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.
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 find I go through periods where I am drawing a lot on a similar theme. So, I created this woodland fairy paper doll during a period when I was drawing a lot of mermaids and fairy outfits. Most of them ended up on Patreon, but I try to split things pretty evenly, so I wanted something to share here on the same theme.
Additionally, I think fairies are a playful theme and kinda fun to play around with. I always like to think about drape when I’m drawing woodland fairy clothing, sort of a dress made from cloth being wrapped around the body rather than tailored together.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
As I said above, I really was on a sort of “fairy kick” when I created this paper doll. I go through phases, after all. Despite my personal preference for darker fairy tales, I never know how to illustrate those. So, instead I tend to lean towards Victorian flower fairies (like this card from 1905) for this one.
If you’ve never read about the Cottingley Fairy Hoax, than I would highly recommend a read. It’s a fascinating story about how smart people can be blind to things and the strange Edwardian obsession with spiritualism. There’s something really telling about the desperate desire to believe even in the face of extreme mounting evidence to the contrary.
On Friday, I post extra paper dolls on Patreon and I’ve shared a lot more fairy stuff there for my patrons whose support I am super grateful for.
Also, there’s some new pieces up in my Etsy store if you haven’t checked it out recently head over there.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll I usually describe these dresses as cocktail dresses, but I don’t think many people do cocktails anymore? I don’t, but then I don’t really drink. So, I’m not 100% sure that description still makes sense to anyone but me. As a result, I decided to just go with the description “party dress” and figured that would work for now. It’s not really a formal gown, but it’s fun and maybe a date-night option? For people with more formal lives than mine, I suppose.
My paper dolls all live much fancier lives than I do.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I wanted to do a series of paper dolls with party dresses for the blog. I also realized it had been a long time since Sapphire got any love, so it was easy to combine the two instincts to this paper doll set of Sapphire and her cocktail dress.
Last Thoughts A big thank you to my Patreon supporters who are amazing and awesome.
Also, cocktail dresses. Is that a term anyone uses anymore? Am I just insanely old fashioned? I can live with it if the answer is, Yes, but I am curious.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll My one of my best friends in high school wore punk and gothic clothing. I really admired her style and I still do. She was a very wonderful person.
Anyway, I knew I wanted to draw some punk fashions for the Jewels and Gemstones and I decided that Pearl would be a fun model for this punk mini-dress. I wanted to focus on accessories for this set- so the boots and belts.
For my 2 dollar and up patrons, you can mix and match this paper doll with my Punk Style post from September.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I wanted to do punk, but maybe punk that could pass as a cocktail dress. Punk on a date night, I suppose. Also I really wanted to include fishnet tights and that’s best with a doll, because no one wants to cut around the thin lines of fishnet tights. Actually I’m not 100% anyone could cut around the thin lines on those fishnet tights.
Specific Source Images:These pants, though I know this paper doll doesn’t have on pants
Last Thoughts I’ve drawn a lot of paper dolls over the years. Some of them are complicated and some of them are simple. I’m sure there are things I’ve never drawn, though the longer I am at this the fewwer of those there seem to be. Still, I like drawing punk clothing, just like I enjoy drawing Lolita and Gothic clothing.
I don’t return to it quite as often as I do some of my other genres, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it.
My Patreon supporters are getting an extra paper doll on Friday, as usual. Consider joining it’s a great way to support the blog and you get more paper doll goodness each week.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll When I was making my list of Halloween monsters to draw as paper dolls, I really wanted to do some I’d never done before and I’ve never done a Frankenstein’s Monster paper doll before. And what says Halloween paper doll more than that?
I chose Diamond as the model for today’s paper doll. I am pretty happy with how she came out, though part of me thinks her hair looks a little too much like a skunk, but maybe that’s just me.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll The original novel Frankenstein was published in 1818, though it is set in the 18th century. I sort of abandoned that source material pretty quickly and went more to the Herman Munster direction pretty quickly. I considered for about 15 minutes the idea of drawing historical clothing for today’s paper doll, but decided I really wasn’t that excited to draw 1818 or 1700s dresses.
Her “dress” was meant to look a little like a lab coat. One thing you might notice with all of my Halloween paper doll creations is a lack of source images. The truth is that part of the fun of this time of the year, is that I don’t do research. I just sort of draw and see what happens.
Specific Source Images: Nothing specific this time I can point to.
Last Thoughts When I was a kid, the Munsters played in Nick at Nite and it was one of my favorite shows. I don’t really recall much of the plots, but even then I had a fondness for supernatural plots. Something which later lead to my love of Buffy and continued affection for those sorts of TV shows and books.
Big thank you to all my Patreon supporters. With out you, the blog wouldn’t be around, so you’re all the best!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll When I was brainstorming what I wanted to draw for Halloween, I worked out a list of themes for the Jewels and Gemstones dolls. I wanted to do a series of sort of cute monsters that were still a bit wicked. I settled on a ghost paper doll, a devil paper doll (for my patrons) and a Frankenstein’s monster paper doll for my set of three.
I’m super happy to be sharing the first- my blood footed ghost here.
I thought about designing all new faces for these dolls, since Pearl can’t really share shoes with the rest of the Pearl paper dolls, but I decided against it. Mostly, because I have such a nice range of Gemstone dolls, I didn’t really want to draw more faces just for the sake of it. I confess I was being a little lazy. No shame.
Last Thoughts I love a good (and by good I mean creepy) ghost story. I just love them. I don’t know why they appeal so strongly, but they do. I hate horror movies, but I love ghost stories and therefore will watch a few IF they are previewed by my horror loving best friend and IF I can watch them at noon with the lights on and IF I can read a summary ahead of time, so I’m not too scared. The Others is a great ghost horror film I super enjoyed.
Tomorrow for most of my Patreon supporters there will be an additional paper doll outfit for the Jewels and Gemstones.
By the way, I really went back and forth about the toenails on this paper doll. I wasn’t sure if I should erase them. I couldn’t decide. Am I weird in that I really think toenails belong on ghosts?
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll I am super excited about this collection of paper dolls. I love costume history. Sometimes, I feel like despite my love of the topic (or perhaps because of it), I get a little paralyzed feeling like I have to do so much research before I can create something and worrying about the quality of my sources. This worries me less in eras I am confident in, such as the 19th and 20th century, and worries me more in eras I am not confident about.
But then I won’t learn or get better if I don’t practice drawing these periods, so I think it is okay to not be perfect. Even more importantly, I think you have to start with in perfection or you never move forward.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Like last week’s Lapis, this week’s Topaz is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois on Folio 87v. The manuscript dates from between 1370-1380. Illustrations of women in just shifts are exceedingly rare, so even though this is 200 years after the 1100s, I am still using it. I made my version shorter and tighter than the originals probably were to facilitate the paper doll layering clothing over the shift. Paper dolls have to layer.
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. Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles: With 453 Illustrations, Medieval to Modern by Georgine de Courtais was the book I used for her hair and headdress, along with this statue, Enthroned Virgin and Child, from The Met.
Last Thoughts I’d like to give a shout out to my Patreon supporters, because without you all, the blog wouldn’t happen.
Additionally, later this week there will be a gown from the 12th century (aka the 1100s) and I am excited to share that though I am also nervous about how little I know about this era. However, this is how I learn, so there you go!
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll Today’s paper doll dress is a surcoat (over-dress) over another dress. As far as I can tell, this style came into fashion in the second half of the 13th century and sticks around in various forms for over 100 years. As I said when I was showing off Lapis and her 13th century undergarments, I am not an expert on this time period. At best, I am a dabbling amateur. However, one thing I did notice as I looked at many many pictures was that the 13th century is similar to the 14th century, if they hadn’t yet mastered curved seams and tailoring techniques.
So, while in the 14th century they have sideless surcoats over fitted kirtles, that is not what you see in the 13th century. You see their predecessors- a sleeveless surcoat over a dress where just the sleeves are visible and there’s no waist as far as the eye can see. This style does continue into the first part 14th century- here is an example. Later the armholes lengthen, these surcoats are in the later 14th century style.
Clothing rarely confines itself to neat time ranges, but rather tends to ease over years and decade markers.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll As usual, the shoe designs come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, an excellent, in exceedingly dry, book on historical footwear. The surcoat is based on this illustration and this illustration while the headdress comes from here, but also from all the looking at headdresses I did when drawing Lapis.
Last Thoughts I previewed a lot of this collection over on Patreon. So, thank you to all my Patrons to encouraged me to continue even though I was a little nervous. Reminder: There’s an extra paper doll outfit every Friday, plus previews of what I’m working on and polls and things. Check it out!
Rarely have I wished I knew more medieval Latin, but when I am looking for primary source illustrations of clothing I do. It’s very hit and miss, but I do my best with my limited knowledge. I respect people who do recreations of these garments, but I wish more of them properly cited their source images. It’s very frustrating to find a great illustration from an illuminated manuscript, but have no way of knowing where it came from. I won’t use anything that doesn’t properly cite a source. I’m a librarian, after all. I have some standards.
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