redhead

A Little 1970s Retro Inspired Floral Spring

Free coloring page featuring a lovely paper doll and her retro paper doll clothes with jeans, funky florals, and matching purse. A free printable coloring sheet for you to enjoy.
A beautiful redheaded paper doll and her retro paper doll clothes with jeans, funky florals, and matching purse. A free printable paper doll for you to enjoy!

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

Today’s member of the Ensemble Eclectica is a cute little redhead with a retro paper doll clothes vibe. She’s not from any specific decade, but there’s something that feels 1970s about the color scheme to me.

I’m having a bit of artists block over the last few weeks. I wanted to draw, but I had no idea what to draw and the idea of trying to think of something to draw just made me sort freeze. So, instead of torturing myself with indecision, I decided to go back to my own archives and draw some things inspired by pervious sets I’ve created.

This set was inspired by Hearts Denims and Bows, a set I first drew a decade ago. One thing I did miss while I was drawing this set was having a paper doll with a side facing foot, so I could really have more fun with shoes. I like drawing shoes. Anyway, given that I have over a thousand paper dolls on this site, I might as well use my own work to feed new work.

Part of the purpose of Ensemble Eclectica is to try out color schemes. So, I turned a little retro for these paper doll clothes.

One of the things I’ve been trying to mimic is the printing styles of vintage materials and since I’ve been trying to play with that and what better way to do that than with some vintage color inspiration. I was heavily influenced when coloring this set by the shades of the 1970s- mustard and coral and a little avocado (though not too much, I leaned into teal instead, which is also a color I associate with that decade.)

Anyway, a fun part of the continuing Ensemble Eclectica series has been color. I love picking out color schemes for my paper doll and trying them out. I’m always fascinated at how color really changes the feel of a paper doll set.

Ruby Dressing Up in the Mid-1950s

A 1950s printable paper doll coloring sheet with a mix and match wardrobe.
A cute redheaded 1950s printable paper doll with her mix and match wardrobe.

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I mentioned in my last 1950s printable paper doll about how important I thought it was to have some 1950s fashions for these paper dolls that include pants and Ruby is getting two pairs of them. She has what was known as a “playsuit”- basically, a romper. There’s something very infantilizing about the terms “playsuit” and “romper”, though I’m not sure I have the energy to really dive into how infantilizing the 1950s was towards women. I mean women couldn’t get mortgages on their own until the 1970s, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

I digress.

The point is that women wore pants in the 1950s and I wanted to illustrate some of those styles for this paper doll.

As usual, my references were mostly catalogs- Sears and Montgomery Ward. I went through do many catalog pages and I did not do the best job of documenting what I used. However, you can see the romper from 1954 here and the camisole and Bermuda shorts worn together from 1955 here. You can see some of the hats here from 1956 and one of the dresses here also from 1956.

As November wraps up, we are stumbling into December which is always a hit and miss month for me. I have an idea that I hope I’ll get finished. Then January will come which may be a month off, I’m still debating, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Hope everyone has been having a lovely end of Fall and beginning of winter (though given that it was -27 here yesterday, I think winter is already here in Alaska.)

Talia Tuesday and Her Formal Gowns

Two printable paper doll coloring pages with a doll and her wardrobe of eight mix and match pieces.
A paper doll printable with a 11 piece wardrobe of evening gowns in fun spring colors. The doll has red hair and fair skin.

Download the 2 Page Black and White PDF | Download the 2 Page Color PDF | More Talia Tuesday & Friends Dolls

So, there’s a not so fun side to any new paper doll series involving me figuring out how many pieces of clothing I need to draw to fill in a set. Too many and the clothing won’t fit. Too few and it looks weirdly sparse. I’m still sorting out with Talia Tuesday what I need for each set and evening gowns (because they are large pieces) are always a good way to test and get a feel for things.

Plus, I enjoy drawing evening gowns. Who doesn’t?

A few notes- for those of you who haven’t seen Talia here yet, all of her sets are two pages. I mention this because it’s one download, but there are two pages there. I had a question about that last week, so I wanted to clarify. This is the third Talia Tuesday doll, so if you need a friend (or clone, I suppose) there’s another Talia Tuesday with some retro ski clothing you can check out and a friend named Tashi with some fancy winterwear.

Eventually, this collection will expand to have other paper dolls with T names, but I am not there yet. Slow, but steady and all that. I have one other friend for Talia and Tashi ready and a foray into fantasy clothing I’ll want to share soon.

A Little Mermaid in the 1830s

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

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

To end the month of Mer-May, I wanted to share this Little Mermaid paper doll. As you probably know, the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen is the classic tale of a mermaid who becomes obsessed with a prince, gives up everything for him, ends up in agonizing pain until he marries someone else, nearly kills him, kills herself, and gets to spend 300 years doing good deeds for humans, so that she might someday win a soul to go to heaven.

Most illustrated versions of the tale I’ve seen place the story in a orientalist fantasy setting, but I wanted to draw on fashions from around 1837 when the story was written. So, the paper doll’s dress is based on this dress from 1837, this dress from 1833-1837, plus this dress from 1837-1839. Her hair is from the early 1830s and I love those silly hair styles. I used this fashion plate. Despite appearances, it’s actually simplified.

The men’s outfit references a line in the story where the Prince has a page outfit made for the Little Mermaid, so she could ride with him. My paper dolls’ riding costume is based on this coat from 1830 to 1840 and this suit from the 1830s. Though the cut is a bit more regency than it is 1830s and the boots are very regency, I confess.

The knife with the paper doll is the one that the Little Mermaid’s sisters trade their hair for to try to save the Little Mermaid’s life by having her stab the Prince to death. By the way, if you’ve never read the original, I think you should. It is not the Disney tale most people think of.

If you’d like, I do have a lot more mermaid paper dolls. Check out my Mermaid tag and another Jewels and Gemstones Mermaid, if you’d like more mix and match mermaid options.

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13th Century Women’s Clothing Paper Doll Featuring Lapis

This was my second foray into medieval clothing for the Jewels and Gemstones and, at the time, my first foray into 13th century women’s clothing of Western Europe. I like to be specific, because this isn’t what folks were wearing in Asia or the Middle East in this era.

I tend to call these sorts of paper dolls “clothing” not “fashion.” While the idea of dress as a social marker existed in the 1200s, it wasn’t really fully defined yet. It wouldn’t be until the 1300s, and then introduction of tailoring, that you really start to see trends. By the 1400s, headdresses provide plenty of space for people to engage with fashion.

A paper doll celebrating 13th century women's clothing with several dresses and headdresses.

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Okay, I took really good notes while I was working on this paper doll, so I have a mess of sources.

Lapis is wearing a shift based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v).  I made the length is a little shorter and the style is quite fitted. Both of these changes were done to facilitate the paper doll layering clothing over the shift. The source material is 100 years post this paper doll’s era, but illustrations of women’s shifts are super rare. So I’ll take it.

As usual, the shoe designs come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz, an excellent, if exceedingly dry, book on historical footwear. I love this book, but man… it is not a fun read. The illustrations are great though.  Sources for the dress on the left include Biblia Porta, Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, U 964 (fol.178r) and  Collection of poems in Old French, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal- Arsenal 3142 (fol.292r).

You can see barbett and fillet headdresses in the Romance of Alexander, England, Cambridge University Library- Cambridge MS O.9.34 (fol.25v)

I based the right dress off of this dress from BNF Arsenal 5211 Bible de Saint-Jean d’Acre (fol.069v). The book dates from 1250-1254. The other inspiration was this dress from U 964 – Biblia Porta, housed at the Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire. The brooch at the throat comes from this illustration in Morgan M.638 Maciejowski Bible (fol.33) dated 1244-1254.

A colorful 13th century women's clothing paper doll with two dresses and three headdresses.

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So, I did have some issues with her headdresses. They are such a defining part of 13th century women’s clothing. The barbette is the piece that goes under the chin and the fillet is the pillbox hat looking piece that wraps around the head. One thing I’m not sure about is whether the fillet was open or closed at the top. This manuscript illustration and this manuscript illustration it looks closed, but this one is definitely open. Anyway, I settled on closed, but I’m still not 100% sure that’s right.

Anyway, disclaimers aside, I hope you enjoy today’s 13th century paper doll! One of her dresses was a Patron piece from last year and I encourage you to head over there if you’d like to get more paper dolls every week.

My OPDAG Paper Doll: A Foray Into Home Sewing Patterns of the 1940s

A paper doll with dresses from home sewing patterns from the year 1944 produced by Simplicity Patterns.

|PDF of My 1944 Paper Doll To Print |

I wanted to create a 1940s fashion paper doll around a theme, because honesty, I work better when I think in terms of theme, but I struggled a little to come up with an idea. After the paper doll was published in Paper Doll Studio Magazine, I had a great conversation with Julie of Paper Doll School and she suggested I should add some sort frame or something in the background. I have to admit, I do think it makes for a much more visually compelling paper doll.

My 1944 Simplicity Patterns Paper Doll

After some thought, I settled on picking a single source for the doll’s wardrobe and what source could be better than sewing pattern covers?

Anyone whose followed the blog for any length of time knows how much I love sewing pattern covers.

Sewing patterns are a great source for vintage clothing, because they often take the high end designs that were showing up on runways and tone them down for a home audience. In a time where it really was cheaper to sew your own clothing, sewing pattern companies competed to bring the trendiest designs to market.

I chose to focus on Simplicity, because I find Simplicity designs of this era tend to be less high fashion than some of the other brands.

My source patterns were Simplicity 1005, view 2, Simplicity 1047, view 1, Simplicity 1009, view 2, and Simplicity 1040, view 2. Her slip comes from Simplicity 1144, view 2. Additionally, her hats and other accessories were drawn from the illustrations on these pattern covers.

I’m currently working on my contribution for the Renaissance theme for Issue 126. For those of you who know my paper doll poses well, while this 1944 uses the same base pose as my Spites paper dolls, I scaled her differently and I don’t think she can share clothing.

Ruby Celebrates the New Year

Today's paper doll is a redhead with a gown based on the Marchesa designs, purses and matching shoes. She can be printed in color or in black and white.

Black and White PDF | Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones Paper Dolls

Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll
I try to walk a line between being specific in each of my paper doll designs and being general. So, today’s formal gown and shoes are both coordinated, but I chose colors and styles that could be worn with other future evening wear. I don’t have any more paper doll evening wear yet, but I will eventually. It’s not like this is the only paper doll with an evening gown I plan to draw ever.

Plus, I think her hair style could be either steampunk or wedding or evening or… there’s a lot of options in that hairstyle.

Also, can someone explain to me why evening clutches are always too small to actually hold anything useful? Sometimes a girl needs more than just lipstick and her phone.

Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll
The name Ruby, because that seemed so fitting for a redhead paper doll. Cliche perhaps, but I can live with that. Plus I do love redhead paper dolls. Always have.

Something about New Years always makes me think formal gowns and when it comes to formal gowns, I love gowns by Marchesa.

Specific Source Images: Sofia Vergara’s 2016 Oscar Gown by Marchesa & this Wedding Hairstyle from my Hair Pinterest Board

Learn/See More
On the Blog: Paper Doll Evening Gowns, New Years Paper Dolls, & More Jewels & Gemstones Paper Dolls
Around the Internet: My Hair Pinterest Board, Boot’s amazing Marchesa Paper Dolls Gowns & Marchesa’s Website

Last Thoughts
I hope everyone who has today off is having a lovely New Years day.

There is unique content on Patreon, including a totally an exclusive Friday paper doll.

As always, I love to hear what folks are thinking in the comments. Do you love redhead paper dolls as much I do?

A Steampunk Batari Paper Doll

A printable steampunk inspired Asian dress up doll with two pairs of shoes and she can share clothing with any of the other B pose ladies.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

When I was looking at the all the B Pose dolls, I realized that I’d not really done one that was “steampunk” inspired. So, it wasn’t hard to decide to make the third version of Batari as a steampunk dress up doll that you can print. I mean, she could also just be a girl with a red bob. I suppose the difference is not exactly extensive.

Also, she has navy toenail polish which I think is super fun. 

It’s been so long since I designed this paper doll, I really can’t recall what my inspirations were. If you head over to my Steampunk Pinterest Board, you’ll find plenty of steampunk fashion inspiration.

Some options for steampunk clothing for Batari include- yesterday’s steampunk outfit, August’s steampunk outfit, and this princess dress with a top hat. 

Right now, I am doing a poll about what I should create in 2019, if you have a moment, please hop over to the Patreon page to vote. Also, I’d love to hear if you have a comment, so feel free to let me know there or here. 

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

Two New Alice Paper Dolls- A Brunette and Redhead

A pair of printable paper dolls. The paper doll on the left is brunette with green eyes and fair skin. The paper doll on the right is a redhead with brown eyes and fair skin. Both paper dolls can share clothing with any of the A pose paper dolls.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

Because the first Alice was a blue eyed blond, I decided it made sense to make a green eyed brunette and a brown eyed red-head made sense for my next two Alice paper dolls. There’s also 18th century Alice, but she’s a bit unique, because she can’t share clothing with all of the other paper dolls. So, I’m not sure if I can count her, really.

The whole point of this “double-set” thing was to try to expand the number of dolls available quickly, so people would have variety. But I also have to remind myself that I can’t compare the Dames and Dandies to my other series. It’s only been around for nine months after all and things like Marisole Monday ran for years.

Instead, I am trying to think- If I could “start over” knowing now what I didn’t know when I began this blog all those years ago, what would I do? And I am trying to be smarter than I was the first time.

I like to think I am older, if not wiser than I was.

So, anyway, that means that this week will be all double-sets. So, we’ll have 2 A pose and 1 B pose. I know the C pose is being neglected and I do feel bad for the guys, but I can’t fit two of those dolls on a single sheet as far as I can tell. So, they’re going to have to wait, but fear not- I have a steampunk version, a fantasy version and an elf all in progress for them, but until then- enjoy the A pose dames and their shoes.

And if you love the blog, than please support it through Pateron, follow me on Social Media or leave a comment. I love to hear from y’all.

Need a clothing for today’s paper dolls? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Meet Batari- The New B Pose Doll

Two asian paper dolls in color or black and white. The dolls have two pairs of shoes and can wear any of the B Pose paper doll clothing from paperthinpersonas.com.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

Happy Friday! Today, I am super pleased to share Batari, a new B pose doll. Batari is an Indonesian name that means Goddess. Batari went through a few different versions and face lifts before I was settled on her. I don’t want to share things I don’t like, so I sometimes that means revisions are needed. I am very happy with how she came out in the end, even if the process got a little messy.

There might have been some cursing. I’m just saying.

As you might have noticed, there’s not just one Batari paper doll today, there’s two!

I realized I could fit two of any of the dames dolls on a single page and I decided that I would create double doll sets for all the Dames. That’s Abigail, Aisha, Akiko, Alice (in the A Pose) and Beatrix, Benedita, Bridget (in the B Pose). Since I was working on Batari at the time of this realization, her first sets is not one Batari, but two.

Maybe they’re identical twins.

I wanted to do two very different feeling paper dolls. So, the doll on the left has a casual hair style and the doll the right as a fancy up-do and painted nails.

Just like any of the other B Pose paper dolls, Batari can wear any of the B pose clothing, of course. I personally think the casual doll on the left might like some boho clothing while the doll on the left seems more like a gothic fahion girl perhaps. Of course, either could wear this super fantasy kaftan or this armored fantasy gown.

My paper dolls lead interesting lives based on their clothing options, I like to think.

If you love the blog and want to keep it ad free, than consider supporting it through Patreon. Meanwhile, did you know I have been working on drawing 100 dresses and posting the designs on Instagram? It’s been a super fun project and you can check it out on my Instagram feed.

Need a Doll to wear today’s outfit? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing