Year: 2013

Blue Sundress with White Butterfly Lace

No comments
Share

A sleeveless sundress with a scoop neck and an above the knee hemline. It is a light sky blue at the bodice, gradually turning into a dark blue near the hem. It is covered with lace, which is in a medallion pattern decorated with curls and butterflies.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

This is just a recoloring of a previous dress, but I really just wanted to play with lace a little bit more instead of drawing something new. With this one I made a pattern out of my brushes and used that, so it’s a little different from the previous lacy dress. All the work on the lace ensures that this will be a short post…

Pink Satin Dress with Lace Trimming

4 comments
Share

A pink satin dress with straps over the shoulders and an empire waist. The above-the-knee length skirt is covered with white lace, with a sparse pattern of flowers near the top, and an elaborate pattern of ribbons, flowers and leaves by the hem. Another row of lace adorns the hem. There is a layer of sheer white fabric attached at the bodice, which drapes over the skirt and is cut away in front, trimmed with more lace.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

You may have noticed that the original black and white masquerade dress had rows of lace that the recolored versions did not. That’s because to color in Photoshop I start by tracing the original drawing with the pen tool. I looked at those little fussy bits of lace and realized that, should I take the time to retrace them, I would be choosing the way of pain, and that I should be able to find another method of making lace. So for a few days now I’ve been working on using Photoshop’s tools to make lace. This is all done with brushes, paths, patterns and shapes, all of which I made myself (well, the ribbons are a default Photoshop shape). Farewell to simple half-circles indicating lace… This is just a beginning, but I think once I have more brushes and more practice I should be able to do some gorgeous lace for paperdoll outfits!

Would you believe this dress started life as a Regency gown? I lopped off the puffy sleeves and everything below the first layer of skirts. I hope it doesn’t show too much, but I was getting rather frustrated with it toward the end! But now it’s done I’m reasonably happy with it.

Iris’ Green Outfit from Broodhollow

2 comments
Share

A green vest with a light green flower pattern and a wide Peter Pan-style white collar edged with lace. Also, a green skirt that falls above the knees with a subtle, darker floral pattern and lace around the hem. There is also a green beret with a gold ornament on the side.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

One of the handful of webcomics I read is a relatively new one called Broodhollow, which I found via Metafilter. (A word of advice: if you want to start reading Broodhollow, start from the beginning.) Its creator, Kris Straub, describes it as “Tintin goes to Innsmouth.” Set in 1930s America, encyclopedia salesman Wadsworth Zane, who suffers from anxiety and compulsive behaviors, discovers that his recently-deceased great-uncle has left him something in his will. This brings him to Broodhollow, “Town of a Thousand Holidays” to claim it. There, he meets various quirky townfolk and comes to believe that something is very wrong with the town… It’s a horror story, but the cartoonish 1930s style, the comic tone and Zane’s good nature take the edge off. Of course, then, when things do get scary it’s even more shocking, but so far, to me, the scariest moment in the series was completely non-violent.

One of the aforementioned quirky townfolk is Iris Bellweather, daughter of one of the executors of Zane’s great-uncle’s will and one of Zane’s first friends in town. She wears this cute outfit, which I always thought made her look like a Girl Scout. Well, the lace and patterns are my own embellishment, but now I’m coloring with Photoshop everything has to have a pattern. Plus, I figured out a way to do lace easily… more on that next week. The skirt pattern is from flashtuchka’s Vintage Floral Patterns and the shirt pattern is from Pixels & Ice Cream.

Masquerade Gown in Yellow Damask and Orange With Yellow Lace and Blue Bow

2 comments
Share

A masquerade gown with a bodice with a yellow damask pattern. The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of orange ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more orange ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are yellow and decorated with a lacy pattern. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a light blue bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is made of yellow lace. The skirt is orange, and falls to the floor. It is decorated with a leafy branch pattern in light orangeClick for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Sorry, I said you had seen the last of this one for a while, but Sarah, who won my previous contest by guessing that Milo’s favorite blankie is white, green and blue, didn’t get her request in until after the Sparkly Masquerade Gown week, so here it is now! (No sparkles, though.) She wrote: “Anyways, could you color that dress with a very pale yellow on top with darker orange on the bottom?” So here we have it. I hope you like it, Sarah! The damask is from Pixels & Ice Cream, and the lace, pattern on the skirt and white trim are from Obsidian Dawn.