A Paper Doll Costume Inspired By Victorian Era Paper Dolls
This year's Purim costume for my twelve year old daughter, a paper doll costume, finally came to fruition in the wee hours of the morning, just in time for her to wear it to school today for the school Purim festivities! It is true, there were quite a few girls who sadly did not know what paper dolls are, and even one adult, but the costume was nonetheless a great success, and fortunately still intact for wearing on Wednesday for the actual Purim festivities!
As it turns out, those tabs on the side of the vest were very inconvenient, so I'll be moving them to the shoulder top tomorrow, and if I have time I may also make a pair of giant scissors or a little purse to compliment the outfit.
It was very fortunate that the vintage dress I'd been saving for almost ten years finally fit my daughter, and turned out to be the perfect base for a fun Victorian style costume. I also can't really believe it that I was able to match the color using just water color paints!
And to compliment to costume, my daughter gave a personalized page of paper dolls to each student in her class, the artwork for which we found here. I did cut the doll from another page and paste it on this one, but that was about it! Can you see which outfit we used as our inspiration?
How To Make A Paper Doll Costume:
You'll Need:
- foam core
- a sharp craft knife and a metal ruler
- black waterproof markers
- water colors
- hot glue gun and ribbon
- a headband
How To:
Look at some paper dolls for inspiration, find the perfect vintage garment for the base and work from there. A made a rough version of the vest and skirt in order to get the size right, though in the end erred a bit on the large side. I traced my rough version onto the foam core and cut in out with a craft knife. Then I outlined the entire shape with a black waterproof marker, and added all the line work. Then I painted the piece using watercolors on a palette, mixing one of the greens with one of the blues. After it was dry, I added the small details, though this was rather difficult on account of the chalky surface that resulted, and I ended up using a regular ball point pen for some of the details. After that I hot glued ribbon to the back, 2 pieces on the skirt to tie around the waist, and four pieces on the vest, two at the shoulders (to go under the arms) and two at the waist. I also hot glued the bow to the headband, and added an extrpiece of foamcore on the back to secure the bow to the headband. That is it, enjoy!
