Sewing File - My first foray into the world of Lolita. <3
So for a couple of years now I've been reading and re-reading the only two volumes of the Gothic & Lolita Bible that I'm lucky enough to own, and desperately wishing I had either the money or the sewing skills to look like that. Indeed, it was Lolita that inspired me to buy my sewing machine and take up sewing in the first place, and now I'm studying to become a fashion designer. And, thanks to my studying, I've developed enough skills to finally make my own clothes! *excitement*
I got a leather-bound journal for Christmas (a really nice one), and I've decided to record all my non-college designing and sewing in it, and then I thought "why not put it on LiveJournal?". And thus, this post was born, and shall hereafter be known as my Sewing File.
Sewing File - Volume One - Patterned centre pleated skirt with ribbon bow - Classic!Lolita (maybe).
So today I went to the fabric shop with the aim of buying crochet hooks, a new white spool, and some sewing patterns. I came back with all of these things (five patterns, to be precise), but as I was wandering 'round the shop I saw some fabric that screamed "Lolita!" at me. So I bought some, along with some satin ribbon in "antique white", and this is what resulted;
You should open the pictures in a new tab or something, since my journal style likes to but them off halfway. I don't have a back view, because the back is much the same, except the pleat is off centre because I suck at notches because the pattern didn't match up and there's some seam missing where the elastic got stuck and I had to unpick it. I'll sort that out later. Probably when I get my overlocker. The waist is elasticated, and sits on the natural waistline. I made it in Size 8 (24 in. waist), which is what I've always been, but during this I discovered that I've put on weight and I'm now Size 12 (26 in. waist). Yay! The elastic means that this doesn't matter, though. It still fits. (I'm a little pissed off about gaining that much weight, even though I've been trying to put weight on. I didn't really want to go up two dress sizes.)
A close-up of the bow. You can't really tell because I had flash on, but the ribbon is actually a sort of creamy-white, not a pure white. They had pure white, but it didn't really look right.
Paired with my white shirt from Per Una (Marks & Spencers). It's about the only appropriate thing I own, but I did buy some blouse patterns today, so maybe that will change soon.
For anyone interested, the skirt is based on this pattern by Simplicity. It's from their Learn To Sew range, so it's super easy. For Size 8 you need 2.3m of ribbon, 1.1m of fabric and a piece of elastic (probably about 1in. wide) that's 1in. longer than your waist measurement. It doesn't mention the elastic on the packet, so make sure you don't forget. The only changes I made to this pattern were lengthening the skirt by 3in., and substituting the gathers for pleats, because hand-pulled machine gathers are the BANE OF MY LIFE.
That concludes Part One. Thanks for reading!~
I got a leather-bound journal for Christmas (a really nice one), and I've decided to record all my non-college designing and sewing in it, and then I thought "why not put it on LiveJournal?". And thus, this post was born, and shall hereafter be known as my Sewing File.
Sewing File - Volume One - Patterned centre pleated skirt with ribbon bow - Classic!Lolita (maybe).
So today I went to the fabric shop with the aim of buying crochet hooks, a new white spool, and some sewing patterns. I came back with all of these things (five patterns, to be precise), but as I was wandering 'round the shop I saw some fabric that screamed "Lolita!" at me. So I bought some, along with some satin ribbon in "antique white", and this is what resulted;
You should open the pictures in a new tab or something, since my journal style likes to but them off halfway. I don't have a back view, because the back is much the same, except the pleat is off centre because I suck at notches because the pattern didn't match up and there's some seam missing where the elastic got stuck and I had to unpick it. I'll sort that out later. Probably when I get my overlocker. The waist is elasticated, and sits on the natural waistline. I made it in Size 8 (24 in. waist), which is what I've always been, but during this I discovered that I've put on weight and I'm now Size 12 (26 in. waist). Yay! The elastic means that this doesn't matter, though. It still fits. (I'm a little pissed off about gaining that much weight, even though I've been trying to put weight on. I didn't really want to go up two dress sizes.)
A close-up of the bow. You can't really tell because I had flash on, but the ribbon is actually a sort of creamy-white, not a pure white. They had pure white, but it didn't really look right.
Paired with my white shirt from Per Una (Marks & Spencers). It's about the only appropriate thing I own, but I did buy some blouse patterns today, so maybe that will change soon.
For anyone interested, the skirt is based on this pattern by Simplicity. It's from their Learn To Sew range, so it's super easy. For Size 8 you need 2.3m of ribbon, 1.1m of fabric and a piece of elastic (probably about 1in. wide) that's 1in. longer than your waist measurement. It doesn't mention the elastic on the packet, so make sure you don't forget. The only changes I made to this pattern were lengthening the skirt by 3in., and substituting the gathers for pleats, because hand-pulled machine gathers are the BANE OF MY LIFE.
That concludes Part One. Thanks for reading!~