker existed in the 1200s, it wasn’t really fully defined yet. It wouldn’t be until the 1300s, and then introduction of tailoring, that you really start to see trends. By the 1400s, headdresses provide plenty of space for people to engage with fashion.

A paper doll celebrating 13th century women's clothing with several dresses and headdresses.

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Okay, I took really good notes while I was working on this paper doll, so I have a mess of sources.

Lapis is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v).  I made the length is a little shorter and the style is quite fitted. Both of these changes were done to facilitate the paper doll layering clothing over the shift. The source material is 100 years post this paper doll’s era, but illustrations of women’s shifts are super rare. So I’ll take it.

As usual, the shoe designs come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, an excellent, if exceedingly dry, book on historical footwear. I love this book, but man… it is not a fun read. The illustrations are great though.  Sources for the dress on the left include Biblia Porta, Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, U 964 (fol.178r) and  Collection of poems in Old French, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal- Arsenal 3142 (fol.292r).

You can see barbett and fillet headdresses in the Romance of Alexander, England, Cambridge University Library- Cambridge MS O.9.34 (fol.25v)

I based the right dress off of this dress from BNF Arsenal 5211 Bible de Saint-Jean d’Acre (fol.069v). The book dates from 1250-1254. The other inspiration was this dress from U 964 – Biblia Porta, housed at the Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire. The brooch at the throat comes from this illustration in Morgan M.638 Maciejowski Bible (fol.33) dated 1244-1254.

A colorful 13th century women's clothing paper doll with two dresses and three headdresses.

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So, I did have some issues with her headdresses. They are such a defining part of 13th century women’s clothing. The barbette is the piece that goes under the chin and the fillet is the pillbox hat looking piece that wraps around the head. One thing I’m not sure about is whether the fillet was open or closed at the top. This manuscript illustration and this manuscript illustration it looks closed, but this one is definitely open. Anyway, I settled on closed, but I’m still not 100% sure that’s right.

Anyway, disclaimers aside, I hope you enjoy today’s 13th century paper doll! One of her dresses was a Patron piece from last year and I encourage you to head over there if you’d like to get more paper dolls every week.

The 1980s & Corset Tops: A 2020 Fashion Trend

One of the major trends of 2020 is polka-dots (and I did a paper doll celebrating that already) and then my other trend that I have been super interested in is the 1980s and the tendency as corset tops. Plus, I think when it comes to celebrating fashion, paper dolls are pretty much the perfect fashion paper craft. They allow us to not just explore trends, but kids can draw their own paper doll clothing.

Personally, I don’t really remember the 1980s, because I was both very young and living in Alaska. Alaska is not exactly trendy as a other parts of the country. We’re a little behind in fashion. Also, we all wear lots of rainboots, polar-fleece and puffer vests. Puffer vests might have trended last year, but we were wearing them long before they were trendy.

Anyway, the big trends in this paper doll are the 1980s styles, corsets, bra tops, and Bermuda shorts. The bra tops and corset tops seemed like similar ideas to collapse together. The suit jacket works with either the lose trousers or the skirt, but I colored it as though these were separates for more flexibility. You can, of course, color them any way you choose.

A fun fashion paper craft. A paper doll coloring page with her wardrobe of mix and match separates.

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Color wise, I wanted to use the Pantone 2020 palette called Snorkle. I’m not a huge fan of pantone’s color of the year– Classic Blue. It’s just kind of… boring? Can I admit that. I’m not against it, but it’s not super exciting to me. I guess given how 2020 has gone people are not super into exciting these days. Anyway, there’s also a trend for the return of some neon colors and the bright green was my nod to that trend.

A fun fashion paper craft. A paper doll printable with her wardrobe of mix and match separates.

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Among my favorite things about this version of Pearl is her hair. I’m always working to learn to draw hair better and I feel like this hair came out particularly nice. It’s a process, after all.

Are you into fashion trends? I confess I’m pretty boring in my clothing choices, but I do like drawing them for paper dolls. I try to stay at least aware of what’s happening in the world of trendy clothing.

Fantasy Princesses and Their Gowns with Lapis

If I had to pick one thing I like drawing the most, I would have a lot of trouble, but it would probably be a tie between historical paper dolls and fantasy paper dolls. Historical because I love doing research and I am big costume history buff. Fantasy because sometimes I really don’t want to do so much research before I draw a paper doll. Of the fantasy things I draw, I think dresses are probably my favorite thing to create. I’m a sucker for a fantasy gown, what can I say?

This is funny, because in the real world, I am very much a jeans and t-shirts kinda girl.

Last year, I started a whole series of princess fantasy gowns I called the Princess and Their Gowns Collection. So far, there are two princesses and today’s paper doll is the third. They can not only share clothing, but the dresses are all in the same color scheme. Many mix and match options, I think.

A paper doll with fantasy princess gowns to color. Printable from paperthinpersonas.com.

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The specific inspirations for these two gowns are lost to me, though I did share this doodle and sketchbook version of the House Dress on Patreon. The House Dress was a Patreon piece from last year. Since it’s been over a year, I figure I can share it.

The Dinner Dress owes a lot to the dresses of the 18th century with the petticoat and the sleeves with ruffles. The “Rococo/Big Skirted Absurdity” section on my Fantasy Pinterest Board has more stuff in this genre. I have a fondness for 18th century inspired paper doll gowns.

A brunette paper doll with fantasy princess gowns. One of hundreds of printable paper dolls from paperthinpersonas.com.

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I’m really happy with how Lapis’ hair came out and I am glad to have her joining Sapphire and Opal. Between the three of them, there are six dresses which I think is a good beginning. I need to draw more though. I’m thinking maybe a sports outfit, perhaps hiking? And also maybe something for the seaside. I haven’t totally decided yet. Is there a theme for a gown you’d like to see?

Let me know in a comment.

1970s Fashion Paper Doll- Sapphire

Occasionally, I ask Patrons to vote on what they would like to see. Last time I did it, there was a three way tie between Tudor, 1970s and 1890s. Today’s creation is a 1970s fashion paper doll. When I usually think of the 1970s, I think of psychedelics prints and bellbottoms. When I actually spent some time looking at images from the era, I noticed quickly that while that was one trend of the era, it wasn’t the only trend of the era.

I fell in love a little with the more conservative business attire I kept seeing for women. Well and one jumpsuit, because the 1970s is full of amazing jumpsuits. I couldn’t exactly draw the clothing of the period and not include a jumpsuit. My sources were vintage sewing patterns (this one and this one) and several books I have on 20th century fashion.

A 1970s fashion paper doll coloring page for printing out and playing with. Fun vintage fashion activity for kids featuring a black paper doll and her work wardrobe from the mid-1970s.

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I decided to go with a swimsuit rather than traditional underwear for this paper doll and my other 1970s paper doll. I just kept seeing swimsuit vintage sewing patterns. I settled on this one as my source material. The hip hugger boy-short bottoms with the belt felt very period appropriate.

The closer you get to the current era, the more it is small things that define a period style. For the 1970s, some of those small things include the shape of the collars, skirt length and pant shape. The last is color and that’s a big one too. Speaking of color, I chose avocado green (such a classic of this era), burnt orange and some deep coral. For the dolls makeup, I tried to keep with the “natural look” of the 1970s which required like 57 products, but was supposed to look like it didn’t.

A 1970s fashion paper doll printable. Fun vintage fashion activity for kids featuring a black paper doll and her wardrobe from the mid-1970s.

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I chose Sapphire for the model here, because before the 1970s, you almost never seen black women in mainstream catalogs or magazines. During the 1970s, there’s a wave of diversity. Also, I love 1970s afros. Sapphire’s was inspired by Pam Grier and her amazing curls. I tried to make this look like a looser afro than some of the others I have drawn, but I am not 100% sure it was effective. I’m still practicing my hair drawing skills a decade into this blog.

There is another 1970s fashion paper doll forth coming, but until then you can check out my other 1970s paper dolls or join Patreon if you want to get to vote in my next “time period for Rachel to work on” poll.

A Ballerina Paper Doll- Pearl

Today’s ballerina paper doll is created from some pieces you might recognize. I have complicated feelings about ballet, as some of you may know. On one hand, I love watching ballet. On the other hand, ballet is a problematic relationship with body image. I am super into the importance of learning to accept (if not always love) your body.

I know too many people in recovery for eating disorders, so I can’t create a ballerina doll without mentioning that amateurs ballerinas have some of the highest rates of eating disorders among any type of non-professional athletes. This 2003 study from the journal Psychopathology is both fascinating and a little sad. A slightly less intense article is this one from last year in Medium- Why Ballet Hasn’t Yet Caught Up to the Body Positivity Movement. There are some amazing dance troupes and projects working to change the idea that dancers must be skinny such as the Big Moves Dance Company: Beyond Body Positive Towards Fat Liberation.

I firmly believe you can both love an art form and recognize the art form has issues.

A curvy ballerina paper doll with three costumes to print and play with. She can share clothing with any of the other Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper dolls.

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There are several different traditional styles of tutus. The Pancake style tutu (left) has a shorter skirt style with a wired hoop in-between the layers of tulle to help the tutu keep its shape. The romantic/classical tutu (right) is longer and not wired. Both are very traditional in ballet.

Ballet’s strict “rules” govern how shows are costumed. It’s a little wild. The pancake tutu is the traditional purple of the sugar plum fairy. The classic tutu is a “country maiden” look like Giselle in the first act. Act two is costumed entirely in white. I’m sure it looks amazing on stage, but maybe less fun to color.

Lastly, between the two tutus (try saying that five times fast), there’s a firebird unitard. The Firebird was written for the 1910 Paris season of the Ballets Russes company. It was first costumed by Léon Bakst. His designs rarely feature tutus. So, I thought it was a fun chance to draw something that was not a tutu. Nothing against tutus, but they start to all look the same after a while.

A curvy ballerina paper doll printable with three costumes to print and play with. She can share clothing with any of the other Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper dolls.

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One of the other interesting things I learned about when researching this ballerina paper doll was about toe shoes (of which she has three sets). There’s this concept in ballet costuming called “breaking the line”. The goal is to make the dancer’s legs look as long as possible. You don’t want the color of the shoes to break the smooth expanse of leg. Pointe shoes for nonwhite dancers have historically been super hard to find, this article about introduction of brown pointe shoes in 2018 from NY times is super interesting.

I love it when drawing paper dolls teaches me things I didn’t know about the world.

In case you’d like to grab some practice clothing to go with today’s performance clothing, check out this Amethyst dancer paper doll.

And, of course, if you want a paper doll or outfit every Friday, head over to Patreon. The Gisselle costume was a patron creation from last year.

Dancer Paper Doll with Practice Clothing

I am slowly deciding which of the Jewels and Gemstones from the 1.0 series I want to convert to 2.0 series. While I am not a dancer, I really love costume design in ballet. So, I knew the dancer paper doll series was on the short list, hence today’s dancer paper doll.

I do not dance. I worked in tech theater for a while and that’s about as close as I have gotten to professional dancers- most of whom were perfectly gracious to work with. We used t drape carpets over cabling and the edges of heavy objects specifically to give them a warning when they were on uneven flooring in bare-feet. So, while I can construct a make shift sprung stage, I don’t actually know the details of what professional dancing is like.

Not that not knowing things has ever really stopped me from drawing them in paper doll form. I’m also not a professional space princess or archer.

A paper doll of a dancer with practice clothing. 10 different mix and match pieces. Fun to color and print.

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Since I am not a dancer, I hunted down reference images. Sources for my images of dance clothing were Dancewear Solutions and International Dance Supplies. The three types of shoes are pointe shoes, practice shoes and lyrical dance shoes. I’m not 100% sure the difference between lyrical and modern dance. Despite reading What is Lyrical Dance?, I still don’t quite feel like I get it. Anyway, the shoes leave the toes exposed, but protect the ball of the foot.

The other clothing pieces are not specific to a particular type of dance. Leotards and sweaters and skirts are all practice clothing items that seem pretty common among dancers of all stripes.

Paper Doll Dancer with practice clothing. Printable from paperthinpersonas.com.

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A reminder that you can print any of the 1.0 Jewels and Gemstones pieces for the 2.0 Series at 80% and they should fit, but there will be a ballerina paper doll soon.

One of the aspects of this pandemic that I hadn’t totally anticipated has been how it has impacted my sense of time. I don’t go into my office. I live near the arctic circle, so it is light all the time in the summer. Plus, there’s a sort of sameness to my days. I’m working through it with todo lists and rules about bedtimes, but it has been hard.

Meanwhile, don’t forget that becoming a patron means getting an extra paper doll/outfit every Friday. Join us if you like!

Topaz With 12th Century Clothing

In my second Topaz paper doll of the week, here’s some 12th century clothing to go along with the Tudor paper doll from Tuesday. If I had a chose a period of fashion I both really like and know very little about, it would be the 12th century aka 1100s. 12th century clothing in Western Europe is both super interesting to me (I love the sleeves) and very alien.

As much as possible, I try to work from primary sources, ideally illuminated by well written analysis by scholars who know more than me. However, the books I have tend to start in 1200 which is more well documented period and leave 1100s out entirely.

Perfect historical accuracy is impossible, so knowing that I did my best on this paper doll and her 1100s dresses.

A printable paper doll coloring page of 1100s dresses with a paper doll and two gowns.

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Topaz is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois on Folio 87v. The manuscript dates from between 1370-1380 even though this is 200 years after the 1100s. Illustrations of women in shifts are just super rare, so you have to use what you can find. I made my version shorter and tighter than the originals, because paper dolls have to layer. Paper doesn’t fold like fabric.

Additionally, Topaz’s shoes all come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, a book on archeological footwear finds. It’s fascinating, but very densely written work. Her hair and headdress are based on illustrations from Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles by Georgine de Courtais. Her veil is based on the one seen on the Ushaw Virgin, a brass from the British Museum, as is the dress on the right. The statue, Enthroned Virgin and Child, from The Met, was another source for the dresses. I also used some of the manuscript images from this German site on the Bliaut. All the illustrations are properly cited and that always makes me happy.

A printable paper doll with clothing from the 12th century. Great homeschooling history idea.

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The bliaut is the subject of a lot of debate. Statues of the time show a very wrinkled, almost pleated fabric effect (like this), but illustrations by and large don’t. When they do show horizontal wrinkles across the abdomen they tend to be more subtle. I went with the more subtle option and the no wrinkles option. Inevitably, drawing fashions from history requires making editorial decisions, but I try to capture the silhouette of the period.

Books consulted in the creation of this paper doll included Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles by Georgine de Courtais, Medieval Dress and Fashion by Margaret Scott and Fashion in the Middle Ages by Margret Scott, though this last one was not helpful, particularly.

This is an era I’d like to learn more about. So, if anyone has a book recommendation I’ll happy accept it. Most of my books don’t cover this early period very well.

Today’s set was put together from pieces posted here on the blog last year and on Patreon.

A Celebration of Tudor Clothing

Today’s paper doll is my second Tudor clothing paper doll. My amazing patrons voted for Tudor as a historical era to explore, hence the focus on Tudor. Also, I realized I still didn’t know a lot about the clothing of this time period. My first Tudor clothing paper doll from the Jewels and Gemstones was Ruby and today’s paper doll is Topaz.

A little about this Tudor clothing- this portrait of a young woman from 1567 and this portrait of Susan Bertie inspired the dress on the left. The dress on the right is a Henrician gown. This portrait of Mary I and this portrait of Katherine Parr feature this style of dress in lighter colors than you usually see it. These portraits also show off French Hoods, a very popular headdress style. This portrait, often identified as Helena Snakenborg, is where I saw the court bonnet. I should note that the identification as Helena Snakenborg has never been proven.

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First rule, I gave myself was that I was not going to make any dresses black. Don’t get me wrong, black fabric was wildly expensive in the 1500s and therefore very popular for portraits and people of wealth. Black is, however, one of my least favorite colors. It obscures line work, so I only used it for her hair and the veil for the French Hood. I didn’t see any French Hood’s that had veils of other colors. Also, I have no idea if French Hood is a proper noun and should be capitalized, but I am anyway.

I wanted to use colors I knew were common/referenced in source materials. According to sumptuary laws of the time only nobles could wear blue and there’s references in The Art of Dress by Jane Ashelford to tawny colored gowns. That’s why I chose to make one gown blue and the other a sort of beige color.

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Topaz’s underwear is based on illustrations from the Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies. The bodies are based on the famous Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg’s pair of bodies from around 1598. All of her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz. Her underwear, as I noted on the paper doll, has been simplified to facilitate playing with the paper doll. An actual extant 16th century shift is at the V&A and you can see it here.

Other books I consulted about Tudor clothing were, in no particular order, were Tudor Fashion, The History of Underclothes, In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, and Tudor Costume and Fashion. And you can see some of my reference image so on my 16th Century Dress Pinterest board.

You can see all my Tudor paper dolls here. Up next on the historical paper doll front will be the 1970s and the 1890s. That was the other winners when I polled my Patrons.