Clara's 1954 White Christmas Ballerina Dress

When I was little, it seems like many years we watched White Christmas. In the movie, four performers help rescue the failing ski resort of a retired Army General. At the end, there is a big finale with all the main characters. There are also quite a few children participating in the play. In particular, there are four young ballerinas dressed in white and red. In the snapshot above, the fourth dancer hasn't arrived onstage, yet.

I thought it would be fun to do a couple of Christmas costumes for Clara based on the 1954 movie, White Christmas.

Clara’s costume for this week is based on the young girls’ ballet outfits, complete with toe shoes and a crown.


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

Clara's Dress 76 (775k)

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Clara's 1950s Snowflake Dress

Clara’s dress is perfect for a winter party or a Christmas dinner.  The dress has a classic 1950s silhouette, with a fitted bodice and sleeves, and a wide circle skirt.

The sweetheart neckline was very popular in the 1950s, but this one is unusual since it has a fully curved neck with no straight lines, as most sweetheart necklines have. The wide waistline is trimmed with five ribbons, adding a nice element of design to the dress. The wide skirt is decorated with embroidered snowflakes.

A pillbox hat and some flat shoes finish off Clara’s Christmas ensemble.

The original dress was a deep blue silk with silver embroidered snowflakes. The hat matched the dress.

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

Clara's Dress 75 (913k)

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.

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Clara's 1950s Flowered Dress

Today Clara has a cute, simple flowered 1950s dress with some bows and flowers. The skirt is a classic circle skirt – very popular in the 1950s – with a wide shape, decorated with some flowering vines. The bodice is a fitted shape with a slightly dropped waistline. The collar is a nice square shape, that was very popular in the 50s.

Clara's shoes are Mary Janes – round toe shoes with a wide strap – very popular in the 1950s for young girls.

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

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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 1950s Sweater and Skirt

This week, Clara has another school outfit from the 1950s. With the same wide skirt shape as last week's dress, this skirt has some wide box pleats, a tall waistline, and a narrow belt for decoration. The sweater is a soft, form fitting shape with 3/4 length sleeves.

With some of the popular penny loafers and tall socks, Clara is ready for a stylish day at school.

The original sweater was yellow. The skirt was a dull orange with a shiny black belt. The penny loafers were dark brown leather, worn with white socks. The headband matched the yellow sweater.

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

Clara's Dress 62 (760.5k)

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 1950s Jacket and Skirt

Finally! It's back to school for most of the country. If they are not already in school, most students will head back within two weeks. So to celebrate, here is a cute dress for Clara to wear on her first day of school for a new year.

In the 1950s, fashion designs had bold, clean lines, and simple shapes. Clara’s dress has a wide skirt in a style very typical of the dresses in the 50s. Think "poodle skirts"....

A cute jacket adds some flair to the outfit, with its straight lines and rounded collar. Three simple round buttons are the only decoration on the jacket.

Mary-Jane shoes were quite popular, and Clara’s are worn with ankle socks.

An finally, Clara has a cute 50s hairstyle with two ponytails tied with ribbon.

The original dress was cherry red with pinstripes.

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

Clara's Dress 61 (755k)

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 1950s School Dress

In the 1950s, all girls wore skirts or dresses everyday, and Clara's outfit for today is a classic 50s fashion. Although pants were becoming socially acceptable as a fashion, skirts remained quite popular for another decade or so, before pants overtook skirts as the most popular fashion for girls.

This particular dress has a fitted top with a cute diamond-shaped tie. The wide, full skirt is a classic 50s circle skirt, an iconic fashion silhouette for this decade.

The shoes are some cute little slip on shoes, worn with (what else) the classic bobby socks.

Finally, Clara has a cute 1950s haircut: a chin-length bob that curls out at the bottom. She has a headband, one of the most popular forms of hair decoration in the '50s.

The original dress was red and black. The original shoes were black and white.

Some of the popular colors for clothing in the 1950s were:



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

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Clara's 1950s Poodle Skirt

A poodle skirt is the iconic symbol of the 1950s. In fact, the poodle skirt is kind of an overused cliché for the decade. I always thought that the skirts were more costume than reality, but my mother said that she had a poodle skirt, and that they really were a popular style. So I looked into the interesting origins of the poodle skirt, and found the history to be fascinating.

The history of the poodle skirt begins in 1947 with the original designer: Juli Lynn Charlot. Her husband had just lost his job, so money was tight. She wanted a new skirt for Christmas, but could not sew, so she chose the most simple pattern she could, deciding on a circle skirt as the pattern. Felt was the only fabric available wide enough to cut a full circle without seams. Her mother owned a factory, so Juli Charlot was able to obtain the felt for free.

After making herself a skirt with Christmas appliqués, the result was so cute, she made three more and took them to a local boutique to sell. They sold so quickly, the boutique ordered more, and after Christmas, requested a dog design. She designed a skirt with dachshunds, which also sold well. The boutique requested poodles for the following set of skirts, and thus was born the poodle skirt. A department store owner saw the skirts, and placed a larger order for his store. As the popularity of the skirts grew, orders began to come in from across the country.

Charlot decided she would need to learn how to sew, and enrolled in classes, but was too busy to attend. She hired her former sewing teacher, and learned on the job. She soon had a full line of fashion designs and accessories, and became very successful in her work. It's amazing what a little creativity and hard work can do.

Clara's fashion page for today has a classic poodle skirt and a blouse with turned-up cuffs on the sleeves. She also has another classic icon of the 50s: saddle shoes worn with bobby socks. The original poodle skirt was a bright turquoise with a black poodle. The shirt was plain white. The original shoes are the classic white with black patches running across the center of the shoes, under the laces.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
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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:
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1950s Summer Outfits

Clara has two complete, interchangeable outfits for a hot summer day. The button-up blouse and thin sweater go well with either the pleated shorts or the circle skirt. The sweater is still in fashion today, or – to be more accurate – it's back in style now.

One interesting little note: fashion seems to follow cycles. The wide circle skirts of the 1950s mirror the short crinolines girls wore in the 1860s. Instead of being covered with ribbons and ruffles, the circle skirts of the 50s were plainer, with simpler decoration. Still, they were worn over many layers of petticoats, just like crinolines. Circle skirts are the hallmark of the 50s – a fashion style instantly recognizable as belonging to one specific decade, but add enough frills, and you have a crinoline from many years before.

As for shoes... when I was a little girl, I almost never wore shoes in the summer, even to cross the road when it was 115°. I would run from one patch of grass to another to get to my friends' houses. I had very tough feet. Since it's summer, Clara could also go barefoot with these outfits, but I included some simple shoes with a cute bow.

Bright, clear colors, and black and white were popular in the 1950s. The original blouse was white with tiny blue and green vertical pinstripes. The sweater was white, and the shorts were also white. The skirt was red.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 27 (747k)

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:
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Clara's Pedal Pushers

Another scorcher of a week here in Arizona. It's a little cooler than last week; only 106 today. So this week, since it's still so hot, Clara has some capris – or pedal pushers – from the 1950s.

Up through the 1940s, pants were still scandalous for women to wear. However, pants became suitable for women during World War II, when women wore trousers to work in factories in place of the men who were at war. By the 1950s, many styles of pants were worn by women and girls, including these short pants, known by many names: pedal pushers, three-quarter shorts, capris, or clam diggers. Clara's pedal pushers have some cute trim on the cuff.

Clara also has a matching long tunic for a blouse, with geometric trim at the neck, and large pockets. The tunic style of top was quite popular in various forms through the 1950s.

To finish off her outfit, Clara has some simple ballet slippers. Although Clara's pair for today is quite simple to match her outfit, it was also the style to have bows, buckles, rhinestone clips, or other decorations on similar shoes.

The original tunic and pants were a navy blue with a gingham trim (red and white checks) around the neck, sleeves, and pant cuffs. The original shoes were white.

You may be interested to know that black and white were extremely popular in the 50s. Ladies wore white with black accessories and trim, or black with a little white. Some of the other popular colors for clothing in the 1950s were:


To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 26 (731k)

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 Vintage Swimsuits

To celebrate the hottest August on record here in the Phoenix area, I have a few swimsuits for Clara. Considering the fact that it is still 111°F right now, I think swimsuits are the only outfits that will work this week. Maybe next week, too, if it doesn't start to cool down.

One of Allison's favorite things to do in the summer was to swim, and we would probably be going swimming tonight if she were here. Not having her with us turns fun things into difficult things to do, especially if the activity was something she loved. Perhaps that's why we've not been swimming much this summer, despite having access to some pretty neat swimming pools and beaches.

[ sigh ]

Ok, so these are some pretty fun swimsuits. Clara has three swimsuits for a hot summer day at the pool or beach.

The first swimsuit is from the late 1930s, and has a fitted semi-gathered skirt with a cute anchor trim. This is actually a little more risqué than many of the suits from the 1930s, but the skirt is still pretty long, at least compared to what we wear today.

The suit from the mid-1940s is rather plain in design, but has some bold stripes across the chest. The bottom looks almost like some of the swim shorts that are popular right now.

The swimsuit from the early 1950s is nearly form-fitting, and has some cute stripes and polka dots. The suit had two layers: the part that is visible, and a tight swimsuit underneath. I may not be making any sense right now. It's probably the heat. :-)

To print Clara's swimsuits, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 24 (741k)

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)

1950s Petal Dress

Women’s fashion in the 1950s is characterized by soft flowing lines, and very feminine shapes. Skirts took a variety of shapes, from pencil skirts to the iconic "poodle skirt" with everything in between. Clara's dress for today is from 1957. The dress has an elongated petal waist, and a full skirt. This would be a great party dress, because the skirt will flare out when Clara dances.

Sometime soon, I will have to add a nice poodle-style skirt for Clara! The circle skirts used so much cloth. They remind me of the skirts from one century before: the 1850s crinolines like this one!

Clara's shoes have low curvy heels and a simple scallop that echoes the petal shape of the dress. A pillbox hat, just coming into poularity at this time, tops off Clara’s late 1950s outfit.

The original dress was a light blue with tiny pink and yellow flowers. The hat was black with a pink rose, and the shoes were black as well. Although the designs work well together, the original colors sure don't!

Be creative with your coloring. I simply provided the original colors as a reference point. You may also be interested to know that black and white were extremely popular. Ladies wore white with black accessories and trim, or black with a little white. Some of the popular colors for clothing in the 1950s were:



To print Clara's Dress, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 11 (607k)

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)

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