Who else creates paper dolls? .... I have been making my own since forever. I love them, especially the vintage and animal ones...I now do most of them digitally. When I was young we moved about quite a bit and they were sometimes the only friends I had when we had just moved to a new neighbourhood. The best set I ever had were back and front dolls with yarn hair ... I played with them until they were completely worn out and I have never seen any since.
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I adored these, growing up!! I've made a few for my daughter, but she's just not into it. Though, she does really like the felt dolls that my sister gave her.
I had a set with yarn hair, too. They were more... wooden, though. Not really paper. Maybe my mom altered them somehow?
Maybe my mom altered them somehow? ... I don't know ... I do know that there are a lot of wooden 'paper' dolls out now so maybe she purchased them that way
Showing my age here... when I was little, McCall's magazine had a paper doll in it named Betsy McCall. A friend of the family subscribed to the magazine and she would save it for me so I could have the dolls and their clothes. I also then would "design" clothes for the cardboard type dolls that I got for Christmas, using typing paper and colored pencils.
Penny ... me too, I loved Betsy and still do. I too would draw and design my own clothes for my dolls and I didn't care what kind of paper it was as long as I could draw on it.
I found Betsy McCall on pinterest and fell in love with her! I've printed out my favorite months on heavy cardstock and want to do some sort of papercraft for my daughter's room with them.
I also was inspired by a pin of felt paper dolls and made a fashion show set for my niece last year. My dad made a sandwich board that he covered in white felt, then I made different backdrops and half a dozen dolls and about a million different outfits and accessories. It took me forever to cut out and embellish everything, but it was worth it. My mom says she plays with it all the time.
We live far from our extended family, so I try to send my niece and nephew especially neat gifts so they'll think of us often. I'm really sad that my kids don't get to know their first cousins very well and I'm pretty close with my brother and sister, so I miss them a lot.
Tiffany ... I've made something similar for my grandgirls when they were young. One was a doll that worked up with yarn on plastic canvas and made the clothes out of felt with all the little details etc. The other was a flat bag I made and sewed a felt paper' doll on one side and a blank side ... I then made clothing for the doll and put that in a little bag and then cut up some shapes and put them in another bag and they were stored inside the bigger bag so they could take out the clothing and shapes and play with them. They kept them amused for a long time and much better than the products you buy that do the same thing
I loved paperdolls as a kid. but now - I guess I´ve just forgotten all about them...
I played with paper dolls as a child. Spent lots of time with them.
I used to love paper dolls as a kid and haven't even remembered them until now!
oh thank you for the memory. I used to get a new book every month from my dad.
I've posted a new paper doll on my blog .... this one was made for a Yahoo group I help moderate. Her name is Fanny Dankworth-Coldbath and she is a steampunk Goddess ... it's been awhile since I have create a paper doll all dressed in fabric ....
My dolls all have little stories and you can find hers here: http://cottonartsboutique.com/
I found her name here: http://steampunk.namegeneratorfun.com/
love the generator
My sister and I loved paper dolls when we were younger. Mom made most of ours and the clothes to go with them.
Thank you for the links. I too was a huge fan of paper dolls while growing up!
I love paper dolls and have since I was a child! My mom got me into them
My favourites are still The Ginghams, and I found them all to print out and I'm pretty excited about it.
As a child, I used to have a few sets that came with three different kinds of outfits. There were pre-made ones, there were sheets of outfits you could colour and cut out yourself, and then there was a ton of tissue paper and stickers with which to make your own from scratch. These were BIG dolls, too, I think taller than a Barbie if I remember correctly.
I also have a pristine book floating around somewhere that has beautiful, authentic dolls and outfits from the 1800s, all recreated from Ladies' Home Journal or something of that nature. It was printed in the 70s and belonged to my mother, and I think I'll scan and print them instead of cutting from the original book
I also make my own paper dolls as a kid and made them for my girls when they were little although they didn't enjoy them like I did. I have played around just a little digitally with the idea in the past year because I thought a digital kit about paper dolls would be fun but the idea hasn't developed into anything yet.
I loved your example and links. Thank you for sharing them. Great inspiration.
Having grown up as poor as church mice I found ways to make a lot of my own playthings. As they say necessity is the mother of invention. Now I actually prefer making my own things generally speaking.
Paperdolls were one of my favorites! Once I learned how to draw and use the 50 cent watercolor paints I was making quite a few of them! Altho I was never after perfection haha!
When I was 15 I watched a lot of Dr Quinn and was so inspired by the outfits in the movie that I spent an afternoon at my grandmothers working thru the movie and drawing the outfits one by one. [Yes I know I was not the typical teen!] The result is below. I actually offer them now as a freebie on my Victorian website.
I have more I just haven't gotten around to uploading them. Ive actually included some of the dresses in a few of my kits like in Antebellum Eve & Autumn Art Blog Train. I haven't created any paper dolls in ages tho. All of the ones I made were before I was 17/18. After that life was busy working & volunteering and then courting dear hubby hehe. Now its kids, homeschooling, photography, old house restoration & scrapbooking.
One day I have hoped to get back into paper doll making.
Jessica ... these are exquisite .. I love them .... I'm sure you will get back to them somewhere along the way ... they will call you
My Grannie would send me Betsie McCall paper dolls in the mail every month. It was a special treat. She was very frugal and I can't imagine that she would buy a magazine so I now wonder where she got them. I also had a set of Jackie and Carolyn Kennedy paper dolls that had hair. I loved dressing them in their sophisticated clothes. My favorite paper doll memory- My father in law gave me a paper doll set for my first anniversary. The traditional gift for first anniversary is paper. He was very proud of himself. My husband was totally confused. I still have them in my cedar chest.
What a beautiful gift from your father in law .... never mind hubby was confused lol .... I too had a set of paper dolls with hair ... they had backs to them as well and all their clothes were back and front. I've never seen them anywhere since which is annoying because I would love to get another set just like them. My dad threw out my paper dolls one year when I wasn't actually playing with them ...didn't ask me if I still wanted them as keepsakes ... I was sooo angry with him for the longest time lol
I used to LOVE playing with paper dolls! I never see them in stores anymore. Sadly, my grandchildren don't know what they are.
One of my favorite things to play with! And I still love them! Mary Englebright used to have them in her magazines and I saved them as an adult.
I saw this thread and had to reply, because my mother in law has a huge collection of vintage paper dolls! She loves talking about them and showing them to anyone who is interested.
These are lovely! You are very talented. I think we must be about the same age, because I, too, was a Dr. Quinn devotee.
Oh, Sully... 
I loved my paper dolls as a girl. I had one set that was all seventies clothes and I really wanted to be able to wear those type of clothes myself. I have looked for them in hopes of sharing them with my daughters, but alas, have come up empty so far. Maybe some day I will find someone who saved and scanned them.
I loved paper dolls when I was a kid and still do. I have thought about collecting some but just never have. I think it is amazing those of you that are so talented to be able to draw/create your own. I did stumble upon this site a long time ago and just thought I would share in case some might be interested that do not have the talent. It's fun just to look over the site for the memories of playing with paper dolls. Here's the link. http://tpettit.best.vwh.net/dolls/pd_scans/index.html
Hope some of you enjoy.
I always made my own and started from the little newsprint pattern leaflets from the pattern companies like butterick and mccalls. I spent hours either at the window tracing dolls and outfits or coloring them. I kept them all in a white envelope which disappeared over the years. They were small, only about 2" tall so an envelope held a lot of them. I think this is why i am my mother's fav. I would always entertain myself for hours with just a few scraps of paper and some pencils. I was always totally oblivious to the racket from my 4 younger brothers or sisters! *laughs
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I want to go to her house and play! Err, enjoy the historical imagery! It would be so cool if you could scan them.
Oooh, paper dolls! I am a huge fan of those, and even collected a few. I envy everybody who can actually draw.
I recently stumbled upon Phee McFaddell´s page, who drew a ton of fantasy/fairy inspired articulated paper dolls that you can color yourself. I printed out Puck from the Midsummer Night´s Dream and colored him. The scan isn´t so great, but you get the idea:
Phee McFaddell's dolls are exquisite ... she's a fantastic artist and shares so much
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