A 14th Century Fashion Paper Doll With Citrine

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It has been a while since we had a Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper doll, hasn’t it? It feels weird to have taken a two week break from them, but here we are.

So, I actually had this drawn last year, but I needed one more piece of clothing to fill out the set, so I had to draw some last minute shoes which delayed it’s debut until now. But I technically meant this to go along with my 14th century Pearl set. While I never meant for the 14th century to become such a common time period on this site, every time I draw another 14th century paper doll set, I feel like I learn more about the period and get better at rendering it. And I like the learning aspect.

So, Citrine here has two patterned dresses, a veil, a hood, and an extra pair of shoes. The paper doll’s shift is based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v.) at the National Library of France from around 1370-1380. I’ve used the same one for my 12th century and 13th century paper dolls, so they can all share clothing. Shifts are not the easiest thing to find reference images for in this era, let me tell you. Her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz (my usual shoe source for anything this early.

The dress on the left is a sleeveless surcoat (unlike a sideless surcoat, sleeveless surcoats didn’t have huge armholes). I based the pattern on it from BNF Arsenal 3481 Ci commence li livres de Lancelot du Lac (fol. 65r). However, I’ve noticed these lines and dots patterns show a lot in medieval manuscripts and I don’t know if that is because they were easy to paint or if that is because they were commonly worn. The sleeveless surcoat shows up all over the place in early 14th century manuscripts. Here it is in Français 761: Artus le Restauré (fol. 25v) from between 1325 and 1350, in BNF Français 1433 Le Chevalier au Lion (fol. 67) from 1300-1350, and in BL Yates Thompson 13 The Taymouth Hours (fol. 107v). I think it is reasonable to say the style was super popular.

The dress on the right is a patterned surcoat with buttons which I sometimes see referred to as a Cotehardie. I don’t know enough to know if that term is correct (it is for men, I know). I was inspired to draw the pattern, because Roman de Giron le Courtois is full of these elaborate patterned dresses. The text is Italian and I wonder if that is why. Anyway, was the specific inspiration for this one was Folio 44v and Folio 75r. I have no idea what the manuscript is about, but there’s a lot of decapitated heads in it. In case you’re wondering, medieval manuscripts use Folio rather than page number, because most of them lack numbered pages.

Now that I’ve done two 1300s Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls (see Pearl here), I feel like I should do something from the 1400s, which is not a period I know as much about. However, the only way to learn is to try and so I guess I’ll add that to my to do list.

On Patreon I have a poll right now about the next time period to tackle. So, if you join us there, you can vote.

Meet Tashi- Talia’s Friend and her Refined Winter Wardrobe

A printable paper doll coloring page set with one doll and a 17 piece wardrobe.
A paper doll printable with a 17 piece fashion wardrobe.

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Meet Talia’s first friend Tashi! My patrons helped me name her. Tashi is a Tibetan name that means “good fortune” and beat out several other names to win the poll I shared on Patreon. Thanks Patrons for helping me name her! I had planned to wait a while to share her, because I had several other Talia dolls finished, but I really wanted to show off her and her fun winter looks, so she jumped the line- as paper dolls sometimes do!

According to my research into Winter trends for this year, I noticed a few things- tapered trousers, pleated skirts, mini-skirts, puffed sleeve sweaters and crop tops with high waisted styles. Interestingly, I also noticed that these lady-like styles got paired with more chunky masculine boots which felt very 1990s. Anyone else getting Doc Marten’s with floral dresses flashbacks? Anyone?

Colorwise, lilac has been an on-trend color for Fall 2021, so I decided to embrace that when I was coloring this paper doll set. I really like pastels for winter, but you have to keep them dusty and vintage feeling, or else you get into saccharine sweet territory.

If you want to get to help me name paper dolls, than join us on Patreon.

DDJ: A Medieval Inspired Set of Fantasy Gowns

A paper doll printable coloring page with fantasy gowns.

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So, I tend to categorize my fantasy paper dolls in my head based on the time periods that inspired them. This paper doll is vaguely medieval while last year I did a Renaissance inspired Twilight paper doll set. Evening is my newest member of the Dolls Du Jour family who I created because I wanted a more medium-brown skin-tone.

Evening has two dresses which in my head are a Winter Dress and a Summer Dress, though I suppose they could be anything you might want them to be. I had particular fun with this color scheme that I wanted to feel soft and muted, but also rich. I am of the Lord of the Rings Movies generation, so those costume designs have long impacted the way I have thought about fantasy gowns for paper dolls.

Evening, like all the Dolls Du Jour, was named with the help of my Patrons. So, as always a big thank you to those folks without whom this site would be a lot less fun. Also, tomorrow is a newsletter day, so sign up here if you want to get that sent straight to your inbox.

Meet Talia Tuesday & Her Retro Ski Winter Fashion

A black and white printable paper doll two page set with 16 piece mix and match wardrobe. Fun to color and cut out and play with.
Amazing screen free fun with a printable paper doll and her 16 piece winter retro wardrobe.

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I do not know where to start with this one, so let me start at the beginning I guess. Last year, I decided to just draw whatever I felt like for my 5 dollar patrons. One of the experiments that came out of that year was this paper doll pose. Inspired by a pose I’ve seen, but never tried to draw (and like it only looks correct because the amazing Julie Matthews saved me on foot placement- you’re the best Julie). I liked the doll, but the pose is totally new to me and is taking some getting used too. It’s making me stretch and I think that’s always a good thing.

So, I decided one of the things I wanted to do was a two page series, due to the paper doll’s pose and size. After I shared her for my Patrons last year, I reformatted her and did some adjustments to her face and came up with a name. Meet Talia Tuesday & Friends!

She’ll post not every Tuesday, because that would be bananas, but like some Tuesdays. This first Talia Tuesday is inspired by the retro ski trend that seems to be all over the place this winter with lots of 1980s and 1990s inspired ski wear. I don’t think any of this is really practical ski clothing, so I didn’t feel weird giving Talia a big silver earrings.

Don’t worry, Talia will have friends soon. If you love paper dolls and want more of them every month, I’ve got Patreon page where even more paper dolls happen (plus you get to see things like this in the early days) and a newsletter.

Ombre Stripes in Purples with Lapis

A printable paper doll in pwith a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe.
A blond printable paper doll in purples and teals with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe.

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So, according to the internet, source of all wisdom, lilac is a big color for Winter 2022. I wanted to really focus on two colors- purple and teal- for the this paper doll. The set was supposed to be a look at monochrome colors which isn’t something I do a lot in my paper doll coloring.

Recently, I got a question from a reader asking if I did anything with my finished paper dolls. At first, I didn’t understand the question. What did “do anything with” mean? I wondered. I told her about my messy files, my boxes of sketchbooks in my office closet, but that answer didn’t feel right. It’s been percolating in my brain for the last week.

What do I “do with” my finished work?

And then the answer occurred to me as I was working on scheduling this months paper doll posts and it was utterly obvious…. What I do with my finished paper dolls is this. PTP is what I do with my finished work. Completing things is deeply satisfying for me and how I complete my paper dolls is sharing them with all of you.

Once I thought about for a while, the answer was obvious. So, thank you for being a part of my process and a part of my little corner of the inter-webs. If you’d like to support my little corner of the internet further, I have a Patreon page, Etsy store, and a newsletter.

Happy Purim & A Paper Doll to Celebrate

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Oh, where to start… Okay, so Purim begins at sunset tonight and as it is a Jewish holiday where dressing up is a tradition, I’m sort of embarrassed I haven’t done a Purim paper doll since this one way back in 2011. So, here we are to rectify that situation. To be honest, I tend to forget about Purim until after the fact which is not really fair to what is technically one of my favorite Jewish holidays (which I am like 80% into because of the amazing cookies involved.)

So, what is Purim? Well, Purim is a holiday that usually falls in March or April and commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to have all of Persia’s Jewish subjects killed, by Esther and Mordecai as recounted in the Book of Esther. There’s more to the story of course (some of it involving a lot of drinking and nudity, oh my!), but to make a long story short, the day that the Jews weren’t killed is now remembered as Purim. If any of this did actually happen (a subject of some debate) it would have been around 400-500 BCE in the Persian empire of the time. By the way, this is the cutest 4 minute video of this story ever, if you want a kid-friendly primer.

Reading the Book of Esther from the Esther Scroll (the Book of Esther doesn’t appear in the Torah) is a religious requirement of Purim, as is giving to the poor, exchanging food with friends, and eating a celebratory meal. Non-religious traditions of the holiday include making noise (using a noise maker or just booing loudly) when the name Hamen heard during the reading of the Book of Esther, dressing up in costume as characters in the story (or just costume in general), and making hamentashen. Hamentashen are a traditional cookie shaped like a triangle and filled with poppy seed, prune, or apricot filling (or, if you’re me, raspberry). It is said they looked like Hamen’s hat, but I think there’s no historical backing for that one.

I like this hamentashen recipe, though I sub out the brandy usually with orange juice, and I think it is better than my Grandma’s recipe. (Don’t tell!) I usually buy my poppy seed filling, because I’m a little lazy about it. However, you can make your own poppy seed filling which I might have to do, because poppy seed filling is super hard to find in the grocery stores around here. I would add that if you’re used to making cookies with butter, than traditional hamentashen will taste odd perhaps, because they’re usually made without dairy for kosher cooking reasons. I’ve been known to make hamantashen outside of Purim as a non-dairy cookie for friends who don’t eat dairy.

Anyway, as a kid, I loved Purim. I love getting to dress up as Esther, or one memorable year, as a hamantashen. I loved getting to use a noise maker, hearing the story of Esther, and the general feeling of celebration the holiday creates. There’s also something about the slow slog towards spring when everything still is frozen up here in Alaska which makes baking some cookies and having a party seem like a really good thing to be doing.

I didn’t want to make a paper doll of Esther, because honestly, that was way more research than I was about to undertake. What did Jewish people wear in Persia in 400BCE? No idea!

Instead, I decided to draw someone celebrating Purim with a hamantashen t-shirt (because that’s fun) and some Esther costumes. For some reason I had it in my head that this whole thing took place in 1400 BCE, not 400 BCE, while I was sketching, so these outfits are way too early for the actual period, but I’m not sweating it. The trim on the second costume is supposed to look a little like hamentashen. I also included a traditional noise maker called a gragger (or grogger, or grager, or… there’s like a million ways to transliterate Yiddish, I swear) and plate of hamantashen. (Note: Drawing a plate of cookies is hard!)

For anyone else celebrating, have a happy Purim! For everyone not celebrating, have an amazing Wednesday evening and Thursday! I’m spending mine baking.

Some of My Paper Dolls In Teal

I feel like every time I do one of these “paper doll color collections” I say that the color is my favorite color, but then I really do love a lot of colors and I chose colors I like. I mean, I don’t want to spend a lot of time staring at colors I don’t like. The thing is, I really like all the colors. Teal though has the honor of being the one I own the most clothing in. I was once told I had to stop buying teal sweaters by a dear friend when she pointed out that I owned five.

Five was, perhaps, excessive. But I like teal!

One of the things I like about teal is that it can be blue or green and depending on what you pair it with, it changes a bit how it feels. It can be modern with orange or romantic and old fashioned tone on tone.

30 Different Paper Dolls In Teal

As I always do, I tried do a variety of themes like steampunk, fantasy and fashion. I don’t have a lot of historical things in teal I did realize when I was selecting pieces for this little showcase. Maybe I should get on more of that, I guess.

Teal is also a color that I think can like winter or summer depending on what you pair it with. I’m currently planning my wedding and people keep asking me about my colors. I have no idea, but I guess I’ll have to make up my mind soon. (My fiancé has suggested a hot dog themed wedding which would mean red, green, and mustard yellow… I have told him that is NOT happening.)

I digress. Enjoy the paper dolls! And there’s a newsletter tomorrow so sign up here if you want to get it and it’s a St. Patrick’s Day paper doll.

Meet Citrine! New Paper Doll Whose Name I Keep Spelling Wrong! And her evening gowns!

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Dolly & Her Dresses For March 2022

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Goals for 2022

All right, it’s time for goal setting. I like goals. I like working towards things. I’m trying not to be too ambitious this year, because I am starting late and sort of feeling still pretty drained as I recover from some medical treatment (nothing life threatening) and also plan my wedding for June (also not life threatening, I hope).

1. 100 Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 Paper Dolls

Currently, there are about 68 Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls on the blog and I’d really like to hit 100 before the end of 2022. If I included all the Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls that I’ve shared on Patreon, I am probably closer, but I think 100 on the blog is the goal. Of course, I’ll still be putting up my monthly Jewels and Gemstones paper doll for my Patrons. Sign up at the 2 dollar level if you’d like to see those.

2. 10 Historical Paper Dolls

When I asked my Patrons, historical paper dolls won for the thing they wanted to see more of. So, since there are ten months left in the year, I’m setting a goal for 10 different historical paper dolls. So far, I have a 14th century one waiting in the wings and a few more that I have ideas for. If there’s a time period you’d like to see, leave me a comment and I’ll consider adding it to my list. Right now, the top of my to do list is the 1980s, which my Patrons requested last year.

3. Send Things to OPDAG for Paper Doll Review

I feel like this is has been a goal in the past and I have failed miserably at it. The next theme is Animals and after that is Mad about Plaid and Checks. I tend to wait until the last minute to do these and then run out of time. So, my goal is to submit something to those two. I actually love drawing checks and hate drawing plaids, so I should be able to do something. Animals does have me a little stumped I confess. I have a cartoony style, but I don’t think it’s super kawaii which I feel like Animal paper dolls should be.

4. Finish Another Book/Print Project

My first ever book project (You can pick up a copy here) was super fun, complex and I really want to do another one. I have an idea even, so I want to try to finish that. I also have other ideas for print projects, but I can’t 100% decide if I am ready to expand my Etsy store in that direction or not. Anyway, another book is doable and that’s my goal for 2022.

5. Continue with the Newsletter for 2022

I love doing my Newsletter, so I want to continue with it for 2022. It makes me happy and I hope it makes other’s happy, too. Sign up here, if you haven’t. There’s a paper doll in every issue.

6. 10 Dolls Du Jour This Year

Yeah, I did like four last year and I feel guilty about it, okay? So, I’m shooting for ten. I like them. I don’t know why I seem to not instinctively want to draw more of them. The paper doll series deserves more love.

And that’s it! So, I’ll check in with these around Rosh Hashanah as I usually do in September to see how things are going. In the meantime, I am should get too drawing, because those 100 Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls aren’t going to draw themselves, let me tell you.