Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Resolutions

It seems like I say this every year, but I really cannot believe another year has passed by. It really is true that the older you get the quicker time goes.
I'll jump right into it - here's my 2012 New Year's Resolutions!
  • First and right on top of this list is to gain my independence. I've expressed my desire to step away from Etsy on my fb page, and I really want to go through with that, and sell at my own free standing URL. And I've sorta already got a start on this resolution... ^_~
  • Sell my wares at a show. I was pretty certain I'd get to do this at the upcoming anime convention, Ohayocon, but I was wrong. After I got denied entry, and my heart crushed, I now have the vigor to apply to other shows! I've got a few conventions in mind, and I just hope I'll be good enough now to get in *crosses fingers*
  • Start vlogging! I teased this idea earlier in the year when I did that video of me trying on my first wig :p I really enjoyed doing that, and I'd like to possibly start a YouTube channel. I don't think I'll be doing tutorials or anything like that, because that's a lot of work, and I don't have a ton of time to devote to this. It'll probably mostly be vlogging about what I'm working on, showing you all my fabrics and studio space, etc. Now that I've got a new computer and camera for Christmas, this is looking more and more doable.
  • Get embroidered labels! This is a really easy one, and something that's been in my mind for months and months, but I always seem to put it off. Currently I'm using the fabric paper ones I print myself, but embroidered ones would be worlds better.
  • Have a photo shoot! Since I got a new camera for Christmas (thank you, bf! :D) this is looking more and more like a possibility. I'd really love to show my clothes in a light other than whatever daylight happens to creep into the corner of my bedroom. But I'm not a professional photographer, and I have no idea where I'd even do this. Oh yeah, and I don't have any models.... =___=; 
These are all things that I should be able to accomplish in the upcoming year. I do have a few long term goals which may or may not happen this year, but I've always got them in the back of my mind: 
  • Design and print my own fabric. Yes! Okay, so the thing is - I already know how to do this. I did this in school! I designed and printed my own fabric and t shirts and everything. But it's just... well... I don't have a dark room, or an exposure machine. I'm pretty sure if I had these two things, I could get right to work! I know there's a few options of printing fabric easily at home which include things like the Yudu machine. But that's not a very good solution for printing yards and yards of fabric. I also know of Spoonflower and Fabric On Demand, which I'll probably end up going with the former. But there's something that's so gratifying when you do all the work yourself.
  • Upgrade my machine to a tank. Believe it or not, this is the machine I learned to sew on, and it's what I'm most comfortable with. I thought this might happen this year for Christmas, but it didn't. I'm currently working on saving up for one, so hopefully I can acquire it in the upcoming year. 
  • Participate in a fashion show. I've never had the opportunity to do this, and right now it seems like an unreachable goal/dream. I'm pretty certain the only ones I'd be able to participate in are ones at conventions, since Lolita is so niche. I'd love to have the opportunity to showcase my clothing/designs at a show ♡
Well, I suppose that's it. Reading back over it makes it feel like a lot, but spread over a year, I'm pretty certain I can attain at least most of them.
Thanks to all of you who've supported me throughout this year, and into the next one! Happy New Year to all of you~


MissChubi

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

This Month's Rose Printed Dress Commission

Here we are, another lovely rose-printed dress! This is a dress I got commissioned for nearly a month ago. But due to my pile of orders on top of ordering in fabric, and my own latency on ordering in lace, I wasn't able to really fully dive into working on this dress until... Monday. Yes, two days ago. 

^Have a look at this delicious print! It's a bit washed out in the photos below, so take it in while you can.

^Please excuse the quality of photos - it'd been raining/overcast all day (of course -__-), so this was the best I could do. Looking at these photos now it seems like I meant to set it up this way as the lighting is so dramatic! 
Anyways - this dress is just so dolly. It honestly makes my mouth water to look at it. I don't meant to get all self righteous or whatever, but sometimes when I look at my work, it's hard to believe that I actually created it with my own two hands. The only thing I wish was different was the poofyness   (isn't it always?). As always it's definitely got the potential for it! The dress is just a bit longer than my petticoat would like.



^It's official. I've fallen in love with the flat peter pan collar. Before in my designs, I've always used a standing peter pan, but after creating this, I'm totally sold on the flat! I love how innocent and instantly-dolly it looks.


^This lace. So delicious. I was quite lucky to find this lace in the exact quantity I needed. I believe it's "vintage", so I'm not sure if it can even be bought anywhere in stores. Not only does the color match perfectly, but I also think the sort of leaf motif thing goes together really well with the rose print.

^In this photo the sleeve looks like an actual doll's sleeve! It looks so tiny, especially with my fingers in there :3 

^Last, but not least - the headband. Of course it's sewn made with my new found professional-looking technique. Yummy!

This OP dress is pretty similar to this one I made nearly two months ago, hence the almost identical blog title. However, the small differences almost make it look like a totally different dress! It's really amazing (to me at least) how each of these dresses are totally different in personality, yet have nearly identical design elements~

MissChubi

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Wha..? December's almost over!

Well that went by really fast! O: It feels like I just blogged about the end of Novemeber a few days ago, not a few weeks ago! Wow. I suppose this is a good thing though, because it means I've been really busy. Let's see what I've been up to for the past three weeks~

^First, I got to make my lovely bloomers in.. pink! Of course this means I also got the pleasure of dyeing the fabric~

^I sold a lot of these blouses during my Black Friday sale! I made two of them in straight white, and a third in white, with a scrumptious mint bow (which of course was hand dyed by me). Stay tuned for more mint clothing in the future! (I've already got a handful of mint commissions on the books~)

^If you've been reading my blog long, you may remember this skirt from the petticoat comparison I made waaaaay back. Ironically, this skirt is not very poofy here, as this was made in plus size, which my petticoat is not T__T. This skirt does have a lot of poof potential, it's just not being used to it's - fullest here. I did, however, get a chance to make my lovely long sleeved blouse up in cream - yum! I love the lace and buttons I ended up using for this blouse - detail just below.


^My headbands have also been upgraded! I've figured out how to make them worlds better by covering the headband part with fabric instead of just lazily glueing ribbon to it >_<; I'm so proud of how these look ♡

^This of course is my punk lolita high waisted skirt.. which is not looking very punk anymore! Done up in a lovely pink and yellow plaid, this skirt is now sweet (and kinda reminds me of delicious pink lemonade in person :3). I've also created my charcoal turtleneck cutsew in ivory, to match - detail below. I don't have photos, but you see the small bow on the blouse? At my client's request, I also made one in pink and one in plaid for ultimate outfit coordinating!


^Lovely lovely ruffly blouse lightly inspired by a Baby, the Stars Shine Bright garment. Ruffley ruffles look mega ruffley in this photo - mostly because this particular mannequin is really curvy, and her bust is.. really pointy. So that area of the blouse is a little bit exaggerated. The sleeves are elasticized, ruffled, and laced, and I've sewn a ribbon in the front to tie into a lovely bow. Of course, the pink was dyed by none other than myself~ See this blouse with the plaid skirt just below.


I suppose this just about sums it up! These past few weeks have just been insane! I'd been sewing 10-12 hours a day, getting 4-5 hours of sleep at night and feeling like a total robot. BUT I've loved every bit of it! I wish I was busy like this all the time. Yes, I was completely stressed out and exhausted, but getting to do what I love is so completely and totally worth it. ♡

So the lesson I've learned in this chaos is... to have more sales? That Black Friday one was the first and only sale I've done, and as I've mentioned before - it was an overwhelming success! Since Christmas and the New Year are coming up, maybe I should do something for that? Hm...

^In all this chaos and confusion, I somehow managed to add new items to my shop as well - ear warmers! I got the idea to make a lovely pair of Lolita ear warmers when I visited the mall nearly two months ago with a friend/fellow client ^_^ I picked up a pair of ugly ones at FXXI and wore them about the store. I would've bought them if they weren't so... ugly, lol. It's also my personal dogma/philosophy/way of thinking that if I can make something, then I should do so instead of buying it. I don't really like to support slave labor/harsh working conditions in garment factories overseas, etc. (let's save this conversation for another day, shall we? Gee, all this talk just over a pair of ear muffs!?) Anyways. I've had the idea to make ear warmers since then, and I just had to clear away some time to play around and figure out the design last week. The idea was just eating away at my brain and I had to produce it. In addition to the pink, I've also made them in black and white.

^Ugh, black on black on black on black on black. Yeah, I know it's hard to see, but this is currently the only wig I have!


*Whew* Okay, that's the last of everything, for real this time! I actually did just finish a super lovely dress commission, buuuut I'll save that post for tomorrow ^_~

MissChubi