Project Registration and Completion: Captain America-inspired Sailor Lolita
I am currently still working on my Vampire Forest refab, but for now I'd like to share another project I finally got to wear!
Project Title: Captain America-inspired Sailor Lolita
Project Start Date: August 10th
Planned Finish Date: Sometime before September 28th
Actual Finish Date: Sometime in late August.
Did you make changes from original plan? Other than having to re-attach a bit of ribbon via hand sewing rather than machine sewing, nope.
Did you discover something you want to share? Dyeing fabric is a pain in the butt!
How happy are you with the result? With the dress itself-95%. The hat needs work and my fabric transfer paper went bad so my buttons are probably not going to last past the first wash. I want to work more on the coord itself, not so much the sewing.
The first step, and definitely the most difficult part, of creating this outfit was to design a dress that was both obviously an homage to Captain America AND still adhere as closely as possible to lolita guidelines. It could have been very easy to go over the top with the design and make it costumey, but I wanted a dress I can wear to comic conventions as well as lolita events! I debated creating a border print and getting it printed on Spoonflower, but in the end I decided to stay simple. I thought sailor lolita imitated Captain America's bold, structured and military-esque design best out of all lolita substyles, and what could go better with sailor lolita than a cute hat with the shield emblem on the crown?
I looked for just the right color of blue for the dress in a mid- to heavy-weight cotton sateen, but couldn't find it and was forced to dye off-white stretch sateen instead. This was my first time doing a large dye bath (I've only dyed trims before and used the stovetop method) and it took three tries for me to get a decent royal blue through the washing machine. It's still a little duller than I'd like but that might be a good thing - the more subdued blue gives it a less costumey look and the ribbons and accents really stand out well against it!
I used Butterick B5603, a retro 50s pattern, to make this A-line dress. It was a very easy pattern to follow and required very few modifications (I added puffed sleeves, brought the collar in and shortened the skirt a bit). The top is lined and the front seams have Rigilene attached to give it a smoother look. The sailor collar was created from the same pattern I made for my Sailor Senshi costumes, and the kerchief is a long tube sewn into points on both sides with a star appliqued on one side. The ribbon on the hem was machine sewn but had to be handsewn at the bust. The dress is completed with custom printed Captain America shield buttons and detachable waist ties.
The hat was quite the difficult project, mostly because it's all applique and silly me tried to do it by only using pins and no stabilizer or Heat n Bond. I'd like to remake it more nicely in the future, as well as add wristcuffs or some other appropriate accents. I'd also like to replace the shoes (worn because they were the only shoes I had that matched!) and the socks (I like the stripes but the socks themselves are much thicker than I was expecting and don't fit my feet well).
Mostly completed and on the dressform. I'd say the colors IRL are closest to this photo.
And here it is worn just last weekend! I added the shield buttons, more ribbon, and detachable waist ties.
Thanks for looking :).
Project Title: Captain America-inspired Sailor Lolita
Project Start Date: August 10th
Planned Finish Date: Sometime before September 28th
Actual Finish Date: Sometime in late August.
Did you make changes from original plan? Other than having to re-attach a bit of ribbon via hand sewing rather than machine sewing, nope.
Did you discover something you want to share? Dyeing fabric is a pain in the butt!
How happy are you with the result? With the dress itself-95%. The hat needs work and my fabric transfer paper went bad so my buttons are probably not going to last past the first wash. I want to work more on the coord itself, not so much the sewing.
The first step, and definitely the most difficult part, of creating this outfit was to design a dress that was both obviously an homage to Captain America AND still adhere as closely as possible to lolita guidelines. It could have been very easy to go over the top with the design and make it costumey, but I wanted a dress I can wear to comic conventions as well as lolita events! I debated creating a border print and getting it printed on Spoonflower, but in the end I decided to stay simple. I thought sailor lolita imitated Captain America's bold, structured and military-esque design best out of all lolita substyles, and what could go better with sailor lolita than a cute hat with the shield emblem on the crown?
I looked for just the right color of blue for the dress in a mid- to heavy-weight cotton sateen, but couldn't find it and was forced to dye off-white stretch sateen instead. This was my first time doing a large dye bath (I've only dyed trims before and used the stovetop method) and it took three tries for me to get a decent royal blue through the washing machine. It's still a little duller than I'd like but that might be a good thing - the more subdued blue gives it a less costumey look and the ribbons and accents really stand out well against it!
I used Butterick B5603, a retro 50s pattern, to make this A-line dress. It was a very easy pattern to follow and required very few modifications (I added puffed sleeves, brought the collar in and shortened the skirt a bit). The top is lined and the front seams have Rigilene attached to give it a smoother look. The sailor collar was created from the same pattern I made for my Sailor Senshi costumes, and the kerchief is a long tube sewn into points on both sides with a star appliqued on one side. The ribbon on the hem was machine sewn but had to be handsewn at the bust. The dress is completed with custom printed Captain America shield buttons and detachable waist ties.
The hat was quite the difficult project, mostly because it's all applique and silly me tried to do it by only using pins and no stabilizer or Heat n Bond. I'd like to remake it more nicely in the future, as well as add wristcuffs or some other appropriate accents. I'd also like to replace the shoes (worn because they were the only shoes I had that matched!) and the socks (I like the stripes but the socks themselves are much thicker than I was expecting and don't fit my feet well).
Mostly completed and on the dressform. I'd say the colors IRL are closest to this photo.
And here it is worn just last weekend! I added the shield buttons, more ribbon, and detachable waist ties.
Thanks for looking :).