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 1869 Winter Overdress

I hear reports of snow across the country, although we certainly haven't seen any (and are very unlikely to see any here in the Arizona desert). But we did turn on our heat for the first time today, and are glad that our heater works.

So I decided to draw a nice, warm dress for Clara today -- an 1869 silk or taffeta party dress, with a matching overdress.

Have you ever seen a 1950s or 60s movie, where the movie star arrives at a party with a gorgeous cloak that matches her evening gown? Such high fashion was not a new idea... in the 1860s, it was quite the thing to have a cloak that matched your party frock. Even then, the idea of having a cloak to match your dress was not a new idea, having been a practice of the wealthy for hundreds of years.

It seems very impractical to me to have a coat you could only wear a few times. However, it sure is cute!

Clara has a little feathered bonnet to go with her dress, and some tall button-up boots to finish off her outfit.

The original dress was cranberry red. The overdress was cream colored with red trim. The bonnet was a matching red with white ostrich feathers. The boots were black.

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

Clara's Dress 57 (783k)

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 1877 Walking Dress

Just in time for Christmas is a fancy dress for all the shopping Clara will be doing. Clara's dress for this week is an 1877 "walking dress." The dress got its name from the intended purpose: the dress was meant to be worn while walking around outdoors. Whether the activity was shopping, strolling, or just visiting... anytime a wealthy lady was going to be seen outdoors in public during the day, she would wear a walking dress. Worn to impress others, walking dresses were generally more elaborate ensembles than a regular day dress. The outfit would typically include a hat, boots, gloves, purse, coat, scarf, or any conceivable accessory, all carefully matching and coordinated.

Clara’s walking dress is very typical of the 1870s, with heavy drapery decorations. Clara’s dress for today has a pleated underskirt with an overskirt drawn up with a wide ribbon on the side seams to form drapes. A ruffled yoke dresses up the high-collared bodice.

For footwear, Clara has the ever-popular tall boots. In the 1870s, the style was to have square toes, so Clara's boots have square toes... she has to be completely fashionable!

To finish off the outfit, Clara has a straw hat with ribbons on the crown and roses for trim. As a final touch, a long, drapy scarf finished off the hat.

Popular colors for the 1870s were bright jewel tones, with yellow, red, and purple prominently seen. Of course, many other bright, clear colors were worn. The original dress was ivory silk with rose pink ruffles, ribbons, and trim. The hat was a golden straw hat with ivory ribbons and scarf, and rose pink flowers. The shoes had a light tan upper with black bottoms.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 40 (780k)

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)