Paper Dolls with Real Clothes

Paper Dolls with Real Fabric Clothes Woman's Day August 1954

When I was a kid I played with paper dolls. I cut out Betsy McCall, pasted her to tagboard and dressed her with the fashions of the day... all in paper. Paper dolls, to my mind, left much more scope for the imagination (to quote Anne Shirley) than three dimensional dolls. And it was so much easier to design your own "garments" in two dimensions on paper. Add the little tabs and your doll is ready to go.

This 1954 Cut Out Dolly, from Woman's Day Magazine, includes Dolly and outfits made with fabric and photographed. Using each of the outfits as a guide, make your own fabric clothes for Dolly. This would be a wonderful Mother Daughter project, and with today's technology, you could print out photos of the two of you and make wardrobes that match. Download Dolly HERE. Prints on two 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper.

Dressing in vintage fashions is easy if you sew. Find vintage sewing patterns for mom and daughter at my Cynicalgirl shop on Goodsmiths and Etsy.