Hello everyone!
Christmas is getting closer and I haven't made any blog entry about festive season yet! Not sure if I will because I haven't got any deco sweets made in Christmas theme nor Lolita Christmas outfits :) Red or green doesn't suit me at all, I'm not going to have Christmas tree or decorations in my flat and probably it won't even snow here in South UK! And on the more depressing note, I don't have any of my family here in UK and that mainly makes my Christmas time less festive... Buuu...
Luckily I will have some time off after this Christmas Eve and I will be able to focus maybe on some clay crafting and definitely making Lolita clothes :) This also will be the topic of this post: handmade Lolita clothes!
Some time ago, at one of my Lolita meets in Bath, me and the girls went for some lazy shopping around the town. I was lucky enough to find this amazing duvet at a charity shop. You won't believe but I bought it for only £2!!! It was a full size double duvet, with to types of pattern, one side with small flowers and other one with larger flowers and vintage pattern (forgot it's name ^^ ). I normally don't wear read colour but this fabric cought my eye with it's washed almost vintage style.
First I decided to make OP because at that time I only owned jumper skirts and skirts, and I really wanted to have something nice with Peter Pan collar.
I have to admit that I struggled a lot with this dress, because it was made without any bought patterns, only by using technique called "draping". It was a very important lesson for me and I totally felt in love with "draping"! Before I wanted to learn how to create my own patterns on paper, but "draping" is much easier to learn.
The biggest problem I had was creating back bodice. At first everything went smoothly and I thought that I almost finished the dress. I added ribbon shirring on the back and it looked nice on my mannequin, but when I tried it on, I noticed that it was way too tight and I even couldn't lift my arms up! I was gutted and tried again, removing old back bodice and adding elastic shirring. This idea didn't work as well, it wasn't comfortable enough for me and it didn't look good.
At that time I was getting more upset because I had the last chance to make proper back bodice from last piece of fabric I had (I used the rest for the skirt). Luckily this attempt was successful and I installed a zipper, which in my opinion doesn't look the best, but this was my only option to save this project.
Like I mentioned before, I really wanted to have classic Peter Pan collar and maybe some pin tucks on the front. Also the sleeves were a bit of pain as they were my first sleeves I made, except of the blouse for my BJD, but I don't think that counts ^^
Second part of the amazing duvet fabric was used to make "Sleeping Beauty" skirt. I wanted to keep it simple , with no lace only one frill on the bottom. Please forgive me lack of poof, I took these photos quickly on my lunch and I used my old petticoat which I usually use for sewing ^^
Last piece of fabric was used to make back tie ribbon, which I'll be using for both dress and the skirt.
Being honest is hard for me to write anything on the computer because I need to buy myself glasses... I've never worn glasses, but I always wanted to and now when I have to wear them I don't have enough money :( Yes I'm guilty, have spent too much on Lolita plus Christmas, but hopefully I will get them after Christmas and maybe I will post some photos of me before and after ^^ If I won't get to shy! (I do look funny on photos.....)
I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you for visiting my blog!
