underskirt

Colored Elf Gown in Blues and Greys with Grey Lavender Edges and Silver Trim

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

Emily won my last contest, for guessing that I had had visitors from 115 countries last week, and this was her request: “Can I choose a dress that has already been colored? Because if so I would like the Lord of the Rings elf gown from 10/5/09, but (kind of opposite of how it was colored before) in blues and grays, maybe a bit of very blueish lavender, and silver trim.” I really like how it turned out… hope you do too, Emily! (And don’t worry, trazy, I haven’t forgotten yours! I just want to do it justice, and I’ve messed up on the pattern too many times today…)

In my imagination, the elf who wears this dress and the one who wears today’s dress are good friends. The one who loves bright colors (we’ll call her Cathiel) has, over the years, influenced her friend’s color sense; you can thank her for the purple at the edges of this one, which seems quite muted to her but was a big leap forward for her sober-minded friend, who we’ll call Rhylar. It also means that she can thank her mother and aunt (who, unsurprisingly, disapprove of her style) quite sincerely for their optimistic gifts of pearl grey and clay rose robes: she assures them that she will put them to good use, and she does. They make wonderful gifts for the more conventional Rhylar. They like to find a picturesque spot and practice duets; Cathiel is a middling flutist, while Rhylar is decent on her harp, but a gifted singer. Often the former will lay aside her flute, close her eyes and just listen to her beloved friend sing a song or two, and if part of her attention wanders and she mentally changes Rhylar’s rust-colored gown to a snappy, sunshiny yellow, it only heightens her enjoyment of the scene.

poll by twiigs.com

1950s Tea Length Wedding Dress with Scalloped Lace and Apple Blossoms

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

I do love 1950s dresses, and wedding dresses are no exception! This is just a white, tea length one with lots of lace. I’m not too thrilled with the way the flowers turned out, but unfortunately I’ve run out of time for tonight and I need to post what I have. So, I reserve the right to redo them at some point.

Emily guessed the answer to the contest in the comments for this post, so the contest is closed! Last week (from the 8th to the 14th), I had visitors from 115 different countries. Let me know what dress you’d like me to color and how, Emily!

poll by twiigs.com

Retro Yellow and Black Ms. Pac-Man Dress with Fruit Pattern and Pink Bow

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

My beloved husband Brian requested a dress based on Ms. Pac-Man, and because I so often dismiss his ideas for paper doll outfits in a rather cursory fashion (and you would too, if you heard them) I thought it would be nice to indulge him a little.

We used to spend a lot of time at an arcade called Pinball Pete’s, back when we were in college and I lived on that side of Ann Arbor. Brian was pretty good at Ms. Pac-Man, and I liked to watch him escape the little ghosts. He was awfully cute when he wasn’t quite fast enough and got caught! He doesn’t play much anymore, now that we are stolid and serious adults (well, really rather that we live on the other side of town now), but you still can’t bring it up without him mentioning that the pretzel is counted as a fruit in Ms. Pac-Man. So of course, the pretzel duly makes its appearance in my dress.

For some reason I felt a sort of retro, fake-50’s feel would suit the theme, but now that the dress is done and I have no intention whatsoever of starting over, I wonder if perhaps an 80’s theme would have been better? Pretzel-covered leg-warmers? … Yeah, maybe not.

No one has quite won the contest yet… Just be glad I didn’t ask for the year, too!
What day is my wedding anniversary?
Post your guess in the comments! Again, the rules:
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per day.
3) If no one gets the exact date by 9:00 PM EST, June 9th, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.
– Yesterday’s hint: It was in the summer.
– Today’s hint: The day is an odd number.

Mermaid Monday #17: Layered Wedding Gown with Pink Pearls, For A Mermaid-Human Wedding

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

It happens, sometimes, that a mermaid falls in love with a human: maybe with a sailor, a brave seventh son, or maybe a shipwrecked prince. There are some that choose to keep their mermaid form (the houses built by such couples, designed to be comfortable for both sides, are architectural marvels) but many choose to pay a mystic for the spell that will grant them a pair of legs instead. Sometimes the love-struck mermaid forsakes the seas as part of her payment; sometimes she keeps her options open. Wherever the relationship may end up in ten years time, at any rate the wedding that starts it off is always a sight to behold.

I’ve written about traditional mermaid weddings, with their motifs of red seaweed and tattered gowns, but what looks romantic to mermaids just looks ragged to humans. Sometimes the bride will brook no compromise whatsoever, going with a dress that could just as easily be worn for a traditional mermaid wedding, except that it is the length humans expect for their weddings. These gowns will be the traditional bright red and have tattered edges, but they may also have more fabric than is considered practical or fashionable for an underwater wedding, just because the designer can get away with billowing skirts and so on on land. Such gowns are breathtaking, if unconventional to both humans and mermaids. But most such brides harbor romantic dreams of a human-style white wedding dress. (There’s a word in the mermaid language for the oddballs obsessed with human culture: our closest translation might be something like “xenophiliac” or “human otaku.”) As this bride did, they may include red accents or other reminders of the sea, perhaps as a nod to their heritage, perhaps just to keep their mothers happy.

I decided to go back to just the dresses in the thumbnails after all. Thanks, everyone for bearing with my experiment and giving your opinions!

No one has guessed the right answer to my question yet. This time, there are only 365 choices, so it should be possible. (I didn’t get married on Leap Year’s Day — no, that doesn’t count as today’s clue!)
What day is my wedding anniversary?
Post your guess in the comments! Again, the rules:
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per day.
3) If no one gets the exact date by 9:00 PM EST, June 9th, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.
– Today’s hint: It was in the summer.

This is my second mermaid-on-land dress in a row for Mermaid Monday. Shall I do a proper one with a tail next week, or shall I show you a traditional mermaid wedding dress adapted to land?

poll by twiigs.com