Heart dress coordinate

Dress: made by me
Blouse: Bodyline, sleeves shortened
Rest off-brand

I really like the pattern on the dress. I just hope to be able to coordinate it better in the future. And I really need some cream colored thighs, my legs are too dark for the rest of the outfit.

Plated dress with heart pattern

There is something about this fabric that I just love. The print is simply beautiful and colors are a bit muted so it's not too bright despite having such a colourful print.The fabric itself it's quite thick which is why the hem is plated.

Making the dresses has not been as difficult as I thought it would be. Then again these first two have been quite simple. I have simple taken pattern for a basic sheath dress, cropped it from the waist and changed the neckline a little bit. The hem is just two rectangles. I also added ribbons to the sides to make a small bow in the back. I'm thinking of adding a detachable bow to the front as well but to do that I have to find a pattern for a bow.

I'm still thinking how to coordinate this dress, mainly what kind of blouse to make for it. I can't decide between simple cream coloured blouse or full lace blouse. Though I think I'm falling more for the lace blouse if I can find a nice lace fabric to make it from.

Lot of Firsts

Today was my first time wearing lolita in public, first time creating and wearing a somewhat full coord rather than just trying on the dress, and first time attending a lolita meet.

Jsk: made by me
Shirt: Bodyline
Socks and shoes: off brand

The dress was the first fitted piece of clothing I've ever made. Luckily I got some help from the local sewing community. For some reason I chose the mint green fabric for my first dress, it just called to me. I can't wait to start with the next fabric. Though I'll have to make some head wear still for this coord.

Treasures from Tallinn

A conference trip to Tallinn offered a chance to check out Karnaluks which is a huge store full of yarns, laces, fabrics and other related equipment. I didn't pay much attention to the yarn side, apart from noticing it's size, since I was looking for materials for a lolita dress. The fabrik side was a bit of a disappointment but when it comes to lace it's a paradise. It was also a lot cheaper than Finland. Here is what I found:

 I found fabrics for three dresses. the one on top is a very pastelly mint green, almost more of a sweet lolita color but I fell in love with the fabric. I'm also making my first lolita dress from it, a jsk. I'll post about the struggles when I get the dress done. The second one is a grayish green that plan to turn into a one piece, haven't yet decided if I want short or long sleeves. I don't know what color to call the last one but I'll turn it into a jsk as well.

As I mentioned it was a lace paradise. There tens of shelf meters of it. And different kinds of laces as well traditional, tulle based, knitted and crocheted. And in every colour. I spent half an hour just going through them. In the end I settled for 5 white laces. The second and fourth are and off-white colour, the rest are bright white. The two last laces are tulle based and are not as good quality, but the others are really good quality. From my limited experience though I would say that even the two on the right are better than Bodyline lace. The one on the right is the first one in use. I paired it with the mint green fabric.

I also got three long zippers for the dresses. I thought I had gotten three hidden zippers since they were all from the same hook in the store but when I got home I realized that one of them was a normal zipper. The lace on it is not as pretty as on the other two but it's quite narrow so I might just turn it and use it as an invisible zipper. This is why you should check carefully everything you buy, even if they are from the same box at the store.

The last thing I got is a collection small flowers that I plan to turn into headpieces or use as an accent. These I'll probably use outside of lolita as well.

All in all I was very happy that I got up in the morning to go to the store and I can't wait to turn these into dresses. I'll post more about the dress making progress as well as ready coordinates later.

Introduction

This is the boring first post where I tell why I'm doing this in the first place. In some way I have always liked the way Lolita looks but never really looked more into it. As I've gotten older I've started to care less about what other people might think of me and found Lolita again a few months ago. I have been trying to find all the information I can but I still feel that I don't know nearly enough. I'm still willing to try my best and hopefully learn more from others in the fashion as I dive into it. I want to write this to see what it is like to join fashion when you are a bit older and not exactly Lolita shape. I'm normal weight but I'm quite tall, 170 cm, and shaped more like an hourglass. Comparing my measurements to those of Lolita dresses, even Indie brands that offer sizes, I won't fit into them. So what is it like to go into the fashion when you need to have the dresses custom made?

I have already bought some things. I got a petticoat from Miss Windy Shop and it seems really poofy, it also came really fast. The petticoat is A-lined but since I'm going for a more classic look it's not that big of a problem. I might need to get another shorter one though, to get a more bell like shape, it's under consideration. I also got a couple of blouses. Word of warning for other beginners though, I got mine from Bodyline and even in 2L size the sleeves are really short. I think I'll have to turn on of the blouses into a short sleeved one.

I'm making my first dress myself. There is a sewing place here with people to help. I have sewed before but I've never made anything fitted, so we'll have to see how that turns out. I have a printed fabric that I think is really cute and I'm planning to make a jsk. I'll make a post about the process of it when I start making the dress.