1930s

Benedita: The 1930s Paper Doll Version

A beautiful 1930s printable paper doll with black hair and period underwear. She has stockings and four different pairs of shoes. Free to print in color or in black and white for coloring.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
On Monday, I posted some 1930s dresses, but paper doll dresses aren’t much use without a 1930s paper doll to wear them. So, here is Benedita, being a 1930s paper doll today! Never has the “dames” title for this printable paper doll collection been more fitting.

Benedita’s 1930s corset was based on this one from The Met. The original corset has a ruffle at the bottom. I had drawn it that way, at first, but to make the slim skirts of the 1930s work over the ruffle was basically impossible, so through the Power of Photoshop, the ruffle went away. Sometimes, paper doll creation requires editing changes, because fabric can fold and paper… doesn’t.

The shoes all came from 1930s shoes in different museums. I love 1930s shoes, but I wanted to try to focus on classic designs that would be versatile for different outfits. Her brown shoes, for example, were based on this pair of purple shoes from Saks Fifth Avenue crica 1934. Her green shoes are a simplified version of this patterned pair from 1935. Her beige and black pair were based on this pair of French sandals. The black pair of the doll is wearing come from this pair of shoes, which is also black.

And yes, today’s 1930s paper doll is wearing shoes. Why? Because I thought it would be easier to put her in shoes than deal with the fact that she can’t be barefoot (she’s wearing stockings) and I didn’t want to deal with the whole “toes under stockings” thing. So, the solution? A nice neutral pair of black shoes.

(And you can always put something over them, if you think she would secretly like to be a fantasy warrior or something.)

Now, just like my 18th Century Alice, 1930s Benedita can’t wear all the clothing I’ve ever drawn for the B Pose paper dolls without her underthings showing. So, if she does decide she wants to go slay a dragon in this ridiculous get up, than she may need need to be okay with her corset showing. Or you can always cut her head off and paste it onto another Benedita’s body. It’s a little gruesome, but no one will judge a bit of paper doll decapitation.

Love her? Hate her? Have an opinion on what decade I should do next? Let me know in a comment!

Need a clothing for today’s Doll? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

A Pair of 1930s Paper Doll Dresses From Sewing Pattern Covers

A pair of 1930s paper doll dresses based on 1930s sewing pattern covers in color or in black and white for coloring. Along with the two dresses, there are two hats.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
Some era’s of fashion history I love more than others. I’ve always been a little conflicted about the 1930s. I adore the asymmetry art deco influences of the era, but often find the actual clothing a little dull. Still, once in a while I see a 1930s design and think, “I want to draw that.”

For today’s 1930s paper doll dresses the “thing” I wanted to draw were those sleeves on the dress on the left. That dress is from a McCall 7209, copyrighted in 1932. You can see similar sleeves in McCall 8371 and McCall 8599 from 1935 or Simplicity 1325 from 1933. The sleeve details of the 1930s foreshadow the broad-shouldered silhouette that will become popular at the end of the decade and then take over in the 1940s.

The other of the 1930s paper doll dresses is the one on the right with the scarf. That’s from McCall 8206 and is copyrighted 1935. It’s a more subdued dress and closer to what I think of when I think of the 1930s. The skirt drops quickly from the late 1920s when it’s just below the knee to mid-calve by the early 1930s.

The two hats are based on a soft folded felt hats that were common in this era. I didn’t have a specific example I was copying, but heres a few from a pattern cover and one at the LACMA museum. More examples of 1930s clothing can be seen on my 1930s Fashion Pinterest board. 

I tried to pick colors schemes that coordinated for these, so that the hats could be worn with either dress. 

If you’re thinking, but there’s no paper doll with historic underwear to go with these dresses, fear not. I have a 1930s Benedita in the works to accompany today’s gowns, but until she’s done any of the B Pose dolls can share these dresses.

Meanwhile, there’s an alternative color scheme on the Patreon page from my Patrons- donate and join if you’d like to support the blog. Now, would be a smart time to join, because I am currently doing my annual “Make requests” poll for my Patrons. If you’ve ever wanted to see a ballerina pirate paper doll dress, now would be the time to ask.

Need a paper doll for today’s clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Mini-Maiden’s 1930’s Evening Gown & Shoes

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

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Sears Fashions from 1934 and these shoes from the Met

Today’s paper doll is post is the last one for a the next little while. I am not only out of paper doll content that is finished, but I am also in the midst of finals for my graduate program. So, as of Friday, the blog will be on hiatus until December 11th and the end of the semester.

Meanwhile, today’s paper doll dress is a 1934 evening gown. The major reference book for today’s dress was Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs from Dover Publications. The decoration at the neckline would have been a removable clip on piece, according to the catalog description. These slinky evening dresses are really pretty fun (though would not be very flattering on me). The sleeves are two tiered flutter sleeves which, now that I mention it, remind me of the sleeves that my friend had on her wedding dress.

The shoes are a pair of high evening pumps from The Met museum based on this pair. I was super happy that I could locate shoes from the same year as the dress. It always makes me excited when that happens, though of course, people keep clothing for longer than I year. In fact, right now, I am wearing three year old shoes, two year old pants and a year old sweater.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrated and, as mentioned, I’ll be laying low until my school work if finished. So, no paper dolls will go up until the 11th of December. There will be a “formal” hiatus announcement on Friday.

(I try not to just disappear on you all. I know that’s kinda annoying and sometimes people send me emails worried about me, so I’d hate for anyone to worry.)

As always, I love to hear comments or, if you’d like to support the blog further than become a patron.

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

Mini-Maiden’s 1935 Dress & Shoes From Sears Magazine

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

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Sears Fashions from 1935
A black and white 1935 paper doll dress coloring page with shoes. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.
The Mini-Maiden paper doll series are getting some attention today with a 1935 dress and a pair of 1933 Shoes. Both the shoes that go with today’s day dress and the dress based on designs from the book, Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs.

One of my favorite series of fashion history books are the Sears Fashions set from Dover Publications. Each book is a reprint of pages from Sears Magazines from a decade long period. There’s not a huge amount of contextual information, but they provide a vivid window into the fashions of the decade for children and adults. Plus, they are super reasonably priced, so not bad place to start a collection.

(Says the girl with over 50 fashion history books on her shelves.)

The 1930s is a fascinating period. Skirts get longer than the 1920s and there’s a lot of fun details like the scalloped collar on this dress. There’s also a lot of asymmetry in the styles as well which you can see from the side wrap style of today’s dress.

Right behind the 1920s (which are my first love) is the 1930s. Again, it’s not a period where it would look terribly good on me, but I love the details in the styles.

There’s also a theory in fashion history that really modern clothing begins in the 1930s and the changes that follow this era are fairly minor. I think there’s a lot of truth to that.

Really fashion hasn’t dramatically changed in the last 80 or so years.

So, what do people think of today’s paper doll dress? I always love to hear from people in the comments.

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

A 1930s Dress to Color & Dress a Paper Doll In

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

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Simplicity 1781 from 1935
A 1930s dress for the Mini-Maiden printable paper doll series in black and white to print and color for free.
So, this is my first 1930s dress for the Mini-Maidens paper dolls. That surprised me, but it is true. I even went through the archives to confirm- I’ve done 1920s and 1940s, but never a 1930s dress.

The dress is based on this pattern cover from Simplicity 1781 designed in 1935. The two part dress had an optional coat which I did not end up drawing. Mostly, what I liked about the dress’s design was the super cool square belt buckle.

Yes, sometimes I’m that easy to please.

I should add that I also really liked the pockets on the button of the top and the very art deco feeling of the whole piece, but mostly… mostly I liked the belt buckle.

One problem of doing my first mini-maidens’ 1930s dress is that I don’t have a really good Mini-Maiden doll with the right hair for the era. This Hazel has 1940s hair which doesn’t quite work. The closest two choices are probably my 1920s Faye paper doll whose wavy bob is not too far off or my steampunk Greta paper doll.

Clearly, this is evidence that I need to draw more than one 1930s dress for the Mini-maidens printable paper dolls.

Love the blog? Donate through Patreon there’s more blog content, behind the scenes stuff and you get to know you’re helping keep it on the internets.

The Reader2017 coupon for 25% off in the Etsy store is good for just two more days. So, if there’s something you want, I’d grab it.

Now, I am curious. Should I do more 1930s stuff for the Mini-Maidens? Is there another decade you’d like to see? Let me know in a comment.

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

Ms. Mannequin’s Summery Paper Doll Dress from 1935

{View Larger} {View the PDF} {View Black & White} {View the Black & White PDF}
{More Ms. Mannequin Paper Dolls}

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This 1935 McCalls Pattern & This 1935 Fabric
A summery paper doll dress from 1935 based on pattern covers and vintage fabric swatches. Available in color or black and white for coloring.

This is only the second historical paper doll outfit I have ever made for the Ms. Mannequin series. My last one was my second foray into Viking dress. This is a bit more current and I do think the paper doll’s pose works better with more contemporary fashions (if you can call the 1930s contemporary) than it did with Viking looks.

I suppose contemporary is really just a matter of point of view.

What I liked about the pattern cover that inspired today’s paper doll dress was the split sleeves and the wide white collar.

Confession time: The dress fabric pattern is way out of scale for what was common in the 1930s, but I found this amazing pattern swatch from the V&A and I just had to use it. The tulips felt so modern and contemporary. Obviously, I heavily adapted the pattern, so it was more of a jumping off point than anything else.

Part of what I wanted to do was a spring dress in black which isn’t a color usually associated with Springtime fashions.

What are your favorite spring colors? I love corals and yellows. Let me know in a comment.

Meanwhile, if you like the blog, then consider donating through Patreon, plus there’s a behind the scenes blog and early paper doll previews and other fun content.

Also, you can follow it on Facebook where I am sharing past paper dolls I love from the archives of PTP.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick out a Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Here

1930’s Historical Fashion Paper Doll With Maeghan

1930s-summer-logo Over the years, I have made several other paper dolls of the 1930s, but never a Marisole Monday & Friend’s set, so it seems fitting to rectify that in my goal of 10 historical paper dolls this year. Meaghan is modeling this set, though I’m sure she’d be happy to share with Mia, Monica, Marisole, or Margot.

The 1930s introduced beach pajamas for women, so Meaghan has a set of those with a striped sweater. Other trends of the era include bias cut evening dresses, of which she also has one. And no lady could leave her house without a fashionable hat and gloves, of course. Shoes wise, she has sandals, since this is a summer set and she needs sandals.

Whenever I see vintage fashions and I am jealous of them, I am reminded that I rather wouldn’t want to wear hats and gloves all the time.

A paper doll coloring page celebrating the 1930s with a five piece wardrobe, hats and accessories. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}
Originally, I was planning a red, white and blue sort of nautical color scheme, but I didn’t like the idea of it once I actually started coloring. Once I was in the midst of the coloring, I decided to go with a coral, yellow and pale blue scheme. The colors are summery and bright.

There is no black at all in the set, I chose white as my neutral color instead. Something about white just screams summer to me.

A printable paper doll celebrating the 1930s with a five piece wardrobe, hats and accessories. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print in Color} {Click Here for a PNG to Print in Color} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}
This is normally where I put down a list of sources. I confess that I drew these dresses so long ago, that I simply can not recall all of them.

I remember two inspirations though. This post from Wearing History from 1936 and this pattern cover from 1934.

I’ve only done two other historical paper dolls this year and so I need to get on the ball with that one, huh?

And I need your help…

[poll id=”16″]

Lois: A Paper Doll of the 1930s

lois-logoI love the styles of the early 1930s and I wanted to create a paper doll that showed them off, so here is Lois- a paper doll of the early 1930s. That is to say, everything in it comes from 1930-1932.

It’s common to speak of the last century of fashion as though it happened in neat decade compartments. In reality, fashion doesn’t care what decade it is. It moves based on cultural and social shifts, often subtly, and then you look around and notice that the silhouette has shifted. Rarely, fashion changes dramatically over a short period, but only very rarely.

So, when looking at the early 1930s, as this paper doll does, you might be struck at how close these dresses are to the late 1920s. In truth, they are very similar, because fashion just doesn’t change that quickly. The Great Depression will catch up with the styles of the 1930s, it just hasn’t yet. All of these dresses are drawn from images in the book Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs published by Dover. The Sears series from Dover is an inexpensive way to gather up books the show what people wore, rather than what fashion magazines thought people should be wearing. I own almost all of them.

lois-1930s-early-paper-doll-bw
{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Pixie & Puck Printable Paper Dolls}
I have mixed feelings about my color choices. I knew I wanted to pick a color scheme where I hats could go with either of the dresses, but I don’t know how successful I was. I really do like how the white hat contrasts with her dark skin and I like how rich the red coat looks, but I’m not so sure about the yellow dress. The early 1930s is a very art deco influenced period and that makes me happy. I love the asymmetrical styles and the often surprising details.

lois-1930s-early-paper-doll-color
{Download a PDF to Print in Color} {Download a PNG to Print in Color}{More Pixie & Puck Printable Paper Dolls}
Unlike my 1920s Pixie Lynn, I actually gave Lois some undergarments. She has a girdle decorated with flowers to go under her dresses. She should, technically, have a slip to go over that and panties to go under it, but its a start.

I would have to pour through all my posts to be certain, but I think this is my second 1930s paper doll ever. The first was way back in 2010 for my original Curves Series and is just called 1930s. I got totally distracted looking through those old paper dolls trying to find the 1930s set I was pretty sure was there. It’s strange to go back and look at things I drew four or five years ago.

Some of them paper dolls I still really like and others I don’t. It rather makes me want to take on a project like Julie’s toddlers where she goes back to older color schemes. I’ll have to think on it. I don’t want to “redraw” old things, but there are some ideas there that I think could be reexamined fruitfully.

1930’s: Historical Printable Paper Doll

Curves: 1930s

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here For the Rest of the Series}

I sort of collect historical costume and vintage fashion resources around the web. One of my favorites is The Vintage Patterns Wiki full of pattern covers from the 20th century. From there, I found the wonderful blog What I Found where the author had posted a Simplicity Simplicity Fashion Forecast – 1937 advertising book. It’s wonderful. Curve’s paper doll costumes both come from this lookbook from the era- one smart suit and one summery casual frock. Her shoes are based on illustrations in John Peacock’s book Fashion Accessories.

I’ve been drawing a lot, but not posting a lot which is rare for me. Usually, I’m struggling to keep up with the blog and come up with ideas. Lately, all I’ve been wanting to do is draw and when it comes time to scan or color, I just sort of go, “Meh”. I think it’s because I find drawing relaxing and posting is more like work. Anyway, today’s Curves is going up and on Friday there will be a Florence (one of the last Florence’s I suspect) and starting in November there will be a new Fashion Doll Friday paper doll, of style I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll put it too a vote.