• Home
  • Paper Doll Blog
  • Gallery
  • Philosophy
  • Links
19th Century Paper Dolls

Fashion Plate Friday: October 1875

12/30/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
I have been suffering from computer woes this past week, alas, but hoping things will improve shortly. 

To tide you over, here's a lovely fashion plate of children's clothing from October of 1875 (source uncertain, unfortunately). I haven't come across a lot of fashion plates for children, which makes this one interesting. Mostly children wore rather amorphous dresses until they were about 7 or 8 years old, then they generally wore miniature versions of whatever was fashionable for adults. 

Love the colors: the blue shiny stripes and the gold/coppery combination.  It seems I have not posted much from this era, which is interesting since it's so smack-dab into Reconstruction-era America, but maybe I have just been saving this stuff for when I get there. I feel right now like I will never get out of the 1850s. Gotta move this ahead quicker!

0 Comments

December 17th, 2011

12/17/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is a recent auction from eBay that shows a lovely solution for the problem of tailcoats on paper dolls. It's probably from either the late 1890s or possibly just over the jump of the century ~ either way, formal wear had undergone no special changes in the last half of the century. The sorta cutaway morning coat looks more English to me, but was definitely a style in America too.

I used to be a lot more adventuresome with my paper doll construction but that becomes difficult to translate into something that other people can assemble and enjoy and it can be daunting to see something on paper that requires some assembly. I know I have never been real crazy about those hats that require you to paste backing on them.

I am working on a St. Nicholas doll (of course!), but because of his very necessary beard, I am having a hard time deciding whether to make his head a separate piece that needs to be glued on. It's either that or he'll have to be in profile. I guess we shall see!
0 Comments

19th century boots!

12/9/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Awesome boots from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

I absolutely adore 19th century shoes ~ particularly high-laced/buttoned boots like these.  There are quite a few in this collection well-worth drooling over. 

The variety of fabrics and leathers and decorations on these shoes was pretty incredible. These shown on the left look like satin and were made in 1889.

Picture
Click on the images for more detail!

This second pair is leather from 1868 ~ the style of these are buttoned (the flap pulls over the front of the foor and fastens on the side. Ladies had special button hooks (sometimes very fancy ones!) to help get these on and off. 

It's amazing to find shoes this old in such prime shape. No matter how decorative, they were made for practical purposes and most were worn out, handed down and eventually destroyed after much use. Think about the life of your own shoes!

0 Comments

    Gallery

    This is where you can find original paper dolls to download and print.

    Categories

    All
    1830s
    1840s
    1850s
    1860s
    1870s
    1880s
    1890s
    1900+
    Fashion Plate Friday
    My Collection

    Archives

    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    June 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    July 2008

    RSS Feed


Powered by
✕