"The Walking Museum" Part One: Winter 2015 Mini Collection - 3 One of a Kind Handmade Pieces - Revealed!

Hello everyone!

I'm very happy and excited to share this project with you all! For the past three weeks I have been posting progress photos and sneak peeks on my Instagram and Facebook for those of you who follow me. Many of you have shared with me your anticipation and excitement to see the full detailed photos and story of these pieces, and without further ado, I will bring them to you!

About the Collection

This collection came to fruition after one day I was browsing Instagram and came across a post by @chiffonrosegirl (Also known as xylia-x on tumblr, and owner of Chiffon Rose Shop in Melbourne Australia). I saw the fabric, fell in love, and knew that I needed to have it. She gladly bought a good bit of yardage for me (about 5-6 yards), which I paid her for and had it shipped all the way over to me in the USA. I got a great deal as the fabric was on sale and she had a discount! I cannot thank her enough for her help and service in me creating these beautiful pieces.

The bodice fabric, which you will see soon, a gorgeous black flocked polyester, I nabbed from a box of fabric that was going to be donated from my former job. It was perfect! I actually didn't take all of the yardage because I wanted to save some in case anyone else wanted, but I regret it! I should have taken it all since I think it all got donated anyway. Ah well, I thankfully had enough to complete three garments.

The collection consists of an Underbust Jumperskirt, a High Waist Skirt, and an Empire Waist One Piece Dress. Each piece is one of it's kind, and adorned with gold details from lace, to ribbon, to Chinese braid trim.

Each garment is different, but keep the same general aesthetic and trim styles. All the pieces took about three weeks total to complete, that is all three completed in three weeks! It's the fastest I've ever created a series of garments in my life so far which averaged a garment per week. I had a few small setbacks, otherwise I'm sure I would have finished even sooner!

Before the collection was even complete, all items had been sold! My facebook friends began calling dibs on the pieces as I posted progress photos! It was so crazy, I had to wait list. I do not unfortunately have anymore of the bodice fabric, but I have some scraps of the skirt and I hope to do one or two pieces using them.

I wanted to keep one for myself, but everyone was so excited about it I decided to sell them all! I enjoy seeing my work on others so much more anyway.


In this installment, I will be sharing with you detailed images of the first piece of the collection...

The Walking Museum 

Underbust Jumperskirt

The Front

This piece has the longest length of all, and when I tried it on it just about hit my ankles without a petti! I'm 5' 3". When cutting I wanted to make sure not to cut off the motifs, so I cut the skirts according to the print repeat as much as I could. The repeat was about 26".

The Side

The ruffled blouse I coordinated with here is from Alice and the Pirates. Underbust bodices look most flattering from the side in my opinion!

The Back

Plain and simple here. I have more closeup images included below. The back is a simple shoulder princess line shape at the bodice, fitted in a sleek and simplistic way. The skirt is an all around showcase of the print. 

[Click the following photos to make them larger!]

The front bodice features four princess panels with flexible plastic encased boning. The center front panel is shirred and laced with gold x black striped organza ribbon. The bodice is also trimmed all around the neckline with ruched black power mesh and black Chinese braiding.

You can see the fabric and flocking details a bit clearer in these photos.

You can also see the large Chinese braid I used around the bottom - which also can be seen in each and ever piece. However, here I used embroidered tulle lace at the skirt hem edge.

The bodice zips at the side with a lapped zipper. 

This Moss Marchen cross necklace and "baby arm" chain also go perfectly here.

A touch of faux fur.

And that's all for part one! Part two will be available Saturday, January 17th 2015 at 12PM EST! The High Waist Skirt will be featured in full! Then the One Piece Dress on Sunday January 18th, same time!

Thank you for viewing and look out for the subsequent posts!

Completion and Sale: Antique Lavender Bustle OP with Gold Lace and Embroidered Organza Ribbon Lacing

Finally a new completion! And yes, it's yet another Classic Lolita OP! I delved into the land of OTT Classic yet again with this piece. I'm very happy with the results!

This dress was in part inspired by various Classic Lolita dresses from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. I can't say any specific one, but one of the pieces that heavily inspired the dress was their "Sonnet for Juliet" series...

You be the judge. Onto the pictures!

(Sorry about the poor lighting quality.!I get home late on the weekdays, and the sunlight is so minimal now that it's becoming winter. I should have waited to take photos on the weekend in the daylight, but even then I'm quite busy! I just couldn't wait any longer! I hope you enjoy anyway.)

The Front

This dress has a more high-waist silhouette. The bodice ends about 2" above the natural waist, however it is not a true empire waist. It's a little in between, but I think it's still quite flattering. The angle here is making the ruffle appear larger than it actually is proportionally. The fabric is another amazing find from Shabby Fabrics, the original fabric design from the Mary Rose Collection. It's a floral postcard print with script lettering and red and pink rose clusters. 

Side View

Here you can see the bustle. Each ruffle is overlaid with metallic gold lace and trimmed at the hem with looped ivory cluny lace. The bottom ruffle is also trimmed with it.

The Back

The back is half shirred with elastic and double faced satin ribbon lacing.

Now for some detail photos. I'm afraid even with a little color adjustment, these images don't really show the dress true to color, but I did include some that get close. It looks very brownish, but I assure you, it is an antique lavender color. It's a strange color to describe. 

Even the hem has embroidered gold tulle lace! Such a lovely find. I bought it at the local trim store called Pacific Trimmings (located on 38th St and 7th Ave in NYC). I always find great things there. You can also see the metallic quality of the overlay lace on the bustle ruffles better here. The ruffles themselves are an off white cotton.

Here you can see the tulle lace I used on the bodice. It's a soft ivory embroidered tulle lace. There is also the pretty ivory and gold braiding trim I used here and also on the hem.

The bodice features a decorational corset detail on the sides (reminiscent of Sonnet for Juliet). The golden organza embroidered ribbons are both functional and removable. You can interchange between any ribbons you like. There is also a bow at the center of the ruching ruffle (not however detachable).

(Also note the lovely rosary necklace from Moss Marchen that matches quite well!)

Detail photo of the side panel lacing.

Closeup. You can see the gold embroidery on the ribbon better here. 

This closeup represents somewhat more true to the actual dress color. 

The hem details can also be seen more clearly here. 

And for fun, here are a few more detail photos that represent the true color a bit better. I played with the light from my lamp to get these effects and color representations. 

Hope you all enjoyed the photos! I'm super pleased with this dress and I would love to keep it, but not only do I have a few other dresses planned to make for myself, I have to part with a few of my darlings to get my work out into the world!

How would you coordinate this dress? I'd be so interested to know!

Sales Information:

Price: $260 + Shipping & PayPal fees

Highly Negotiable!

Feel free to make offers!

I am located in NYC, USA.

Shipping fees will be calculated based on your location.

I will only send packages tracked, I do not send untracked shipments.

I'm not responsible for loss in the mail. Please make sure your shipping information is as accurate as possible. I will confirm shipping before sending.

Remember, this is a one of a kind dress that no one else will own anything like it!

Size Information:

Dress Length: 36 1/2" from Shoulder

Skirt Length from Natural Waist: 21"

(Dress bodice comes above the natural waist approx. 2")

Bust: 32"~36"max

Waist: 26"~32" max

I ACCEPT PAYMENT PLANS UNDER THE FOLLOWING TERMS:

3 Payments - First Payment $100 - Second and Third Payment - The remaining funds as desired.

2 Payments - Half and Half

All payments must be made in approx. 3-4 weeks post sale date, but we can discuss terms as you see fit. I am open to negotiation.

Anyone offering to pay in full upfront gets priority for the sale.

I have some sales feedback here if you would like:

http://eglfeedback.livejournal.com/632363.html

http://dixmacabre.livejournal.com/70612.html

(A bit outdated as I've been off comm for quite some time, but feedback nonetheless)

If you are interested, please leave a comment below!

My Paypal: punkneko66[at]gmail[dot]com

NOW FOR SALE ON LACEMARKET!
http://www.lacemarket.us/antique-lavender-floral-op-with-gold-metallic-lace-bustle-back/

Oh and in related news...

Lilith et Adalia will be doing Women's sizing now!

Read all about it in our blog post here.

Everyone has been asking for it, so we thought, to hell with it, why not?

So we will be serving our frilly lovers with clothing for children and adults! Excited? I know I am! 

I will be starting off by reinterpreting our original designs into Women's versions. After that, we will be doing new and original pieces in way of capsule collections. We will also offer new sizes in Children's dresses and offer other clothing items and accessories! We have big things planned but it will take some time to get afloat, but we aren't giving up! 

Please continue your support, we'd appreciate it!

I will still be doing personal sewing projects for myself and friends, but eventually I will exclusively be working on things for the brand, all of which will be cross posted here on my blog ongoing!

Thank you all for reading and following me!  Lots of new projects coming, I promise!

Completion: Classical Floral Dress in Bordeaux FINALLY + UPDATES - New Blog!

So I finally finished this dress. I started it before I left for Japan this past August (yes I was in Japan for about 2 weeks! More on that later...) I had planned on bringing this dress with me on my trip, but I didn't finish it, and in fact, did not wear lolita once while on my first trip to Japan.

BLASPHEMY!

But I had my reasoning. It was August. It was hot. It was my first time traveling such a far distance on my own, and packing lolita clothes would have made the trip so much more difficult.

Anyway, this is a sewing blog right? So lets talk about that instead shall we?

As an aside, I started a new blog! It's called "My Life's Libretto", and you can find it over at libretto-macabre.blogspot.com! Excuse the basic layout, I will change it soon. I thought I should start a blog for my life outside of sewing, since I really missed writing and archiving things about my life like I used to on LiveJournal back in it's heyday. It's not as private as LJ was, but it's fine. I share what I can, and I'm not shy about speaking my mind!

There is only one entry, which is an introduction, but I will be writing in detail about my Japan trip over there, so if you are interested, please feel free to follow me. I will be reminiscing on the trip, the country, and my experiences. After that, general life stuff, daily life, thoughts, and Lolita-related stuff outside of sewing (but it may overlap sometimes.) I hope you will visit me over there.

Anywho...

This dress is done! It features this gorgeous bordeaux cotton floral which I of course, like all other fabrics, bought from ShabbyFabrics.com (which lately has been disappointing me a bit, good though because I still have so much fabric in this house.) On to the photos!

Front

This dress features this beautiful embroidered tulle lace like my previous dress. This time at the front bodice as well as at the hem. The dress pattern is basically the same, minus the bustle and shirring at the front, but they look like two completely different dresses right? The magic of fashion design. 

Side

I used those gold rose buttons again for the detachable ties, you may remember me using the same ones on some of my previous projects. They are a nice touch.

Back

Featuring the shirred back panel and corset lacing. You know the usual. I used red grossgrain ribbon here as I did with the front waist ties. 

And now for some random detail images...

I also put together a near complete coordinate for this dress. I will be debuting this piece at RuffleCon 2014. RuffleCon is a new convention for Lolita and Alternative Elegant fashion, taking place in Hartford, Connecticut this coming October 3rd weekend. I will be wearing this outfit at the Sunday Tea Party!

I'm still missing shoes and a purse, and jewelry and things, but at least I have a blouse (I bought this one in Innocent World in Harajuku, it was on sale! It's a little big on me, since all they had was L size, but under the dress you can't even tell.) The floral headpiece, I unfortunately did not make, instead I bought it at H&M. It was only $15, so I couldn't pass it up!

And that's it everyone! I wish I completed this dress faster, well I kind of did, but the last minute finishing touches took me some time (aka I was lazy.) But hey it's finished now right? I'm really happy with it!

In other thoughts, I really need to re-cover my dressform. I love how vintagey she looks, but she makes all the clothes I keep on her smell all old and moldy, well because she is old...1989 model, and she wasn't well taken care of. She's got water damage and is ripped to near shreds at this point. I got her in a contest my college had held giving away old dressforms. So yea, she's very used and abused, and only deteriorating further...sigh.  I wish I could have her professionally reupholstered, but that costs nearly just as much as buying a new form. So sad. 

Now to take these things off and air them out. I can't with the moldiness. 

Hope you like it! I don't know what my next project is going to be...I have a few options. My hugest plan at the moment is to sew a black bonnet for my RuffleCon Masquerade outfit (since I won't be wearing a handmade dress, I need to make at least some part of my outfit!) I'm also thinking of making a black organza overskirt a la Haenuli to go over that dress I'll be wearing...we will see. I work full time so said things aren't easy. 

After RuffleCon it's back to your regularly scheduled programming. I'm going to be doing a lot of sewing and pattern work in the coming months, and I promise you all will be hearing about it!

Wish me luck!

Until next time...

Completion: Classical Floral Bustle Dress - It's For Sale!

And just like that, this lovely piece is completed! It took me a few weeks working on it off and on (I work full time, so I only have time to sew briefly in the evenings after work and sometimes on weekends if I'm not busy)

This dress as I mentioned before is 3 years in the making! I've had the fabric for that long! I designed the dress and let it collect dust for quite some time. I quit thinking and started doing, and this is what I have to celebrate.

Let's get right into the photos, I know that's what you are all here for anyway (or maybe you like my useless blabber? I applaud you.)

Details

This dress features a gorgeous Brown and Pink floral motif fabric from Shabby Fabrics. I highly recommend them for their quality cotton floral prints, many of which are imports from Japan. Since I bought this fabric three years ago, it's no longer available, but they have many comparable ones now in stock.

The bustle ruffles are made with ivory cotton/poly poplin fabric with a soft lace overlay. The front bodice also has the same lace overlay atop the front shirring panel. The dress is a raglan sleeve style that can be worn as a One-Piece dress or with a blouse underneath if desired.

A side view. The bustles are most dramatic at this angle.

And the back, which features center shirring like the front, except including corset lacing with ivory grosgrain ribbon. The waist ties are of course detachable.

Some closeups noting the ruching detail on the front bodice, trimmed with tiny pink satin ribbons. Also the delicacy of the ribbon lacing, the pearlized heart shaped buttons that attach the waist ties, and the off white embroidered tulle lace that peeks from the hemline. There is also ivory Cluny edging lace around the hem of the dress and on each bustle ruffle.

Additional images for your viewing pleasure.

You may also notice the small rosettes floating around on the bustles! I placed and hand-sewed each and every one of them (there are about 14) underneath the lace overlay on each bustle ruffle. I think it gives the most adorable touch. Definitely an idea to revisit on future projects.

And in case you were wondering what it looked like with a blouse underneath, I coordinated it for you!

Again, this dress is for sale! Here is all the info:

Sizing 

This dress was made to fit a US Size 4-8. US 10 is a maybe, but that would be the max.

Bust: 32"~36" Max

Waist: 24"~32" Max

Hip: Free

Length from Waist: 20" (+2" for lace trim)

(Note: This dress sits 1" above the natural waist)

If you would like additional measurements please comment and ask!

Optimally, I would recommend this dress for you lovelies who are not super busty, though the shirring will stretch to fit, I'm unsure of how flattering it may look with this particular design. Just a word of caution! 

I tried the dress on for size comparability and it's a comfortable fit with some ease. I am a US Size 4 (Bust 34", Waist 26") and about 5' 3" tall. I would suggest anyone up to the height of 5' 9" could wear this dress without the need of additional underskirts (but feel free to add them if you want!)

Pricing

$280 $250 $230 or Best Offer

**PRICE HIGHLY NEGOTIABLE!!** 

Feel free to make an offer! Highest offer gets priority.

I ACCEPT PAYMENT PLANS UNDER THE FOLLOWING TERMS:

3 Payments - First Payment $100 - Second and Third Payment - The remaining funds as desired.

2 Payments - Half and Half

All payments must be made in approx. 3-4 weeks post sale date, but we can discuss terms as you see fit. I am open to negotiation.

Anyone offering to pay in full upfront gets priority for the sale.

I have some sales feedback here if you would like:

http://eglfeedback.livejournal.com/632363.html

http://dixmacabre.livejournal.com/70612.html

(A bit outdated as I've been off comm for quite some time, but feedback nonetheless)

Shipping

I am in New York City. I do sale meets in the general Midtown area on weekdays only.

Shipping within the US - $16 including Tracking and Insurance

International Shipping - approx. $35 with Tracking and Insurance

I'm not responsible for loss in the mail. Please make sure your shipping information is as accurate as possible. I will confirm shipping before sending.

I only accept PAYPAL. No Personal/Gift Payments however. 

I will invoice you with agreed payment terms, feel free to leave your address in the comments or email me at punkneko66[at]gmail.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON LACEMARKET!

http://www.lacemarket.us/pink-x-brown-floral-cotton-bustle-dress/

HAPPILY SOLD!!

Thank you very much for viewing! I have been getting so many sweet comments and feedback on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. I really appreciate every last bit of it! It's what keeps me motivated to create more and more! Links to my Instagram and Tumblr in the blog sidebars if you would like to follow me!

I have another project in the works for myself! Looking to finish it up in the next couple of weeks! Stay tuned!