Turn of the Century Hand Drawn Paper Doll & her Crepe Paper Dresses

Paper dolls and their costumes have been found from as early as the 1780’s so we know that people have been making them for at least 250 years. By the end of the 19th century, paper dolls were being manufactured by American companies including McLoughlin Brothers, Peter G. Thompson, Dennison Mfg and Frederick A Stokes and Company, but commercial dolls are an extravagance if you can cut people’s pictures from a magazine and make a wardrobe to fit or better still, draw your own doll and then make the costumes.

The Dennison Manufacturing Company brought three-dimensionality to paper dolls in the 1880’s when they added crepe paper clothing. Paper doll clothing made from crepe paper had wonderful depth and texture not found in typical printed paper doll outfits. It was possible to create very detailed outfits with pleats and trim from the brightly colored paper.

I am pleased to offer this sweet little hand drawn paper doll and her wardrobe of five crepe paper dresses that date to the early 20th century. The doll is 4 ½” tall. She is penciled on toothed watercolor paper with Mary Jane shoes and a blue bow. She is wearing her blue-ribbon threaded paper lace slip. Her five dresses include a paper lace trimmed pink tissue frock, a paper lace trimmed blue tissue frock with a pleated front, a paper lace trimmed maroon crepe paper dress with silver foil buttons, a paper lace and paper bow trimmed floral pattern crepe paper dress, and a paper lace collared holly pattern crepe paper dress. Each slips over her head.

The doll looks as though her head was re-attached or re-drawn. Her dresses are in very good condition with a bit of paper loss on the lace of one sleeve of the blue dress. Please examine the photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

While you are here, do enjoy the other dolls I have available for sale at this time. Thank you for visiting my shop today.