Gowns and Dresses

White Gown with Rainbow Tulle and Rhinestones

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A strapless white satin gown with a subtle scroll pattern woven into the fabric and a rhinestone pattern on the bodice. The dress has an empire waist and is mermaid style, fitting tightly around the legs. On one hip is a puffy white satin bow, under which are several puffs of tulle arranged in rainbow colors that fall to the floor. Each puff of tulle is decorated with a number of rhinestones at the edge.

I said that today would be the contest winner elf dress, but I just got back from a trip back to Michigan for my sister-in-law’s wedding and didn’t leave enough time to color the dress properly. Luckily, I already had this dress finished! Before I left on my trip, I was nearly three dresses ahead of schedule, and now the number is back down to zero…

After I finished my previous tulle gown, I wanted to do more and more tulle. I sketched out some dresses, and after I’d sketched this one I decided that I needed to make it into a proper dress immediately. I’m very proud of it — the tulle was fun to make, and I love how billowy it looks. The dress has a Marilyn Monroe singing Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend-style vibe, I think.

Next week will (actually) be the elf dress from my last contest, plus a new poll to decide on what I’ll do for the next contest. Don’t forget that you can now download combined color and black and white PDFs of all of my 2014 dolls and outfits for free! Also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest for sneak previews, paperdoll thoughts and Art Nouveau jewelry. If you enjoy my work, I’d also appreciate your support through Patreon.

Ballgown with Tulle Skirt (A Not-Really-A-Tutorial Tutorial)

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A ballgown with a halter-style black bodice and a floor-length, bell shaped skirt. The bodice is patterned with a metallic gold brocade. The gown is divided into three layers. The first one is shades of layered orange, yellow and red tulle under a light layer of black tulle, which the warm colors show through. The second layer is light green, dark green and light blue under a layer of black tulle. The third layer is dark blue, purple and magenta under a layer of black tulle. One of my Pinterest boards is titled “Paperdoll Reference.” It may as well be titled my “Why Can’t I Draw Like That?” board. I’ll pin dresses with interesting coloring, particularly shiny dresses or dresses with great draping, with the intention of using them to study from. Not being the most diligent artist in the world, I’ve been piling up interesting examples and not doing all that much with them. Then the thought came to me, why not make the learning process into a paper doll outfit? (Everything’s better with paperdolls.) Sort of like a tutorial, except I, too, start out with no clue what I’m doing. Let’s learn together!

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Red and Gold Party Dress

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A strapless red dress with a tight bodice and a V-shaped waistline. The wide, knee-length circle skirt is flared out as if the wearer is spinning around. The whole dress is made of sleek, bright red fabric patterned with golden curls and dots, and the reverse side of the fabric, seen in a few folds at the edge of the skirt, is gold.

This dress was intended to be a birthday dress, but after much fussing in Photoshop I couldn’t get my initial vision to look as I had intended it to. Just for fun I gave it a bright red color and a playful golden pattern, and then I couldn’t bring myself to change it because it is just too cute. They don’t all have to be super fancy, and I love the movement in the skirt. Maybe this will be the year I finally do a full set of birthday dresses, but this is not the month they will start.

A black and white version of a gown with princess seams and lacing up the bodice. There's an under-layer that shows at the neck. The sleeves are three-quarter and there are long lengths of fabric that drape over the forearms and fall almost to the ground.Thanks to everyone who entered my contest last week! I enjoyed reading everyone’s opinions. The winner of the contest was Lorie Harding. I didn’t have the black and white version ready by last week, but it’s done now, with Mia modeling it for us. So, Lorie, please post a comment or e-mail me by next Friday to tell me how you’d like this one colored!

Next week, we have Adventures in Tulle, in which you all get a view into my digital coloring learning process and we wind up with a ballgown with a tri-color tulle skirt. Don’t forget that you can now download PDFs of all of my 2014 dolls and outfits for free – easier than fussing with all the files individually! You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest for sneak previews, paperdoll thoughts and pictures of pretty jewelry. If you enjoy my work, I’d also appreciate your support through Patreon.

Livedolling the 2014 Oscars

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Dresses for Penelope Cruz and Ellen DeGeneres. Peneleope's dress is pink and sleeveless with an empire waist. A length of pink fabric starts at the black ribbon under the bust and goes over the shoulder, falling behind her and draping over her arm like a shawl. Ellen is wearing a black velvet jacket, a vest and pants with a thin white scarf tied in a droopy bow.9:20 PM: And here’s Penelope Cruz and our host, Ellen DeGeneres. Let’s see, we have Best Costumes for The Great Gatsby, Cate Blanchett for Best Actress, Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor and 12 Years A Slave for Best Picture. That means no one got all four, but muddgirl and dannyscotland each got three. So you both win a recolored dress from the new series! Since I’ve just started out and there’s really only three choices (well, five if you count the dresses Mia and Leyla are wearing, but I wouldn’t) you’re free to wait for a better selection, or let me know if you’d like one right away – either way works for me! As for which of these drawings will become an actual dress, let’s put up a poll. It’s at the end of this post.

I’ve had lots of fun with this round of Oscars dresses! I hope to do it again next year, but next time I’ll make the post earlier so more people can enter.


Liza Minelli and Jennifer Garner's outfits. Liza is a satin top and pants set in royal blue, with one shoulder exposed. Jennifer's is a silver gown with spaghetti straps and a tiered skirt. 8:04: Here’s Liza Minelli and Jennifer Garner! I’ll probably be able to finish one or two more of these before I’m out for the night…


5:58: Taking the next hour off to put together dinner and get the boy in bed. I’ll pick out new outfits and start sketching again at 7.
5:45: Emma Watson and Jennifer Lawrence's gowns. Emma's is sleeveless with a scoop neck and is sparkly on the bodice, with a black belt, then sparkly at the top of the mermaid skirt, turning black towards the hem. Jennifer's is strapless and bright orange, with a peplum around the hips.Here’s Emma Watson and Jennifer Lawrence. I think the coloring on Jennifer’s is great, particularly! I’m up for taking suggestions, so if you see a dress you really like post in the comments. Caveats – the dress has to work on more than one skin color. For example, I may do Julia Roberts’ dress and just change the little lace panel in the middle, but Lady Gaga’s, with the net base, is probably out. The actual Oscars is going by now, right?


4:57: Mia and Leyla in Bette Midler and Lupita Nyong'o's Oscar gowns. Bette's is a cream mermaid dress with thick red lace, and Lupita's is a light blue gown with a low V neck and a full skirt, classically draped.Here’s sketches of Bette Midler and Lupita Nyong’o’s gowns to start with, straight from Procreate. It’s the first time I’ve posted an image that’s not a finished dress, but it looks like it’ll work right! Lupita’s gorgeous gown suffers from the dolls having underwear too wide to really permit a dramatic V-neck like that one…

4:00 (all times PST): Hello! I think the last times I did this I had more readers, so I don’t know if I’ll be all alone or not. If I have company, please say hi in the comments and enter my contest!

First things first: Let’s have a special Oscars contest! In the comments section, post your guesses for which movies will win Best Picture and Best Costume Design, and which actors will win Best Leading Actor and Best Leading Actress. (Click for the list of nominated movies.) The contest is closed when Best Costume Design is announced, one guess per person please, and it’s open to anyone. The prize for anyone who gets the right combination is an outfit from the Mia and Leyla series of dresses, recolored by me as you like. (You can put off your prize until there’s more dresses to choose from, if you like.)

I’ll be watching the Getty Images feed of red carpet images and posting sketches of red carpet gowns here…

poll by twiigs.com