Iris’ Green Outfit from Broodhollow

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.


Villager’s Cape with Black Turtleneck and White Pants from The Prisoner

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Lately, my husband, one of our friends and I have been watching The Prisoner, a famous 60s TV series starring Patrick McGoohan as a high-ranking British spy who resigns for unknown reasons and is kidnapped and taken to the Village, where he is known only as Number 6. The Village is like a resort where others in his position — those who knew too much, from both sides of the Cold War — live out their days peacefully, playing chess and sunning themselves on the beach, but only after revealing whatever information in their heads landed them in the Village in the first place. Although escape from the Village seems impossible, Number 6 is determined not just to get away or to keep his secrets from his captors, but to bring down the whole system.

The Village itself is cheerfully surreal, and its inhabitants wear things like these cute little capes as they noodle around the parks, shop for Village-brand staple foods or hatch escape plans that are doomed to failure from the start. Now let’s face it, if I was trapped in the Village, I would probably never escape; there’s a reason it’s called “Spy v.s. Spy” and not “Spy v.s. Paperdoll Artist.” I like to think that I would at least try, though, and one thing I can tell you is that I would be bringing one of those neat Villager capes with me as a souvenir. Well, Ivy gets one even if I don’t, leaving me to wonder just what exactly she got taken there for, and how well she’s been guarding that information from her captors…

My husband wants me to inform you all of two things: first, to shun the recent remake, and second, to watch the original online; A&E has six episodes up at the moment. Enjoy!


Regency Teddy Bear, Part 1, Drawn by RLC of Paper Thin Personas, Colored by Liana

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RLC, who runs the awesome paper doll blog Paper Thin Personas, drew this Regency Teddy Bear set to prove that she could do cute. As for me, since I started paperdolling again I just can’t put down the Prismacolors, and I’ve been thinking it would be fun to color this one for some time. (I’ve also had my eye on the Lady of the Manor set…)

There’s a Part 2, as well, so look forward to that! Thanks so much to RLC for letting me post her!


The Twelve Days of Christmas, Day 1: A Partridge in a Pear Tree à la reine

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~On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree~

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and for those of you who don’t, I hope you can still find some amusement in birds. Lots of birds.