A little bit of loliable crafting

 Recently James and I got to spend some time with our eldest niece, and we did some beading together. I took the opportunity to string together a couple of bracelets in colours my lolita collection was missing, as well as make myself a big rainbow necklace!

My first bracelet, the purple/red/pearl one was to match Verrry Berry Picnic, since I don't have many purple accessories. Then I was on a roll and made the pink/purple/pearl one in a very similar way, since I often pair my purples with pink.

Since our niece was making herself some fun rainbow things, I also wanted to make a rainbow thing! It doesn't come up much here since it's not all that easy to work in with lolita, but I am a massive rainbow fiend. I have a little collection of rainbow goodies, and it was really nice to add something handmade to that.

The only downside of making these things is...now I want to make so many more bracelets!

Recent lolita sewing achievements

During this enforced stay-at-home time I've actually found the mojo to get some sewing done. Some has been cosplay-related, which you can see on my Facebook page, but some has been lolita too! I don't have much to say about each project so I thought I'd just do a little roundup of the things I've finished over the past couple of months. You've actually already seen all these items in my recent coord posts but let's still just take a moment to look at them all!

Firstly I finally made a matching hair accessory for my cherry skirt! I initially thought I'd make a pair of bow clips, but then when I sat down with the fabric I realised I wanted more of a headbow. I don't like making headbows so after a bit of googling I settle on this usamimi style, though it's unwired so it's not pose-able. This took me literally twenty minutes to make and I adore it! It's cute, it's comfortable, and I'm definitely going to make more in this style in future.

The next project was a lot bigger...and I think I've had the fabric for like, two years. But it's done now so let's not dwell on that part. Say hello to my new tartan skirt ^__^

It's a bit sloppy in places but honestly that's all a result of me taking the easy route, like not ironing my pleats before sewing them down, and not adding interfacing to the waistband. I'm super happy with how it turned out and I can already tell it's going to be a great, versatile addition to my wardrobe. I'm very proud of my work on this one, and love that all the "flaws" are just because I took shortcuts, not because I messed things up.

Lastly, I modified some socks. I found myself wishing for some lace-topped pink socks and had a brainwave! I had pink socks in my sell pile (they were plain and I didn't wear them) and I had some gorgeous pink lace which turned out to be an almost perfect match. So I stretched the socks around a box and hand-sewed the lace on while watching YouTube.

I did mess up a bit on the first sock and gathered it too much at first, so there's a patch where the lace is hardly gathered at all, but despite that I'm really happy with how these turned out. The sewing is a bit messy if you look close-up, but I ain't letting nobody that close to my legs in lolita so I think it's all okay. I am definitely going to repeat this experiment!

I'm really happy with all these sewing projects, it has been great to get my sewing motivation back. I have plans for another skirt (probably with another usamimi to match!) and as I said, more sock upcycling. After that, who knows? And that's half the fun!

Lolita 52: Something that I made

If you’ve followed my blog for while you’ll know I’ve made several things in the time I’ve been in lolita. I even have two relevant blog tags; sewing and crafting (though not everything in those tags is strictly lolita). So since I blog about everything as I make it I don’t really want to just rehash that for this post.

For curiosity’s sake, I decided for this post to pull out everything I have made in my current lolita wardrobe to take a look at it all together.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with that turn out! I have made other things that have shortly made their way out of my wardrobe; two JSKs, at least two skirts and another short-sleeve bolero are what I can think of offhand. But these things I've kept are items I'm happy with and that I do actually wear. The cherry skirt in particular I wear a lot casually, and the brown bolero is just so handy!

I have plans for several things I want to sew, so we will see how that goes. I'll definitely blog about it ^__^

Adventures in crafting

Recently I found the mojo to do a bit of crafting again. Nothing too mind-blowing but a few little projects I'm rather pleased with.

First of all, I decorated a pair of plain brown suede ankle boots we were going to get rid of. I was going for something kind of mori-girl, kind of steampunk, and I think these could go either way. Now I just have to figure out an outfit they would go with!

I also recently whipped up some loltia hair accessories to go with some pieces that I don't have much to match with. Any guesses what those pieces are?

I'm quite pleased with the floral two-way clip but not so pleased with the headbow. It looks okay worn but it could be better. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and buy myself a lavender headbow!

And I also just realised another crafting project I never shared... the flower vest I'm wearing in the photo above! James and I were organising a weekend of shooting with Angie, she suggested for one look her beautiful fairy-like outfit and since I'm very into that sort of thing I asked if she wouldn't mind making it a double shoot. She didn't mind, so I had to whip together something pink and fairy. I was so incredibly pleased with my vest... I think it also covers the fact that my dress is just a wrapped, tied and pinned piece of chiffon pretty well ^__^

Credits for the above photo:
Photographer: The Enthusiast
Other model: Angeline Bubsy
Angie's outfit: Lyris Design

I really love these photos, and if you want to see the rest they're on my facebook page, and Angie also has some solo one of herself James took if you want to see more of her outfit! And of course, everything is on James' page, and they're also on Lyris Design's page... I'm just pimping all our facebook pages now!

Ahem.

Have you crafted anything, big or small, recently?

Handmade hair things

This week I managed to do some crafting and made two different two-way clips! I'm quite happy with how they both turned out ^__^

On Wednesday I had quite a nasty fever, so I stayed home from work. Mostly I played computer games and read, but I was feeling a bit better in the evening so I decided to experiment with making a new style of hair accessory, inspired by some Innocent World ones I've seen with a spray of lace under a bow or flowers. I wanted to do both a both and flowers over the lace, but didn't have any appropriate ribbon so it ended up quite simple with just flowers and lace. I made it in ivory to further plug that accessory lack I noticed.

Then today I decided to try yet another new thing - attaching flowers and things to a felt base which is in turn attached to the two-way clip base. And it turned out wonderfully! It's a bit more OTT than I intended, but given that I just kind of made it rather than going in with a plan I love it. And besides, every girl needs something a bit dramatic for special occasions, right?

I had so much fun making these that I'm definitely going to make more in the future! Possibly the very, very near future...

So I finally updated the etsy shop...

A little off my usual blogging topics - but did you know James and I have a little shop on Etsy? We do, and I just got around to adding so new things and I thought I'd share because making things is something we both enjoy, and do a lot, so I thought it was high time I shared some of that over here ^__^

First up - how lovely is this antler ring James made? Naturally shed antler, and it's lovely with all the natural colours and shapes left intact on the outside with the inside perfectly smooth. We both have a thing for tribal inspired jewellery, and I love how this ring is unique and funky without being overstated. James also made a smaller one that's for sale as well.

And then there's a plus size sweet/classic lolita skirt I made. I've been hoarding the vintage floral fabric for  a very, very, very long time and finally managed to pair it up with this cute pink.

This last one isn't a super new addition, but I thought I should mention that I've also got a bunch of different laces listed. This one is my favourite ^__^

Do you have a shop on Etsy, or have a particular favourite store? If you do, show me a link in the comments!

Tutorial #1: Christmas Stars

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought it's a good time to share one of my favourite decorations to make: three dimensional stars decorated in leftover wrapping paper. It's a fairly simple idea, so I'm sure someone else has had it as well, but it's something I figured out about five years ago. I haven't made Christmas decorations for a couple of years now, so it's been really great to get down and crafty again this year.

What You Need:

• An assortment of wrapping paper
• Thin cardboard [I sued a cereal box]
• PVA glue
• Thin ribbon
• A smallish paintbrush
• A pen
• A ruler
• Scissors

What To Do:

Step 1: Figure out how big you want your stars to be and draw it out onto your cardboard. I had a bit of a silly moment and forgot how to draw a symmetrical star, so mine turned out a bit wonky. Your star can have as many points as you want, I just prefer five pointed stars. And it goes without saying [but I'm saying it anyway] that you can apply this idea to any kind of shape you want. Circular decorations done this way would be a lot simpler to make and be just as cute. Cut out your first star. That's your template.

Step 2: Trace the star shape onto your cardboard as many times as you want, just keep in mind that since these are 3D stars you'll need two stars per completed decoration. Cut out all the stars, pat yourself on the back, and go get a cup of tea.

Step 3: Rip or cut your wrapping paper into little pieces. I love the effect ripping gives the decorations, but cutting looks a lot neater.

Step 4: Dollop out some PVA glue, draw a deep breath and start gluing the paper bits to the star. Don't worry about going over the edges of your star, because all you need to do is flip it over and wrap the excess over to cover the back side of the star. Easy as pie.

Step 5: Leave the stars to dry and then cover the other side as you did the first. Let them dry again.

Step 6: Get two stars. Cut one to the halfway point from between the two bottom points [if using five pointed stars] and the other to the halfway point from the centre top point.

Step 7: Attached a loop of ribbon to the topmost point of the star that is cut from the bottom. Clue, sticky tape, staples, whatever. Then slot the two stars together and voila!

Step 8: Go stick them on your tree and celebrate with another cup of tea.

PS Send me a picture if you make your own decorations in this method, I'd love to see!