Tigger Wa-Lolita = Finished!

As promised, my Tigger commission has been fully completed! Luckily, today was also semi-sunny which is terrific news for shooting indoors without lights, as I do. Now, onto the photos!

^^Ahhh - the finished piece in all it's lovely glory! ♡ (There's also legwarmers that go with this, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to show them with the outfit, so I've photographed them with the other accessories at the end.)

^^Ooh, the tail! I stuffed it so it's all plushy and squishy :3 The bow is also removable, of course.

^^Skirt definitely has some major poof-potential.

^^A closer view of the seams and hem of the skirt ruffles.

^^There's nothing like a nice stiff collar ^_^

^^All the accessories! It's sorta hard to tell what's going on here because of all the stripes.. but there's the legwarmers: they're lined in fleece for support and to keep a nice shape, and they're elasticized at the top; the tail: it's attached to a piece of elastic, so it's basically a belt, and can be worn under or over skirts; headband: includes Tigger ears, which I've stuffed a bit to keep their shape and for the sake of cuteness. They're attached to both the headband and the bows to keep everything together.

Aaaand that's it! I've got quite a few projects I'm working on (y'know, like that other Wa-Lolita commission :3), so I'll be posting again real soon!

♡

Miss Chubi

Finishing Up Tigger!

Yup, the title pretty much says it all. Today and yesterday I've been working on nothing but this in order to get it shipped out in time! The more of it I complete, the more happy I am with how it's turning out! ♡ 

^^ The kimono top is now complete! Since my last post, I've sewn the ruffles onto the sleeves, and finished those off with ribbon, as well as finishing the bottom with some bias tape. I also tried something a bit different with the closure - I decided to sew in a sort of belt mechanism, to tie it shut instead of using velcro as I have in the past. The belt is suuuper long, so it can be wrapped around the waist about two times, and really hold everything in place.

^^ Waist cincher progress! Since I put cording into the collar, I decided to put some in the princess seams on the front of this to tie it together more. I also think it looks more "cartoony", like Tigger does! (By the way, I'm getting mega confident in my shirring skills! :D)

^^An up close view of the cincher finished - and it's finished with the same bias tape as used in the bottom of the kimono top.

^^Giant bow!

^^The top with the cincher..

^^FINALLY, getting to finish the ruffle-y underskirt! One tier..

^^Two tier..

^^Three tier - done!

^^Finally, all the skirts gathered together! It's much fuller than I thought it'd be ♡

^^And everything together! (There's not a petticoat under there, so the skirt's definitely not as full as it could potentially be!)

This is where I stand on progress thus far. I've started on the legwarmers, and will be finishing those next, along with the tail and headband! I'm planning on taking nice pictures tomorrow (hopefully it doesn't rain, for once >___<). So the next time you'll be seeing this will be in all of it's completed glory, all pieces intact! 

♡

Miss Chubi

Tigger-Inspired Wa-Lolita Commission Progress

When I first read the email I got for this commission, I had to do so twice. She wants a what-inspired Wa-Lolita outfit?! O: I was a little nervous at first, and wasn't sure I'd be able to take on something this different. But as I sat there, the brainstorming started kicking in to full drive - I just couldn't help it! These are the types of commissions I love - the ones where the client says: Just do your thing! I trust that you'll make something awesome, I just want it to be Wa-Lolita and Tigger-iffic! There's nothing quite like total creative freedom that can be both extremely terrifying and liberating at the same time. And soon enough I'd imagined the perfect outfit:

^^Yes, it's totally costume-y, convention-worthy, and lots of fun! There's a lot of things I get to do in this including: legwarmers! (this was my favorite accessory later in high school and college, so getting to do legwarmers again is quite a treat), a tail! (which will be stuffed to hold the Tigger-shape, and probably sewn to an elastic band so it can be more of a belt, and worn over or under whichever skirt layer is most preferable), and tigger ears! (I'll be honest - I haven't ever actually done animal ears on a headband before.. but I'm absolutely positive I can pull it off :3). 

OH. And.. since Tigger's stripes are so.. Tigger, I'm going to have to sew on each individual stripe. You would think finding fabric that's orange with black tiger stripes wouldn't be hard - but apparently it is! If only Tigger were light pink or baby blue and white-striped, I wouldn't have to do this extra step. But I'm all for authenticity and attention to detail, and I'd like this outfit to look as close to the source material as I can... even if it means hours of extra work.

^^Lots o' fabric! I've got about 18 yards here in total.

^^ Overskirt, cut out and ready for some magic.

^^Hem ruffle - it's just been stitched on here..

^^Oh, and what a difference serging and top-stitching makes!

^^Tigger stripes cut out and pinned to the overskirt. Let the fun satin stitching begin..!

^^.. about an hour later, the stripes are finished! 

^^Cutting out lots of rectangles, sewing them together, and them hemming them all doesn't make for the best photographic material, so I chose to not photograph them. Instead, you can see the layers of the underskirt, all hemmed and ready to be ruffled, along with the finished overskirt. Yes, I've still got to get the waistband and zipper sewn in.. but I've got to wait on my ribbon to come in first, that way I can finish the seams for the ruffle-y underskirt. I can't wait to see these underskirts properly ruffled and gathered into their waistband! ♡

These are all the photos I've got for now - I've also got the kimono top cut out and ready to be striped, which I'll be getting to here shortly! 

I've also got an update! So, remember how I went to Matsuricon nearly a month ago, and promised to upload pictures of the dress I made?! Well, I finally have - and I'm sporting my new wig! Check it out HERE.

♡

Miss Chubi

Some Wa-Lolita Outfit Progress (Yes, Another One! :3)

Apparently, Wa-Lolita is a lot more popular than I originally thought, when I took my first order for one several months ago. I'm now working on my third and fourth outfit commissions for this style, and I've got to be honest - this style's really growing on me! After making this many, maybe I'll make an outfit for myself one day ^_~

This is one of the two Wa-Lolita pieces I'm working on. I posted the sketch a few weeks ago, and stated that I'd be working on it a little bit at a time over a few weeks. Well, it's been about four already, and it's got to be finished and ready to ship in two!

^^The original sketch. As usual, the color scheme and fabric were all picked out/approved by the client. I'm really loving the black & cream floral print, and it's even more lovely in person.

^^The fabrics! This teal color is photographing soo weird, but that's probably due to the fact that I've been using terrible artificial lighting vs the natural light I usually photograph my work in.

^^Some of the pieces cut and laid out. Cutting out pattern pieces takes a really long time - especially when doing so for Wa-Lolita. I usually spend the entire first night I work on a project just on cutting out all the pieces. (I'm also terribly paranoid about making sure all the measurements are in check - and because of this, I've caught so many mistakes and prevented a lot of wasted fabric!)

^^ The collar! Ruffled and pinned and ready to sew!

^^The finished result :3

^^Preparing to sew the ruffle onto the overskirt...

^^Aaaand it's sewn!

^^Now it's complete with a finished waistband.

I've also got the underskirt all cut out, and each of the four tiers hemmed and ready to ruffle. I'm just waiting on my ribbon to get here, so I can get that part finished.

That's about all for now... I'm planning on spending the majority of my weekend working on this second Wa-Lolita coord, as it needs to be finished a lot sooner than this one! I'm going to try my hardest to have it ready by Tuesday-ish... but we'll see. I'll be posting all about that outfit either later today or tomorrow, as I hardly have any progress atm. Since I have yet to post the sketch or even talk about it at all, I'll just say - this is definitely the most costume-y and playful outfit I've made. I'm quite excited to be working on it, as it so different than anything I've done before!

♡

Miss Chubi

Kitty Hoodie x2

So it seems this hoodie is probably my most popular item in my shop. I've sold quite a bit of them, each one being different. I received this commission quite a big ago, but I've been unable to work on it until now because of super slow shipping, which has put me super behind in my work. I don't like making my clients wait, and I try to get things done as quickly as humanly possible - and I definitely set a record last night! I started and finished these two kitty hoodies in a little over six hours! :D It definitely helped that I was working on them simultaneously, and since they were made of the same fabric, I didn't have to worry about switching thread colors, which definitely sped things up. No progress photos this time - just the finished products!

^ The finished garments - I love having two mannequins! This is the first time I've put color in the ears, and it's looking a lot better than I thought it might. I ended up using fleece since it doesn't fray, I figured it was the best choice. (Also, sorry about the lighting.. it's been raining/overcast like all week ;__;)

^Definitely a new spin on this hoodie! I've never done a vest version of this, and I think it turned out totally cute!

^ Pom-poms! That was a fun thing I got to figure out how to do - but now I know, and I think I'll be incorporating these into future designs more.

^This hodie has a more "normal" waistband and cuff size. This style would definitely fit over petticoats better ^_^

These hoodies will be going over to Australia! I'm pretty sure they're for my client and her friend, and I'm positive they'll look absolutely cute in them! ♡

Anyways, that's it for now - I've gotta get to work on a big outfit commission including a skirt, two blouses, and a petticoat! :D I'm aiming to have them finished by the end of this week - hopefully on Friday I'll have pics, but we'll see.

♡

Miss Chubi