Black and White 1700s Gown

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

OK, this is intended to be a robe à la française, but it’s not precisely what one would call “extensively researched.” I was more going for “pretty”… It looks a little understated, but you have to imagine it made out of a nice brocade or something that would show up when it is colored.

I’m not putting it on the doll because the black and white ones look funny on a doll, but that doesn’t mean I’ve decided yet. Some people have suggested a thumbnail with the dress and one with the doll and dress, but where would they go? They would both have to be significantly smaller, or I would have to write a lot more to balance it out. Either way it would look repetitive to me.

I prefer having the dress on the doll, but I won’t decide one way or the other until the poll closes.

Let’s do a new contest… Thanks to Kelly for the suggestion!
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.
5) If you were actually at my wedding, you don’t get to guess. (But I’ll color a dress for you anyway, Mom, just remind me…)


June Birthday Dress with Rose Lace and Red Underskirt with Pearls

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

My mom’s birthday is today, and if I didn’t do a June birthday dress, well…

June’s flower is the rose, and one of the birthstones is the pearl. It was hard deciding what color of rose to base it on, but in the end I did yellow, pink and white dresses pretty recently.

Sorry for the brief post, I’ve been looking at a computer a little too long today!

The total number of visits my site got between April 1 and 30th was 19,629. That makes Dani’s guess of 19,632 the closest! Congratulations Dani, pick your dress and your colors and let me know your decision!


Strapless A-Line Wedding Dress with Feather Fascinator and Blue and Yellow Bouquet

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

I’ve been thinking a lot about weddings lately — specifically Japanese imperial weddings, but weddings all the same. It seems like everyone (in America, that is: the sort of thing one wears for an imperial wedding ceremony is rather different) is wearing strapless gowns with A-line skirts in recent years, and I thought it might be fun to take a stab at one myself. Plus, it afforded more opportunities to play with the white gel pen!

I have no idea if blue and light yellow is a popular color combination these days, I just wanted to use some unexpected colors. The fascinator is based on one created by Brian’s cousin Emily. As for the choice of strapless-A-line itself, it’s been popular so long that I’m a little bored of it, but it’s still quite pretty and it has the further advantage of not being a pick-up skirt.

By the way, I’m taking a cue from the new paperdoll blog A Paper Closet and showing the outfit on the doll instead of just having it floating on an invisible mannequin. Check that blog out, by the way, and all of the other paper doll blogs I’ve put up on my blogroll, after losing all my links in a server move. There have been some great ones that started while I was on hiatus, like A Paper Doll Blog and Karen’s Paper Dolls.

You get one more clue today, before the contest ends…

How many visits did my site get between (and including) April 1, 2010 and April 30, 2010?

Don’t forget the rules…
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per post.
3) If no one gets the exact number by 9:00 PM EST, June 2nd, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.
– Sunday’s hint: It’s between 10,000 and 30,000
– Yesterday’s hint: The middle digit is 6.
– Today’s hint: The fourth digit (counting from the right) is an odd number.


Black And White Short-Sleeved Princess Gown with Wave Patterns

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

I wanted to draw a princess-ish dress today, but it’s too hot and even drawing loads of fabric seems unappealing. (OK, so even with short sleeves, even if you imagine the fabric to be fairly light this is still quite a lot of imaginary fabric, but Ivy doesn’t have the same concerns in her life that I do, so it’s all right.) This one seems a little boring to me, but colored (maybe in light, cool colors) with a little pattern here and there, I bet it’d be really cute.

Brian and I saw The Secret of Kells today, a fantastic animated movie about The Book of Kells. The art style is absolutely gorgeous and intricate, and the story was charming as well. The waves here are kind of influenced by it, come to think of it, although I didn’t really realize until Brian pointed it out!

Time for a new contest! Winner gets to pick any one of my black-and-white dresses and tell me how they want it to be colored. The last one got a mite tedious, so this one will run from now until 9:00 PM EST, June 2nd.

How many visits did my site get between (and including) April 1, 2010 and April 30, 2010?

Don’t forget the rules…
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per post.
3) If no one gets the exact number by 9:00 PM EST, June 2nd, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.

Edit: It’s Sunday, and I’m not posting a paperdoll today but I am posting a hint! It’s between 10,000 and 30,000.

For my poll, it looks like summer has pulled ahead slightly…