Welcome to the New Shop!

And that's another thing I can scratch off the New Year's Resolutions List. 

Yep, I finally did it - I've got my new shop up and running! I launched it earlier this week. For the time being I'm going to remain at Etsy. Hopefully that's not for too long though... I'm waiting on some of my listings to expire, since I sorta already paid for them. 

My new shop can now be found at www.ElegyClothing.com. Have a look, please? Aesthetically it's a whole lot prettier than anything I could ever have on Etsy. It's also a lot easier for me here since I can now include color and size options with each listing. I also did a sort of welcoming video for it, so enjoy~

♡

MissChubi

Hello, Youtube!

So far I've started out this year pretty well - I'm getting straight to work on my resolutions/goals. I've been super motivated and busy working on a lot of new things, which I explain in my very first youtube video! :D I expressed in my goals that I wanted to get to work on a channel, but I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take it in. Well, I've made one video so far - it's pretty vloggy, I just talk about what I'm working on, etc. Have a look. (Just to let you know - it's painfully awkward in the beginning, but it gets better!) Ooh, and subscribe? O:

I've also already made a second video - I just haven't had a chance to upload/edit it yet. It's a sort of tour of my workspace :P I'll probably have that up by the end of the week~

♡
MissChubi

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

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

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