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 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 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.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:

 The Clara Paper Doll (718k)

Clara's Pilgrim Dress

One of my most popular dresses for Clara is her Pilgrim's Dress from 1620 (click here to see the original post). Since it's Thanksgiving this week, I thought I would post the dress again for any newcomers to my blog.

If you read my original post, you will find out why the pilgrims did not wear buckles and black dresses, as they are widely portrayed in most Thanksgiving pictures, cards, and other merchandise.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To print Clara's "More Authentic" pilgrim outfit, use this PDF file:
 Clara's Dress 36 (717k)

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 1990s Lace Dress

Clara is all dressed up for a special occasion in this 1990s lace dress with a tulip-petal wrapped skirt. This dress has a very simple shape, but the lace adds a lot of texture to the design. The heavy lace top was very stylish, and dressy in the early 1990s. Lace was very popular in the 80s, and stayed popular in the 90s for a while.

The shoes are some cute slingbacks, decorated with a rose trim that matches the flower on the dress. With such a dressy outfit, Clara would probably wear nylons, although hardly anyone here in Arizona ever does (especially not in the summer!)

There's not much to say about 1990s fashion in general, other than it's sort of a hodge-podge of fashions from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It's not as distinctive as fashion from, say, the 70s. Maybe the fashion will appear to be more distinctive when there is more of a time distance from the 90s to today — more of a historical perspective.

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

Clara's Dress 74 (1.6Mb)

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 1990s Jumper

1990s fashions borrowed a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the previous three decades. With elements of style from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there is not a cohesive style that defines the 1990s. Instead, various fashions in many different styles were worn.

Clara's dress this week is a simple jumper cut in an a-line silhouette. The style is a very flattering dress, with a calf-length, drapy skirt. The scoop neck of the jumper is echoed by the wide scoop neck of the t-shirt.

Finally, Clara is wearing a pair of wedge-heeled slip-on shoes with some flower details. Wedge heels were very popular in the early 1990s.

The original jumper was a navy blue color and the t-shirt was white. The shoes were tan.

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

Clara's Dress 73  (775k)

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 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:

Clara's Dress 72  (917k)

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 as Glinda of Oz

Glinda of Oz Cover, 1920. The last Oz book published by L. Frank Baum.
(Source: Wikimedia Commons – Artwork is in the public domain.)

Since Clara has already dressed up as Dorothy in Oz and Dorothy in the Emerald City, and also as Ozma, her final Oz costume will be of Glinda of Oz. 

Have you read all of the Wizard of Oz books? They are in the public domain, and are available for download for free from most book readers. If you want to read them online, you can read them on Project Gutenberg, which currently has 42,000 free ebooks. Just search for "Oz" and you'll get a list of all the Oz books — some of the versions even have illustrations. For a list of the books in order, you can check the Wikimedia article listing the books.

Illustration from Glinda of Oz, ©1920
Artwork in the public domain

Glinda is the wise sorceress who appears in most of the Oz books as a mentor and helper for Dorothy and Ozma. In the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz, she is the Good Witch of the East.

John R. Neill illustrated 13 of the 14 Oz books written by L. Frank Baum. Neill's Art Deco style illustrations are beautiful, and romantic, with lots of drapy, floaty cloth and flowers, and other glitzy details.

In the books, Glinda is portrayed in several different ways by Neill, but always in a long, drapey dress. She usually wears a helmet type of headdress with a narrow crown and some curvey hair nets.

Clara's dress (on the left) is based on Glinda's costume in the book named after her, Glinda of Oz. She has a long dress with yards of cloth, and a wide, pointy collar. A little scalloped trim decorates the bodice of the dress. The headdress is based on the way Neill usually portrayed Glinda.

Once again (like Ozma's hair), apologies ahead of time for the hair and crown... they are not fun to cut out.

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

Clara's Dress 69 (762k)

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)

Illustration from Glinda of Oz, ©1920
Artwork in the public domain

Clara's 1883 Draped Dress

I'm taking a break this week from the Wizard of Oz series to post a special dress. This Saturday, October 26, is the third anniversary of Allison's death. We miss her so much. Actually all of October's posts were created ahead of time, since I don't like October much.

This fashion plate has special meaning for me. The beautifully framed picture was a gift from a dear friend.

The artwork is a hand-colored engraving from an 1883 copy of the Journal des dames et des demoiselles. The Journal was a Belgian fashion magazine published in French by Bruylant-Christophe et Compagnie.

Clara’s dress is based on the little girl's blue dress from the fashion plate. The bustle had come back into fashion in 1881 after five years of being out of style, and remained fashionable through 1889. Dresses were made of heavy fabric, and highly decorated. Clara’s dress is actually relatively plain, compared to some of the dresses of the era.

A simple crenellated, velvet decoration crosses the bodice and also appears at the cuffs. Her dress has a stylish dropped waistline, with a wide, gathered, draped waistband. Pleats were very popular in the 1880s, and Clara’s skirt is no exception – wide pleats add detail and dimension to the short skirt.

The velvet hat is decorated with lots of ribbons and tucks. It is hard to tell if the hat is a bonnet with a rolled-up brim, or a wide beret.

Clara’s shoes are simple boots, worn with tall, thick stockings to cover the young girl’s legs.

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

Clara's Dress 71 (778k)

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 as Ozma of Oz

Glinda, Dorothy, and Ozma from The Emerald City of Oz

Since Clara has already dressed up as Dorothy in Oz and Dorothy in the Emerald City, this week she is dressed as Ozma.

For the latest costume in Clara's Wizard of Oz series, I based the dress on Ozma's costume in The Emerald City of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, which was illustrated by John R. Neill. After writing the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum worked with the illustrator, Denslow, on producing a play based on the book. As the costume and set designer, Denslow was so difficult to work with that Baum refused to work with him ever again.

In 1904, Baum published a new Oz book called The Marvelous Land of Oz. This time, he used John R. Neill as the illustrator. Neill's illustrations are beautiful, romantic, and very much done in the Art Deco style popular at that time. Neill's distinctive illustrations appeared in the rest of Baum's Oz books.

Ozma is portrayed in may different ways in the books, but always in a long, drapey dress. She usually wears an "Oz" diadem (a headband ornament) with big poppy flowers on the sides. Ozma also has a funny narrow crown that she wears as well.

Apologies ahead of time for the hair and crown... they are not fun to cut out. I strongly suggest not trying to cut the spikes on the crown, but rather just cutting along the curve formed by the top of the points. Those little tabs at the shoulders are important to keep the hair from sliding down Clara's face.

(Update 10/18/2013) I had the wrong file linked. Here is the correct file.

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

Clara's Dress 70 (778k)

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 as Dorothy in the Emerald City

Last week, Clara was dressed as Dorothy when she arrived in Oz from Kansas via the tornado. The costume was based on W.W. Denslow's original book illustrations instead of the costumes from the 1939 musical film with Judy Garland. This week, Clara is wearing another of the original Denslow costumes that Dorothy wears to meet the (fake) wizard of Oz.

Source: 1956 reprint. Art in the public domain.

Dorothy got a new outfit upon arriving in the Emerald City, with jingle bells on her collar and skirt. Notice that the Silver Slippers no longer have bows like they did last week! They must indeed be magical to change their appearance. She wears this dress to track down and melt the Wicked Witch, and deal with the flying monkeys.

Source: Library of Congress, in public domain

So Clara has another Wizard of Oz costume this week, this time a puffy dress with some cute jingle bells and an apron. The dress looks very much like a court jester's outfit. The magic slippers don't have bows this week, but her hair does...

And Toto is back, of course.


Next week, Dorothy dresses as another Oz character!

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

Clara's Dress 68 (807k)

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)