The paper dolls made to play with are really the most fun. They can look just exactly as you want them to. You can copy your own favorite party dress or the prettiest clothes of your friends. You can dream up wonderful designs that no manufacturer would ever think of. With no expense at all, your paper doll can have as fabulous and extensive a wardrobe as the ones that used to go with the real fashion dolls of olden times.

The marvelous thing about the dresses you can make for your own paper dolls is that they can actually look like real gowns, with folds and pleats and draping just as your own clothes have. Dressing a doll this way is fascinating. It takes time and requires a lot of planning and patience, but each finished costume is so attractive that you’ll want to start making another one right away.

The first step is to make the doll itself. Design your own, or use the pattern below. (click on it to enlarge and print)

Draw the pattern doll on heavy white writing paper. Before cutting it out, paste on paper to lightweight cardboard like the pieces the laundry puts in Father’s shirts. The paste must be very smooth. When the paste is dry, cut out the doll and draw in the features.

Do not draw in any hair. Let her stay bald so that all sorts of different hairdos may be designed later to go with individual costumes.

Use the pattern doll for all dress and costume designing. Trace its outline on another paper piece of white paper. Design the dress right over this figure. Start with an easy costume like the jumper and blouse you wear to school. After you have drawn the perky puffed sleeves, snug bodice, and pleated skirt, draw on tabs at the shoulders and at each side of the waist as shown in the small sketch at the beginning of this post.

Now the really exciting part begins. Make a fresh tracing of just the costume on another piece of paper. Leave out the head, arms, and legs, but be sure to include the tabs. Cut it out. This is the very important foundation pattern.

The first sketch may now be cut up to give you patterns for the separate parts of the costume. The second sketch, the foundation pattern, is the part upon which the various final parts are pasted.

The idea now is to make the doll’s costume look like a real dress actually having pleats, folds, and fullness. The way to get that effect is to cut the individual parts larger than the foundation sleeve, bodice, or skirt. Then the edges of the larger pieces are pasted to the edges of the foundation. Because they are larger, the paper bows out in curves and folds and looks most realistic.

Since only the sleeves of the blouse show, that is all of the blouse that has to be made. Cut two pieces from a single sheet of cleansing tissue (it looks just like sheer muslin on the doll). Cut each piece 1/4 in. larger than the foundation sleeve. Put a narrow line of paste along the bottom of the sleeve on the foundation pattern and another line of paste along the armhole. Gather the top and bottom edges of the tissue between the fingers so it will look as if it had been shirred. Place one shirred edge along the armhole line of paste. Press these edges down firmly. Place the other gathered edge along the paste line at the bottom of the sleeve. Press down. Because the tissue was longer than the foundation, it bows out and looks like real puffed sleeves. A very narrow strip of white paper may be pasted along the bottom of the sleeves to cover the raw edges of the tissue. Or use a colored strip to match the jumper.

The next step is to make the skirt. Cut ¼ in. longer than the skirt length of the pattern, and 7 in. wide. Make a little box pleat in the center and a number of narrow pleats on either side of it. Rub a line of paste right across the waistline of the foundation and down each side edge of its skirt, but not across the bottom. Lay the pleated skirt on the foundation. Press down the top edge to the waistline of the foundation. Press down each side of the skirt so that it sticks to the sides of the foundation. Only the backs of the pleats will stick to the waistline, so put tiny dabs of paste between each fold that has popped up at the waist and press the folds down. Clean off any bits of paste that may have oozed out.

Cut the bodice 1/8 in. wider at sides and bottom than the pattern. Use the same kind of paper you used for the skirt. Cover the back of the bodice with a thin coat of paste. Set the bodice very carefully on the foundation so that its armholes will cover the upper edges of the sleeves and the bottom will cover the top edge of the skirt. Gently rub it so the paste will take hold. A narrow strip of black paper pasted across the waistline will look like a belt, as well as cover the seam line if it did not turn out smoothly. Trim off the sides of the skirt if they extend too far.

Loosen the skirt pleats by slipping your finger under the bottom of them to make them swing out as your own skirt does. Gently pull out the sleeve tissue if it has become flattened. Be sure that the dress has hitching tabs at shoulder and waistline to hold the costume on the doll.

It is great fun to try your hand at making various hair styles and hats. Magazine illustrations can be copied exactly, or you can just use them to guide your own designing. Actual pieces of ribbon, fabric, feathers, and tiny artificial flowers can be pasted on the hats to decorate them.

When you are designing your own costumes, always follow the same procedure; trace the doll, then make your design on this tracing, not forgetting to put on the necessary tabs which will hold the dress on the doll. Make a fresh tracing from the completed design and cut it out to be used as the foundation. Study the design before cutting out the various parts. Plan colors and trimming. Paste the skirt and sleeves on, then the bodice, which should cover the edges of the sleeves and skirt. Last of all comes the trimming. By working in this order, your costumes will always turn out successfully.

A good deal of skill and time has gone into the making of these elaborate dolls. It is a good idea to have a special box in which to keep them, so they’ll stay fresh and undamaged. A candy box will do. Cover it with a pretty giftwrapping or wallpaper to show that it holds something very special and valuable. Keep your collection of papers and trimmings in a separate box. Use an elastic band around each box to keep it smooth and neat.

You can be very proud of these paper dolls. Who can tell but that perhaps some day, years and years from now, these dolls will appear in a museum to delight both chil¬dren and grown-ups with their beauty and fine workman¬ship? Just in case that might happen, write the doll’s name, your name, and the date you made it on the back of each piece.