BJD exhibition, cosplay and Japan culture

It's Monday morning, the weekend is over and it was a fun weekend. I don't have all photos yet, but here's some I manage to get.
To begin with I took a part at event that takes place every year and is called "Now Japan". As the site of this festivals states "„nowJapan“ – the biggest traditional and contemporary Japanese culture festival in the Baltic states".
We had an exhibition of our dolls. They were various demons on ancient Japan. Mine is The one in vine red kimono with white hair and spider legs. He was Jorogumo -  a spider, that transforms into a beautiful woman and lures men by playing biwa ( musical instrument much like lute). He then would devour them.

I myself to a chance to dress in full Lolita :) 

Firts day.

I'll have more photos latter. I spotted a few other girls dressed in sweet Lolita. And it  appears that last year there was even a Lolita competition :D 

The second day was more free for us since we didn't have to watch after our dolls and were free to enter and leave whenever we wanted. It was a cosplay contest day so there were much more people in costumes.

We had a chance to meet the Evil Queen from "Sleeping Beauty" :D I loved how she was siting and drinking her coffee, gazing at passing people. She really matched her character :) And we voted for her too :)

And only in his photo I noticed that I and my BF matched each other really well  :D

The only problem was with ventilation. Since we had to stay from early morning till 6 p.m. it was hard to stand that stuffy air in the building. The were no fresh ear and no condition...

The only food was sushi and you wasn't allowed to bring in yours. I forgot to put my bracelets on last day and thought that it was nice to have some jewelry selling stands like I see in photos of other similar festivals ( events). 

I brought home a poster of Black Butler. Some how I was aloud to buy that one, but not the figurine :D And I got my name written in Japanese hieroglyphs.

Strawberries and denim jaket

Here comes an outfit post. Always easy to make and almost always fun to read (or watch). 

 This skirt for sure needs bloomers. I Usually wear ones, but this time I skipped it and... I  wasn't that relaxed every time the wind tried to catch it. Luckily he was unlucky :D

Simple classic cardigan with fake pearl buttons wore over a simple T - Shirt. Topped with a denim jacket, flower decorated tights and black boots.

Oh, and a Ruby Gloom hand bag. I now somehow have a whole collection of different bags of this character. Though the cartoon itself did not amused me at all.

Nimphadora all big and black

Bodyline Choco berry skirt

I finally got my Bodyline order. It's funny how I ordered with more then a week interval and the both package came at the same day :) One was cough by custom and another one went through quite simple.

But they are at home now and I'm so happy :) I ordered a JSK I had but wanted a size bigger, a choco berry skirt in black and a black classic Lolita dress.  This post will be for the skirt;)

Here it is. It's really beautiful in person as I was expecting. Colors are bright and the print is really detailed. You can see a little miss- matching when you look closer, but you really have to look :)'

Those repeats. But you have to look really close to notice them. So I don't see it as  problem. Misspelled name on my only replica was a worse case :D

My guess is that the black color is printed last, because black lace print looks super nice and there are no blur spots.

You see? Perfect!

The bow and waist ties are quite unusable for me. Bow is big and to stiff and the same is with the waist ties. They are really stiff. It's hard to make a nice bow from them. My advice is to tie them to make a beautiful  bow and sew it. You can attaches it by buttons on the side, so there is no need to untie it. I'm thinking to use them for another Bodyline project. I've already thought about a bag, a attachable top like here. I want to make something I will really use. You can share some ideas, if you have ;)

And here how it looks worn.

I used one of my hair bands to see how it goes with Lolita :)

This one is more classical Lolita inspire. And here is more my kind of look :)

I like both of them but I feel more comfortable wearing second one ;)

 I also got this dress in black.

The only thing is that the M size is to short and the L is to big. but... I was expecting that. At least the waist sits on my natural line and its long enough to cover my knees :)

But I'll write about it next time.

Thought on making my own Lolita inspired designs

Soooo... I'm thinking about selling my black Bodyline JSK.

I just don't like how high the waist line is. It doesn't feel comfortable... And now that I know how the size feels I guess it's better to buy a bigger one and just take the fabric in. The skirt part of JSK will be longer itself as well as the main body. 

I'm keeping my "Sweet jewelry" since the JSK out of stock and I like the print. I'm thinking of transforming it to a high waist skirt since it looks good when I pull it on my natural waist line. It even won't bee a lot of work.Just a little bit of ripping and sewing again. I'll also make the waist ties removable. They do not look good under a jacket... The suspenders will probably will be transformed into another pair of cuffs or something else to match the skirt.

I'll order few skirts I like from Bodyline to see if they work for me. I also saw a girl making a dresses out of two skirts and they looked even better then dresses of the same print Bodyline has. There is always an option of making stuff myself. And buying two skirts is a perfect way in getting the print you like and making a dress that works for you. 

You can find fine fabric choice on Etsy. It's a paradise for handy sweet Lolitas. Not so good for Gothic ones thought... But bitter sweet can be an option.

Not to mention, you can reconstruct a skirt from a second hand shop.

I made this blue skirt out of a maxi skirt I found on second hand shop. I was into floral motifs at that time and blue associates with Mana Sama and his Elegant Gothic Lolita Aristocrat Vampire Romance  :D Well, this piece is far away from that, but I still like it. The blue is not the color I wear often, but it nice to have changes time to time. Sorry for the blurry pictures. What I learned? That this skirt needs "A" shape petticoat. I don't think the "bell" shape works. At least I don't like the puffy top.

Remember my little bjd girl??? Well, I made her skirt from the leftovers of the same fabric. So we can match now :D I just could not resist to do that :D 

Coord post: Black and wine

So, I usually like to work with two colors. On of them of course is black :D  I Find dark red or wine color to be one of my favorite. So I can easily pick matching accessories for my skirt which is usually the item that gets to be other color then black in my coords :) I always look for little details that would match the color of the skirts I have. If it's a hand made one, I always try to leave some fabric for a matching bow or cuffs or anything else that would give a nice touch to an outfit. 

So, the pieces I wear:

• Demonia heels (they give more mature look that ones from Bodyline so I like to switch time to time).
• Off brand velvet skirt. Bought second handed And was trimmed with black lace and a ribbon.
• Pirate jacket - Fan plus Friend bought from a fellow Lolita on EGL sales.
• Off brand shirt (Ebay)
• Alchemy Gothic pendant. I'm second owner.
• Hair: Flower pin (Ebay) and hand made bow clip.
• Purse second handed. I love to hunt for purses :D

 I like this jacket a lot :) It's quite wide open, so all the laces can be seen :) 

It's funny, but when my closet was all just average Gothic I had a hard time to dress for the occasions like weddings or grand birthdays of my siblings. Now it's easy  :D I won't look too dramatic but still be able to dress elegant and dark. But after all I find that it's hard to stick just to one or two styles. Sometimes I even feel like going cyber :D Lucky for my I can DIY most of the stuff so no big traumas to my wallet. But it still get hurts time to time :D Lolita hurt it the most thought :D I just cant to resist all those beautiful frill and they are way more difficult to DIY ;) Even if I could easily make Lolita JSK, sometime it's nice to have something made buy someone else.

Daily outfit: over knee socks

Well,today  it's classic Lolita inspired outfit. I tried the hair bow today. Still not my favorite thing...

The skirt is the one I made. A little bit of color into the all black coord.

Socks... I still prefer tight. Some how I feel more comfortable with them. The kinda look good but it tried to roll down all the time. It's a little bit annoying

Waving for  the sailors :D They were just marching trough my room :D
.

Everything else is my old jacket, bat bag and a jewelry peace I bought from an old lady from handicraft market. I wear a simple black top under the jacket. Well, but there is no use in putting much effort in it during the winter. I do it just for fun. Damn, how I wish for the spring to come...

A productive day off

Yesterday was a day off. I started it with no ideas what I wanted to do. Usually I get tones of ideas of how should I spend my day off, but then I just sleep till almost 1 p.m., have lunch aka breakfast while watching anime or "Adventure time" (this time). A little bit of FB, Tumblr and G-mail checking and it's already 5 p.m. So I go  to a bath, then dress up and it's already evening. Time to prepare dinner!!! At that time my boyfriend will get back from his work and we will go have dinner while watching anime ( a lot of anime) ... And off to bed. 

But... If I get at 10 a.m. the day usually have a absolutely different turn. At 12 a.m. I'm already done with breakfast and anime and even all dressed up. Since it's so bright, I start to clean the room because all mess is  more noticeable in a day light:D Then the creativity hits me and I sew, cut, glue and do what ever I want and can. So yesterday was a good day and I finished my wonderful Lolita skirt. It's a high waist classic Lolita skirt with blue stripes and little flower ornaments.

It originally was a long gathered skirt (on the left) to long and to big for me to wear, but I knew I could make something nice out of it.

The final result

The fabric is super soft, it has a wonderful shape. I find black and blue quite an attracting combination at this time of my life :) It even has a lining :D That was a tough one. Well, after this I decided to try out pattern making that I learned at our bjd meet up/ workshop and made a jacket for my doll-boy. I'm really like it. I also made a long over skirt decorated in the same way and when he wears the both peaces its looks like a long coat. The wig is also made by me. I decided to make a west to complete all outfit so he could wear the over skirt with just a vest. The pattern construction lesson did helped a lot. It's so much easier to make thing for him now. 

He looks like a young count for me now. And he should, because his countess is on her way. I just ordered the deer girl I wanted. I thought it wont be as exited as ordering the first bjd. But it's actually is. I ordered it blank since I'm going to do the face up myself. Never thought I would have two ball jointed dolls :D But if you really want something it somehow turns right for you. At least it does for me ;)

Playing on Polivore

Frost Lolita by audronasha featuring bodyline

Waiting for Christmas just becouse

I got up early. I had plans to go to a birthday party of an old friend ( some photos later maybe) so I had to get a present. It's cold outside. A real bad ass winter. And I am not a fan of winter... So sweater is a must thing :)

I have two more skirts under this one. A black for the length and a  Kera punk one to give a little bit volume.  The outfit is simple, but also is the day.

My beautiful skirt stuck in a custom :( I have send all the documents I had. I guess there was no documents outside the box. I'll have to mention it to Clobba next time I'll be buying from them. Good thing is that my gift for my boyfriend also arrived. I was afraid it will took longer since it's a holiday season. I showed him the item some month before just to see what he thinks an he was like  "OMG!!!" And then I had an evil smile. He has no idea I'm getting it :D You, my dear readers, will see it after the Christmas (I don't want any info to leak :D) 

I'm finally getting a new laptop. The first thing that came into my mind was "Now we can play Minecraft together!" I'll make him to create me a special skin :D He had an Ulquiorra for himself . I want a Lolita :D

link

What else... Oh oh. More dresses. I'm a big spender I know. But it's winter. I have a right to spoil myself :D

Its actually a jumper skirt (JSK) from Bodyline.

I ordered this one in black. The front pink ribbons will be change to black latter and the pink lacing on the bag will be removed. I saw this dress on Walrus blog  and I loved it. As sweet as it is, the pink can be toned down by black accessories and give to this dress really nice and elegant look. The main thing of course is the print. I love it. I want my wardrobe to maintain in Gothic stile be it Lolita or anything else. So I just wanted to try and see if a bittersweet print, accompanied by Gothic accessories and dark colors can actually look good on me. 

I would love to have such prints as... 

The Alice and The Pirates Vampire prelude or 

The Alice and The Pirates The black cat, witch and the apple tree

And one day I will and Vampire prelude is gonna be an original. But as totally noob I first want to see if I can coordinate it easily with cheaper brands :)

The other one is a black JSK from the same brand.

I made a decision to order it after reading a review on The Walrus room. It's so beautiful. And you can tone it down for everyday looks by wearing a plain black blouse under it and a simple bolero or you can pimp it up by choosing an elegant princess style blouse with bell sleeves. 

It's fun to be your own Santa :D

How to make a Lolita inspired dress in a super fast way

It's so clear to me, when I think about it.  It will be number one "must make" projects. I was thinking how to make a black overdress in Lolita style so I could wear it on different skirts. I got this idea from this fantastic Haenuli dress...

For me this dress is just like the one I used to draw when I was a kid. My every princess had a dress like that with different color fabric peeking under the main dress <3 <3 <3 I hope to order this dress someday.

But I also want a more plain black dress like that just without the inner skirt.

So I could wear it with any other of my skirts depending on my mood.

I love this idea. I saw similar idea on one blog. A girl was showing how much coordination you can pull off with one dress. Her Metamorphose dress has buttons on a front. I loved how she combined it with skirts especially with lavender Vampire requiem one. :3 I couldn't find similar dress for a more affordable price (if you know, give me a link;) 

 Then I sow this at EGL sales. 

Victorian maiden tartan OP (or a dress in a common language)

All I see is a combination of simple top and an additional amount of fabric. For my taste it would look good in black with a little bit more black ruffles.
 I even could wear a black version over my Vampire requiem skirt that will come soon. And then it was like "I can make a whole dress like that. Just by making a skirt and sewing it to a cotton blouse I like." I admit that this idea came into my mind because I find the top part of the dress the most difficult to make... So thit could be a way to make simple but nice dresses for every day use by cheating a little bit :3 ;)
I have never used this method but it just cant fail. It popped into my head this morning and I was like "Why, oh why I threw away that romantic top I had and never wear." So you really can  make a wonderful dress by using a nice cotton blouse/top, a half meter  of black matching cotton fabric and a half meter of desired print fabric, like this ...

Or you can make it all black ;)

If you would measure and sew the black fabric to be about 2 m wide and about 35 cm long and gather it, this would be a skirt base. Then you should cut and sew the print fabric so that it would be about 20 cm long and 2 meters wide or even wider if you would want to gather it while sewing to a black skirt base (like this AP skirt). Make some black ruffles from the black cotton fabric and add them at the bottom of the skirt. Black lace is a good option too. Especially  eyelet.  But it's just my opinion. Use what you like.You can cover the part where the print fabric is sewed to a black one by sewing nice lace on top of the seam.

You should get something lake this.

Not a bad skirt. You can sew a waist line to it and actually make a skirt.  But I don't enjoy making and sewing waist line too. So I'll just sew it to a bottom of my blouse/top to make a dress :)

Now, to make the dress more matching you could make some bows from the print fabric and add it to the blouse. Brows the web for other details you might like and add them if you think you need them. I call this one Lolita inspired dress to not  offend anyone ;)

Let me know what you think. I'll post a real version as soon as I'll make it.