short hair

Coastal Grandmother with Ruby!

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My mother very rarely makes paper doll suggestions. So, I was super surprised when she brought up the coastal grandmother trend. And since she is my mom, I had to draw it. Being my mom gets you special paper doll privileges as it should.

Coastal grandmother is a trend that focuses on really nice basics in neutral colors that can be easily interchanged with each other. It’s linen pants and crisp white shirts. Think very neutral, classic staples in light shades and hats, though I didn’t include one. While the grandmother’s I know who live on the coast are more xtratuf boots than nice leather sandals, I think the basic idea holds- it’s a casual style that also emphasizes the value of really classic clothing.

In honor of the grandmother theme, I did a rare grey haired paper doll which I’ve had request for through Patreon. Being a Patron also gets you special request privileges.

Anyhow, here’s the paper doll! I hope you enjoy.

And, unless my math is wrong (and it 100% might be), I think this paper doll gets us to 99 Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 sets.

The Vivian Dolls Collection 1

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The Vivian Doll Herself

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Athleisure with Ruby for My Patrons

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Evening with her 1920s Dresses

A free 1920s printable paper doll coloring page with two dresses, three hats and purses.
A free 1920s printable paper doll with fashions. She can be printed and played with.

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So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll was something I drew, because I was a little tired and the great thing about historical paper dolls from time periods I know pretty well is that they aren’t a ton of work. Especially because resources like Good House Keeping can be found online in their complete run. It makes this fun!

Some of you may recall from my Goals of 2022 was more historical paper dolls and more Dolls Du Jour, so I am super psyched that I got to kill two birds with one stone. Metaphorically speaking, I do not condone bird stoning.

This is my 10th historical paper doll for 2022! I reached my goal and it’s only August. It’s only my 6th DDJ paper doll, I still need four more to reach my goal. I like goals.

I digress.

So, today’s 1920s printable paper doll has two gowns designed to fit in with the theme of a 1920s wardrobe. The dress on the left is a blue and cream day dress and the dress on the right is a coral colored evening dress. It’s not really a super formal evening dress- more like something for an evening garden party. You know, if you have a lifestyle where evening garden parties are your thing.

The blue dress was based on this McCall 5120 sewing pattern from 1927. I assume this is a day dress, but I don’t know for certain. It seems to be more casual daywear. That’s a guess based on other dresses I’ve seen. Her clutch was based on this one, but I modified it to match the dress better.

The coral colored evening gown is from 1924 and was first published in Good House Keeping from June 1924. The dress is described as a light weight option for summer parties. I am always playing around with how to show transparency in linework. The purse comes from a French design and I made the color match the dress.

The paper dolls underwear was inspired by this combination from the Met Museum. You can see similar styles here and here. These teddies or combinations seem to have been pretty popular given the number that have survived.

Sometimes people ask me if my paper dolls are historically accurate and I wince a little. Not because I can’t tell you my sources (I clearly can, I just did), but because the entire idea of historical accuracy is sort of impossible. We simply don’t know enough about the past and we never will. So much about the clothing a person choses to wear has to do with unwritten rules that people conform to in society.

I have no idea how an actual woman from the 1920s would feel about these dresses and I never will. That’s impossible. As a result, I have no idea how accurate anything I draw really is. All I can do is tell you where I found my sources and what decisions I made.

And I hope you enjoy these little expeditions into historical clothing as much as I do.

A 1980s Fashion Paper Doll Ready to Rock the Board Room

A 1980s fashion paper doll coloring page with a mix and match wardrobe of professional working woman's clothing of the era.
A 1980s fashion paper doll printable with a mix and match wardrobe of professional working woman's clothing of the era.

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I fell in love with the 1980s power fashion clothing as I was looking through these old catalogs. So, clearly, the thing I needed to do was draw a 1980s fashion paper doll ready to take over the board room.

The mix and match options seemed really cool here, because so many pf these clothing pieces were designed to match with the black pencil skirts and black trousers, specifically pleated ones. Pleated trousers are super comfortable, so I can get behind that. One perk of this was that just doing two bottoms and then five tops gives a lot of options which I think is a big part of paper doll functionality- which is a passion of mine. This paper doll has 11 outfits, which is a lot for 9 pieces of clothing.

Listen, some people contemplate how to make the perfect pulled pork bbq, I think about how to make a functional one sheet paper doll. We all have our hobbies.

Patrons can, of course, mix and match these with last months’ 1980s paper doll. I don’t think my workout paper doll really mixes well with these, but Jazzercise clothing was super fun to draw.

A few other thoughts- one thing that really struck me about 1980s clothing was how color was used. If you look at the black and white sweater (original here), it’s really the way the shirt is color blocked that makes it 1980s. The pattern could be today, but something about the color blocking really dates it to the decade of the 1980s.

So now Amethyst is ready to go rock the corporate world in huge shoulder pads!

Honestly, the 1940s and the 1980s are both super into the giant shoulder pad thing and I try to get it (I do), but I just don’t. I guess if I’m going to draw a 1980s fashion paper doll I just need to get into the whole shoulder pad thing, but… Oh well, I barely understand modern fashion. I just like drawing paper dolls.

Jade goes Catalog Shopping in the 1980s in today’s paper doll

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Meet Tashi- Talia’s Friend and her Refined Winter Wardrobe

A printable paper doll coloring page set with one doll and a 17 piece wardrobe.
A paper doll printable with a 17 piece fashion wardrobe.

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Meet Talia’s first friend Tashi! My patrons helped me name her. Tashi is a Tibetan name that means “good fortune” and beat out several other names to win the poll I shared on Patreon. Thanks Patrons for helping me name her! I had planned to wait a while to share her, because I had several other Talia dolls finished, but I really wanted to show off her and her fun winter looks, so she jumped the line- as paper dolls sometimes do!

According to my research into Winter trends for this year, I noticed a few things- tapered trousers, pleated skirts, mini-skirts, puffed sleeve sweaters and crop tops with high waisted styles. Interestingly, I also noticed that these lady-like styles got paired with more chunky masculine boots which felt very 1990s. Anyone else getting Doc Marten’s with floral dresses flashbacks? Anyone?

Colorwise, lilac has been an on-trend color for Fall 2021, so I decided to embrace that when I was coloring this paper doll set. I really like pastels for winter, but you have to keep them dusty and vintage feeling, or else you get into saccharine sweet territory.

If you want to get to help me name paper dolls, than join us on Patreon.

Meet Citrine! New Paper Doll Whose Name I Keep Spelling Wrong! And her evening gowns!

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A Whimsical Winter Paper Doll to Print

A winter themed paper doll with nine mix and match clothing pieces including coats, jeans, sweaters, and hats.
A winter themed paper doll clothing page with nine mix and match clothing pieces.

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In my world, it is still way below zero and the snow is still deep. People tell me spring will come, but I am beginning to have my doubts. I’m antsy and super tired of winter. Up here, some people call this feeling the “heebie-jeebies” – that antsy icky anxiety that comes from wanting winter to end. This time of the year time seems to blur together. There’s not enough day light yet and there’s not enough changes in the weather. You start wonder- will Winter ever end?

Different people deal in different ways. I deal by being deeply and intensely attracted to all things cheerful and whimsical. I want hats that look like pandas and pink shoes. So, I designed this paper doll set to capture the whimsy of winter- the things I seem to crave as the dark and cold feels like it will never end.

Other coping strategies this time of the year for me include covering my planner in flower stickers and sticking unicorn washi tape all over my journal . What do you do to deal with long winters? Or do you live in a place where spring is already on the way? I’m only a little jealous.

By the way, I have restarted my newsletter for 2022 quietly. If you haven’t signed up, you can do that here- Newsletter Sign Up. It usually goes out about every two weeks and there’s a paper doll coloring page in every issue.

If you’d like to support PTP in a more direct way (plus get extra paper dolls very month and access to a backlog of wonderful things as well) you can sign up to be a patron on Patreon. It was a slow start to 2022, so you haven’t missed anything new there.

Diamond with her 1960s Mod Dresses

An Asian 1960s fashion paper doll coloring page with her 10 piece mix and match wardrobe of mod inspired fashions. Print her to color and play!
An Asian 1960s fashion paper doll with her 10 piece mix and match wardrobe of mod inspired fashions. Print her to color and play!

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When I think of the 1960s, these playful swing dresses come to mind. They really don’t show up until the second half of the decade, but they are so iconic. I knew when I decided to so some 1960s sets that I wanted one to be mod styles like these. My other two themes are sophisticated (see Sapphire from last week) and a beach summer set which was a Patreon piece.

There are, as always, a lot of different sources for today’s dresses. Working left to right, the orange dress was inspired by this Bill Blass dress designed for Maurice Rentnerfrom the Met. The blue dress is from Simplicity 7852 in 1968. The red and white dress is from Simplicity 6405 dated 1965. I did not draw the matching coat which I sort of regret. Coats that matched slip dresses were certainly a trend I noticed. The mustard dress is based on an illustration by Creators Studios, a New York design company. The pink dress is from Butterick 3398 from about 1966.

Her flower shoes are here from Charles Jordan in 1965. Her other shoes, hats, and purses are from John Peacocks’s 20th Century Fashion Source Book.

I have one more paper doll from 2021 that I have finished to share, than there will be a round up post for all the 2021 (though I know it is 2022) paper dolls for the Jewels and Gemstones. After that I plan to take a few weeks off as a treat and we’ll see how I feel. I love doing my Valentine’s paper dolls, so I don’t want to miss that this year.

Sapphire: A Fashionable 1960s Paper Doll for Printing and Playing With

A 1960s fashion printable paper doll coloring page with historical outfist including 2 dresses and 2 suits, along with hats.
A 1960s fashion paper doll with four outfits, shoes and hats to print and play with.

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After I did 1970s sets (one with Sapphire and one with Opal) and a 1950s set, drawing some 1960s paper dolls felt pretty inevitable. The 1960s are a fashion era I like, but haven’t done as much drawing from. I think because my mental image of the era (super 1960s mod dresses) exists and the actual mainstream fashions which were much more conservative. I love the wild mod looks, but most folks weren’t wearing them.

So, today’s 1960s paper doll is Sapphire with a very ladylike wardrobe from mostly the early 1960s, though I didn’t notice that until I was labeling everything. Here’s a few of the sources- her underwear comes from Sears in 1968. Her bra was based on several different years like this one from 1962 or this one from 1964. The pink suit is from McCall’s 6437 from 1962. Her hats both come from my John Peacock book on 20th century fashion, The Complete Fashion Sourcebook.

The evening gown was based on this Vogue 1452 pattern from 1965 designed by Galitzine of Italy. The green suit is from Vogue Couturier Design 1127; ca. 1962 designed by Michael of England. The 1965 Montgomery Ward Spring Summer Catalog was the source for the yellow polka-dotted dress.

You can, of course, see a lot more 1960s fashion references and inspiration on my 1960s Pinterest board. I tend to collect a lot and then pick and chose when the drawing point happens. There will be another 1960s paper doll up soon, as I have a second one finished as well.