dress

Pink Satin Dress with Lace Trimming

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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.

Masquerade Gown with Sparkly Pink Bodice, Red Velvet Trim and Blue Flowered Skirt with Cream Ribbon

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A masquerade gown with a sparkly, light pink bodice The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of light blue ribbon ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more blue ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are dark red and decorated with large, lighter red swirls. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a cream-colored bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is dark red and decorated with large, lighter red swirls. The skirt is light blue with an apple blossom pattern. The flowers are cream, pink and dark red, and are interspersed with white butterflies. The skirt is long, and falls to the floor.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Sparkle Week continues! I must admit that everything I know about making fabric sparkle in Photoshop I learned from the Disney princesses. Yesterday was sparkles over dark color, today is sparkles over light color. I made this brush myself, too, with help from this tutorial. The pattern on the red fabric is from Pixels & Ice Cream, and the pattern on the skirt is from flashtuchka’s Vintage Floral Patterns.

I’m very annoyed by how Photoshop handles brushes and patterns. I always find myself saving and losing brushes, and if I download a pattern set I have to remember how to credit it. It’s all very kludgy, it seems to me. Am I doing things wrong? Is it improved in future versions? (After all, I’m using CS2, which was released in 2005…)

1939 White Dress with Red Trim and Autumn Leaf Pattern for Thanksgiving

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A white dress patterned all over with small orange, yellow and red leaves in different shapes. The sleeves are short, slightly puffed at the shoulder and bordered at the bottom edge with a looped pattern in bright red. It has a V-neck, also bordered with the same red pattern, and pintucks at the shoulders. There's a row of three tightly-spaced small white buttons over the bust, and it's cinched at the waist with a red-patterned belt which has a white circle-shaped buckle. The skirt is a simple A-line skirt with a hemline a few inches below the knee.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Today is Thanksgiving here in America, and last year I did a Thanksgiving-themed 1860s ball gown as a reference to the year the holiday was established. But in 1939, in the middle of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed it up a week so that there would be a longer shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. As you might imagine, this didn’t go over well with everyone at the time, but for my purposes I am imagining my dolls to be early adopters. So this year, we have a 1939-style dress with an autumn leaf pattern to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Do I ever feel like I have a lot to be thankful for this year! My husband, my family, my friends, the entire medical establishment — I could really go on and on. I won’t bore you all, though, but rather will leave you with one piece of new information: we went in for the ultrasound yesterday, and it’s a boy!

I hope that those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving today will have a lovely one!

Blue and White Gown, and a Vacation Announcement

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Well, I may as well make it official… I haven’t really felt inspired to draw for some time now, and I have some other projects that I’ve been really into lately, so I’m going to take a bit of a paperdoll vacation. I’ll post if I happen to feel like drawing something, but I won’t stick to a schedule. I’ll come back, because I always do, but I couldn’t say when; I am thinking probably within a couple of months.

If you’re wondering if I’m still alive, your best bet is to check my Twitter feed. (But I don’t lead a dangerous life, so there’s no need to worry!) Thank you all for your patience with me, and check back in a while!