Finished Parsol

Last night I got to work on my parsol project.. and before I knew it, it was finished!

^I finished off the bottom ruffles with black satin ribbon, and at each seam around the parasol, I placed bows. The bows actually took the most time to make out of this entire process, but I can't live without them. ^_^

^Pinned the bottom for hemming...

^..and then sewed!

^Now I don't normally use rachel lace (because it's thin and cheap-looking), but since parasols are exposed to weather, etc. I think it's okay. Anyways, I pinned it around the hem...

^.. and stitched it on!

^And it's finished! Well.. the cover is, at least. After this I got to hand sew it onto the umbrella hardware. Oh, and I made a little topper for it too, adorned with lace. You'll see in the pictures below.

^Lovely topper! <3

I'm really, really happy with how it turned out! :D Parasols aren't as scary as they may seem, and I'm definitely looking forward to making more in the future. If you remember, I did buy two umbrellas at the thrift store, so I may be putting that other one to use! I definitely plan on putting this parasol to use - I hate hot weather, so this'll be just perfect for keeping out the sun.

Also, the outfit I'm wearing in the shots is available in my store, and yes - I did make those gloves I'm wearing too :3

<3

Miss Chubi

Finished Commission and Major Parsol Progress

There's nothing quite like finishing a large commission, and the feeling you get immediately afterwards. This Wa-Lolita outfit commission is the biggest garment I've sewn so far. Not just in terms of fabric - which, it did take a lot - but in scope as well. Upon finishing this I really realized that I'm going in the right direction with my dreams, and my life. I also really enjoy sewing/designing Wa Lolita co-ords, and I'm really excited to get started on the other Wa Lolita commission I have lined up. That'll be in a while though. Enough of my rambling now, and onto the photos! The outfit itself is broken down into four pieces (five if you count the bow, and six if you count the headband :p), so I had to take a bunch to showcase all of it.

^Remember the original sketch? The finished product is pretty much identical ^_^

^The finished piece, in all it's glory! ^___^ I really wish I had made a longer petticoat to really show off how full the black underskirt is. The hem is about 132", which is quite a lot, considering most Lolita dresses/skirts only have a 90" hem. 

^Great back view! The bow was a lot of fun to put together -__- Haha. I ended up using two pieces to get the fullness of the bow, rather than one. 

^Check out those sleeves! They're a full yard long, and quite epic. I ended up having to put some black on the edge to make up for the lack of wideness in my fabric. I also added an additional ruffle to the cuff ^_^

^The obi is not a real obi, but velcro-ed! I also used super heavy ultra awesome interfacing, that way the obi will never wrinkled or get crunched or whatever - it'll always maintain it's shape. 

^Sans obi. 

^Back view of the over skirt. Finished nicely with an invisible zipper and single button.

^Sans overskirt. I know it looks like there's no petticoat underneath, but there totally is! It's just short ;___;

^Back view of the lovely underskirt - again, finished nicely with an invisible zipper and single button.

^Finally, the kimono top itself!

^A bit of velcro to ensure everything stays in place.

^And lastly, the double-bowed headband. 

Whew. Well that was a lot of fun. I definitely learned a lot working on this, and it took me a bit longer than expected, only because.. well I've never worked on something like this and had to do a lot of troubleshooting along the way. This took me a little less than a week, but I think the next time I do something like this, it'll be more like 3-4 days. ^_^

Oh, and as I stated before, my clothing looks a lot better on a person than a stiff mannequin, so hopefully I'll be getting some of those shots from my super lovely client ^_^

In addition to this, I also did a lot of work on my parasol project! After finishing my Wa Lolita commission, I decided to turn around and work on something totally different, to sort of "cleanse my palette". I got a lot done on it, and am super happy with how it's turning out so far. Keep in mind that I was working on this really late at night, so the pictures may not be the best quality.

^Last time I had cut out a panel from the ugly umbrella in order to make my pattern piece. Well, I did just that by tracing it onto a sheet of paper, adding seam allowance, and then tracing it and cutting it out of my lovely black waterproof nylon fabric.

^And then I stitched them all together! This totally reminded me of those rainbow parachutes we used to play with in gym class in like first grade :p

^My top ruffle! Cut out, gathered, and pinned on. (I also went back and top stitched each of the seams to give it a more finished look.)

^A closer view.

^Ruffle number two! Cut out, gathered, and pinned. If you notice, I added a black satin ribbon to finish off that top ruffle.

I actually have a bit more than this finished now. I stitched on that ruffle, finished it off with a thicker black satin ribbon, and now I'm in the process of making ten bows to go on each of the seams ^_^ It's looking uber lovely so far, and I've really loved making this parasol cover! I know I'll end up doing more, because they're actually a lot simpler than you may think, and a lovely parasol is hard to come by that's not located in Japan. So, perhaps these'll be in my shop in the future ^___^

Okay. Enough updating for now - I've got to get back to sewing! I've got another outfit commission I'm working on, not to mention this parasol that needs finished, and a plethora of other things I'm working on.

<3

Miss Chubi

Plushy Week! Last Day

Although a week technically has seven days, I've only got four plushies to reveal at this particular moment in time. But first I've got to get down to business and talk about what I've been working on the past few days. I've basically just been focusing on this Wa-Lolita co-ord.

^Definitely doesn't look like scrubs anymore! The top is pretty much finished, and the handkerchief overskirt just needs hemmed. ^_^

^Check out those sleeves of epic! They measure a full yard long, and they're absolutely lovely. The black on the edge of the sleeve is something we added at the last minute to get the full length. I think the black looks really great and I'm glad we decided to add it. I also added in another row of ruffles on wrist side of the sleeve :3

I just realized I don't have a petticoat on my mannequin, so this is definitely not the finished look. I still need to finish up the black underskirt - I've got it all cut out and everything, I'm just working on finishing up the waistband. And I've got to finish the obi and giant bow for the back. I'm aiming to have this finished today, so perhaps I'll have pictures of the finished loveliness tomorrow? I'm not promising anything though, because I've got another order for a giant backpack I've also been working on in addition to this that needs to ship out at the end of this week n__n;;

I suppose this it the time where I reveal the last and final Plushie Face of this week. You've definitely seen her before, but here goes..

...Zombie Face! It's really hard to stop from cuddling her because she's so soft and cuddle-worthy, just remember - she might just bite your face off! D:

Zombie Face was the first plushie I made - ever. I made her at the beginning of this year after a really motivational talk with my aunt who basically told me I can do anything I set my mind to ^_^ She cuddles with me every night when I go to sleep and I just love her <3 

Well that concludes my Plushy Week. You can find Zombie Face in my shop now! To anyone who's bothered to keep up with me all week - thank you! Now, I've really got to get back to non-stop sewing.

<3

Miss Chubi

Plushy Week! Day 3

So this blogging-every-day thing.. I kinda like it. It's helping me stay on task and ensure I get a lot of stuff accomplished in one day. Having said that, I don't have any progress photos to share today. I did get a lot of things done yesterday, I just failed to take pictures, and would rather surprise you all tomorrow with the greatness of this Wa-Lolita co-ord.

So I'll get straight to the point and introduce today's plushie....

...Kitty Face! You probably haven't seen much of her in recent photos.. you see black is pretty difficult to photograph in my low-light situation. To get these, I had to work extra hard and take twice as many photos as I did for my other Plushie Faces. That being said, you can find lovely Kitty Face in my shop now! She enjoys staying in the dark and listening to gloomy music while she sleeps the day away in her favorite Goth or Kuro Lolita's dungeon of a bedroom.

Thanks to all of you who've kept up with me thus far ^_^ Tomorrow I promise to post incredible progress pics, as well as reveal my last Plushie Face.

<3

Miss Chubi

Plushy Week! Day 2 (and project progress)

Well it's Tuesday, and that means it's time to reveal today's plushy! Which I will - at the end of the post.

Yesterday I got to work on my Wa-Lolita commission. I started by washing the fabric of course, and then ironing it and getting it ready to be cut:

^Six yards is a lot of fabric to iron :3

I got to work on the bodice first:

^Pieces cut and hanging there on the form.

^Pieces sewn and hanging there on the form ^_^ 

I've still got to get the collar put together and sewn on, and I have all the other pieces cut out in a pile sitting on my ironing board. I'm really liking how it's turning out so far and can't wait to get more work done on it. I feel like it took me a while getting everything cut out. I'm so paranoid when it comes to making sure all the measurements are right, etc. before cutting into the fabric - I've had more than one screw up in my lifetime where measurements were slightly off and then I have to get more fabric.

I know it's looking a little bland, and a bit like scrubs, but I know it's going to be just beautiful when it's finished.

Since my brain was turned to mush after working on that kimono most of the night, I turned to my parasol project. I was really excited to just rip it apart and get started. Even though I still don't have my fabric yet /: I know I'm going to just use plain black nylon, with lots and lots of ruffles, lace and beading, it's just a matter of getting to the store and getting it all. 

So I had a lot of fun cutting off the fabric from the umbrella hardware: 

And then carefully cutting a piece along the seam in order to get my pattern piece:

Making a parasol cover is going to be a lot easier than it seems. Now that I have that one pattern piece, I need to cut out 10 and sew them all together. Once it's all assembled, I just need to hand-sew it to the umbrella hardware, and that's it. I probably won't have anymore progress to post on this until I get to the store and get my fabric, etc.

Now onto the fun stuff! Today's plushy is....

...Bear Face! She's incredibly soft and cuddly! She enjoys the classics and would make a great companion for the classic lolita, or anyone who enjoys the company of a cute and cuddly bear.

Bear Face can now be found in my shop! Be sure and check back tomorrow for Wednesday's plushie and more project progress :3

<3

Miss Chubi

Plushy Week! Day 1 (and a whole lot of other stuff)

Remember when I posted those plushies a while ago? (And they're in a few of my recent pictures I've posted too.) Well I haven't actually put them in my shop or said anything more about them until now... I declare this week to be Plushy Week! Each day this week I'm going to be officially announcing a plushie, which means posting pictures and making it available for purchase. This week is also a really busy week for me, so I'm going to post about a few other things I'm working on before talking about today's plushie face.

First things first - Monday Preview! I'm super excited to get started on this huge project this week - which I really hope, and am aiming to be finished by Friday. You're also going to be getting a glimpse at my sketches for the first time! Please be nice.
Anyways, it's a commission for a super lovely Wa-Lolita co-ord for MatsuriCon in August. ^___^ It's definitely the biggest co-ord/piece/garment/project I've worked on, but I'm totally confident in my skills, and I know this garment is going to be freaking awesome. Have a look at my preliminary sketches:

As you can see, it's going to be very big, very full, and very lovely. ^__^

I got the fabric in today, which was a lot quicker than I expected! But I'm not complaining, this is a good thing. Have a look at the lovely fabric below, it looks much better than the swatches I pulled from their website in my sketches above:

I'm really excited to get to start working on this!! I've known what Wa-Lolita is and what it looks like, but after doing extensive research, I have a new appreciation for the style and think it's absolutely beautiful. Stay tuned, as I will be documenting my progress throughout this week ^_^

Onto something a little less beautiful, and more DIY.

So I mentioned MatsuriCon above, and it appears I will be attending! Yes, I still need to get to work on a co-ord for not only myself, but my boyfriend as well who will be attending in Kadona style, but I want a parasol. I spent a lot of the weekend searching and searching online for something that I'd fall in love with. Which I did. Hard. For this piece of lovely from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright: 

I'm totally in love with not just the general loveliness of this, but the silhouette as well. I love the top and the point on the end. Ahh. Like most people, I should've just bought it. But I'm not like most people. Where most people in most situations buy, I elect to make. 

So I found this tutorial last night on how to recover an umbrella, searched my apartment and car thoroughly for any umbrella, and had no such luck. This afternoon I took a trip to the thrift store, and came out with two possible options:

Yes, they're both hideous. Right now they are. But there will be at least one beautiful piece that arises from this ugliness to accompany me to MatsuriCon this August. Right now I'm torn between the two because they both have different things I like about them. I really want to go with the blue one..

..because of it's shape, and the lovely point on the top. But that point scares me, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to take that part off in order to recover it. So that's why I got the brown one..

..as a backup, because it too has a nice shape, and although there is no pointiness at the top, I know I'd be able to take it apart in orde to recover it. So we'll see. Wish me luck, as I will be working on this along with the commission above, and the two outfits I'll be needing for myself and my boyfriend by August.

Onto the plushy! If you've read this far, thank you! Your patience is finally paying off ^__^ Today's plushy is...

..Bunny Face! She's totally adorable, and a great companion for you if you're a magical girl, or simply a sweet lolita ^_^ She's super soft and cuddly, and will fit great in your arms <3

Bunny Face can now be found in my shop! Be sure and check back tomorrow for Tuesday's plushie, and more project progress ^_^

<3

Miss Chubi