1820s

Marisole Monday’s 1820s Morning Dress With Cap in White

{View Larger} {View the PDF} {View Black & White} {View the Black & White PDF}
{More Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Dolls}

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Cap from 1825-1830 and This Morning Dress Circa 1827

An 1820s morning dress for the Marisole Monday & Friends printable paper doll series from paperthinpersonas.com. Free to print and play with.

An 1820s morning dress for the Marisole Monday & Friends printable paper doll series from paperthinpersonas.com. Free to print and play with.

I wanted to make an 1820s dress and I wanted to do a morning dress, because morning dresses kinda fascinate me. I knew it I was drawing a morning dress, than I would have to draw a cap. So, today’s 1820s morning dress was born.

First thing, I kinda messed up. I wrote in my notes that the source image which I printed to draw from was from 1828, but actually it is from 1827. This error got repeated on the image of the dress, so I will fix it as soon as I have a chance, but that might be a while since I am traveling this week.

Anyway, here is the 1820s morning dress that I based today’s printable paper doll dress on from the Met. It had the most wonderful delicate flowers on it that I simply could not render to scale. Morning dresses were a private piece of clothing worn usually just for family members. They were classified as undress which was a least formal form of clothing in the 1800s. There was also half-dress and full-dress, if you’re interested.

No lady would be seen without a hat of some kind and caps were basically indoor hats. I based the paper doll’s cap off one from the McCord Museum in Canada and you can see it here.

Today’s dress from 1828 will eventually evolve into this style from 1830. The skirts will widen, the waist will drop and the sleeves will get yet bigger. The late 1820s is such an interesting period, because it is evolving into the 1830s.

I hope everyone enjoys today’s foray into the late 1820s for a morning dress. Tomorrow, the week wraps with a sci-fi outfit.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here. 

A Paper Doll Coloring Page of A Walking Dress From 1824

{View Larger} {View the PDF} {More Mini-Maiden Paper Dolls}

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fashion plate From 1824, published in Ladies Pocket Magazine in January and boots like this and this.
A beautiful paper doll coloring page with an 1824 winter walking dress and boots. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com.

Today’s printable paper doll outfit is and 1820s dress, specifically a winter walking costume from about 1824. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s a fascinating decade and the fashions change very quickly. I think I sometimes find it a little too “frou-frou” which is odd given my love of the 1870s. If there ever was a “frou-frou” era, that would be it.

This 1820s dress is based on this fashion plate. The original featured a muff the size of a small pony, but I decided to omit the muff because I couldn’t figure out how it would stay on the paper doll.

I have been trying to practice my bonnet drawing skills. I am slowly getting better at them. They are surprisingly challenging to draw, but are such a critical part of 1820s dress.

Along with the walking costume and matching bonnet, I drew a quick pair of simple boots from the period, examples similar to these are here from the Met and here from the V&A.

You can see more examples of early 1800s dress on my Regency Pinterest Board.

Oddly enough, I haven’t done any other Regency/Empire historical clothing for the Mini-Maiden paper dolls. So, that might be something worth working on in the future.

Love the blog? Want to support it? Consider joining Patreon.

Need a Mini-Maiden paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Mini-Maiden Paper Doll Here.

My Curvy Paper Dolls And A Dress from 1820

{View Larger} {View the PDF} {View Black & White} {View the Black & White PDF}
{More Bodacious and Buxom Paper Dolls}

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Dress from 1820 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and these shoes from 1815-1825 in the Bata Shoe Museum 

A dress from 1820 for the B&B curvy paper doll series based on a gown from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A dress from 1820 for the B&B curvy paper doll series based on a gown from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to color and print.

The 1820s fascinate me as a fashion era, because there is a clear evolution from the beginning of the decade to the end of the decade. In the beginning of the 1820s, the era this dress comes from, the waist was still quite high as you can see from this 1820 fashion plate. By the end of the decade, it has dropped to the natural waist, as you can see from this 1829 fashion plate.

The green gown for the B&B series is based off this dress from 1820, though I added the clasp detail on the belt. I love the three-dimensional padded appliques that were a common form of decoration in this era. I wanted to make it clear in my paper doll dress from 1820 that the designs were raised. I think that part of it came out well. I did not keep the striped pattern on the original dress. I thought it would be way to hard to not lose the applique leaf pattern if I did that. So, my version is a bit simpler in style. The shoes are based on this pair from the Bata Shoe Museum in Canada.

A few other notes about today’s dress. I’m not sure what the formality of a dress like this would have been in 1820. I am included to think it is a formal dress, but not really a ballgown. I think maybe a dinner dress? Something for half-dress, anyway. It’s not as informal as undress and not as formal as full-dress. Any thoughts from y’all?

Short sleeves would indicate evening wear after the 1820s, but during the era it is such a transitional period that I am hard pressed to guess exactly what the “rules” were for ladies. As I often say in these situations, I should do more research!

Want to support the blog? Then donate and become a Patron, follow the blog on Twitter, leave a comment, and/or tell a friend about it.

Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.