Embroidered Robe and White Nightgown from Romeo et Juliette

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

Yesterday, I saw an encore presentation of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007 performance of Roméo et Juliette through the Live in HD series, which they broadcast to participating movie theaters. I love these, and I’ve gone to as many as I can since last year. It would probably be a great experience to go to one live, but as it is, you get an amazing view of the costumes this way!

Shakespeare in a language besides English loses a lot of charm for me, but add singing and it becomes enjoyable. (Aside from the ending, in which Romeo downs the poison, then Juliet wakes up about five seconds later; they have a fair few minutes to express mutual joy in song, and all the while I am thinking that it might not be very romantic to induce vomiting but it would at least be worth trying…) I hated Romeo’s powder-blue tight pants, but Juliet, as it should be, had lovely costumes; this robe and nightgown set was used heavily, particularly the nightgown, which she was wearing under everything after the first party scene. I don’t think my drawing does justice to it at all, but at least now Ivy and Grace have something to lounge in.

By the way, I regret that I can’t see the encore presentation of Carmen late in July, because I will be a little busy after flying cross-country with two whiny, neurotic cats the day before. The rest of you, though, should try to see it, because it’s fantastic! I love Carmen, and I did get to see this performance before so really I have nothing to complain about.

Colored 1700s Gown in Gold, White and Pink

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

Trazy won the contest before last, for being the closest to guess our wedding anniversary (August 9th). She wrote: “i think i would like the newest balck and white dress to be colored in the gold colors, and have some kind of royal feel to it. I want the bows/decorations/trimmings to be pink, and the rest either white, gold, tan, or something similar. the skirt should have some kind of lighter golden swirly royal pattern, a lighter gold than the background…”

I would write more about this dress, but this one took me four hours to color, and there is a sort of tingling feeling in the tip of my left thumb, plus I’m having trouble feeling the pad of my left index finger now as I type. I might have overdone it… but it was worth it!

1882 Wedding Dress with White Flowers and Train

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

So remember I have three types of grey pencils: French Grey, which is what I usually use, Cool Grey, which has a bit more bite to it and is what I used for the wicked queen, and Warm Grey, which I usually ignore. Now, when I was sketching out this dress, my Warm Grey pencils called to me, and they said “What about us? It’s been a whole week of white wedding dresses, won’t you use us this time?”

Do me a favor and remind me not to anthropomorphize my colored pencils. There’s a reason I never use my Warm Grey set, and it’s that they’re just too darn dark! I’m under no obligation to be fair to my Prismacolors, otherwise you would see a lot more Salmon Pink and Muted Turquoise. So I’m sorry that this wedding dress is a touch too grey, even though I started it fairly early in the day I didn’t have enough time to redo it by the time I realized it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Also, I didn’t have enough time to do the veil and bouquet either, and now I am rushing to post at least the dress before we possibly lose power. I will do them tomorrow.

Anyways, this is an 1882 gown, and I like it despite the fact that it’s a little bit too grey… I’m quite fond of Gilded Era gowns, even if it’s unwise to try to finish one in a single day.

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

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!

Black and White Regency Gown with Flower Lace

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

This is my second black and white regency gown, I know, but I only had an hour between activities to get something drawn and scanned. Regency gowns are so cute, fun to design, easy to draw and popular that they’re like the potato chips of the paperdoll universe. I could do a whole blog of just regency gowns, and it would likely be more popular in certain quarters than my current hodgepodge of video game dresses, random bits of pop culture and mermaids. Oh well, if my aim was only to become popular, I suppose it’s more likely I’d do nothing but dresses inspired by Twilight and Taylor Swift, as the wedding dress and the Love Story dress are currently the two most popular ones I’ve drawn. But that would be quite a different blog, and I would have to be a rather different person, I suppose.

Anyways! I think next week I may very well focus on wedding dresses. I’ll be starting off with a red mermaid wedding gown (which barely won in the poll, with 52% of the vote at the moment — don’t worry, the week after I will return to the sea), so the timing is good. If you have any suggestions for favorite time periods, really interesting wedding dresses for me to look at and so on, feel free to post them in the comments. This poll may or may not influence what I wind up drawing; mostly it’s just because I’m curious.

Light Green Tea Length 1950s Prom Dress with Green Tulle and White Lace Sash

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

Today I started drawing so late that you are all lucky not to be getting the paperdoll equivalent of coal in your stocking! Even though I was tired I think this came out fairly cute, though. I don’t quite know why I thought a 1950s prom dress was just what I needed tonight, but they certainly are adorable. This one may even be a little understated, but did I mention I’m tired?

1915 Afternoon Dress in Blue and White Lace with Pink Rose Inspired By Uneasy Money By P.G. Wodehouse

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

I’m listening to Uneasy Money by P.G. Wodehouse right now. I love listening to LibriVox audiobooks of Wodehouse’s stories, because they are just so darn cute and light-hearted, and I can space out a little with them when I’m doing the dishes. I’ve listened to so many now that I’m good at guessing who ends up with who. Not that it is all that much of a challenge once you get about a fifth of the way through the book, but I’m to the point where I have only to hear a name and I think things like “Ah, there’s our main love interest” or “He’s just a red herring, his job is going to be to cause trouble for our heroine.” But I haven’t finished the story yet, so even though I feel like I have comfortably predicted all the pairings, please don’t tell me how things are settled at the end!

When reading or listening to a book, I’m always unconsciously open to clues as to when it was set, but I haven’t heard any so far. However, Uneasy Money was serialized starting in 1915, so I think that’s a pretty reasonable date for a dress. I like 1915 fashion, actually, because the skirts get a little fuller than they were in 1914, and it’s really quite cute. Compare March 1914 to November 1915, and you’ll see what I mean.

Contest is over, as of 9:00 PM, and no one guessed the exact date. Brian and I were married on August 9, 2003, so the closest guess was Trazy’s guess of August 5th. Congratulations, Trazy, and tell me which black and white dress you’d like for me to color and how!

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.