Tuesday 22 September 2015

Jabot tutorial

Hello ~ A while ago it was requested that when I make video tutorials, I would snap progress photos and talk you through some of the steps to make a text based tutorial as well. Here goes the first one! I wanted to make a jabot of this blue lace that was left over from a skirt project. That way I have something blue for my ouji coords + a matching accessory for the skirt! It can be used as a brooch or hair accessory as well, here's a photo with my hand as scale.



Yay, so let's begin! By the way here's a link to the video if you prefer that format :3 



You will need:
- Lace or fabric of your choice, I had 37cm of 11cm wide lace
- Grosgrain ribbon or ribbon of your choice to the top
- Pearls and a button, or whatever you want to decorate it with
- Not in this photo but a clip to attach it to your shirt / hair
- Needle and thread


Fold the ends of the lace in so that the raw edge is hidden behind the finished product. Sew 1cm stitches to the top to gather the lace. Then sew the ribbon on top of the top of the lace, so that the edge is hidden. While sewing, make sure the lace is nice and puffed out to the sides to make it look full. Put a ton of tiny stitches in there until the ribbon looks awful and the lace pretty.


Flip it over and sew the clip to the back of the ribbon. Here you can see a bit of how the ribbon is full of stitches.



Put a thread to the end of the ribbon and make a sturdy knot. Slide pearls to the thread so that you get a nice loop (my pearls are 8mm btw) and then tie the loop to the other end of the ribbon. Now you have what the photo shows, and you'll want to take some ribbon and make a new loop on top of the old one to hide all those stitches. Sew the new loop only from the middle to the old loop to avoid unnecessary stitches. Then sew the decoration of your choice to the middle and voila, the jabot / hair accessory is done!



I'll try to make more of these kind of small projects where you can use your leftover materials :)

Sunday 20 September 2015

Wine meet

We had another meetup, this time we went to Parainen and tasted some wines! Just tasted, not enough to get drunk :D We also said (a temporary) farewell to one of our lovely ladies, as she's going to study abroad. I wish you the best! <3 We already decided to have an old school meet once she gets back :D Can't wait!



Behold our squad! Two photos because we didn't have an actual camera with us and it's easier to just do it like this with a phone :D


I didn't take an outfit photo before I left home because my boyfriend was out and I hate having to hassle with a tripod and timer, so here is a quick photo. The sun had already set so the lighting wasn't the best, but I still kind of like the coord. And to keep it from being too  classic, I wore chandelier print socks. Sometimes it's fun to be pure classic, but I was feeling like I wanted to stay closer to home, gothic. It felt a bit odd to have my real hair (which is red again) since I'm so used to having to wear wigs to cover my blue / purple hair.



Excuse the minimal poof... My kitty Oliver peed on my petticoats so they were still wet from wash :( I was organizing my closet and let him jump in and sniff, and the moment I turned my back, he was peeing on the shelf with all my pettis in it... Oh well, I can wash them. And he's been a very well mannered kitty otherwise so I couldn't be mad with him for long. <3

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Bodyline Ouji items

About two weeks ago I made a video about how to order from Bodyline, and here's a review video of the items I bought! Overall I'm happy with what I got :)



The vest / gilet (P272) is awesome. I like the fabric, it's nice and soft and sturdy. The lacing in the back is grosgrain istead of satin ribbon, the bow is detachable and the lace in the collar is not-as-bad-as-I'd-thought. I'm very happy with the purchase and will decorate it a bit. I was planning on taking it in from the waist, but it may be just fine as it is, at least for the time being. Would recommend.



The pants (P105) are OK too. I like how they look in the front, the waist is the perfect size, lace is good cotton lace, buttons are cute... But the straps are not detachable and if you're a tall girl or have a long back, the straps will pull the pants (to be crude) up your ass...  They're okay on me, I'm 164cm (5'4'') and have a quite short back. Otherwise they are a good fit. The quality is okay, so I'd recommend or not recommend based on your body type.



This is my third pair of rocking horses, and I like them (shoes278). The ankle clip feels a bit flimsy so I think I'll just adjust the strap every time so I won't break it, since I don't find it a hassle. I like the quality, it's on par with my other Bodyline shoes. The fat sole didn't have any scratches or dents and the "leather" seems good. And they're comfy, light and my perfect size. Would recommend.


This second pair (shoes289) was a bit of a "why not, it's cheap" purchase, I think I paid around 4€(?) for these. The shoes are really pretty, perfect size and I really like the look! I'll definitely wear these with my non-lolita punk / rock clothes, and maybe I'll work them into a punk-ish kodona coord someday.


PS I as you may know, my natural nails are super long. However I had to cut them, and the last time they were this short was four years ago! (I had to cut them then for Edward Elric cosplay, he couldn't have long nails x3)


I kind of feel like I've amputated the last joint from my fingers... I've had to re-learn how to write with my phone and keyboard, and it just feels plain weird!


Luckily they'll grow back and I know that just as I've learnt to live with long nails, I'll get used to short ones. It still feels odd though ~ o__O

Sunday 13 September 2015

We got a kitty!

We finally got a kitty!! Meet Oliver ~ He's three months old and is sociable, full of energy and even though he's new to our house, he's not shy at all ^^ On his second day with us he slept and purred on my lap for over an hour, played tons with his new toys, went through every nook and cranny of the house, spent some quality time with his kitty tree, decided he likes the feather toy the best and found the litter box. And even though he runs around during the day (as all kitties do), he's slept through the night just fine without waking us up to play. He's also really cool about guests, he'll run to the door to sniff and greet, and in no time at all, he's playing with guests and even sleeping on their laps ^^ But I promise this won't turn into a cat blog, I'll just add a photo or two at the ends of some posts or talk about something's that's come up. 







Tuesday 8 September 2015

What lolita items to start with

I'm starting to make videos for lolita beginners, and this subject was the most requested one: What items should you start with? What kind of things to buy?


So here is a video where I show an example closet and show what items I would start with and why, what kind of items I would add next, and where to go from there. The most important thing is to buy items that go together, with either color or theme (gothic, classic, sweet etc). 


Buy lots of accessories, some more "showy" but a lot of clothing / jewelry stores have loliable hair pins, bows and leg wear. You can also find really adorable shoes from normal stores. ^^

Have fun!

Wednesday 2 September 2015

Bodyline

In this week's video I'll walk you through a purchase and payment on Bodyline. Why? Because I got a lot of questions about Bodyline, their items, sizing, what to look for, what to avoid etc so I tried answering them in this video :D I felt like I wanted to talk about more, but since the video already is half an hour long, I decided to end there. If I still get a lot more questions, I'll do a follow up one ^^ And once the items arrive, I'll review them ~