vintage

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.

Amethyst 1960s Beach Time

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I started these 1960s paper dolls around the same time there was a bit of a medical crisis in my family. It’s all resolved now, but I finished what I thought was going to be the three 1960s dolls, got home, and promptly stopped working on them or looking at them for four months. 

When I finally came back to them, I decided I didn’t like any of their underwear (it all got redrawn). Then I decided I didn’t like the themes I’d originally planned to do and I wasn’t sure about the hair and I thought the…

Well, you get the idea. 

Looking at this now, I’m still not 100% sure how I feel. I really wanted to do the 1960s, because I did the 1940s, 1970s, and 1950s and it seemed weird not to have the 1960s. However, I’m still not 100% happy with any of the things I drew. Maybe I’ve been staring at them for too long. 

For this set, I wanted to embrace the beach wear I kept seeing in sewing patterns and I wanted to do something that would capture the more casual side of the 1960s styles. I didn’t really want to go mod, but I did want to explore the simple shapes. 

Color-wise, I noticed at lot of yellow and orange and a lot of pink and orange. So, those were the major influences for the color choices. 

Lapis in the mid-1940s

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Jade in the Lady-Like Looks of the 1930s

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I am always struck by the femininity of 1930s fashions. Both 1920s and 1940s fashions tend toward the more masculine, but the 1930s always feels very girly to me. I think it’s all the small florals and the puffy sleeves and the ruffles. 

Jade here is in the same color scheme as my Diamond 1930s doll and my Amethyst 1930s doll, so between the three of them I think you get a pretty nice collection of fashions from the era, hats and shoes.

Enjoy!

The Early Fashions of the 1930s

A 1930s vintage fashion paper doll to print and color with three dresses and two pairs of shoes. She has a coat, a day dress and an evening dress.

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A 1930s vintage fashion paper doll to print with three dresses and two pairs of shoes. She also has two hats and I love her evening dress.

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As often happens with my historical paper dolls, we need to talk about reference images. So, Diamond’s hair is based on the hair of Ann Sheridan in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios. HHer evening gown came from A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I bought for this project. Her underwear is from Simplicity 2288, a sewing pattern from 1930. Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs provided more source images, because it is one of my go-to 1930’s fashion books.

As I was working on writing up alt-text for my images, I realized this printable paper dolls sort of has a little mini-wardrobe. Since, she has an evening dress, a coat, and a day dress. Plus with the two hats, she’s ready for anything. And, of course, she can share clothing with Amethyst and her 1930s clothing.

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1930s Suits and Dresses with Amethyst

A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll coloring page with four dresses, two shoes and hats.

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A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll with four dresses, shoes and hats.

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No secret that I adore doing my historical costume paper dolls and the 1930s is a time period I feel like really has two sort of looks happening. The first is a very soft, floral, feminine, lots of little details kind of country look from the feed sack prints of the era. This is not the look of today’s paper doll.

Contrasting with that aesthetic is a sophisticated, shoulder details heavy, suits and jackets of the 1930s. There are still plenty of bows, but the lines are sharper. The dresses don’t feel soft, but almost prickly to me. This is the look I wanted to explore with today’s 1930s vintage fashion paper doll.

A few references- her hair is based on the hair of Gertrude Micheal in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios, her swimsuit is from the V&A, and one of her dresses is from McCalls 8461. Over on Pinterest, I have more of my inspiration images for this 1930s vintage fashion paper doll, but I also used several books, including A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I just picked up and Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs which I’ve owned for years.

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Ruby In Retro-Space Adventures!

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1940s Fashions with Jade: A Printable Paper Doll

A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

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A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

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I love drawing historical fashion for paper dolls. It’s a little more time consuming than some of the other things I do, but well worth the extra work I think. I tried to capture the broad shoulder of the 1940s with all these pieces and I think some of them were more successful in that than others. Color-wise, I wanted things to be super mix and match. Plus, of course, today’s 1940s Jade paper doll can wear any of the dresses for last week’s 1940s Topaz paper doll. For my patrons, there was a 1940s Lapis paper doll who can also share.

Jade’s hair is based on that of Butterfly McQueen. I often use actresses for vintage paper dolls hair reference images and I don’t have a strong collection of vintage black fashion magazines. Since I work with historical documents for a living, I have no desire to add piles of old magazines to my world. I do enough of that at my job. You can pop over to Pinterest to see more of my 1940s fashion inspiration for today’s paper doll. As always, I also used my books which are a big part of my paper doll research universe.

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Topaz in her Early 1940s Fashions

A black and white printable 1940s paper doll coloring page with vintage fashions to color. Four mix and match dresses, plus hats and shoes.

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A printable 1940s paper doll coloring page with vintage fashions. Four mix and match dresses, plus hats and shoes. The dolls wears a 1940s style swimsuit.

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When I am drawing a historical fashion set, like today’s 1940s fashion paper doll, I always struggle a little to find sources. Since most things after 1924 are perceived as being still in copyright, there’s just not as much out there on the internet. I won’t get into my personal opinions about that one, but I did discover an amazing resource when I was working on this 1940s fashion paper doll was this site called Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wishbooks. It doesn’t just contain Christmas catalogs, but also have general Sears, Montgomery Ward, and a few JCPenney catalogs from the mid-20th century. Super fun to look through- one thing I noticed was the gradual decline of space given to the topic of hats for women in the catalogs from the 1940s to the end of the 1960s.

You can see more of my sources on my 1940s Fashion Pinterest Board. I also used my books, as I usually do. There’s going to one more from this collection. The first one was last month’s Patreon paper doll. I’m also doing a Patreon poll on the next decade I should do (I already have a 1960s and 1930s sets in the works). Currently, the 1980s is in the lead. If you are a patron, go vote!

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Aces & Queens: A Playing Card Inspired Paper Doll

A playing card inspired paper doll with dreadlocks and a mix and match wardrobe.

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A playing card inspired paper doll with multicolored dreadlocks and a mix and match wardrobe.

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This paper doll set was my partner’s suggestion for a playing card themed paper doll creation. When I think of playing cards, I sort of inevitably end up thinking of retro glam, show girls and a little bit punk. That maybe helps explain why this paper doll’s clothing is a little all over the place. However, I do think there’s some neutrals like jeans you could steal from Polka-Dots, Retro-Beach Summer or Flowers and Showers. I am realizing though, as I write this, that I haven’t done that many contemporary fashion sets for the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 ladies.

By the way, I’ve had a few people reach out over my long absence. I was dealing with some family things. It’s all resolved and I have a wonderful support network. Thank you for your kind words and things will slowly be ramping back up here as I get more settled.

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DDJ: Retro Space Paper Doll Adventures with Dawn

An Asian paper doll coloring page with four dresses and a space suit in a retro-1960s sci-fi theme.
A color printable Asian paper doll with a space wardrobe theme, She's got four dresses, boots and a space suit in 1960s inspired colors.

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There’s something really fun about retro futuristic clothing of the 1960s and I had fun drawing it for today’s printable paper doll. I was tickled when I saw it mentioned in the latest issue of Paper Doll Review. Anyway, I’m always up for drawing paper dolls with retro space clothing. I’ve been watching Star Trek: The Original Series with my partner during the pandemic and it’s a hoot. So, here we have four space mini-dresses, a totally impractical space suit and some very important space boots.

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A Valentine’s Day Paper Doll For 2021

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Valentine’s Day is a holiday I always try to make a paper doll for, because of my grandmother who often sent Valentine’s Day cards with paper dolls in them to me and my sister. This paper doll has a small colorful mix and match wardrobe with some retro dresses and slip on shoes. Don’t forget to cut between the dolls shoulders and her hair, so the tabs fit better.

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