Paper Dolls

Hey guys, Wrennie here!  I'm usually a pretty sporty girl, but I still really like dolls. Especially paper dolls and a while ago I got some new ones! Two whole books full:

Both books have really interesting stories.

Godey's Fashions come from a magazine from the 1800's called Godey's Lady's Book. It had stuff like book reviews, poetry, recipes and sheet music. Another thing that was in this magazine is "hand-tinted color plates of French dresses." All of these dresses for my paper dolls were in the magazine sometime I think. The magazine would print pictures of all the latest fashions and include patterns so women could make their own dresses!

The two paper dolls are Eleanor and Marie:

The second book is called Antique Paper Dolls of the 1890's and all these dresses (and the dolls too) are reproductions of  paper dolls from the Boston Children's Museum. I really want to go there. Back in the 1890's a news paper called the Boston Herald started printing paper dolls and clothing every Sunday. The blonde lady was first (she was printed on March 24, 1895) and then the lady with the brown hair (June 16, 1895.)

They don't have names so my sister and I named them after us. The blonde lady is Mia and the lady with the brown hair is Chloe! The paper dolls were for kids but also for women. They could see all the latest fashions from the dolls! It's really neat to think that my sister and I are playing with the same paper dolls that kids were playing with like 120 years ago.

There are so many dresses that I can't show you guys ALL of them but Chloe and I picked out some our favorites to show you. Here are some wedding dresses:

 

I really like this one:

  And the green one here:

Chloe always likes the ones with the biggest ruffles and lots of fancy stuff. She really like the pink one up there and this one:

From the Children's Museum book we both really like these two:

 Especially the one with the flowers on the top:

It looks really cool!

Chloe likes the striped one. She says it looks like candy:

 

I really like all the ones with activities. Like the Bicycle costume and the swimming one down here:

Doesn't that look just like Samanth's bathing suit?

Both books have a lot of hats but this one is my favorite:

It has a teeeeeny anchor!

Before we could play with any of this stuff though I had to cut them all out:

 And boy did that take me a long time!

There were 16 dresses in the first book and 30 in the second one!

But finally I got them all cut out and now I get to show everyone! In the Godey's book each doll had her own wardrobe. Here is Eleanor's:

She got 8 dresses and 9 hats/hair things.

Chloe and I picked our very favorite dress for each doll. Mine for Eleanor is this brown one:

And Chloe's is the green! One cool thing about Godey's book is that all the dresses have detailed descriptions. Which I'm going to copy for you now!

My favorite for Eleanor is: "An alpaca dress, appearing in 1863, reveals the voluminous shape produced by the crinoline. A floral design enlivens the somber tone of the gown. The dress is belted by a tasseled cord. A pumpkin-colored cravat accentuates the high neck and similarly colored puffed under-sleeves peek out from the wide sleeves of the gown. A lace-trimmed headpiece, topped with a bow, finishes the outfit."

Chloe's says: "This silk grenadine dress appeared in 1872. The dress falls nearly straight to the ground, except for the slight gathering where the trim appears. An elaborate, lace-edged tunic with bow epaulets and slit sleeves adds drama to the simple gown. A jeweled pendant choker and matching bracelet; a simple hair ornament; and a more elaborate, feathered hat accessorize the costume." The book says that grenadine is fine mesh fabric that was used in summer! I didn't know that!

Here is Marie's wardrobe:

She got 8 dresses and 12 hats/hair things!

This time we'll do Chloe's favorite first! She really likes the green one:

Because of the fancy shawl and I really like the red one! (Red is my favorite color!)

Chloe's says: "An acid-green summer suit (1864) is accented with intricate embroidery, which appears as well on the sleeves. The fringed shawl has a floral pattern. The high-necked, buttoned bodice is topped by a bow tie. An acid-green hat fancifully decorated with a bird, as well as a simple black headpiece, accessorize the costume." Can you imagine wearing all that in the summer?! I bet it would weigh a ton!

My favorite says: "This rust-red poplin walking suit of 1867 consists of a guardsman-style bodice with turned-back coattails, revers (lapels), and tassel trim; an overskirt, also with turned-back edges; and an underskirt with gathered trim. The turned-back edges reveal the dark lining of the costume; a striped pattern decorates the edges. A high necked striped blouse can be glimpsed beneath the bodice. A small hat and a hairband with a bow accessorize the outfit."

Now for the Children's Museum dolls! Here are Mia and Chloe all cut out:

These two get to share all their clothes and they came with a ton! There are 30 dresses plus hats so I need a bunch of pictures to show them all to you:

WOW right?

We decided that we couldn't just pick one or two so we each pick our favorite three. These are mine: 

The first one is a Ladies' Bicycle Costume from June 30, 1895. The second one with the racquet is a Ladies' Outing Suit from May 12, 1895, and the last one is the Ladies' Bathing Suit I showed you guys earlier. I like these three because it showed how much stuff girls had to wear to go outside and do stuff! I don't even know how you would ride a bike in all those skirts but I guess people did it. And that's really neat!

Chloe's favorites are these three:

She took forever to pick! The first one is a Ladies' Concert Toilette from February 9, 1896 . (Toilette isn't where you go potty by the way. It just means like dress or like dressing yourself.) The second one is a Ladies' Princess Toilette from January 19, 1896, and the last one is an Opera Cloak from October 27, 1895! They're all super fancy, a lot like my sister.

I hope you guys like these dolls as much as I do! I know Chloe and I really had a good time with them.

Oh and you're probably wondering why you haven't seen my sister yet! Well Chloe and Penny (Callie's little sister) have been visiting our Auntie Aggie in Texas. I'm sure they've been doing all sorts of things that they'll want to tell you about, but you have to wait till we go get them in a couple of weeks. Chloe and I fight sometimes but I really miss her and I can't wait to see her again....don't tell her I said that :P

Wrennie

Clothes
Wrennie: 
    Shirt and pants: Springfield Collection Asymmetric Tank Top & Blue Leggings
    Shoes: Springfield Collection Black and White Tennies
    Earrings: AG Fresh and Fun Earrings