Clara's 1891 Party Dress

Today's dress is a very frilly "princess dress" that most girls would love. Fashions in the early 1890s were very ornate, although the bustles and crinolines of previous decades were even more elaborate. Tight bodices and drapy skirts were quite popular, and sleeves got puffier as the decade went on.

Clara’s party dress is covered in lace and bows. The ruffles at the neck, elbows, waist, and knee are quite showy, adding enough detail to make this into a princess dress almost any girl would love.

Clara’s hat has a wide brim and is completely covered in ruffles and bows.

The party shoes worn by Clara are slippers with low heels. The shoes are covered with ruffled silk, and decorated with small bows to match the dress.

The original dress was light pink with a white lace collar. All the lace details and bows were black. The original hat was a straw hat with gold and white ribbons on top. The shoes were a light pink silk.

To print Clara's dress, use this PDF file:

Clara's Dress 55 (843k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will be available on this blog as long as I continue to 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 (718k)

Clara's 1919 School Dress

Since today was the first day of school for my kids, I decided to post a cute little school dress from 1919.

Clara’s dress is a post World War I fashion. The war had a huge influence on fashion, as the flowing and frivolous styles of the early 1910s gave way to more practical fashions during the war. Clothing became more structured, borrowing details from military uniforms. Hemlines gradually became shorter as material was rationed.

This dress reflects military styling with the cuffed sleeves, yoke details, and the box pleats on the skirt. Patch pockets add a practical, cute detail to the dress.

Clara’s shoes are simple slip-on shoes with low heels and a little ribbon bow. The tall socks are simple, and mostly the same style as previous decades.

Clara has a soft felt cloche hat with a wide ribbon woven into the brim. A cute pom-pom adds a whimsical detail to the hat.

Hat styles were also transformed by World War I. At the beginning of the decade hats had wide, floppy brims, but by the end of the decade hats had pretty narrow brims.

To print Clara's Dress, use this PDF file:

 Clara's Dress 54 (767k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will be available on this blog as long as I continue to 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 (718k)