Let's Have a Paper Doll Tea Party!
Put the kettle on, pick a paper doll book, grab your scissors, and you're ready to sip, snip and play paper dolls! Our latest issue #97 puts two favorite pastimes together—tea and paper dolls—in one delightful issue. As managing editor, I'm always on the lookout for subjects that could work for our magazine. Some are better suited to a stand-alone article, while others are worth exploring as a main theme throughout the magazine. I've been collecting tea-themed paper dolls for years, and as my collection grew, the idea grew to cover the topic in a variety of ways. So I put the "tea" on the docket and asked my contributors to bring their best ideas to the table.
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| Goldilocks, a British 1950 read-and-dress book; Alice in Wonderland, Whitman, 1976; a Shackman reproduction of Cecile from the 1940 Dionne Quints series. |
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| These tea party greeting cards fall into the paper toy category, with props to punch out and insert into scenes. |
Martha Raively piped up with a charming idea: an article on tea party tips. As a retired librarian, she loved the idea of diving into old etiquette books and comparing their advice to today’s tips for hosting a cozy tea. For visuals, I decided to focus on paper dolls that specifically depict a tea party, including several charming book covers and vintage greeting cards that invite you right into the scene.
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| Tea Gowns, Jenny's Tea Party Dress-a-Doll, Brits & Their Tea |
More ideas bubbled up among our contributors. Fashion historian Brenda Sneathen Mattox covered elegant tea gowns, while my co-editor Lorna Currie Thomopoulos explored the rich traditions of the British tea culture.
For our dress-a-doll feature, the subject is yours truly! Starting with a paper doll drawn by David Wolfe a birthday gift, we asked readers to create costumes to fit the tea party theme of their choice. I was tickled pink to see all the clever, pretty costumes that came in. Shown above is one of the 6 dress-a-doll pages displayed throughout the magazine.
As if there weren't already enough "Jenny" in the issue, Bruce Patrick Jones surprised me with a new paper doll called "Jenny á la Mod" featuring fashions I've really worn at paper doll conventions—including Coca-Cola pants on loan from Bruce himself! He created it for his article on "Paper Dolls of Paper Doll People," and as a bonus, Bruce granted permission to make the paper doll available as a free download! Click here for the link.
This is just a sampling of all the paper doll goodness filling the pages of Paperdoll Review Issue 97. If you love tea parties, vintage fashions and nostalgia, this one's for you! Click here to order Issue 97, or better yet, click here to subscribe so you can enjoy future issues of paper doll fun!
