Been working hard on things not for me, but with Dusty away on a work trip I took some time to finish up a project I'd been working on, and made a hat!


For a while there has been one era of fashion history I kinda hated, to big, too fussy, too much! The Romantic era (1825-1835), it crept up on me like that song you hate first listen, but then love for years to come. I figured making something romantic would be a fun challenge and here's what I came up with!
( Photos under here as usual!... )

The sleeves are huge and the bonnet even bigger, but I kinda like it, in fact I'm a romantic era convert! It's kinda fun and bright for Autumn and Winter, and something just a little bit different.

So  my latest area of off time study brings together 3 loves! When I was a girl I wanted to make jewelry for a living, but lack of access to materials and equipment lead to that being a small part of my life. I also spent my college age years tracking down exciting vintage costume jewelry in Antique shops for thrills. My love of 18th century fashion also lead me to a big want of some "diamonds" fit for a Georgian lady!

So for a few months now I've been researching 18th century jewelry design, and teaching myself some jewelry making techniques to create a set of 18th century jewels fit for a Duchess!
( A few photos so far... )

I picked up some lovely Swarovski crystal and these neat vintage stones that change color in different lights! Rococo ladies loved their pastels and novelties so I thought that might be fun?

It's a long, long slow slow process apparently (a painful one too). My equipment runs out of steam after a relatively short time which has been a good thing, as it keeps me in the real world taking care of the things I need to take care of. I hope to make a full set, necklace, earrings, bracelet and maybe brooch and  aigrette for the hair? It'll be a long road but hopefully one well worth it!

In the end I hope to have the jewelry I always dreamed of and a skill I can roll back into my labels.

So Who's going to Otakon!!???! This is going to be my first year attending, and I'm pretty excited! I keep seeing people on my friends list posts from there each year, it would be so nice to meet some of you guys if you are going to be there!!!

I made myself a pretty over the top dress to wear there recently, and then got carried away with accessories!!
( What I'll be wearing to the ball... )
If nothing else the dress is big enough I should be easy to spot! I'll be doing the lolita fashion show on Saturday if anyone wants to say "hi" and if you can't make it there and you see a big purple dress shuffling through the crowds come say "Hello" it would be nice to really put a face to all the journals!

See you in Baltimore!

Last year I wasn't able to go back to England, but tomorrow we're leaving for a big 3 week trip to visit my friends and family, along with a stop over in Paris for a few days in the middle! I'm so excited to see my sisters new place, in a new town, as well ( I hear there are also lots of big ships to see!)

The stores are now closed till we get back, we'll be re-opening May 29th, with new items on the heels of the trip for Candy Violet.

The last few weeks I've been putting together a few new clothes and accessories...
( Come see the new wardrobe!... )
Also as an early birthday present Dusty bought me a wonderful new camera! I'm going to take it every where this trip and hopefully be able to keep posting from England and France.

Right now I need to finish prepping for the trip, I'll post again soon!

I got an amazing deal on some 18th century-tastic brocade in the end of year sales, and jumped on it! I was originally going to make a long dress, but when it came it was so heavy that the unfinished dress already weighed over 3lb, so I reworked the whole thing into a caraco style jacket!

( Photos and accessories!! )I'm quite amazed looking at all of this together, I've been working on the project for over a month now, and never really saw how many pieces went into it till just now. I'm excited knowing it can be as all out as possible, but if I take out a few bits here and there I think it can look fairly daily life wearable too.

I learned a lot on this project, new wig making techniques, fly fringe and that I really can't wear a dress heavier than a bag of flour.

Next week is Dusty's works big party! This year and the last 2 it's been at the Ritz, and each time I make an evening dress, this year it's 18th century style! I took my inspiration from  Jean-Honore Fragonard's the Stolen Kiss with a bit of an update a la Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

( Photos Galore!... )
So much work has gone into this outfit, and I'm feeling pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm going to make some long sleeves for it later to go underneath like in the painting later on. Who knows I might be able to wear it for daywear as well maybe!?

I can't wait to wear this next week!

Well it looks like I finished this just in time for the cold weather!!!

A few years ago I bought a lovely light blue lolita coat, but as you can imagine it get's dirty pretty quick, and sometimes you just want something a little darker. With coats being so deeply expensive I decided  to try something I've been wanting to do for years... Designing and making my own coat!
( Photos!... )

As we all know in winter your coat is about all any one sees, so I gave it my all! It's 100% wool and I'm hoping pretty warm. I have to say, after finishing this project I can really see how nice coats, especially nice lolita coats cost so much! I've kept my pattern safe to make a few more basic coats down the line. Something in me really want's a wine and pink one.

I've been sewing a little here, and a there on this hat since I posted, and my feathers arrived at last yesterday, so I'm pleased to show off my new hat!

( More Photos... )I also was able to make a new set of rococo puffs. I love the big lolita hair styles, but never have enough time of hair to do much with my own hair, so I've started re-making lots of hair pieces to match mu new color, the first was these big curly pigtails! I love HUGE hair and lolita, it's just like the rococo, hair started small, then got bigger and bigger. I just hope it doesn't end with us all losing our heads
( Rococo Puffs!... )
.It seems my hair is a perfect 613 color, so I was able to just buy some human hair wefts and go to town. My head has never been so well dressed.

I'm going to run and finish getting my orders and house ready for my sister coming to stay with me tomorrow, and my husband has just made some apple butter and crumpets, so I'll catch you all later!

When it comes to lolita fashion, you accept that some things are just plain  ridiculous, but  love them enough to wonder... "could I pull that off?" For a while I've LOVED bonnets, loved them outside of lolita, thought about then in my wardobe because of lolita, but always been scared that they would just look too silly, and end up with that kind of "adult baby" look more than a victorian lady look.

Since I started trying to pick up  basic milliery,  I figured I'd make myself a half bonnet and see how it turned out! I have to say I kind of like it! Not the most practical thing I've ever put on my head, but I think it could be a fun look for fall and winter meet ups maybe?

( Follow me for photos!... )
I finished this last weekend, but only got chance to take some photos today.

Further adventures in trying to come up with a lolita dress suitable for wearing in a Virginia Summer

I started this a while ago, then kind of dropped it as I became convinced it was going to look stupid no matter what I did. Then with a rash of Jane Austin movies on TV over the last few weeks I decided to sit down and just finish this bad boy.

i was working with a regency period construction and patter for the top, can you see how there's no opening!? Back in the day they used to make a dress with flaps that fastened together in front, and a kind of "bib" that pinned over them so it looked like there was no opening! It's a fun construction, and you can make it bigger and smaller to keep a nice fit!

This dress didn't come out great, I was kind of sloppy with it since I was convinced it would look dumb in the end. Still with Summer almost over, I think I came up with a comfortable Summer Lolita dress.