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Ohayocon and My First Artist Alley~

I finally did it. My first artist alley! The weekend was a blast: I had a lot of fun, sold a lot of things (I was a lot more successful than I thought I'd be), learned a lot about what does and doesn't sell, and noq I'm super excited for future artist alleys. The weekend was a blur and I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm going to attempt a quick weekend recap.

 ✦Day One ✦

The week before Ohayocon, I was a nervous wreck, and the day before I had just about talked myself into not even showing up. Honestly I was that nervous, and I'd convinced myself that I'd be nothing but a failure. I don't consider myself a pessimist, but I'd rather think the worst in situations so I don't get crushed by high expectations. And since I'd only sold my things at a few other things - once at Frill, and I didn't have a booth, everything was together in a boutique set up, and I sold a whopping 2 items; the second time being at Anime Weekend Atlanta, where Frill set up another mock boutique and I sold... nothing. So can you blame me for having super low expectations?

On Friday, the Artist Alley didn't open until one, and we had four hours before then to set up. We got there at 12. Not intentionally! It should've been more like 11, but we had to stop at Staples to pick up my print catalogue thing for my booth, and they were moving in total slow motion =__=. It ended up taking us until a little after 1 to get totally set up, since there were only my bf and I, and I had to sit and watch the booth while he went back and forth to the car to get everything. Lesson learned! We won't be doing anything like this next time.

Day one's booth set up and me :3 Next time's booth will be better, promise!

My friend, Lindsey (wearing the Loli-Moxxi costume I made for her, which I haven't had time to blog or even post about yet) and I.

Paradise Rose was there! Sadly our booths were on the complete opposite sides of the room, so we didn't get to talk much. But she's super nice and I'm super happy I got to meet her :3 Aaand I believe she was the only other Loli-booth there...

Sarah! At last, a photo is taken of both her wearing the Wa-Lolita coord I made for her years ago, and I.

The Artist Alley closed at 8p on Friday, and we proceeded to get food afterwards. I was super exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed when I got home, as we had to be back the next morning at 9a to set up.

✦ Day Two ✦

So this weekend, we were blessed with sharing the hotel with America's Got Talent auditions =__=. Naturally, parking was a blast. But we managed to find a spot, and got there in time to get the booth set up, and then I was off at 10a to attend the Lolita Crush. I hadn't attended the Lolita Crush in the past, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was pretty much a tea party, and we were served by a super cute maid staff, they did cute dances, Pretty Princess (I think it's called?) board game was played, we had arts and crafts, and had a little fashion show. I was nervous leaving my bf in charge of the booth for so long - the crush was 2 hours - but upon arriving back at my booth, I found out he'd actually sold more with me not there, haha. And he was totally comfortable manning the booth, so that was my chance to walk around the dealer's room and see the rest of the Alley. I suck at spending money on myself, so I only purchased a few things on Saturday.

El booth. This was taken at the end of the day, as my signage is askew, and I'm looking super tired.

Quite literally, only a few things were purchased. A cutey bat necklace, and starry 2-way clip from Paradise Rose.

Oh yea. The con's theme was Zombies, so this is what we did during arts & crafts time at the Crush: 

Yep.

A few Lolis from my local comm stopped by: 

I also suck at getting photos of my bf and I (don't have any from Friday ;A;), so here we are. I don't know why his face is smirking, but this was our best photo - in all the others we were blinking or looking super pissed/tired, lol.

Saturday was the longest day, as the Alley was open from 10a-7p. We got out of there pretty quickly, and were sleeping a few hours later. Call me a killjoy, but most days I spend alone with my sewing machine, no human contact, and next to no physical activity. So this weekend left me completely drained. Saturday was also the day I ran out of business cards... >_>

 ✦ Day Three ✦

Sunday! The last day has finally arrived. I made a few makeshift business cards on computer paper... but sadly my printer ran out of ink after I'd only printed 2 pages worth, which translates to a meager 16. Haha. Those lasted all of 30 minutes. I resorted to using my little hangtags that I attach to clothing that gets shipped out. Although they're quite tiny, they have my url on it, so they had to do. 

The day began with everyone getting there... super early? There was a bit of confusion as there no set-up time listed for Sunday, so all the artists just came at 9a, since the Alley opened at 10a, and that's how it was for Saturday. We got there at around 9:20, and had to wait a while before they unlocked the doors for us. So we took pictures to pass our boredom.

The cliche Lolita-shoe-shot! I have no photos like this, so it had to be done. It was also the first time wearing these shoes in public, so I was quite excited.

Once again, I got no good coord-photos of my bf and I on Sunday, and this is all I have of him, lol.

Also my first time wearing this wig :3 Ooh, and my new 2-way clip!
So here's the thing. Pretty much all my loli-clothes are samples, made to fit a model. They're generally not the best in terms of quality, and they typically don't fit me very well. For example, this skirt has a pretty bad quality print. It was a test run, and didn't come out as expected. It's also pretty short, so I had to pull it down a lot in order to be comfortable, and y'know, not have my petticoat totally showing. This blouse is also a bit big, and the elastic on the wrist is big enough to be comfortable around my elbow. I'm not trying to diss my own clothing, I'm just saying. Most of the time, the clothing I wear wasn't specifically made for me.

Sunday was pretty low-key, as most everyone (as in the con-attendees/regular people) were up late the night before. So the alley was pretty quiet until closer to noon. Despite being not as busy, the day still went by pretty quickly. My bf and I took turns shopping around, as the Dealer's room either closed at the same time or earlier than the Alley all weekend. I ended up purchasing some plushies :3
Once the Alley closed at 4p, we were packed up and out of there before 4:30. We went straight home, and I promptly fell asleep on the couch for 2 hours. Yes, still completely wigged and fully loli-d out. I hadn't meant to, it just sort of happened, lol.

Overall, I had a pretty terrific weekend. I sold a lot more than I dreamed I would. Since I hadn't had any soaring experiences selling my things in person rather than online, my only goal was to at least make back my table fees. Which I did the first day, a few hours in. I absolutely loved this experience, and hearing people talk about my work/compliment me in person is such good positive reinforcement. (Seriously, one girl thought my dress was... brand. *O*) Sometimes I get so stuck in my bubble that it's hard to tell if what I'm doing is any good, or total crap. I hope to do many more Artist Alleys in the future, especially since my bf and I have a dependable, working car now~

♡MissChubi

The Super Late/Huge Christmas Blog Post~

So yea, it is the new year already, but I haven't gotten a chance to write about Christmas yet! This year was super busy as my boyfriend and I drove all around and back and forth to 4 different christmases in order to see everyone. My parents are divorced, and most of my family lives out of state, so it was a lot of driving and celebrating the holiday on different days.

✦ Baking ✦

Last Christmas I made chocolate chip cookies for everyone, and this year I continued in that tradition. But I wanted to make *Christmase-y* cookies instead of boring chocolate chip, so I decided to use my new cookie press to make fun shapes and then decorate them with delicious icing and sprinkles :3 I used this recipe for the cookies, and left out the almond extract (gross); I attempted to use this one for the icing, but after following the recipe and ending up with just a bowl of powdered sugar, I opted to just throw things together until it looked/tasted right. And apparently, it did. I heard nothing but good things about these cookies :3

I also made cutey cinnamon treats for my mom's dogs, but totally forgot to get a picture =__=

✦ Gifts ✦

I feel really lucky this year, in terms of gifts. I knew for a fact that I was getting a new camera - because 1) my boyfriend sucks at keeping secrets from me, and 2) I'd been hinting so heavily all year long, since the refurbished Fujifilm he got me last year was less than spectacular. But everything else was a complete and total surprise. 

Since um... I was using the camera to take the pictures... here's the box :p Don't get me wrong, I was super thankful/grateful for the Fujifilm I got last year, but it wasn't what I wanted. What I wanted had been sold out, and preferring to surprise me instead of asking me what other models he should look into, he got the Fujifilm. It was okay for a bit, but then I started to notice how grainy/dirty/dingy my photos always looked coming from the Fujifilm. It was really irritating. I haven't used the Nikon very much yet, but the few photos I have taken are leaps and bounds better than anything taken on the old camera.

This was a complete surprise from my dad! I knew he was getting something special, as him and my boyfriend were keeping secrets from me. I never would've guessed it'd be this though. ♥ I could always use another dress form - especially since I'm pretty much back down to one form. The white one I picked up about a year ago was broken when I received it, and it's only gotten more broken since then and I can't really use it for anything except then sad doorstop it's become. Perhaps I'll turn it into a lovely piece of decor one day.

She is so lovely ♥ And a bit bigger than the one I have - which is great!

And the last surprise... a wig?! O__O Yep. My Auntie is super awesome ♥ I don't really get to see her much since we live in different states, and I really had no idea just how supportive of me/Lolita she is! She's really done her research, and having a conversation with her about Lolita and what I make was priceless, since most of my family doesn't really understand what I do. I knew exactly what it was upon opening the box and catching a glimpse of cotton candy-colored fiber, and I about died when I pulled this beauty out. I never expect to get anything Lolita/Loliable as gifts from family, except maybe a pair of tights here or there, but nothing like this. It's my first blended wig, and I really love it. I just wish I looked better in Sweet so I could get more use out of it ;A;

And of course upon taking this wig out of the box, I was met with puzzled looks from the rest of my family, which prompted me to give an impromptu lesson on wigs. Then my grandma took the wig from me and this happened: 

Best Christmas Ever. ♥

✦ Coords ✦

I consider myself a daily Lolita, in that I wear Lolita on a regular basis whenever I go out in public. But seeing that I work from home, I typically go outside my house maybe... twice a week. Which means all the other days I'm make-up-less and sweat-panted. However these past few weeks I dressed up nearly every day, and though it was a bit tiring getting all dolled-up daily/coming up with so many coords, it was a lot of fun. Wearing Lolita makes me feel super pretty (for the first time in my life ever!) so I really enjoyed being dressed up so much between Christmas and New Years.

(Notice how crappy/dingy/dirty this picture looks? Yeah, the lighting is bad,  but this was also taken pre-Christmas, before I got my shiny new camera...)

This is the coord I wore to my first Christmas celebration. My Aunt and Uncle drove in from out of state, and we celebrated with my grandparents a few days prior to the holiday. It was also my first time wearing black lipstick (out in public :P) and I really like how it brought my look together. We also did last minute shopping before meeting up with everyone, so I enjoyed all the weird looks and staring children while in Best Buy :P

Wearing this look really solidified my love of the Gothic style. I feel like 2012 was a year of experimentation for both myself and Elegy, and I really feel like Gothic is my main style, as well as the right direction to focus on with my designs. As much as I adore Sweet & Classic, those styles really don't suit me or my personality, and I definitely feel the prettiest/most comfortable in black.

Blouse | Skirt & Headbow
Hype on Lookbook

(Notice how much better this picture looks? Yes, there's actually light in this one,  but it was also taken with the new camera!)

Actual Christmas Day coord! This is the very first time I've had the opportunity to wear Resplendent Nightmare - I was waiting for something special, and Christmas seemed special enough! I felt super pretty in this coord, like a total Christmas doll. ♥

JSK | Cutsew | Tights | Headbow

Hype on Lookbook

I don't have photos of the other 2 coords I wore for Christmas celebrations, but I did manage to get photos of a few other coords worn throughout the week:

A simple kuro lolita coord, featuring a JSK I made a little over a year ago and never got around to adding to the shop. This was just worn while out doing errands, nothing special.

Cutsew

Hype on Lookbook

Ah, well this is different. I really loved the wig I got from my Aunt, so I attempted a "pastel goth" sort of look. I don't think I look good in pastels or the Sweet style, so I attempted to make it more wearable with black. I'm not a big fan of how pink looks on me, but I think if I were wearing maybe lavender(?) in the place of the pink I'd be looking much happier, lol. The skirt I'm wearing is one of the first ones I made a few years ago while I was still figuring out what did and didn't work for Lolita. It usually resides in my closet alone, as I don't really wear pink. As much I love this wig and pastel wigs in general, I'll probably be saving it for some sort of giveaway in the future, as it doesn't totally work with my style. But it was a fun coord to wear to go see Django, haha.

Hoodie | Blouse

Hype on Lookbook

Okay, okay. I'm done. I promise, that's it! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas/whatever holiday you celebrate~

♡MissChubi

Looking Back at 2012, and onto the New Year~

Well, that was fast! Another year has gone by, and Elegy is still here. If you remember last year, I wrote up a New Year's Goals for 2012, and I'd like to check in and see what I've accomplished:

• Step away from Etsy and have an independent shop. Yep, did this in the beginning of January!
• Sell my garments at a con/event, etc. Yes! Did this at Frill in June.
• Start vlogging. Yep, also started this in January. Granted, I haven't super kept up with it, but I did get it started which is pretty much all I wanted to do.
• Get professional, embroidered labels for my garments. You bet! I did this early this year as well.
• Have a photo shoot! Hell yes! I've had quite a few too.
• Design & print my own fabric. Done not once, but twice! 
• Upgrade my sewing machine. Sadly, no. :( Didn't quite have the funds for it this year.
• Participate in a fashion show. Yeah! Again, thanks to Frill.

I think I did pretty well, accomplishing 7 of my 8 goals. And the one I couldn't accomplish was due to lack of money, not lack of motivation. (It's just really hard to save up money while paying off astronomical student loans ;A;)

In addition to all these goals, I also got published in two online magazines; did a lot of networking with photographers and models; got at least one secret made about me (maybe more, I don't know. I don't read BtB anymore); travelled to Georgia and participated in the first US Lolita convention, Frill; made a wedding dress (of which I still haven't blogged about D:); and got back into screen-printing. Now as happy as I am about all the things I've accomplished, I'm not slowing down. I already have a ton of stuff planned for next year!

Goals & Things for 2013:

• Sell my garments at least 2 cons/events. I know for a fact that I already have 2 things planned/confirmed for next year, so I'm hopeful that my things sell, and sell well! 
• Participate in more fashion shows. Frill was the only show I participated in last year. Part of the reason I don't do a lot of show is... because I don't know about any! I know there're fashion weeks and stuff, but I really don't know anything about the one where I live, and it's incredibly intimidating. 
• Get published into more magazines, etc. Yes I would like some more exposure, please ^_^
• Make-over my shop & logo. This is a big one. I know at this time last year I was working on the re-design for what my webshop is now, but over this year I've done A LOT of soul-searching and really feel that I've nailed what Elegy's style is, and what my brand is all about. I know this may seem like it's taken a long time, but since I was just getting into Lolita at the time I started Elegy... I've been searching to find my own personal style, as well as really settle on Elegy's. I think I've nailed it, and I already have my new branding look pretty much figured out. I just need time to apply it and carry it out. I'm hopeful to have the new website/shop launched by the end of January.
• Get garment care labels. Ugh, this one. I've been so bad about getting this done. I've been super lazy in just writing down garment care and wash instructions - I know it's bad and unprofessional! It's just a huge task to design and get tons of labels printed - the minimums on these are typically pretty big, and since I use different fabrics for a lot of my garments, it adds up to a lot of money and a lot of tag variations. I know they'll end up lasting for years at that rate, but it's just something that keeps getting put off.
• Release 4 prints/collections. This past year I did a lot of experimenting, as I mentioned above. I put out a lot of random designs and didn't really have a lot of organization when it came to collections.  I did a lot of shoots this year, and I think I got tied up with that, along with trying to figure out Elegy's style. This year, I'd like to nail it down to about 4 different prints/collections. Resplendent Nightmare was enormous and took a ton of time and money, and I think I was a bit too ambitious, because I was left broke and completely drained after it was over. Not that it wasn't a success! Because it definitely was. I just think I need to be more organized to help create a more cohesive brand. I've already got 2-3 prints figured out for next year, and I'm super excited to make them a reality.
• Get organized! My studio is seriously a train wreck. Most of my fabric lays in heaps on a heavy-duty shelf thing, and the rest in a massive pile in a box on the floor. I already know exactly what I want to keep everything organized and nice, it's just a matter of investing in it. It's just been hard to find a consistant way to stay organized and feel settled, as I've moved pretty much every year for the past 8 years or so =__=

Hm.. I suppose this is pretty much it. As of now, I've got a head-start on a few of these things, so here's to hoping I can get them all accomplished! What're your goals and resolutions for the new year? 

♡MissChubi

Another Sewing Machine Fiasco~

Once again, on the eve of Christmas I had a sewing machine breakdown.

I don't think I ever posted about it last year, but my Husqvarna Viking machine did suffer sever heart failure and passed. I was in the middle of working on my bf's Christmas present (a velveteen coat, which to this day I don't have a single picture of ;A;). It was 2 days before Christmas, I had a handful of orders to finish on top of Christmas presents. Needless to say, I was panicked. First thing I tried to do was get it fixed. I loaded it into the car the next morning and drove all over town in crazy traffic, where I was told it would need to be sent out and it would take several weeks to get back to me. I neither had the time nor patience for that. Luckily, my savior of a boyfriend stepped in and purchased me a Brother SC6600 to tide me over. Well, temporary turned into permanent, and I am still happily using my Brother today.

Fast forward a year later, and the same thing happens! Not with my sewing machine this time, but with my serger. Yes, I have one of those Brother 1034Ds that everyone and their mother seems to have. And this time it wasn't 2 days before Christmas, but more like a week and a half. I'd had a bit of a scare with my machine nearly a month ago, when the top part of the knife suddenly snapped off mid-stitch. Yep, snapped clean off, while sewing just 2 layers of fabric. I know. But I got that taken care of, and ordered a replacement knife right away. It arrived in a few days, and I replaced it, simple as that. Freak out unnecessary. But a month later, it begins acting up again. (For those interested in the technicals: The upper looper became loose on the inside of the machine, throwing off the timing, which in turn made it not sew. At all. Therefore making it impossible to sew with.) I did spent several hours in tears trying to fix it, but to no avail. I got online, found a Brother service facility thing in my area, and took it straight to them the next morning. I was expecting to deal with catty older women - since that's what happened last year when I was trying to get my Husqy fixed - but boy was I wrong! I had the pleasure of talking with the loveliest woman ever. Long story short, we ended up getting an entire new machine. The cost of the repairs added up to be half of what I paid for it in the first place. And being nearly 3 years old, we decided it really wasn't worth it. I ended up walking out that day with a lovely Janome 7034D! I absolutely love him. ♡ It took a little while to get used to threading him of course, but I absolutely love everything about this machine. It is a bit harder to thread the upper and lower loopers, but I find that I'm not re-threading this machine because of broken threads, tangles, etc. nearly as much as I was the Brother. The best part of purchasing this machine from where I did is the upgrade service. So a year from now, I can trade my entire machine in for a new one at no cost to me.

Eventually, I would like to upgrade both of my machines to JUKI industrial lovelies (both the machine and the serger), as well as venture into embroidery machines, but until that day comes I will keep dreaming of them.

♡MissChubi

The Resplendent Nightmare Shoot~

(I found this in my post archives, and just realized that I forgot to publish it! Late? Yes. But better now than not at all.)

Wow. What a busy month! September flew by in a total flash. I had scheduled the Resplendent Nightmare photo shoot for the 29th, so I spent most of the month ordering and waiting on fabric to get to me, stressing out about not having enough time left to get everything finished, and worrying about what I was going to do about the models who cancelled on me last minute. Well I'm glad to say that October is finally here, which means I've had a few days to myself to finally just relax and chill out.

As mentioned above, the shoot did take place this past weekend, on Saturday. Once again, I teamed up with my photographer friend, Rachel Lauren, who brought along her gorgeous wolfdog, Lucian. I had my super talented make-up artist friend, Jessa do her magic on my model's faces (she doesn't have an online portfolio thing yet, so I can't link you to her work atm ;A;), and she did an amazing job transforming all my models into gorgeous living dolls.

Speaking of models, well.. that was an experience all in itself. Never before have I had so many issues with models skipping out or flaking on me in one shoot. I started getting this shoot together all the way back in July, because I wanted to give people plenty of notice and time to sort out schedules, etc. because I knew this would be a big all day event. Well... one of my models went a little MIA throughout the planning, so I had to replace her with another one who cancelled on me the afternoon before the shoot. And the day of the shoot, one of the models completely failed to show up or give any sort of notice. So, one of my outfits (a skirt/blouse coord in sapphire) was not even in the shoot at all, and I ended up having to model the boystyle coord myself. Luckily I was of similar size to the model who was supposed to wear that so with a bit of alteration, I was able to fit into it just fine. I'm just glad I already have a handful of other shoots already in place to show off other color-ways and variations of my pieces.

Needless to say, all my other models were nothing short of spectacular. I was impressed on Saturday, and after seeing the shots, I'm even more impressed with how they make my work look so lovely ♡

Models, from left to right: Shelbi, Cody (my bf), Kristy, Noah, Allison, and myself~

♡MissChubi

Spontaneous Holiday Giveaway~

Hello all! Long time, no see. I know :( But I'm back with a surprise: it's giveaway time!

First things first: rules.

The giveaway will end on midnight of the 25th (EST), and a winner will be chosen and announced sometime that day.

The winner will be received a bunch of Resplendent Nightmare stuff, including:

✦ Jabot OR Neckbow (winner's choice)

✦ Tights OR 2 pair of knee-highs (winner's choice)

✦ 2 Headbows

✦ Long-sleeved cutsew

The winner will of course get to choose the colors of their prizes, as well as send me their measurements, so all sizes and body types are welcome. I also ship worldwide, so anyone, anywhere can enter!
Speaking of which, you can enter by clicking the "Giveaway" box under my banner on my facebook page (or you can just enter below), as well as sharing the giveaway announcement that's posted on my page.

I was going to wait 'til my next like-goal of 1000, but I couldn't resist not doing something for the holidays :3 (Also, 3 months without a blog entry?! That's inexcusable - I'm so sorry ;A;)

Good luck everyone, and Happy Holidays!
♡MissChubi

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Resplendent Nightmare Pre-Orders!

And so August has ended, which means Resplendent Nightmare is now available for pre-order! Pre-orders will ship free worldwide, and be available for a full month until October 1st. The print and rest of the collection will be released on Halloween (October 31st). All pre-orders will ship before the actual release date, to ensure you get them by this date (depending on amount of pre-orders/interest I may ship them out even earlier so you can have them for that weekend right before Halloween).

♡MissChubi

Resplendent Nightmare: Fabrics & Materials~

And here we are, the last day of this blog series. I've revealed pretty much all my plans for this collection, with one exception: the fabric and materials!

Fabric

A few months ago I posted a poll on my FB page asking what fabric you prefer - I originally really wanted to make this collection center around velveteen, but to my dismay that was not the most popular vote. Cotton was preferred by a long shot, so that's what I've decided to go with. The cotton I'm using for this line (read: for the SK, JSK, & OP) is a cotton so soft I can't even describe it. I've never worked with it before, and in doing research over the past few months I discovered it. It's the softest cotton I've come across, and I know it'll be just beautiful once sewn up.

There's another thing about the dresses in this collection — they'll be lined! I typically don't/haven't lined skirts and things in the past, because it seemed unnecessary or the fabric was thick enough by itself. But in doing more research and looking around at Brand garments and other indie labels, I decided I really like the clean appearance of a lined garment, and I think it'll help the dresses drape, flow, and look better.

At this point in the process I can't say whether the printed garments will be dry clean only or not. Since the ink I'm using is a shimmy gold, I'll have to do some experimenting to see whether the ink will lose it's shimmeries through the wash.

As for the blouses, I'm actually planning on using a new fabric as well. I tend to use a cotton with a sheen finish (because I think it looks super pretty), but for this line (and possibly moving forward), I'd like to try something different. The fabric I'm thinking of using is a wrinkle-free, light-weight poly/cotton blend and I think it may do better through the wash with all the ruffles I have planned.

Cutsews will be made of 100% organic cotton knit, of course!

Outerwear/vests/pants/shorts — I'm still searching around for the perfect fabric for these. I have a few in mind, but I haven't settled just yet.

Materials & Details

Most of the materials/details in the garments will be gold in color, to compliment the print.

Lace I'm planning on using throughout this collection will be like this, except in gold of course.

For some seam details (e.g., the coat), I'll be using a gold piping.

Organza, shown here in Amethyst.

The bottom ruffle in my dress sketches will be made out of organza, in a color matching the fabric. I had originally toyed with doing gold organza or tulle, but tulle is scratchy and irritating against the skin (not to mention tends to look gross overtime), and I couldn't find a gold that actually matched in organza (the colors were either too yellow or too orange), so I settled to match the fabric instead.

Buttons! I'm really excited for the button details in this collection. For the waist ties, I found these cute little critters, so they'll be holding the waist ties in place. They'll of course be in gold, instead of the samples shown here in black. Buttons for blouses/functionality will be gold as well — round shank buttons covered with metallic gold fabric.

Metallic gold pearls.

Gold chain and pearls. In the pants sketches I have some removable chain details. I'll probably include some sort of pearl detail in the dresses as well, even though it's not shown in the sketches.

Gold thread! Ruffles and decorative stitching will be finished with this.
 

As these were my first run, there's some imperfections as in some of these poor things are missing parts of legs D:

Up close they're not as scary as they might seem :P 

And lastly, my most favorite part — spider charms! (Ugh, I just noticed they totally look coppery in these photos, but that's not at all the case — they're metallic-y gold for sure.) Anyways, this part is something I started experimenting with months ago, but kept it a secret until now. I've never done resin casting or anything like that — I tend to not be too crafty (which doesn't entirely make sense, I know), so I've never had the desire to do something like this before. But I wanted something special and tangible to go along with this print. For example, I had the lollipop 2-ways for Lollipop Parade, and there was no way I was making a spider plush 2-way thing, so I opted to take this route. Each spider will be cast in gold (not actual gold of course) and be finished off with a gem in a color matching the fabric. These are the spider charms that will adorn the chains on the pants, and they'll also make an appearance dangling on headbows and hats.

With that, I suppose I'm finished revealing all things Resplendent Nightmare to you. Tomorrow I'll be opening up pre-orders (for printed garments), which will be found HERE. Pre-orders will include free shipping as well as a special gift. The print and the rest of the collection will be available in about 2 months, on Halloween. And of course I'll be updating here and on my FB page until then~ Thanks so much for reading/keeping up with me all week!

♡MissChubi

Resplendent Nightmare: Tights, Cutsews, & Accessories~

Pretty much all of my plans for Resplendent Nightmare are out in the wild now, except for these stragglers...

^^Click for a bigger & more detailed view!

The first thing in my shop that I won't be sewing/putting together... tights! Something I've wanted to do for such a long time. Now that I'm personally doing all the printing, this has at last becoming an achievable possibility! Honestly, there's not really a front or back to this design - I couldn't make up my mind about it, so it's up to you whether you want the spiders on the front or back of your legs. The colors shown here are not totally accurate - the supplier I'm going with carries a slightly lighter red and blue than what's pictured here, but they'll still work out just lovely. These will be available in both regular and plus-size, so no one's left out! In addition to tights, I'll also have nylon knee-highs, which I think will look great with a nicely coordinated kodona/ouji outfit. I don't have a sketch to show you, as they'll look identical to these except y'know, stop at/just below the knee.

^^Click for a bigger & more detailed view!

I suppose this isn't really a "detail" per se, as it is an actual garment - but here you go, the cutsew: screen-printed! I think cutsews are just lovely for casual/daily Lolita wear, so of course I couldn't leave them out. But since they're not quite as elegant as a blouse, I chose to present them today instead of yesterday. I'm not totally set on the colors - I will at least have black and white, but I'm having difficulty finding fabric in the right colors (yes I realize I could dye the fabric as I tend to do - but dyeing such dark colors consistently is a pain, and I don't want to have to deal with that on top of printing). This cutsew will be available in both half and long-sleeved versions - I recently realized I'd never done the latter before so I had to tackle it. And well, long-sleeves are just nice in the fall/early winter. The print design isn't exactly set in stone - it may be tweaked just a bit. Oh, and of course, the neck ties will be detachable. 

I also have a slew of other accessories planned, including spats (in both high & low styles), mini top hats and tricorns, headbows (duh), smallish bonnets, and wrist cuffs. I don't have any sketches of these, as I'm awful at drawing hats and tiny details (and I sorta "design" as I make them), but I'll most definitely have a bunch of these to show off over the next month as I complete samples.

Tune in tomorrow for the last entry of Resplendent Nightmare: Blog Revelations!

♡MissChubi

Resplendent Nightmare: Blouses, Pants, & Outerwear Designs~

Yesterday was all about the garments that will incorporate the print. Today is all about the rest of the collection that will help bring it together.

^^Click for a bigger & more detailed view!

First up are the blouse designs. Since this is coming out in the late fall/early winter, I opted for all long-sleeve designs. They will all be available in cotton, except for the one on the right, which will be a mix of both cotton & chiffon (e.g. chiffon sleeves, with a cotton bodice). All the ruffles will be finished in a gold thread (however, they can also be made with a fabric-matching thread), with gold buttons. Oh, and despite how the sketches are drawn, all of these designs will be available for both women and men! I don't have all the colors for the blouses set yet, but I do know they will be available in at least black and white. Depending on which fabric I end up going with, more colors may be available. And please note that the neckwear featured on these sketches isn't entirely set in stone.

^^Click for a bigger & more detailed view!

Next are the bottoms! First we start with some puffy shorts with a ruffled back. They feature functional pockets, and the legs will have a button closure. In the middle are the prince pants, which fall right under the knee - these too will have a botton closure around the leg. Both these and the shorts are finished with gold accents: lace, as well as gold thread finishing the ruffles, and the very small pin tuck down the front & back. Lastly, we have the very wide-leg "mana" type pants. I absolutely love this style of pant (I can't help but admit that I was the proud owner of several pairs of JNCO pants in high school :p), however these will be much more elegant. They feature a small pin tuck going up the front, as well as a removable chain, complete with spider charm. These bottoms will be available in either black or white; just like the blouses, these will also be available for both men and women.

^^Click for a bigger & more detailed view!

And finally, we reach vests and outerwear! Shown in white here, is an under-bust vest. It will feature gold accents, including a removable chain complete with spider charm, as well as coat tails and pockets (still undecided on whether or not these will be functional). Underneath that is a men's halter style vest. It also features a removable gold chain with spider charm, functional front pockets, and a ribbon lace-up (via gold grommets) in the back. Outerwear! Just like most everything else, the coat will too have gold accents (be sure and click on the picture for a bigger look at some of the details), a faux vest panel in the front, and functioning side pockets. The length in the sketch is a bit unclear, as I'm not sure quite how long it'll be as of yet - I'm thinking about knee length, but I may make it available in a shorter length as well. And lastly, the cape! Well it's more of a gilet as it has no sleeves, and will have armholes under the upper cape. (Plus one for functionality!) This may or may not have pockets (still undecided atm) and includes a single gold accent - a gold chain tethered to either side in the front via spider charms. All these pieces will be available in black or white; the coat and gilet will be available for both men and women.

I have a few more garment designs to unveil tomorrow (think... legwear!), before talking about some other final details.

Stay tuned for more Resplendent Nightmare: Blog Revelations all week long!

♡MissChubi