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 1895 Victorian Winter Dress

I hear it snowed somewhere in the country this week. Here, the citrus trees are blooming and it smells heavenly. Nevertheless, I drew a winter dress for Clara this week for all of you who had snow and ice.

Clara's dress is from the late Victorian fashion era. Victorian dresses in the 1890s were very tailored, and decorated. They often had sleeves that were called leg-o-mutton sleeves, due to the shape created by their wide upper arms and tight lower arms. 

Clara’s dress has a blousy top with a wide lace collar, and the very typical wide sleeves. The skirt has a bell shaped silhouette, also very popular in the 1890s. 

Clara’s hat has a stiff bow, a buckle, and some feather trim. Hats appeared in many styles in the 1890s, but this one is the sort of wide, flat hat popular in the mid-nineties.

And finally, Clara has some sturdy button-up boots with thick stockings to keep her warm.

The original dress was gray silk with a pink lace collar and belt. The gloves were white. The hat was all black, and so were the boots and socks.

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

 Clara's Dress 48 (741k)

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 1890 Day Dress

Here is an elegant late Victorian Day Dress for Clara. A day dress is actually just what the name describes... a dress to be worn during the day – to school, visiting, or whatever activity. Although this day dress is quite elegant, it is not an evening gown. The evening gowns of this time period had really elaborate designs.

This particular day dress is one of the earliest examples of a new fashion trend – the bell-shaped skirt, which was popular throughout the 1890s. Clara's dress for this week has a slight bell shape. As the decade passed, the bell shapes of the skirts got more pronounced, and the dresses added a mutton-leg shaped sleeve. But this dress is from 1890, so it has straight, loose long sleeves. Clara's dress has a blousy top with a wide square yoke divided with several pleats. The ribbon trim on the sleeves, yoke, and hem is a classic Victorian rose pattern.

The hat has an oversized bow with some leaves for decoration. As extravagant as it is, this hat is plain compared to some of the outrageous hats from the 1890s. Still, it fits with the ensemble.

The boots are a plain, classic tall style, similar to those worn for many decades.

The original dress was a light sea-foam green with rose pink and green ribbon trim. The pink hat had a pink bow, with green leaves. The boots were all black, with black stockings.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 29 (818k)

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)