Lolita Week

So this week has basically turned into a week of lolita-wearing shenanigans. This is what I wore today:

I made everything I'm wearing. The apron jumper skirt was an idea based off a Victorian Maiden design here in solid color, and here in floral prints. A couple differences: I didn't do a pleated skirt, replaced the back corset lacing with ties, and added a 3-layer bustle. Because I have an butt, which I sometimes forget, the skirt ends a little short in the back, and honestly was a little short all around, which is why you can see my petticoat peeking out. But damn, if I didn't feel awesome.

My hair accessories came from Claire's, because really, that store is fantastic. I tend to stick to less dramatic hairstyles, and I typically abstain from products and putting my hair up, since the process always takes more than a half hour and I ran out of time this morning anyway. So it's a good thing I like braids. Just a simple french braid to one side and I'm good to go. Also wore green tights and initially white maryjanes, but I don't usually wear heels and I walk around an urban campus all day, so they had to be replaced with green flats.

And surprise!

My new boots came in :)

Yellow Redeux

So the first thing I ever sewed on my own was a yellow sundress. It was a bad choice of fabrics, but my heart was set. So this past summer I remade it, this time with a liner of the same fabric to reduce see-through-ness. What came out was this:

worn with the short-sleeve lolita blouse I made here

The dress itself isn't lolita, and although it can fit a petticoat, it doesn't look very good doing so. But there's this idea of a "Casual Lolita" that I've really started to fall in love with. It's like lolita, but you don't necessarily have to dress to the nines every time you go out, which makes it a lot easier to dress in something lolita-esque pretty much every day. This is a fantastic idea to me, because I love the fashion, but more often than not I am a lazy slob who throws on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to go to class in the mornings. This is somewhere in the middle of those two, and it's something I think I may start doing more of.

And this was my finished ensemble for the day! That black bolero is the only jacket I've gotten around to making so far, so I wore black flats to help tie it in a little. My bag never matches anything I wear, but it's so me I think it doesn't necessarily matter, especially when I go so casual with the fashion like this.

This is gonna be my lolita week, so watch out for pics of the things I made over spring break!

WANTED & what I've been up to

PERSONAL POCKET-SIZED PHOTOGRAPHER

Because I never get any pictures of me in the stuff I sew. I'll take a crap shot of the Penelope Coat when I wake up, I guess. It's better than nothing. Now, the most important news!

This last week was Spring Break for me, and I used it to sleep and sew. What did I sew, you ask?

• 2 long-sleeve blouses
• 1 apron jumper skirt (inspired by Victorian Maiden, but no pleats cos I'm lame)
• 1 short sleeve dress, which may or may not require a shirt since I accidentally the neck opening too big
• 1 long sleeve black bolero jacket

 And I recently fixed the zipper on my empire-waist lolita skirt, so really, I'm just rolling in the endorphins from being awesome right now. Got some ideas for some of this fabric I inherited from various sources that's just been sitting around, waiting for me to use it. Man, it's like I was bit by the fashion, creativity, and get-stuff-done bugs all at once.

Christmas Dress

So for Christmas, I wanted a red dress. Not just for Christmas, but that was my deadline. And what dress did I want? This one:

 You may have seen it before. It's been on my list for a while now. Anyway, I used the same pattern I usually do for my lolita dresses (Butterick 6352), plus the bib and sleeves portions of the Simplicity Threads pattern 3684. I started out by cutting out the panels for the dress.

The fabric I used was just some regular old cotton, 45". This pattern, if you do it right, can be situated with two of the panels on each long, flat side of the fabric. I cut away from the waist to the bottom in a triangle shape for the flare that lolita skirts tend to have. As I've mentioned before, this old pattern is heavily modified, and not all of it is correct. I've got it cut right where I'd want my skirt to fall: about my knees. But because I'm adding two layer of ruffle, I measure how tall I want my ruffles to be, and I cut that off of the bottom.

I do, of course, make sure I cut in a rounded edge, since I forgot to do so when I initially cut out the pattern. Next I cut out the strips that will later become ruffles. When using my 45" fabric, I take my tape measure and mark in chalk three more or less even spaces, like so:

Since, folded in half, the width of this fabric is about 22", I usually mark just a little larger than the 7" and 14" points. I set these aside for later. And then I make the bib! Using Simplicity Threads 3684 bib portion of the pattern, I cut out a white bib and use white double-fold bias tape to make the horizontal line on both the front and back portions, then add ribbon and attach the front bib to the front of the dress (which is already sewn together at this point), and the back portions plus the zipper to the back of the dress.

And then I attempt to add the collar and sew the sides together so that I can try it on. It is at this point I now realize I made my first mistake: I did not take out any fabric from the back neckline of the dress to make room for the back portion of the bib. This royally screwed up the collar, so I improvised by taking in triangles at the side seams. Otherwise, it fits alright.

In the Threads pattern, there is a short, puffy sleeve and a long, button up sleeve. I took the long one, slimmed it down a little (I wasn't originally planning on making it button up - all of that would be fake), and figured out where the short sleeve one would have to be in order to make a full sleeve. So I made the puff sleeves, then attached the longer arm portion of the sleeve, and then attached that to the dress at the armholes.

Then, you add the ruffle. It's a long and tedious process, ruffling that much fabric, but it can be done! SO I attached it to the bottom, and then attached a second layer above it.

And this is what you end up with! But wait, there's more! I went out and got some button for the bib, and then made a bow out of the leftover fabric using this old pattern I received that was initially intended for hair bows, but used it anyway.

I know you can't tell here, but it's on a giant safety pin, because I couldn't find anything else before I wanted to wear it.
Aaaaand that's all there is to it.

Don't forget your bib

In my never-ending search for lolita things, I realized I didn't have any lolita shirts. This isn't a huge problem, since I prefer the one-piece dresses anyway, but I thought it might be nice to have. I also want to make a dress like this:

That white part of the dress is called a "bib", and there are shirts (usually retro) that include this part. So I went searching for a pattern, figuring I could make a shirt with this detail for practice, and came up with Simplicity Threads pattern 3684, which is a bunch of button-down blouses. I went completely with the pattern for a short sleeve, bib-ed blouse, minus interfacing because I hate dealing with that shit (and all I have is iron-on anyway). I messed up the bib a bit, and the sleeves because I couldn't for the life of me remember what "ease the sleeves" meant. But here it is:

The only thing I would change on this pattern is the collar (make it smaller), and the bib (make it end on or above the bust line instead of below). And I don't like doing button holes, just in case you don't already know. Especially if you don't have one of those fancy things that knows what length it should be and does it for you. It's times like these I despise having a sewing machine as old as I do.

Halloween Lolita

Continuing in my quest to own lolita clothing, I decided to try out this tutorial I found on Livejournal for how to make an overskirt. It ties in the back sort of like an apron, so I'm not really sure what to call it. Regardless, this was around Halloween time, so I went with my Halloween fabric (which = orange with spiders). The only thing I changed in the tutorial was that I didn't cut the main part of my skirt into 3 sections and then sew them together; I had enough fabric to just cut one long strip and be done with it! It is possible, trust me. I was also getting low on black fabric, so the ties at the back aren't long enough, and I made the waistband too long, but these are semantics, and I am perfectly fine with my Halloween overskirt and more than fine with the tutorial. Seriously, the girl who made the tutorial usually has really great, comprehensive tutorials for a bunch of lolita clothing, so you'll probably see her referenced here again.

But on to what you really want to see:

I was also sneaky and added a pocket to the front of the skirt, because no one ever thinks about pockets when they're making lolita things :3 See if you can find it. Also, as I'm sure you can see, this doesn't necessarily have to be worn as part of a lolita outfit. That first picture? So far from lolita, I have no idea what it is. But I enjoyed wearing it to classes :3

Blue

This could technically be a lolita skirt/dress thing, but it doesn't have to be. Either way, I love blue; it's my favorite color, and I have it on high authority that I look good in the darker shades. So I picked out the fabric and said "Hey! Let's make a skirt."

I actually used a pattern for this one (McCall's 5811), but, since nothing ever fits my hips like it's suppose to, the opening for the waist was too small. But I was not to be deterred! I simply made it an empire-waist skirt instead. I made the waistband extra-wide, and I really should have used a longer zipper (read: 9" instead of 7") since I was making the waist so much longer, but that's what you get when you don't think these things through. At the bottom of the skirt is a band of ruffles, and let me tell you something about ruffles. I love them, but they are a hassle. Every time I sit down to make something that includes ruffles, I wonder why, if I hate doing them so much, I continue to make things with ruffles. The answer is simply: they look pretty.

Paired with a blue button-down, this outfit was amazing. I wore a petticoat, bloomers and tights underneath, although the petticoat was honestly unnecessary. It made it's first appearance at the High Museum of Art on college night when the Dali exhibit was there. I got so many complements from strangers! Proof that I can make pretty things, right here. But now to the important part.

:D Salmon and I got our pictures taken while we were there! Look out boys, we're going professional. In case you're wondering where you've seen that hoodie before, it's over on Salmon's blog. :3 We are terrible, terrible influences on each other. And don't worry, all the hoodies she's inspired me to paint on are soon to come.

Not Another Lolita!

Oh yes. My inspiration:

Mostly, I just wanted that sweetheart neckline and the split in the front that shows the petticoat underneath. I attempted another dress with that neckline first, which didn't go so well but was valuable practice nonetheless.

Pattern: Butterick 6352

Fabric: Printed cotton

I used the same pattern as the previous dresses, but finagled a sweetheart neckline, cut a triangle out of the front skirt, and added a waist-tie. I have since learned that simple is best, and to sew the waist tie as a part of the dress instead of onto the dress afterwards.

The Royal Purple

The first serious attempt at a lolita dress. Can you tell I'm pleased with myself?

Pattern: Butterick 6352

Fabric: 

There are two rows of ruffles above and below the black lace on the skirt portion (which are actually pleated because I didn't know how to do ruffles at the time), and I'm not happy with one of the sleeves but whatever. I later added bows and attempted a reverse Austrian Bustle (which is actually a bridal/prom gown technique)so that I could pull some strings and draw up the back of the skirt into a bustle like so: 

My attempt involved two lines of grommets down the back of the dress, which I threaded with ribbon and tied underneath the skirt so the ribbon didn't show as much. It didn't work so well, but I have gained valuable insight from it nonetheless. 

And also: a petticoat!

An Intro to Lolita

Starting sometime January or February of last year, I became interested in lolita fashion. Particularly the Victorian aesthetic, which is why I've also found a niche in steampunk. Lolita fashion in this aesthetic typically looks like a cross between modern prints and vintage construction, with extra frilly details. There are a whole slew of sub-styles within lolita fashion, and there are far more comprehensive descriptions of them out there in the internet. If you see this and think it's interesting, go research it! There are some mindsets around the fashion that I find fault with, so I'll say this: please do not let the actions of a few determine your judgment of the whole group.

Pattern: Simplicity New Look 6699

Fabric: black damask something from my mother's stash

My first attempt was created by modifying the Simplicity New Look 6699 pattern to be more of a jumper or overall-style skirt. It was really all I had at the time, and I messed up the skirt portion by sewing a line right down the middle of the front. Not attractive.