I know pretty much no one reads this thing (yet), but for anyone who does *coughMadelinecough,* I decided to change the layout! I got really sick of the pixel art x Imai Kira art that I had before - it was just too busy, and didn't really reflect me or my personal aesthetics anymore - so, I took it down and made a new one. This new layout takes the background from my Tumblr, which I'm in love with, and a lovely new header image that I made myself with a collage of vintage clip art from the fabulous Graphics Fairy. I wanted the new header to reflect all of my different Lolita and Quaintrelle interests; basically tea, flowers, bows, fruit prints, bird watching, sewing, and vintage things. The color scheme is all pale blues, duty roses, olive greens, and golds... all colors that I enjoy, and colors that remind me of Versailles and Classic Lolita. I know my layout probably doesn't scream "LOLITA" the way other blogs do with a ton of pastels and kawaii motifs, but this blog is more than just a Lolita blog, and I really want it to represent me.
I have to give a lot of credit to Caro-chan and her blog, F Yeah Lolita!, because her old layout is really what gave me the idea to make a vintage clipart collage. Yeah, at one point, I kinda went "DUDE! I wanna make my website look like that!!," but in my own design, I was going a lot more for the general kitschy, vintagey look that incorporated vintage clip art elements, as opposed to a carbon copy of it (which would just be wrong). Our individual layouts have ended up being fairly different in terms of size, color scheme, content and arrangement, but I still owe her thanks for the inspiration.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Sewing Update!
So, it looks like my mad rush of sewing over the past three weeks killed my darling machine. Every time I try to sew, the threads are looping and nesting, and every stitch looks like a miniature disaster. Nothing stays together, and she's basically unusable right now. It looks like it could be a simple bobbin tension issue, but I'm afraid that it could be something much worse. I am definitely going to have to take her in to the Sew & Vac Shack to have her looked at. This all comes on the tail end of a ton of sewing, and I need to take her for service soon, because I have a whole bunch more projects that are suspended without her.
As I mentioned, this has been a busy, busy month for me and my sewing machine. What I've managed to accomplish over the past month is often more than I do in several months. My first project was altering a vintage 70's cream-colored cotton paisley Gunne Sax dress for use as a Lolita dress. The dress features leg o' mutton zip sleeves, a gathered empire-waist bodice and a tiered skirt, all done in this delicate sheer paisley cotton with Cluny lace accents. I picked up this beauty at my local goth shop, Bedlam after fawning over it for months. Originally, the dress was floor length, like most Gunne Sax dresses of that era, and had a slim A-line lining at the skirt. While I was considering leaving the dress as is for Aristo, I decided I liked the dress much more for Classic Lolita, so I had to shorten it and alter the lining. To accomplish this, I carefully removed the middle tier of the skirt, and reattached the bottom tier to the top. This brought the skirt length to 60 cm, or about 24 inches. The skirt itself was quite voluminous, and had plenty of room for poof, but the lining was a bit too restrictive to fit a good petticoat underneath. To remedy this "problem," I gently removed the skirt lining, and sewed a new one in. My new lining is a gathered, two-tiered attached lining that uses around 2.25 yards of fabric, and has a very full hem circumference - just under 4 yards. Needless to say, it can accommodate a pretty massive petticoat now. >:) I also found a small cluny lace bow from F21 in my hair accessory stash that I thought went perfectly with the dress, so I ended up attaching it to the bodice to add a little extra Lolita flair.
I wore my "new" dress on two occasions this month: first to a small RI Lolita meetup at Blithewold Mansion and Arboretum in Bristol (more on that here), and second to Anime Boston. For Anime Boston, I used the leftover fabric from that removed middle tier to make a matching bonnet. The bonnet was my last project before the machine broke. Actually, to be more accurate, the machine broke in the middle of my bonnet, so I've had to hand sew quite a bit of it. I finished the bonnet in a couple hours the night before the con, so I think that I am going to get some more trim from RYCO, and add a couple more details, like matching cream roses, some lace, maybe pearls, and perhaps a big bow on one side of it. My friend Harmony was gracious enough to take a picture of my AB outfit, showing the bonnet in it's full glory.
As I mentioned, this has been a busy, busy month for me and my sewing machine. What I've managed to accomplish over the past month is often more than I do in several months. My first project was altering a vintage 70's cream-colored cotton paisley Gunne Sax dress for use as a Lolita dress. The dress features leg o' mutton zip sleeves, a gathered empire-waist bodice and a tiered skirt, all done in this delicate sheer paisley cotton with Cluny lace accents. I picked up this beauty at my local goth shop, Bedlam after fawning over it for months. Originally, the dress was floor length, like most Gunne Sax dresses of that era, and had a slim A-line lining at the skirt. While I was considering leaving the dress as is for Aristo, I decided I liked the dress much more for Classic Lolita, so I had to shorten it and alter the lining. To accomplish this, I carefully removed the middle tier of the skirt, and reattached the bottom tier to the top. This brought the skirt length to 60 cm, or about 24 inches. The skirt itself was quite voluminous, and had plenty of room for poof, but the lining was a bit too restrictive to fit a good petticoat underneath. To remedy this "problem," I gently removed the skirt lining, and sewed a new one in. My new lining is a gathered, two-tiered attached lining that uses around 2.25 yards of fabric, and has a very full hem circumference - just under 4 yards. Needless to say, it can accommodate a pretty massive petticoat now. >:) I also found a small cluny lace bow from F21 in my hair accessory stash that I thought went perfectly with the dress, so I ended up attaching it to the bodice to add a little extra Lolita flair.
L: Detail of bodice & fabric; R: Full Dress shot - Photos courtesy of : Madeline Hatter of The Bloody Tea Party
I wore my "new" dress on two occasions this month: first to a small RI Lolita meetup at Blithewold Mansion and Arboretum in Bristol (more on that here), and second to Anime Boston. For Anime Boston, I used the leftover fabric from that removed middle tier to make a matching bonnet. The bonnet was my last project before the machine broke. Actually, to be more accurate, the machine broke in the middle of my bonnet, so I've had to hand sew quite a bit of it. I finished the bonnet in a couple hours the night before the con, so I think that I am going to get some more trim from RYCO, and add a couple more details, like matching cream roses, some lace, maybe pearls, and perhaps a big bow on one side of it. My friend Harmony was gracious enough to take a picture of my AB outfit, showing the bonnet in it's full glory.
Photo courtesy of: Harmony Cloud
My final mad sewing project, which while not Lolita, represents the largest of my efforts this month, and is certainly worth the mention. Over 5 days, taking a grand total of 24 hours of work, I finished an Eternal Sailor Neptune cosplay costume for my dear friend Michiru. My poor Michiru was left in the lurch a week about a week and a half before AB when the young woman she commissioned her outfit from in January told her that it wasn't going to be finished in time, and that she wasn't going to offer any kind of refund. Michiru was really heartbroken, because she was getting married the next week, and AB was going to be her honeymoon. I was super pissed off about the whole thing, so I offered to finish the costume for her in my spare time. The original seamstress priority shipped the raw materials and anything she'd finished back to us on Wed or Thurs, a week before the wedding. We got the box in the mail on Saturday, assessed the contents (two bows and a skirt), and I made a run to Joann's to pick up some remaining materials and thread. I downloaded, cut, and altered the pattern for the fuku bodice on Sunday, and had everything cut out by the end on the night. On Monday after work, I got the separate bodice pieces + lining sewn together, and ripped out the original hemline on the skirt ( one side of the skirt was 15" long, the other side was 19", FML). On Tuesday, my day off, I finished the bodice and the panties, fixed the hemline (yay heat n' bond hem tape to save my ass!), attached the skirt (which, as it turned out, the seamstress made to the wrong measurement), and took everything to Michiru for a fitting. After the fitting, I drafted the sleeves and collapsed in a heap around midnight. On Wednesday, after work all day, I cut and attached the sleeves, drafted the collar, cut and sewed up the collar, and started work on the belt. On Thursday morning, between 6 and 9:30 am, I finished the belt, finished the panties, and made the glove toppers. I don't know how I got it all done, but I did. Parts of the costume (i.e. anything done after 10pm on Wed) weren't 100% up to my standards, but they were wearable, and everything looked good together. Michi was really happy with the result, and it was 100% worth it just to be able to make her smile and be happy. <3
So, that concludes my tale of crazy sewing for the month. I'm used to popping out a lot of work in a short time, but I don't think my poor machine is. Hopefully, whatever's wrong is a super-cheap, easy fix that won't take me away from her for too long.
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