Clara's 1841 Easter Rose Dress

Clara's dress for this week is a reposted copy of her pretty day dress trimmed with roses, suitable for Easter. In the 1840s, the slope-shouldered look became popular, so dresses were sewn to hide the natural shoulder line, and mimic a round shouldered look. Women would practice holding their shoulders a certain way to accentuate the rounded look. The things people will do to be "in style"!

However, more practical women simply bought well-tailored clothing that were cut to provide the illusion of rounded shoulders. The wide v-neck and off-the-shoulder sleeve seam provide the appearance of sloping shoulders. The wide sleeves and the wide skirt also helped to accentuate the shape, while at the same time making the waist look much smaller.

You may remember from previous posts (like this one and this one) that young ladies in the early 1800s usually did not wear ankle-length gowns until they were teenagers. Instead, a proper young lady wore a mid-calf gown. In the 1840s, she also wore ankle-length pantalettes underneath. Even with a lightweight material, the layers of cloth and petticoats would be very hot in the summer.

Clara also has a bonnet to wear outdoors along with her dress. It has quite a few ruffles and a couple of roses to match the gown. And last of all, some plain boots finish off Clara's outfit for this week.

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

 Clara's Dress 51 (817k)

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 2014 School Clothes

Clara’s clothes are some pretty simple outfits for school. A couple of t-shirts, with shorts, and jeans. Clara’s fashion page for this week is a departure from some of the more historical clothing seen previously. However, the colors and decorations used on the T-shirts create the individual style of the wearer. Flower patterns, extra buttons, lace, solid colors, tie-die, stripes... there are so many ways to decorate a T-shirt. Two styles of pants are also represented by the jeans and the rolled-cuff shorts that were popular in 2014.

To print Clara's School Clothes, use this PDF file:

Clara's Dress 82 (619k)

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 1878 Winslow Homer Dress

Winslow Homer's 1878 watercolor Fresh Air
(source: Wikimedia Commons. Image in the public domain)

Clara’s dress for today is based on a Winslow Homer watercolor named Fresh Air. The painting features a romanticized shepherdess standing with a few sheep in a field. I thought this was a fun painting that would make a great paper doll dress for Clara.

The girl is wearing is a simple drapy blouse over a ruffled skirt. The shoes have low heels, and some decorated buckles and pointed toes. The final part of the outfit is a straw hat with some long ribbons.

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

Clara's Dress 81 (619k)

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 1970s Flowered Dress

Clara’s knee-length dress is from about 1970. This straight-down sheath style of dress was a popular fashion in the late 60s and early 70s. The fabric would have been an easy-care no-iron rayon. The flower pattern would have been brightly contrasting colors, more abstract than realistic, which was a common theme of the early 70s.

Clara also has a pairs of tall boots to wear with her dress today. They were made of leather or synthetic materials, like vinyl, and usually had chunky heels.

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

Clara's Dress 80 (2.4Mb)

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 1842 Pleated Dress

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

The 1840s were a time of great change in fashion. Dresses changed from a gathered, conical shape to the wide bell shape known as a hoop skirt.

Clara's dress shows many of the characteristics of early 1840s dresses. The wide, shallow scoop neck shape was very popular. In the 1830s, sleeves were generally tight with a poof at the upper arm (early 30s) or at the lower arm (late 1830s). In the 1840s, sleeves still could be poofed, but a new style was introduced -- that of layered ruffles for the sleeves. Clara's dress is an early example of this style.

Another fashion element that was very popular in the 1840s was the pleat. Of course, pleats never did go out of style in the early 1800s. They were just employed in various new forms as designers came up with new ways to modify the pleat. Clara's dress shows how wide pleats were incorporated into a pieced bodice.

Clara's dress is short, so she wears some pleated pantaloons down to her ankles.

Her boots are made of leather, with a linen upper sewn on, and buttoned up the side of the ankle.

Portrait of Fanny Hensel, 1842
by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (German, 1800–1882) 
Source: Wikimedia Commons, image in the public domain

If you look at the portrait of Fanny Hensel on the left, you can see a very popular hairstyle of the 1840s. Clara's hair is worn in the same style, pulled smooth, and worn in ringlets over her ears. Clara is also wearing a poke bonnet lined with gathered silk. A large bow ties the hat under her chin.

The original dress was red with little black polka dots, reminiscent of a lady bug. The original boots were dark brown leather with a lighter tan linen upper part. The hat was lined with a funny shade of peach silk (which would not be a good choice to wear with the original red! Choose a nice color that goes with your dress color).


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

Clara's Dress 79 (794k)

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 1993 Dress with Dropped Waist

Clara's dress today is similar to many I remember my friends wearing in the early 1990s. A very straightforward dress, with simple slightly puffed, long, loose sleeves, a gathered skirt with a pointed dropped waist, and a nifty shaped collar.

Clara's shoes are plain, low-heeled shoes that were likely to be dyed to match the dress.

The original dress I used as a model was light pink with a white collar. The shoes were dark pink, worn with white tights.

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

Clara's Dress 78 (745k)

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 1954 "White Christmas" Dress

Have you seen White Christmas yet this year? It is a classic Christmas movie. I just love Betty and Judy's dresses at the end. The beautiful satin dresses are trimmed with fur and covered with big red sequin snowflakes. Silver holly trims dress and adds decoration to Betty's hair.

Clara's dress is based on Betty's dress from the finale. Can you see those nifty long red gloves that Betty is wearing? Very cool.


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

Clara's Dress 77 (830k)

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)