At the height of the pandemic, I just couldn’t draw post-apocalyptic fashion. It felt somehow too much.
But now that things are starting to feel “normalish” again, I decided I could maybe slip back into that genre for a little paper doll set for the Dolls Du Jour. So, here’s Dawn and her post-apocalyptic fashions.
Also, is post-apocalyptic an oxymoron? Isn’t there not supposed to be anything left after an apocalypses by definition? That maybe overly pedantic.
I need to get to work on the OPDAG prompt for plaids. I am not much of a plaid drawing person, but I have an idea of how I might be able to make plaid work. Julie Matthews has a plaids in photoshop tutorial.
For those keeping count (which I am 95% sure is just me), this is Dolls Du Jour paper doll number seven. Three to go before I hit my 2022 goal.
So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll was something I drew, because I was a little tired and the great thing about historical paper dolls from time periods I know pretty well is that they aren’t a ton of work. Especially because resources like Good House Keeping can be found online in their complete run. It makes this fun!
Some of you may recall from my Goals of 2022 was more historical paper dolls and more Dolls Du Jour, so I am super psyched that I got to kill two birds with one stone. Metaphorically speaking, I do not condone bird stoning.
This is my 10th historical paper doll for 2022! I reached my goal and it’s only August. It’s only my 6th DDJ paper doll, I still need four more to reach my goal. I like goals.
I digress.
So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll has two gowns designed to fit in with the theme of a 1920s wardrobe. The dress on the left is a blue and cream day dress and the dress on the right is a coral colored evening dress. It’s not really a super formal evening dress- more like something for an evening garden party. You know, if you have a lifestyle where evening garden parties are your thing.
The blue dress was based on this McCall 5120 sewing pattern from 1927. I assume this is a day dress, but I don’t know for certain. It seems to be more casual daywear. That’s a guess based on other dresses I’ve seen. Her clutch was based on this one, but I modified it to match the dress better.
The coral colored evening gown is from 1924 and was first published in Good House Keeping from June 1924. The dress is described as a light weight option for summer parties. I am always playing around with how to show transparency in linework. The purse comes from a French design and I made the color match the dress.
The paper dolls underwear was inspired by this combination from the Met Museum. You can see similar styles here and here. These teddies or combinations seem to have been pretty popular given the number that have survived.
Sometimes people ask me if my paper dolls are historically accurate and I wince a little. Not because I can’t tell you my sources (I clearly can, I just did), but because the entire idea of historical accuracy is sort of impossible. We simply don’t know enough about the past and we never will. So much about the clothing a person choses to wear has to do with unwritten rules that people conform to in society.
I have no idea how an actual woman from the 1920s would feel about these dresses and I never will. That’s impossible. As a result, I have no idea how accurate anything I draw really is. All I can do is tell you where I found my sources and what decisions I made.
And I hope you enjoy these little expeditions into historical clothing as much as I do.
Happy August! I used to do these sorts of work in Progress posts all the time and then I started Patreon and I sort of decided these sorts of posts should be Patreon exclusive. Then somehow I stopped doing them over there and I honestly do not know why. I think I was nervous- what if I shared something and I never finished it? Would people be upset with me?
But I know that this is silly. I’m not promising completion here. I’m just showing you some screen captures of a few things that I’ve been working on, so you can see them and maybe find them interesting. Maybe not. I have no idea. I would love to know if you do and I’ll try to do more of these.
So, first up we have a regency historical fashion set using my 2020 Patreon 365 project doll base. I love that doll base and I think she’s super cute and I really like her size. She feels like the perfect paper doll size to me- just right to fit in an envelope and tuck into a pocket.
The set will likely be either Patreon exclusive or an Etsy set, I think. It’s going to one doll, eight dresses for a total of three pages and each dress has a matching hat. I am conquering my fear of bonnet drawing! There’s a morning dress, dinner dress, carriage dress, ballgown… basically what a lady of the 1810s needed to be dressed properly in around 1810ish. No riding habit though… perhaps for another set.
Yes, I have been watching too much Bridgerton… why do you ask? 🙂
My Mermaid set is next up. I know Jaime said her and her kids were mad about mermaids, well…. here’s a sneak peak of the mermaid coloring pages I plan to get up on Etsy hopefully before the end of the month.
There’s four dolls, a bunch of tails and a lot of different “land” clothing all done in the same sort of flowy garments theme that I seem to associate with mermaids.
It’s big and I am realizing that I probably need a few more accessory items to help the pages feel full (otherwise there’s gaping in the layout and things start to feel to sparse to me). So, I may need to hit the sketchbook again and make more necklaces and daggers or something. What accessories make sense for mermaids has be me a little stumped… Tridents? Harpoons? Bones of drowned sailors?
Maybe not that last one…
Moving rapidly along, this is a little preview of a circus set I’ve been working on. This is Jade. I tied to do this lipstick thing and it may not survive the coloring process, because I am not 100% happy with how it looks… Maybe I’ll like the lips more in color.
Or I’ll decide it was a bad idea and fix it. Thank goodness for Photoshop!
The circus set is gong to have a mix of things from old Patreon posts and some older Jewels and Gemstones stuff. I sometimes like getting to pull those items back together to make a set, because man it does save me time! So much time, but it’s not always as much for me as new stuff. It’s still fun, but fun in a different way. Sometimes working within a structure if sort of liberating.
So, that’s it. Little preview of things to come I hope.
Let me know which of these you’re most excited about in a comment!
Sometimes I draw printable paper dolls and then by the time I get ready to share them on PTP, I find myself looking at them vaguely and being like, “Why did I draw this? What was I thinking about?”
My hunch, just because I know me, is that there was a distinctly Asian thing happening with this paper doll probably inspired by this weird “ancient Chinese” costumes thing I’ve seen on Pinterest. I find it fascinating, because China has a long and varied dress history (just like everywhere else), but (maybe in part thanks to Video games) there’s a sort of generic “ancient China” look. It’s super cool looking, but kinda like the Victorian view of medieval dress, probably hasn’t got much in common with what people were actually wearing in China a thousand years ago.
I don’t know enough about the history of Chinese dress to speak with any authority, but I don’t think anyone was running around in these, but that’s okay! It’s fun and beautiful. Sometimes, fun and beautiful is enough, you know?
As they do on NPR, I tend to wrap up my posts with two reminders to folks that these paper dolls are made possible by the generous support for my Patrons, so consider joining if you wish.
Last week was a lot of “housekeeping” sorts of posts- announcing changes to Patreon, letting people know about the new 1960s paper doll set– and I don’t mind those posts. They have to happen. Plus, I am proud of what I put on Etsy and I like getting to share it with you all.
But my Etsy products are always a a little higher stakes for me. Does everything fit? Do all the instruction make sense? Will someone who doesn’t know me really love the printable paper dolls as much as I hope they will?
I figure you are all my fans and will likely forgive me a foible for two.
So, I’m excited to return to a week of just sharing some printable paper dolls. It’s nice to get back to basic. Starting off with this fantasy set for Talia Tuesday feels right to me. Sometimes I do fantasy paper doll sets and I 100% know the narrative, but it’s not very common. It’s much more common for me to chose an element (in this case the scalloped sleeve detail) and think- how do I apply this across several things. You’ll see it in the sleeves of the gowns, but also repeated in the tunic trims.
I drew this paper doll at the same time as I drew my Tanya Elegant Empress paper doll. My original plan was to do a set that was all gowns and a set that was all pants. However, once I got down to the nitty-gritty of layout, I had too many gowns and not enough pants. Oops. I decided to call this printable paper doll “Having Adventures,” because the combination of nice gowns and more casual tunics made sense for someone who goes out and has an adventure. So, there’s a bow and arrows, but also an elegant gown. At least, that’s my justification after the fact.
Don’t forget to cut between the doll’s shoulders and her hair for best results when trying to dress her up.
As some of you may remember from when I did my Ladies of the 1940s set, I’ve been trying to learn to work smarter, not harder. I’ve never felt comfortable releasing the exculsive patron sets for free on the blog, but I also felt like it wasn’t fair that folks couldn’t enjoy them who weren’t patrons.
So, I’ve decided to round up some of them and some of my blog content and reformat all of it and now I’m offering it for sale on Etsy in a new format (though the same sizing) for people who want to see and play with the full collection. This is the whole of the 1960s ladies wear I drew last year.
It’s about 50% unseen content and 50% recycled content with three dolls and about 32 clothing pieces. There’s everything from beach clothing to evening gowns. While mod fashions of the 1960s might be most identified with the era, there’s actually a lot of ladylike 1950s styles that shine in this period. I’ve arranged the clothing roughly chronologically, but everything is dated if you want a more precise look at the looks!
For my patrons, there’s an exclusive discount code you can use. Find that code here.
For everyone else, I hope you enjoy this little foray into the styles of the 1960s. And yes, I’m planning to adding the 1930s and 1970s to these collections, but I’ll need to do more drawing before the 1950s can join in the fun and I’m not sure if my forays into the 1980s are cohesive enough… I’ll need to think on that one.
First off, I want to start by thanking everyone whose ever supported me on Patreon, past and present. You’re all the best! Because those funds to make a big difference in this site (nothing is free to maintain) and I can’t express how much I appreciate your support.
Here’s how it will work for anyone who signs up to Patreon going forward:
Button to click to log into Patreon or sign up to unlock posts.
You get to pay whatever you feel is fair with a suggested donation of 5 dollars per month. If you want to pay more than 5 dollars, you 100% can. If you want to pay less, you can do that too. It’s totally up to you what you feel comfortable with.
You may have noticed there are now a few posts on this site that are Patreon only. There are going to be more of those. I have a secret goal per month, but I am not sharing it, because this is all about reducing pressure on me and once I say something out loud it becomes a THING.
And now to answer questions you might have:
What is Patreon?Patreon is a service that helps people support creators, like me. Basically, you pay what you’re comfortable with every month and you get some more paper dolls (and my thanks). Plus, you get to know your pledge keeps Paper Thin Personas available for everyone. (Patreon FAQ has a lot more information about the details for you.)
What if I am already a Patron and I want to keep my current support? You don’t need to do anything! I appreciate it. Thank you! This will keep your access to all the content on the Patreon site you currently have access to and get you access to everything on the blog as it gets added.
What if I am a Patron and I want to stop supporting you? I 100% understand and wish you the best. So, you will need to cancel your pledge. Instructions on how to make that happen here. Thank you for all the support up to now. If you want to just reduce your amount of support, you’ll need to cancel and resubscribe, I believe.
What about current Patreon projects? These will continue! For those who don’t know, I have two- Vivian, whose a beautiful paper doll slowly getting a steampunk/Victorian inspired trousseau. My other current project is sets of paper dolls based on antique dolls called Dolly and Her Dresses. So, those will continue and there maybe more Patreon projects.
What about past Patreon projects? Well, some of these will eventually migrate to the blog, but it might be a long time and it may not be all of them.
What other Patreon content will there be? Polls, behind the scenes posts and requests will be open to Patrons as they have in the past. I’m actually super excited about these. Additionally, there will also be posts for the Jewels and Gemstones, Talia Tuesday and DDJ that’ll be Patron only.
What if I want to support you and not become a patron?Consider my Etsy store! A lot of my Patreon projects end up on Etsy later as a single purchase.
What if you didn’t answer my question? Please ask! Comments are open!
If you want to start supporting PTP, hop over to Patreon and sign up. If you don’t want to, you can totally ignore this post and continue on your merry way.
Or, if you want to support PTP with less commitment, consider grabbing something from my Etsy store.
To me, purple feels magical, royal, and a little mysterious. I’d say this was because it was a secondary color, but I sure don’t feel this way about orange or green.
Back in the ancient world, purple dye came from a rare sea snail in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre (Lebanon). Tyrian purple, as it was known, was so costly that basically you had to be a king to wear cloth dyed purple. Hence the long and fascinating association of purple with all thing royal. There are other ways to get purple without the use of sea snails, generally by dying fabric red or blue and then over dyeing it in purple.
As with all my other paper doll color collections my selection criteria was simple- does it seem purple to me?
20 Paper Dolls Wearing Purple
Anyway, when I do my paper dolls, I have a long affection for purple. As, I was working on these color based paper doll collections, I knew it would be fun to look at all my purple paper dolls. There’s a real variety of purple things in here from evening gowns to princess dresses. I don’t really know if I have a favorite here, but I do love that there are so many shades of purple from this blue-violet color to this mavue-ish pink.
Whenever I draw mermaids, I end up thinking of Liana of Liana’s Paper Dolls. This sadly defunct site is an amazing ode to all the things you can do with mermaids and paper dolls. (Seriously, if you haven’t ever spent anytime in her archives, it is well worth a gander.) I don’t think my mermaids even get close to hers. Liana had a fascinating entire world around her mermaids and I just don’t think that way. Creating stories around my paper dolls is not my natural tendency, though I am in awe of folks who can do that.
Today’s mermaid set is part of a larger mermaid project. The set got created, because I was somehow inspired to draw mermaids. My long term plan is that collection of drawings will become into something for Etsy. In the meantime, I’m sharing some parts of the set here as smaller creations.
When I design mermaids, I like it when the tails go up over the doll’s bust, so it feels more like an entire outfit, because I can not figure-out why mermaids would wear clothing (seems totally impractical in you’re underwater). Also, I don’t know if they would need to nurse young. Are mermaids mammals? Fish certainly aren’t.
Generally, I don’t base my mermaids on actual fish (questions about mermaid’s mammal status aside). However, clownfish inspired the tail on the left.
Fun Fact: Mermaid tails are one of the only things that usually get a full sized first draft. I need to make sure the curve of the tail makes sense. The tail usually ends up taking several tries on separate paper before I transfer them into my sketchbook for final penciling and inking. This maybe why I don’t do mermaids that often. Years ago, Julie Matthews did a centaur paper doll and I am still in awe over it. I can not even imagine trying to draw that.
Any how, if you want some more mermaid tails for Opal here, there’s been other mermaid paper dolls. Might I direct you to this one with Amethyst and this patron only one with Citrine. Stay tuned, because someday I will get that Etsy set done and there are some really neat mermaid tails in there that I am very proud of. I’ll let you all know when that happens, promise.
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