Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Lost Art of Paper Doll Making
| By Agatha Curtis When I was about 10 years old, one of my favorite things to do was draw and cut out paper dolls. My friends and my little sister loved to draw dolls with plain little bathing suits and funny little vee-pointed feet. Arms would be bent at the elbow and tucked in front of or behind the body. We would color the dolls in with our crayons. In those days, we received regular issues of big and small catalogs, Sears, Penneys and Montgomery Ward, mainly. These were the sources for our outfits and accessories. You could always find a model wearing items that (with a little snip here and there) would fit your made-to-order paper doll. Her wardrobe was limited only by your imagination. We very seldom backed our creations with cardboard, choosing instead to make more dolls when those wore out from handling. I can still recognize a paper doll drawn by my little sister, Sandy, because she had a distinctive way of detailing her dolls. They always had a movie star quality and were very feminine. Mine, unfortunately, were not quite as glamorous, but geared instead to the more tomboyish pursuits, their wardrobes containing jeans and boots suitable for horseback riding. You don’t see a lot of paper dolls for sale in the stores, nowadays. They’ve been replaced by animated computer programs and our daughters and granddaughters choose the perfect outfit and shoes online for their virtual dolls. There’s a lot to be said for being able to open a catalog or a magazine and choose the outfit you think looks best for your doll, then cut it out (always making sure to clip the little tabs that will hold the clothing on your paper doll figure, of course). Being of the generation that was raised on Captain Kangeroo, we also proudly decorated and embellished shoe boxes to hold our precious dolls and wardrobes. (Captain Kangeroo was a children’s television program, forerunner to Sesame Street.) The Captain could take an ordinary shoe box, some construction paper, scissors and glue and create more wonderful things than you could possibly imagine. If you decide to make a paper doll for or with your young lady, I would recommend backing it with cardboard (used file folders are great for this) and giving her a helping hand with cutting out the “tabs” on her outfits until she gets the hang of it. If you don’t have catalogs around the house, try the magazine rack. Leftover bits of gift wrap paper make wonderful outfits. We designed, colored and cut out clothes from plain paper, too, which gave us the option to make evening gowns as fancy as any princess might wish. Don’t confine yourself to paper dolls, though. Little boys like to collect things, too. How about cutting out horses and their various accessories from magazines or catalogs? Dogs, racecars, or jungle animals are just a few suggestions. Whatever your child’s passion may be, chances are you can find a source of pictures from which to choose. Your kids will have hours of fun using their imaginations to create their own collections and, once you get them started, you will have hours of quiet time. Labels: art, homemade craft, paper doll |
posted by Krista at 8:38 AM
thank you for bringing back my cherished memories - my aunt (only 4 years older) and I would take our store-bought paperdolls, and have a blast improving their wardrobe with the much anticipated JCPenney catalog bridal section. When my girls were very little, I made them each a cardboard paperdoll which resembled them - I drew out clothing and accessories on paper, and their job was to color them with crayons and markers. 10 years later, we still have the dolls and will take them out from time to time to see the girls' handiwork.
Ahh...don't get me started on paperdolls...I will never stop talking! One of the most cherished memories I have from my childhood...and a true lost art today!
I can't begin to count the hours upon hours I sat and played with my paperdolls! Mostly by myself, but whenever I could, having a sister or niece to play with was the real joy!
One of my favorite things to do (when playing with my niece-4 years younger than me) was to talk our parents into buying us paperdolls and dividing them up. We also loved to cut out of the catalogs. So many wonderful clothes for our dolls. We even cut out furniture and TV's in the back of the catalogs to decorate our dolls homes! We would have our dolls dress up, go shopping for clothes...courtesy of JCPenneys, Sears or Mongomery Wards. We would find all kinds of goodies to wear for special events...weddings, church, school, you name it...we found event after event to attend...which caused us to just hound our mothers to death for the newest catalog!
Sometimes our dolls would visit each others homes to borrow or share clothing, or to just show off our latest fashion! Our imagination was always working overtime when it came to playing! Hours and hours were spent doing this, and rainy days were especially nice!
I remember one time finding my sister Karen's old paperdoll just barely peaking out from behind the tall (about 7-8 inches in height) wood shoe molding that was nailed along the wall. It was if I had found a pot of gold! I worked feverishly hard to get that little doll out from behind the wood that she had been tucked behind for no telling how many years. To understand how she got there I must explain. It was not uncommon for us to line our paperdolls all around the room along the wall...from one corner to the next. This particular little doll (a ballerina) must have been placed along the top of the molding to stand up properly and fell in a crack. I still have her today and think about how I rescued her everytime I pull out my dolls to look at them. I do pull them out from time to time to just remember all the fun I had playing with them as a child.