I’d rather have a paper doll…

Man, I think I’ve only heard that song as part of a medley, because I just looked up the lyrics and it is way more bitter than I ever knew.

Anyway, here’s my paper doll.

flapper side hippie side back view

And here are some pictures of the making!

I went on a remnant rampage, buying material off the bolt only for the slip. It gave me an excuse to buy the fun cityscape material.

materials slip-making

I basically freehanded everything, using elastic to pull in the slip at the waist and top. You can see above that I was a little overoptimistic about my ability to just stretch the elastic into the correct alignment for sewing. The picture below is the slip finished but for two things: the straps are not sewn at the back, and there is no velcro yet to attach the doll clothes.

near-finished slip adjusted leotard

So I wouldn’t freeze, and for modesty’s sake, I bought a long-sleeved leotard to wear under the slip (I tried to find similarly-colored heavy tights or leggings, but struck out on anything under $40, so I wore nylons). I didn’t want to have to completely undress to use the restroom, though, so with some snaps that came with my eyelet pliers and some extra “skin-color” fabric, I made the leotard snap-crotch. For the outdoor event we went to I also wore a camisole under my slip.

The final touches were to draw fringe on the flapper dress side, and add velcro tabs to the shoulder straps. I’d added the side tabs before sewing the two halves together (down each side and in the neck opening), but the shoulders were not wide enough to accommodate the remaining tab. I made two small pleats in each and tucked them in, and then topstitched all around the dress, except for a little bit where the “skin” showed through on the hippie side but the flapper side had red fabric.

drawn fringe velcro tabs

To my surprise, it was a really difficult costume for people to guess. Next year I’m going to find a less labor-intensive costume to construct!

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