Heavy Hearts

Apologies for no paper doll page this week. Although I have several sketches, my heart is not in it at this time, and I will not be able to finish and post a fashion page.

Tomorrow evening – October 26 at about 6:00 – marks the first anniversary of the loss of our beautiful daughter Allison in a tragic bicycle accident. We have been missing Allison with a constant hole in our hearts. It has been a rough year filled with grief and sadness, but also hope, kindness, and love. We have families and friends who give us constant love and support. We have journals and pictures and memories of Allison. We know we will see our daughter again.

I tried to think of something profound to say, but others are more eloquent at expressing comfort and love in times of grief. I have learned that as I reach the depth of sorrow, the atonement of Christ can lift me and help to heal the broken heart.

Clara's 1835 Pleated Dress

Clara's dress this week is from 1835. This time period is referred to as the Romantic Era for fashion. Women wore floaty, gauzy dresses with lots of bows and pleats. Large sleeves made women look like butterflies. Ribbon-tied ballet slippers were quite common as fancy footwear, and the stockings were sometimes richly embroidered. For women, the new fashion was a dress hem that fell just above the ankle to show off the fancy stockings. For girls of Clara's age in the 1830s – as in other time periods – a mid-calf hem was the proper length of a dress for an 11-year-old young lady.

Bonnets in the 1830s were large and covered with ribbons and bows. Clara's is a little simpler than some of this decade, but has the fashionable long ribbon ties.

The original dress is a beautiful shade of bronze, the color of luscious melted chocolate. The hat is emerald green satin. I don't know the original color of the shoes, but they should probably be ivory or the same color as the gown.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 32 (754k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)

Clara's 1620 Royal Court Gown

Clara's dress this week is a court gown suitable for visiting with royalty. My daughter asked if this was a Queen Elizabeth dress. Queen Elizabeth I lived from 1558-1603, so the king would have been James I (who died in March 1625) or Charles I, who succeeded James. However, fashions did not change very much at that time, so Clara's dress does indeed look like an Elizabethan dress. Children of noblemen dressed in the same style the adults did, just in smaller sizes, so Clara's dress looks almost just like one an adult would wear.

The original dress is in a painting of the English nobleman, Sir Thomas Lucy and his family from 1625, painted by Cornelius Johnson, a Dutch artist. In this painting, there are seven children, although the Lucy family eventually had thirteen! An older boy stands near his father on the left, dressed in adult-style clothing. The three daughters have very similar dresses, with only small variations in style. The baby may be a boy or a girl... there really is no way to tell, since baby boys wore the same dresses as baby girls. The two children in front are actually boys. Although they are wearing dresses like the baby, the style of dress is masculine, with a doublet top like their father. At this time, boys wore dresses until they were about 5-7 years old. I am sure there are plenty of boys out there who would be glad they did not live back in the 1600s... although the practice of keeping baby boys in dresses persisted through the late 1900s, but only until a boy was toilet-trained at about age 2.

In the painting, you may be able to see the original colors of rusty red and greenish-gray brocade fabric, with wide white lace at the neck, cuff, and collar. The tiara is gold inset with a red gemstone. The girl on the right is wearing some cute little red slippers, which I used for the shoes. (Correction August 16, 2013: The child on the right is most likely a boy, since he also has a double top. Thank you John Cass.)

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 31 (770k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)

Clara's 1902 Pleated Dress

Clara's dress this week is a little similar to the 1890 Day Dress from last week. Both dresses have a wide collar and pleats, but other than that, they are representative of their own fashion eras.

Clara’s pleated dress is a stylish fashion design from 1902. The wide collar and high neck balance the blousy sleeves and waist. Pin-tucks on the bodice provide a nice detail to the dress. The short, pleated skirt was worn over some petticoats to give it the wide shape.

The first decade of the 1900s is known for the extravagant hats worn by ladies (think My Fair Lady). Clara’s wide hat fits in with the style of the day, and sports a flamboyant bow and feather. Additionally, the hat was worn at a jaunty angle for more emphasis.

The patent-leather shoes had low, wide heels and were worn with long stockings to cover the legs. The stockings would have been made of fine cotton.

The original dress was all light blue. The stockings were also light blue. The shoes were black, shiny patent leather. The hat was all white, including the bow and feather.

In the 1900s, white and pastels were very popular for clothing. Fancier clothing and evening gowns would have bright jewel tones, but day wear was more muted. Here are some colors found in clothing from about 1900:



To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 30 (755k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)