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Printable Paper Dolls
Ruby Dressing Up in the Mid-1950s
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I mentioned in my last 1950s printable paper doll about how important I thought it was to have some 1950s fashions for these paper dolls that include pants and Ruby is getting two pairs of them. She has what was known as a “playsuit”- basically, a romper. There’s something very infantilizing about the terms “playsuit” and “romper”, though I’m not sure I have the energy to really dive into how infantilizing the 1950s was towards women. I mean women couldn’t get mortgages on their own until the 1970s, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I digress.
The point is that women wore pants in the 1950s and I wanted to illustrate some of those styles for this paper doll.
As usual, my references were mostly catalogs- Sears and Montgomery Ward. I went through do many catalog pages and I did not do the best job of documenting what I used. However, you can see the romper from 1954 here and the camisole and Bermuda shorts worn together from 1955 here. You can see some of the hats here from 1956 and one of the dresses here also from 1956.
As November wraps up, we are stumbling into December which is always a hit and miss month for me. I have an idea that I hope I’ll get finished. Then January will come which may be a month off, I’m still debating, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Hope everyone has been having a lovely end of Fall and beginning of winter (though given that it was -27 here yesterday, I think winter is already here in Alaska.)
Dolly and Her Dresses for November 2022
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Vivian’s November Ball Gown with Sunflowers for my Patrons
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More Vivian Dolls for my Patrons
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A Vivian Paper Doll as a Thank You
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Regency Autumn Fantasy
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One of my favorite things is taking a historical silhouette and just playing with it. It’s pretty much just a chance to draw pretty dresses for paper dolls. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing variety (like this Cybergoth Set), but I think anyone whose a regular here knows my first loves are the fantasy and historical stuff.
The fantasy stuff is easier than the historical stuff, because there’s no research involved. I simply am unable to call something historical if I haven’t actually done some research to back up that claim. And sometimes, I just don’t wanna do research.
Despite the research free nature of these dresses, they are based on Regency Era styles. In my head, the dress on the left with the yellow skirt is a ballgown, because it is the lowest cut and fanciest. The dresses on the left are a dinner dress (the blue one) and day dress (the one with the vest).
If you want some actual regency dresses, rather than these regency fantasy dresses, I recommend my Regency tag and as I was working on this post, I realized I do have other regency fantasy dresses- enough that maybe I should make a tag for that too, so I did.
I now have a regency inspired tag for all my non-historical forays into this silhouette, including my regencycore modern stuff which I think I’m going to draw more of. I really enjoy drawing romantic dresses. And yes, I am eagerly waiting for season 3 of Bridgerton.
Meanwhile, this is Newsletter week, so if you haven’t, sign up and get an extra paper doll coloring page in your inbox every two weeks.
Witchtober: The Merchant and Traveling Witches!
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Happy Halloween!
It’s so exciting to be wrapping up my 2022 Witchtober project with the ever delightful Julie Matthews today with the Merchant and Traveling themed witches.
So, let’s talk concepts- On the left, is the Merchant themed witch. I wanted to go for like an edgy CEO in the 1980s look. Very much a power suit. I had fun playing around with drawing the sharp angles on this one. I decided a traditional hat made the most sense, but I tried to keep it feeling super crisp.
On the right is the Traveling witch. For this one, I went a totally different direction. My first thought was like 19th century traveling suits, but then I was like- Nah, I’ve done that before a lot. So, instead, I thought about adventuring clothing- something a little fantasy, a little practical, with lots of pockets for carrying things, and gathering things. To go with this, I wanted to draw a well worn sort of weather beaten hat. The sort of hat that looked like it had been around the block a few times and seen some things.
Both outfits got boots, but I tried to make them about as different as two pairs of boots could be.
You can, of course, just download this page if you want, but you can also grab all the pages in this download, if that’s more your style. In case you missed any, here’s all of the my posts.
Of course, you should head over to Paper Doll School where Julie has shared her really fantastic creations. She sent me a sneak preview and they are pretty fantastic.
And, of course, I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween today!
Dolly’s Dresses for October 2022
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Witchtober Continues: 18th Century & Winter
Download the 18th Century Page PDF to Print | Download the Winter Page PDF to Print | The Rest of This Project
If there was one thing I knew from the beginning of this whole Witchtober adventure, it was that my 18th century gown was going to be big. When Julie and I picked out our 8 themes from this list by Juan Joltaire of witch themes, I immediately loved the idea of an 18th century witch.
First off, it has been a while since I drew anything 18th century inspired. Secondly, my love of giant paper doll dresses is well documented on this blog. And is there a better century for giant paper doll dresses than the 18th century? I think not.
For me, nothing in Western Fashion can beat the 18th century for pure over the top glorious absurdity in dresses like this one or this one. There will forever be a soft place in my heart for eras when things are just more is more and that is where the 18th century lives (also, the 1830s, because what even is this?).
Once I decided I was going to go big on the 18th century design, I had a technical problem. I knew that dress was going to fill the whole page. So, when it came time to design the Winter costume, which was the other theme for this week, I knew I needed to at least try to make something that could hold its own against the 18th century spider-queen delight I’d just drawn. After all, a little shift dress was not going to stand up.
So, I went with a sort of coat/top-thing with a bit of a train. For my Winter costume, I wanted something that would feel actually warm, but also I realized none of my outfits were trousers. Since that seemed a pity, I decided at least one of them should get trousers. There’s a little 1890s/1900s in this one with those sleeves and the cut of the bodice. Boots and a fur trimmed hat complete the outfit.
You can, of course, check out Julie’s takes on these two themes over on her blog. They’re great! I especially like like the hat to go with the 18th century gown.