corsets

Mini-Maidens Paper Dolls With a New Year’s Evening Gown

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Zac Posen Gown
A New Years evening dress based on a design by Zac Posen. It could also be a wedding dress. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com

As I said yesterday, this week will be all about New Years gala sorts of gowns. Today, the Mini-Maiden paper dolls are getting their evening gown. This is based on a this gown designed by Zac Posen for David’s Bridal. The dress is several years old and I couldn’t find it on the current website, so I linked to my Pinterest page.

If you want to see more evening gowns and cocktail dresses that might someday turn into paper dolls, check out my Evening Gowns board. It is the home of gowns I like and may someday draw.

Heavily boned corsets like the one on this gown are very much a trademark of Zac Posen‘s designs and I love a good looking corset.

Plus, I think a New Years evening gown should be something sexy. By the way, I would never have the guts (nor the occasion) to wear something this fitted, but then what are paper dolls for?

I think I’ve mentioned before my guilty pleasure, Say Yes to the Dress. Thanks to that show, I can say mermaid dresses are very in style for weddings and this could easily be a wedding dress if you wanted that instead of a New Years dress.

I think Faye, Greta, Hazel or Isadora would love to get this gown, but since there are four of them, you might need more gowns. Therefore, I might I recommend this series of Prom dresses or this 1930s inspired evening gown.

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

Ancient Greek Fantasy Gown Paper Doll

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Ancient Greek Dress, Corsets, Lyres and Pale Aqua

A ancient greek inspired paper doll fantasy gown with a corset and lute.

So, I have been spending some time with my big paper doll index and I have noticed there are a few tags with very few items in them. I don’t think everything has to be even, but I was surprised at how few Ancient Greek Inspired pieces of paper doll art I have posted. The last one was back in 2013. So, just like I created an Astronaut and a Ninja recently to try to flesh out those areas, I decided to dabble in the world of Ancient Greek inspiration.

Therefore today’s fantasy gown was inspired by Ancient Greek clothing, particularly the peplos which was women by women and fasten at the shoulders. Because I have a fondness in my heart for corsets, I added one over the top and her accessories are a scroll and a lyre, because everyone needs a lyre, don’t they?

Plus, they didn’t have codex format in Ancient Greece, so scrolls it is.

Other paper doll light tags include Russia inspired, cyborgs and ballet. Which one of those should I work on next? Let me know in a comment if you have an opinion, just remember: I always reserve the right to ignore suggestions and, of course, things take a long long time to go from idea to finished paper doll.

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

B&B: African-American Fantasy Maiden’s Second Gown

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Athena- Goddess of Wisdom, Renaissance Faires, and This Paper Doll I drew in 2013.

A fantasy paper doll gown featuring owls and puffy sleeves and trim and things. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

Yesterday, I posted my big beautiful brown skinned fantasy maiden B&B paper doll with some rockin’ boots and I explained how that paper doll set was inspired by a project to look again at older sets on the blog and use them for inspiration for newer sets. Yesterday’s paper doll and today’s gown were both based on a Pixie paper doll set called Dionisia.

Athena, goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology, inspired the trim on the bottom of her dress. Owls were the symbol of Athena and I wanted to give a nod to the goddess in this gown. In the Renaissance era, which was a minor inspiration for this gown, ancient Greek myth and legend was super popular, so the owl motif is also a nod to that.

Plus, it was an excuse to draw some owls and who doesn’t want to do that?

My natural instincts told me to make the undergown cream as I did with Monday’s paper doll gown, but I fought those instincts and went with a deep gold instead. Since the gown is trimmed in a nod to Athena, I decided that this gown was worn by a woman of education and distinction.

Therefore, she got a pot of ink, a scroll and a book as her accessories. Seriously, that’s why. It has nothing to do with my love of drawing books. Honestly.

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Tomorrow, there will be a ninja!

Also, I hope all my USA readers take the time today to go vote. Super important.

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

Ms Mannequin: Layered Fantasy Gown with an Underbust Corset

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:  Victorian Garters, Folk Art, and Layers, Layers, Layers

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Sometimes when I draw a paper doll outfit, it is really an excuse to explore something artistically. In today’s fantasy paper doll gown, I wanted to practice drawing drapery and layers. One of the things I am always thinking about when it comes to paper doll designs is how different pieces will layer over each other. Clothing, after all, has bulk and drape.

I previewed today’s fantasy paper doll gown way back in June and I actually drew the design back in December of last year. So, this has been a long long time coming, clearly.

There’s a second similar fantasy gown for the Ms. Mannequin series over on my Patreon page that everyone, not just Patrons, can download in color or black and white, so check that out over on my Patreon page and consider joining. It’s a great way to support the blog.

The corset designs are based on folk art designs which I love. I’ve always liked folk art florals and traditional crewel embroidery designs. The garters are, as I said above, based on Victorian garters which often closed with a clasp.

Meanwhile, please let me know what you think of today’s paper doll gown in a comment.

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

Faye in the Woods: Another Fantasy Maiden Paper Doll Outfit

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A folkloric fantasy printable paper doll outfit for the Mini-Maiden paper doll series featuring a blouse and leggings. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

Continuing our folkloric fantasy week, today’s printable paper doll outfit is leggings with another lavishly decorated blouse. I decided to go with leggings, because I feel like fairy tale woodcutter’s daughters need practical clothing to hike through the woods in.

Or at least as practical as anything I design for paper dolls ever gets.

If you’re thinking, “But I need a doll to wear this stylish getup.”

Than I would recommend popping over to Monday’s post and picking up Faye there; however, any of the Mini-Maiden dolls can wear these outfits which is kinda fun. I think the Hazel paper doll from Beauty in Bloomers would be really cute in these outfits, plus I love her glasses. Alternatively, Faye paper dolls from Runic Adventures or Meet Faye would be alternatives to Monday’s Faye paper doll. Not to leave Greta or Isadora out of the picture, I think Greta from her Steampunk set would be fun or Isadora’s Medieval Fantasy or when she went to a ball would also work well.

A big part of why I create paper dolls who can exchange clothing is because I remember being a kid and having a favorite paper doll from a set and being super annoyed that my favorite paper doll couldn’t wear my favorite outfit.

Plus, I tend to think versatility is always best practice.

So, thinking in terms of versatility, what would you think would be the best paper doll to wear this outfit? Monday’s doll or is there another Mini-Maiden you would like to see rock some of these outfits.

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

Faye in the Woods: A Fantasy Maiden Paper Doll Dresses

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A folk costume inspired fantasy paper doll outfit in black and white for coloring. Designed to fit the Mini-Maiden paper doll series.

On Monday, I posted Faye and the first of her folk art inspired outfits. Continuing our folk costumes inspired theme for paper dolls this week, today we have a fantasy paper doll outfit featuring a blouse and skirt. The blouse is decorated with a tulip inspired pattern and abstracted tulip decorations on the sleeves.

The skirt has a stencil inspired rose motif. Every paper doll needs a skirt covered in roses.

Both of these designs remind me a little of rosemaling. Rosemaling is a Norwegian technique of painted curves, spirals and floral designs. Back home in Alaska, there is a town called Petersburg which is very proud of it’s Scandinavian heritage. I remember some of the buildings having rosemaling on them.

So, I’m trying out Instagram, but I’m not that good at it. Still, follow me if you want. And there’s always Patreon if you want to help support PTP.

The blog is also on twitter @paperpersonas. I am sometimes reminded that my Blog is better at Social Media than I am.

Oh, well.

So, what do you think of today’s outfit? Would you wear it? I think it’s lovely, but I probably can’t pull off the skirt or the blouse.

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

Faye in the Woods: A Fantasy Maiden Paper Doll

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This week we have Faye dressed up in some fantasy clothes.

Some paper dolls are easier to write about than others. Often this has to do with how long ago I drew the paper doll and how much I remember about the original conception. I confess I try to make notes, but I don’t often succeed at that.

I seem to remember thinking of Little Red Ridinghood when I designed these garments, but really it could have been any maiden in the woods. It seems to me there’s always in fairy tales, a young woman who lives in the woods and then there’s a woodcutter or something else.

Often there’s an evil stepmother eventually who sends the maiden out to find something and we all know how that goes. Or she is kind to an old woman and then gets something like gems every time she speaks.

I think a bit part of the pleasure of black and white paper dolls is coloring them in. I wasn’t much into coloring books as a child, but I liked details when I did color. In these costumes, I tried to add details that a person would like to color.

Plus, I’ve always loved how lavished embroidered folk costumes looked.

Alice & The Mad Hatter: The Last Outfit

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Two paper doll outfits- one for Alice consisting of a red and white skirt and a yellow corset over a white blouse. and one for the Mad Hatter consisting of a pea-green suit, red top hat and purple and blue vest.

“Tut, tut, child!” said the Duchess. “Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.” — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 9

Alice and the Mad Hatter are preparing to celebrate an Unbirthday today it seems!

Now, one of the fun things about their clothing is that it is mix and match. Personally, I would pair Alice’s skirt with her top from Wednesday. Yesterday’s green bowler hat would go great with the Mad Hatter’s green suit today.

Frankly, I hadn’t really thought much about outfits when I was drawing this set, so I had to try to make things cohesive with the colors. I’m not sure that worked great, but I’m still learning how to make this new format work.

I really need to learn to think less in “pieces” and more in “outfits.”

Oh well, live and learn!

Alice & The Mad Hatter Paper Dolls

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’m not sure what next week will bring. I may need a hiatus for a few weeks as I move and deal with some other stuff. I haven’t decided yet, but I will let y’all know as soon as I do.

As always, I’d love to hear that people think of the theme this week!

Alice & The Mad Hatter Paper Dolls: Clothing Set 1

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Modern Alice and the Mad Hatter Outfits for some paper dolls! “But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6

I tried to pick out motifs from the book that made sense to make into clothing patterns. The black and white checkerboard pattern recalls a chess board. The cups and saucers are some of the best accessories I can think of for a Alice in Wonderland themed paper doll set. I also added hearts, roses and other symbols that make me think of the books.

On the left is an outfit for Alice from Monday including shorts and a underbust corset over a t-shirt. For the Mad Hatter from yesterday, there is a t-shirt and shorts with patched shaped like tea cups, though the fact they are shaped like tea cups might not be immediately obvious.

The black and white version is linked at the top of the post, as usual.

I’ve been working on making sure new content announcements are going up regularly on Twitter. Also, if you like the blog, then support it on Patreon.

I’m going to be moving in the next few weeks, so the blog may go on haitus for a few weeks. I just don’t know yet. So, baring in mind those moving parts, I thought I should give people heads up.

Monica’s Neo-Victorian Wardrobe: A Dinner or Carriage Dress

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Printable paper doll steampunk inspired dress with a matching hat. Also available in black and white for coloring from paperthinpersonas.com.

Happy Wednesday!

All righty, Dinner or Carriage dresses were worn to evening of later afternoon events that were formal, but not formal enough to warrant full-dress. Carriage dresses are often identifiable, because they are are more fussy and formal than promenade dresses.

The basic order of formality is a walking suit is less formal then a promenade toilette which is less formal than a carriage dress. A dinner dress is less formal than a evening dress, but may also be worn to evening events like come concerts or lectures. Opera was its own insane category.

Who ever said Victorian dressing was simple?

Continuing my 19th century fashion magazines descriptions, here is today’s:

A pale blue bolero jacket with pale blue sleeve puffs worn over a lavender corset with brass button accents. The neckline of the corset is filled with a pale blue high-necked blouse. The matching skirt is lavender and trimmed in pale green with three rows of blue ruffles. The hat is a bowler style trimmed with dark purple fabric roses and a wide blue ribbon band. Without the hat, this ensemble would be a lovely dinner attire and with the hat would be appropriate for afternoon visiting or carriage rides.

I have to confess, I have never been one of those people who romanticizes history. I’m pretty much certain that I like air conditioning, indoor plumbing and antibiotics too much to want to live in the past, but sometimes when I’m working on fantasy romanticized history pieces like this series, I start to think, “Hmmm… it might be fun to get to put on fancy dresses and go to a ball!”

So tell me in a comment what era of history you’d like to visit sometime. I’ve never been able to settle on one, but I think it might be fun to visit the Library of Alexandria or the Aldine Press in Venice.

(My library geek is coming out in those choices.)

Thoughts from all of you? What time period would you like to visit?

If you missed Monday, pop over to that post for Monica and if you love the blog, consider becoming a patron. 

Monica’s Neo-Victorian Wardrobe: A House or Morning Costume

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A neo-victorian morning dress or house dress with a hat designed for the Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll series.

Today’s neo-Victorian costume for Monday’s Monica moves to a much lower rung of the formality ladder.

Today, Monica has a morning costume or a house dress. There really shouldn’t be a hat with this costume, because house dresses and morning dresses were not something women wore outside. Still, I drew a lot of hats with these outfits. So, I thought people might enjoy a spare hat today.

To once again channel my inner 19th century fashion magazine, here we go:

A lavender shirtwaist of the crispest cotton with a jabot at the neckline. The sleeves are long and go over the hands, replacing the need for gloves of any sort. Worn over the shirt waist is a decorative long corset of misty blue leather trimmed in pale green ribbon. The skirt is tightly fitted, as is the current fashion, and made to match the corset’s trimmings. There is a decorative band of tea green right before the knees and then asymmetrical layers of ruffles. The matching hat is green and trimmed in over-sized bows.

I am having way more fun writing these 19th century style descriptions of these outfits than I really should probably admit to most people.

Still, I kinda figure that if you’re reading the blog than you probably already know that I am a trifle quirky and such things shouldn’t bother you at all.

Black and white versions can be downloaded at the top of the post, as usual.

If you love the blog, please think about becoming a patron and, if you’re not up for that, leave a comment. I love hearing from y’all.

Gothic Romance: A Curvy Goth Paper Doll

logo-bb-gothic My best-friend in highschool and middle-school was a curvy girl with a goth and punk style. Now, this might not seem like an odd thing to be today, but in Juneau, Alaska, in the early 2000s, this was practically unheard of. In the early days of internet commerce, buying a corset in Alaska required a willingness to shop online when the online options were limited to Amazon and a few catalog retailers. So, when I sat down to draw today’s curvy goth paper doll, I knew I wanted to celebrate my old friend and her willingness to break the mold.

Despite my interest in alt-fashion, I have never really wanted to wear it in public, but I respect people whose style choices are much more adventurous than mine.

Not that it is hard to be more adventurous than the girl who wears white shirts and cardigans to work nearly every day.

Anyway, when I work on designing something for a fashion genre, I try very hard to be as authentic as possible. Of course, as an outsider to any cultural group, it is nearly impossible to capture all the nuances, but I wanted for my goth paper doll to have a nice range to mix and match pieces which could also share with other paper dolls. After all, maybe she’ll want to wear a sundress or some thigh high platform boots one day.

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Color schemes for anything goth is going to be a lot of black (obviously) and I didn’t want to try to really break the mold here, so I stuck with my old friends favorite colors- black, red, and purple. Lavender was a Victorian color of mourning, so that seemed appropriate. Though the Victorians took their mourning culture way seriously.

While my natural tendency is to avoid patterns, I wanted at least one patterned piece in the bunch and a corset seemed like an obvious choice. The skull and roses pattern is mirrored in her purse and the limited color palette means I think it can go with either skirt.

gothic-romance-color

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I have always loved patent leather, so the boots were an obvious place to make some shiny-texture. I am out of practice with that technique though and it took three or four tries to get it right. I’m still not in love with the outcome, but I’ll live.

Looking for more goth paper dolls? I have a whole tag for gothic fashion, though looking through it, I confess I thought I had more gothic paper dolls.

Hmmm…. Maybe I need to draw some more, because there’s not a lot there.

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As always, I always love to hear that you think of the paper doll!