Making a Dress - Burgundy Lolita outfit - Construction Time Part Two

So the bodice and skirt are now done but you can not have a lolita outfit without accessories!

Therefore the next thing to complete is a capelet.  Why am I making a capelet????  Because it would look cute and I love capes.  Not to mention it is getting cold and although this will not keep the cold out at least when I am sitting in a cafe I will not feel the chill on my shoulder.

Once again I use a pattern from my sewing lolita book and stupidly I did not test this out because as soon as I cut the pieces out and sewed the side seam it did not look right.  I have create square shoulders (or Romulan shoulders as I was shouting) !!!  No pictures of the disaster as I had to correct the mistake as soon as possible which was quite simple.  I just round the shoulder a bit more.

So after a bit of pattern alternation, I carried on and lets fast forward to the final result.

Doesn't it look cute!!!!

I have deviated from my original plans a little bit.  The ruffles are suppose to be between the kimono and burgundy fabric but I forgot so instead I put it at the bottom.

Oh and I trimmed the collar as well as it was originally far too wide and looked out of place.

In addition, I was concerned that the capelet would be too light but once I sewed the ruffles at the bottom it weighted it down nicely so that is good.

Now it is the hair accessories which I hope I can finish during the evening this week....fingers crossed!

Making a Dress - Burgundy Lolita outfit - Construction Time

So design has been settled....ish

Now it is time to actually make it.  I drafted my own patterns based on the ones in the lolita sewing books I have.

For the bodice, I took inspiration from the bodices from these outfits.

I drafted the top part of the bodice based on the pale blue dress but the bottom part as the black and white one.  

As for the skirt I wanted something like this one.

But rather then pleated it will be gathered because it will be easier to do with two different fabrics.

So with patterns drafted, I had to test out the bodice as it was something that I put together.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures or maybe I did but I can not find them on my computer.  Anyway apart from making the back a bit wider and lengthening the inner lining it was not too bad.

Now lets fast forward a couple of weeks.  Yes it took me two weeks to finish because I work full time and now my sewing time is constricted to the weekends which is very sad but here it is!

Bodice on top of the skirt

 The bottom part is a little bit bunched up when it is worn but that could be use to the fullness of the skirt and the kimono fabric being a little bit softer then expected.  This is definitely a dress there I will need to think about wearing a waist clincher or something just to keep things still.

Bodice under the skirt

 However with the skirt on top you don't notice it and the frills on the bodice are aligned pretty nicely with the skirt.  YEY!!

Back view

 Oh here is the back view with a nice bow.  The ties are actually removable so I can create more looks.

Me wearing it!

And finally me wearing my new outfit.  I really need to take better pictures but with winter setting in, daylight is getting scare so it might be a while before I get a really good photo.

Now it is just the accessories to make.

Making a Dress - Burgundy Lolita outfit - Designing Stage

With my kimono fabric chosen it was time to think of what to make.

When I received my lolita sewing books I was immediately drawn to the outfit which had a separate bodice and skirt.

This appealed to me in two ways.  One, it will be easier to look after and two, I can create more outfits with two pieces. 

In addition I wanted to make other accessories as well such as a capelet, jabot and some hair accessories like a hat, bow and kanzashi (of course).

Phew that is a lot too do.......I hope I am not being to ambitious here.

After I few days of pondering I settled on the following design.

Bodice

Skirt Front

Skirt Back

There will also be a capelet, a hat and some hair accessories that have yet to be designed but they are in my head.

Making a Dress - Burgundy Lolita outfit - Planning Stage

Okay it has been ages since I blogged about my Making a Dress series and I apologise for my absence.

The reason for this is that I had a moment of crisis with the project that I was going to do in August. 

I originally wanted to use this lovely white and blue yukata fabric.

To make this summer dress on the right hand side.

I had it all planned in my head until it dawned on me that this yukata bolt is exactly the yukata pattern and colour I have been wanting to get for ages in my kimono collection!  Now I can not possibly use it.

So with that decision made I had to re-think what to make.  I still want to make a lolita outfit with kimono fabric as the summer was disappearing into the horizon I thought it would be better to make an outfit that was more suited to the autumn weather.

Lucky kimono fabric is not in short supply in my flat.  I once again picked my victim!

Now I have a fabric I can begin designing.