Vintage Halloween Flapper - Page 5

Happy Halloween! 

Today's outfit is a whimsical witch inspired by several sources.

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There is just SO MUCH excellent source material for a flapper/Art Deco/20s & 30s Halloween paper doll! In some cases, I combined various elements.

For my witch, I loved the idea of this swoopy neckline and shoulder bows. I also really like the idea of a lime green accent and I borrowed both ideas from this vintage decoration.

I also really loved the idea of a huge, elaborate dress like the decoration above. Linear accents popped up a lot, too, and I liked the idea of a spooky vintage cat running along the dress. And finally, I wanted a witch costume that wasn't all black so I went with rich lime, orange, and purple with the yellow stars.

 

For anyone who doesn't know this about me, Halloween is A BIG DEAL around my house. We all love it! In 2019, I started putting up a Christmas tree decorated for Halloween. Even before the pandemic, we were a bit more house-bound than I would have liked. I started putting this tree up as a silly way to cheer up the house for the kids and they loved it! So it's been 5 years and apparently it's trendy now! We still all love it.

Much like last year, my oldest is passing out candy at home. It's a task he's always enjoyed. Trick-or-treating was never his favorite thing and he was happy to give it up. My youngest, however, fully embraces the idea of running around after dark in search of candy while dressed in an absurd costume! This year, he's an inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the Ghostbuster movies.

It's ridiculous and hilarious and awesome. We'll see how long he can walk in this get-up! Whatever you and yours do for Halloween, I hope it's a sugar-laden festival of fun and just a tiny bit frightful! And I hope you've enjoyed following along with my flapper!

Vintage Halloween Flapper - Page 4

 Fall is the absolute best time in New England. Well, most years anyway! This year has been too hot and too chaotic. We've been plagued with illness & unexpected medical issues since September! We're all fine and none of it is huge in the grand scheme of things. It's just been a lot.

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I don't really have a reference for today's pretty pirate. It's a bit of a mix of pirate costumes and gypsy costumes. The idea of a "Gypsy" is a bit outdated for me so I took the elements I liked, such as the hip scarf and coin-beaded vest, and added them to a pirate instead. The dress is a bit flapper-ish and she's armed for adventure with her little wooden sword.

Next week is the last week of this little series! I hope everyone is enjoying it as much as I am!

Vintage Halloween Flapper - Page 3

 In my research for this project, I came across all kinds of wacky and wonderful costumes/fancy dress. Some were understated. Some were over-the-top! I came across a lot of pumpkins, cats, historical figures, whimsical flowers, and more. And spiders. Lots of spiders. 

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There were so many spider costumes! I sort of blended a few together to get this sparkling set. 

This image was my main inspiration. I simplified the headpiece a bit. I really wanted it to shine so the webbing got the glitter treatment. The web and spiders sparkle while the dress is meant to be a sort of velvet material. 

There are two more weeks to go! Do you have a costume picked out? One of my sons is ALL IN on Halloween. One prefers quietly passing out candy at home. Me? It's my favorite holiday of the year! Come back next week for another page in the set!

Vintage Halloween Flapper - Page 2

 I hope everyone is having a great October! We spent the weekend apple picking with the kids and my parents, as well as celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary! It was a lovely weekend! 

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I have come across some wonderful vintage Halloween ideas in my research! Adding crepe paper to pre-existing clothing was a common way of creating a costume. I'm not sure exactly how that worked but I came across an ad for these crepe costumes and just LOVED it! 

I briefly thought about a limited color scheme for the whole Halloween set, but as I colored I realized I just didn't like that. With this, I added a bright green with some hints of pink to create a vintage inspired cat sort of like this one:

I didn't like the hat in my reference image and created a floppy hat instead. Stay tuned for more downloads every Thursday for the rest of October!

Happy Halloween with a Vintage Flapper - Page 1

Surprise! I have a short series of Halloween paper dolls for the month of October. I decided to post on Thursdays for the month since Halloween is on a Thursday. Just makes for a nice, even distribution.

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I don't know about anyone else, but my September was just a mess! The kids went back to school and immediately got sick. My youngest son brought home a cold that left me with a horrendous cough for more than two weeks. And then the poor kiddo had minor but emergency surgery. He's fine but it was a crazy month....

This might look familiar to anyone who attended the recent Paperdoll Convention. I gave a workshop called "Fashioning a Flapper" where we used pre-cut papers to design fanciful flapper dresses for this doll. It was a lot of fun, especially for my first-ever workshop. 

I really liked this doll and just didn't feel like I was finished with her. I also knew that I wanted to get back into the habit of posting here more regularly. So I decided to color her in and see where it went. As I was coloring it, I came across vintage 1920s and 30s Halloween costumes and decoration books. 

 

 

With these and others as my inspiration, I started putting together a lovely paper doll! Today's page has the doll and a daytime outfit. The rest of the month will be Halloween costumes. I'm hoping to tinker around with this and turn it into a book at some point. For now, enjoy a download every Thursday for the month of October!