Altough I criticized the trend of having 80's couch prints on shirts and dresses a while ago, I must confess they look great on vintage-like pieces! And being such a lovely model, Justine just pulled if off. This is a sweetheart neckline stapless dress with a giant print:
And to complete it, I made a velvet-like quarter jacket with a perly buckle.
This bright blue is one of my favourite colours now, just because it contrasts wonderfully with most things and... my hair. I'm thinking about reproducing this dress but I'm not sure about the right fabric to do it. This one is slightly thick, so the dress looks really puffy and perky with no need of a petticoat of any kind.
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I bought Juliette some months ago but, in a way, I wasn't totally happy with her look. She wasn't dramatic enought, or expressive. I decided to send her to Poison Girl, for a face up ^^ She is a wonderful artist and I'm sure I'll be extremelly pleased with her work. The waiting list, tough, is kinda... long! So I still have some weeks of waiting ahead. To match her new face I also got Juliette a 27cm obitsu body, with M bust and a soft, new redhead wig with bangs :D since I only sent the head, the Clarity wig stayed at home with me and I thought it would look nice without the bun. The curls are simply gorgeous and here is the proof!
I shouldn't say but... this dress was design on a dead moment at work. Those when you have nothing to do but you can't also bother your boss to give you something to do!
To assure it looks this puffy, I made a black petticoat to wear underneath :)
The Lolita-like look is really one of my favourites to work on. You have plenty of space for details, lace, ribbons, pearls, extra puffy sleeves and all kind of things you do not use for the sake of simplicity on other styles. Nevertheless, I still think I need to raise the bar on my Lolita-like designs, specially when compared to stock clothes, full of ruffles and amazing layers.
One of my most recent favourite designs is the following:
The colours are very rich, with the plum and the gold together. The print on the fabric is just one of my all-time favourite, specially because it has the right proportion for a 1/6 doll ^^
The pattern for the sleeves, altought quite simple, wasn't made initially for this outfit. I was planning on making a stripped shirt and a long XIX-century-like skirt. I lost that precious piece of white cloth with caramel stripes so this project is on hold for a little longer...
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Next on my Lolita inspired project is one in blue. I have always had a strange relation with this colour because it feels very un-natural and reminds me of baby boys. Nevertheless, I wanted to give this particular fabric its deserved use, since the print has such beautiful but descrete shades:
The complete outfit - shirt, jsk, headbow and tights - reminds me of Winter or a big and complex snow flake. Maybe it is a silly thought! ^^
For the first time, for this outfit, I used a treadle sewing machine, an antique Singer, to make the ruffly details on the sleeves. I found it quite easy and friendly to use and if I have the need I'll definetly use it again. It is not mine yet, so I can't use it whenever I need or want - if it was otherwise, I would strongly consider sewing most things with it, since it is aparently so easy to control.
Finally, on my Lolita section I added this Sweet Lolita inspired set:
On the picture you can see four packages of Pez candy! There were eight of them when I bought the pack. I felt like eating all of them at once but I resisted and kept aside each of every flavour in the pack because I really wanted to use them on a photoshoot for a Sweet Lolita outfit! (or maybe it was just an excuse to avoid eating so much candy...)
It took me months to think about it. I know I'm always complaining about not finding fabric. I don't buy online because it is always too much and, for now, I like to keep my pieces almost unique and different. I know I can always choose not to use the fabric but... If it is lovely enough it will just keep on looking at me and begging me to use it!
Sooo... since I couldn't find any fabric with sweets or muffins and cupcakes, I used those 3D stickers and the polka dot fabric. White dots on various backgrounds always remind me of sweets ^^
And, by the way, those lovely shoes come in different colours and I found them here along with lots of other amazing little shoes :D I was very happy with them, they were carefully wrapped and were shipped in no time. Never something I ordered from China arrived here so fast: just 11 days!
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On other news... One of my latest set was a big inspiring piece of work for buyers and I made some versions of it on custom orders:
I really like the hippie-like look in the right dose. I have this pattern for shirts since the first week I had Justine home. It was originally made for Lolita shirts but I ended up using it more in other creations. The rich lace I used here is one of my favourite!
This set was in the store for a "long" time but in the meanwhile I was asked to make two shirts for Barbie dolls with this pattern! I hadn't sewn for Barbies for... one year? I still had the basic patterns but I was afraid it wouldn't turn out very interesting. Fortunatly, Model Muse Barbie dolls and Belly Button or Fashionista Barbie dolls are more proportionate than the Classic girls and it is much easier to sew for them. Oh, and I noticed they're so much "bigger" than Pullips! I was amazed because altough I have all my Barbie dolls on display, I had never compared their bodies to Justine's. This is the result of the Barbie doll order:
Just for the record, Model Muse Barbie dolls have very hard feet and you can't make them wear anything but their own shoes if you want to keep the rest of your shoe collection intact and safe! As for the Fashionista Barbie doll, I guess she was surprised not to be wearing black for some days!
After these two shirts, I made one for and L sized Obitsu body. I must confess it was like sewing for Classic Barbie dolls again! Well, the proportions are more realistic but I'm always confused when it comes to make one-piece shirts because their bust is so big I'm afraid clothes do not look nice and naturally fitting on them. But I think the result was good:
And since I talked about shoes before... Obitsu feet are big! From my collection, only the Re-ment shoes seem to fit them and the blue Mary Janes still look tight...
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My 27cm Obitsu with M sized bust arrived oh so many weeks ago. I'm still perfecting the patterns for some pieces, it gets dirty and stained very easily but it is still beautiful, sexy and soft! I decided to remove the hands while I'm sewing and trying the pieces on because I don't want them to get dirty.
Problems aside... here are the ste I sew for this type of body! My first will be Juliette's official outfit, for when she comes back. I noticed it resembles pretty much my lazy days clothes... black jeans, red top...
She is sitting on my cameras... This one is and Olympus 35 LE, a wonderfull machine that belonged to my grandfather. It has many problems now but I still took some interesting BW pictures with it. My grandfather has a digital camera now so I did not leave him bare handed! He is my favourite person in the family, because he is so calm, gentle and patient. And my personal MacGyver!
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For Obitsu M I also made a pied-de-poule quarter sleeve coat with fuscia details. This is a bold piece and in my head, I'm alwyas asking myself if other people like it.
The other set is pretty formal too. Brown trench coat, blouse and skirt. I personally and absolutly love the inner pieces: their colour and the detail on the bust will be my number one choice for office if I saw these pieces in a store. Well, maybe I'd choose a longer skirt!
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Finally! The emerald green strikes back in my life! It's a wonderfull colour of which I only own a really over sized vintage sweater! Fortunatelly, Obitsus and Barbie dolls are lucky enough to have emerald jeans and lovely matching dresses.
The fabric used for the dress is a vintage printed cotton and almost makes me drool every time I look at it =P
And I think it all! Right now I'm having an inspiration break down... I can't think of new things... or... I think but I need extra material... or... I think about too many things at once and some of them will be lost in the way!
Thanks for reading ^^
Joana
