Happy Halloween! Printable Paper Doll Fun!

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Every year, I try to do something Halloween themed. Valentine’s Day and Halloween are, I think, my most consistent paper doll pieces. I like the colors and I like corsets and Halloween seems like a corset heavy holiday.

Her hair is supposed to have a widows peak and I wanted a sort of elegant feeling with these. Some of it is recycled, but I am 100% okay with that. It gave me a place to start. With this set, I had a lot of fun designing patterns. There’s a cute little ghost dresses, pumpkins, and skulls.

I think some fun could be had coloring these as a Halloween party activity. My grandmother used to send us Halloween greeting cards that were often paper dolls and I like to imagine someone sending this to kids or printing it out for them.

My niece is still too young for me to really be sending her paper dolls, but soon… soon.

Meanwhile, stay safe this Halloween and then enjoy!

My First Paper Doll Book in Print: A Lady’s Paper Trousseau & A Giveaway!

I am super excited (and a bit nervous) to present to you all my first ever paper doll book. Based on the contents of Greta’s Trousseau, this steampunk inspired print on demand paper doll book is now available from Lulu. I tried out several print on demand services, but liked best the quality of Lulu’s printing and paper.

The Specs: The book is 6 by 9 inches with a high gloss cover (making it hard to photograph, but super cute in person.) There are 2 dolls, over 60 mix and match pieces over 9 plates, and over 20 different outfits, plus more if you mix and match with gusto. There’s outfits for everything from fencing to balls all printed on satin finished paper.

You can pick up a copy here.  But, before you do, I have two copies to give away!

I bought a few extras when I was doing my photography and I am now ready to pass them along to new loving homes.

To enter, comment on this Patreon post and/or comment on the blog on this post. Be sure to use a working email address, because I’ll need that to contact you!

No purchase is needed to enter and the contest is open to the public if you’re over 18. On the 25th, so one week from now, I will draw two random names and will email the winners. Please don’t give me your mailing address in the comment- save that for a private email, please.

This is open to everyone, even overseas folks, assuming the USPS delivers to your country. Due to Covid-19 and US law, there are a few countries they don’t deliver too, but I don’t think it will come up. (If you’re curious, there’s a list here.)

I am so happy to get to share this two year long project with you all and I want to give a big, huge, thanks to Julie Matthews who steered me through this experience with grace, kindness, and fantastic feedback.

Ruby, A Steampunk Fashion Paper Doll in Stripes

A printable steampunk fashion paper doll coloring page and a 13 piece mix and match wardrobe with over 30 outfit combinations
A printable steampunk fashion paper doll with dark hair and a 13 piece mix and match wardrobe with over 30 outfit combinations

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

Back in March I did a steampunk fashion paper doll set. This feels like a lifetime ago when I thought the pandemic would be over by now and I would be once again frolicking through life mask-free. This clearly hasn’t happened, but you know, back in March I was living the dream. I digress.

So, this set is made up from some things I did a few years ago, few new items and some Patreon things. I did a second color scheme just for my patrons, but you don’t need to pay for Patreon to see it. Just set up an account and you can view them.

Like all my steampunk fashion paper dolls, I try to design sets where there is some mix and match options making it a little micro-wardrobe and I think that really worked in this set in ways I am quite proud of. This isn’t my most Halloween paper doll ever, but stay tuned. I do have one ready for later this month.

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Ghosts & Vampires Paper Dolls to Print for Halloween!

Happy October! I can’t think of a holiday more fitting for paper dolls than Halloween.

So, this first day of month, I figured I would shine a light on two themes I haven’t done much- vampires and ghosts, in paper doll form of course. I’m not a big fan of super spooky Halloween. I tend to lean towards and elegant gothic theme or a cute one.

Vampire & Ghost Paper Dolls to Print

All right, I hope you all enjoy this collection of ghosts and vampires to start out the month of October. The days are getting shorter up here and the it will soon snow (it usually does before the end of the month), so I am already gearing up for the cold months ahead, but am super excited to decorate the front porch for Halloween. My partner goes all out, but I have a rule against things that make noise.

Topaz- A Fairy Paper Doll in Layers & Flowers

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One of the nice things about working with the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 collection is when I feel a little stumped or frustrated, I have a back log of older Jewels and Gemstones stuff to refer to and build on. This set, for example, came from a Topaz as a Woodland Fairy set combined with a Fairy Wings and Gown set. I added a few things, removed a few things and then recolored everything to feel cohesive. This is actually the first of two fairy sets I have been working on.

While I recommend gluing the fairy wings to the doll for sturdiness, you could also use adhesive Velcro (or hook and loop tape if we’re being more general) dots and apply on to the back of the doll (or maybe two, depending on size) and then one or two to the wings and that would give you a way to have removable wings. I would add that not all adhesive velcro is paper friendly (some is specifically designed for fabric), so I would double check that.

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In the Tropics with Pearl

A printable paper doll coloring page with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe of tropical patterned fashion pieces to print.
A printable paper doll with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe of tropical patterned fashion pieces to print.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

Tropical patterns seem to be here and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. I actually had a lot of fun expanding my Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 version mini-dresses with some more pieces to fill out a tropical pattern fun wardrobe. I also had more fun than I should maybe admit designing Pearl’s swimsuit.

When people ask me my “favorite thing” to draw, I’m always a little stumped. I tend to be most proud of my historical work (hence why the Historical Gallery exists), but when I see these complicated patterns and I think about how much fun they are, I confess that they do have a special place in my heart.

The leaves might be changing and there might be termination dust (an Alaskan term for the fresh snow on the mountain tops that indicates that winter is coming) on the mountains, but I can still bask in the tropical warmth of these paper doll patterns.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

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Diamond Exploring the Nautical Cuteness of Sailor Lolita Fashions

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Lolita fashion is a Japanese alternative fashion style that is based on Victorian children’s clothing and all things cute. Let me be clear- if you know anything about actual Victorian clothing, this is not Victorian clothing. It’s Victorian clothing taken to the absolute extreme of ruffles and matching and theme. Like anything in this world, there’s a lot of sub-genre’s of Lolita fashion.

Sailor Lolita, one of the many genres of this style, emphasizes pleats, sailor collars, and all things nautical. If you want to see more of this style, I have a Pinterest section for Military and Sailor Lolita Fashion. While I love a lot of different Lolita styles, the thing them I find most interesting is that (despite the name) it is a hyper-feminine style without being sexualized- necklines tend to be high, skirts are at least knee length, shoes are often without heels.

One thing I find interesting is that elements of Lolita fashion has become more mainstream as the cottagecore trend seems to be flourishing at the moment. I’ll be curious to see how these hyper-feminine styles evolve over time and if they stick around after the trauma of the pandemic. Cultural upheaval often seems to bring about a flourishing of feminine clothing styles- the Great Depression, the Aftermath of World War 2… etc.

Anyhow, this isn’t the first time I’ve done Lolita fashion for Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper dolls, I did a Gothic Lolita foray back in 2020. To fill out my themes, there are several other Lolita sub-genres I should explore like sweet, wa, qi, and classic. However, for the moment, here’s nautical. (And yes, some of these pieces came from a Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 set.)

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A Fantasy Paper Doll: Lady of the Tower

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In my head, this paper doll belongs in the same fantasy world as Diamond as an elven archer. I think all of these dresses share a lot of design elements and feel coherent- there’s high collars and flared sleeves on all of them. A big influence on this set of paper doll fantasy gowns are my desire to experiment with pattern which is not something I do on my fantasy gowns as much as I would like. I tend to do a lot more trims (like on this Pearl fantasy set or this Norse influenced set with Topaz). Not to say I have never done all over pattern, just that it is rarer.

Color scheme wise, I wanted to use colors I think I don’t tend to gravitate too as much as I tend to gravitate to warm pinks and colors. So, I used teal (which I do love) and paired it with purple and yellow. It’s a pretty close to the classic split complimentary color scheme, though not quite perfectly spaced I don’t think. Not that I am too worried about perfectly splitting my color schemes along the color wheel, but I do think about color schemes carefully.

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25 Paper Dolls in Yellow

I have always had mixed feelings about the color yellow and I rather think I am not the only one. It seems to me that the color yellow has a sort of mixed reputation. It’s either a sunny happy color, represents the emperor in Imperial China, or might drive you mad.

After all, there’s the King in Yellow, both the title of a short story collection by Robert W. Chambers and, according to Chamber’s works, a play which if read, causes madness and despair. There’s also the wonderful short-story the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in which a woman becomes increasingly obsessed with wallpaper in a house she’s stuck in. I had yellow painted walls in my room in high school which I liked more after I read the Yellow Wallpaper. Hmm… that may say more about me than the color yellow.

The point, lest I wander entirely into the world of 19th century American horror fiction, is that the color yellow seems really be a chameleon. From a purely artistic point-of-view, yellow is a tough color, because it can easily get muddy and end up looking rather awful. It’s also a color I rarely wear, but I really like it. So, here today is a round up of 25 paper dolls from the site that are wearing yellow.

25 Printable Paper Dolls Wearing Yellow

Somehow when I see yellow in historical garments, I am always a little surprised. I don’t know why- you can get quite a good yellow color from several different natural dyes including brown onion skins, turmeric, and several different flowers. I think I just associate yellow with all things modern, as I tend to with most bright colors, even though I know better.

In today’s paper doll round up, there is fantasy yellow, a 1970s yellow jumpsuit, a 1970s yellow dress, a version of Alice’s dress in yellow, and a modern take on yellow as part of a nautical paper doll set. All around, a pretty good showing for this color.

I recently did a Paper Dolls in Pink collection and I think next up maybe blue or red… not sure which one yet.