[walkthrough] how to sew a dress from otome no sewing - image heavy!

In case anyone is interested in how to sew from Otome no Sewing, I've made a quick walkthrough of how I made my recent koi fish jumperskirt (Otome no Sewing volume 14, page 15 #25). This tutorial is meant for intermediate sewers who have sewing machines, if you are a true beginner, I recommend picking up a sewing book or checking out newbie tutorials on Youtube.

For those of you who are little more experienced, I highly recommend Mode a la Belle's youtube channel and blog for detailed instructions on how to sew from Otome no Sewing, as well as Simplicity and drafting your own patterns. They also scan in and generate dress patterns, here's the jsk that I chose to make that you can actually purchase at their online shop and print out your size range and make on your own. A true lolita sewist's resource!

If you can't read Japanese, which I'm assuming is most people reading this English blog, here is a very helpful blog that translates common terms and whole patterns to get you started. I've used their tutorials and patterns before, would recommend~

http://www.japanesesewingbooks.com/2012/01/17/understanding-a-typical-japanese-sewing-pattern/

Many other lolitas have posted sewing videos and pattern reviews on blogs, they come up in a quick google search. But here is my walkthrough and helpful notes and learning points (not mistakes).

Preparation Steps

• Select your design and gather materials needed. 
• You will need minimum 2 yards/meters for blouses/skirts, and 3 to 4 yards/meters for dresses so be aware.
• I only bought 2 yards of cotton so I left out the waist ties and used cotton muslin as strap and bodice linings and shortened the ruffles.
• Trace the desired size pattern on scrap paper or draft the pattern as instructed, and label each piece clearly, including grain lines and notches and placement markings.
• Otome no Sewing only goes from Asian small to Asian "large "(which is like a medium petite in Western sizes) so to draft a larger size, follow a resizing tutorial such as this one.
• This pattern had the bodice front and front facing in the included pattern paper. I taped together scrap paper and traced out the large size pattern bodice. All the other pattern pieces were basically rectangles, so I marked them out on the fabric with chalk and marker.
• Add seam allowance (1/2 inch, 5/8 inch, etc) to appropriate areas or remind yourself to add seam allowances and don't forget. Common mistake!
• Optional but highly recommended: make a mock-up or muslin out of scrap fabric, or drape the paper on your dressform or your own self to make sure you won't need adjustments before cutting into your final fashion fabric.
• Here's my materials photo for reference! Note, I only have a small household Janome sewing machine, not an industrial and certainly not a serger. That affects the decisions I make when sewing lolita dresses. 

[coord, diy] handmade Otome no Sewing jsk

 As expected, I bought more fabric instead of using up the fabric I already had, but in my defense, Joann's had a coupon and also the fabric I already had on hand was not suitable for sewing lolita as it was mostly low quality polyester or didn't have the right texture or color for any clothing item except the specific cosplay I bought it for.

So after getting tired of working on my ballgown (the sleeves, curse the sleeves), I switched to figuring out an Otome no Sewing volume 14 pattern and making use of one of my recent purchases, a premium cotton print of koi fish in water. Although a bit "Asian-inspired" instead of Asian, the cotton material itself was soft and sturdy, the print quality very pretty and soothing to look at, and I really wanted to try my hand at another sewing pattern from a more recent issue.

The sewing pattern I chose had a half-shirred bodice and straps that buttoned in the back with a ruffle on the skirt. It required 3 meters of fabric, but I had only bought 2 yards lol. I decided to not make the waist ties (I rarely can tie a good bow with them anyway so no big loss) and would line the bodice and straps with white cotton muslin instead of facing it with the fashion fabric. Losing a yard of fabric also meant my ruffles were half the length they were supposed to be, so the dress was a bit short compared to what the model wore. Thankfully I am also short, the dress didn't look scandalous even with a petticoat under.

I used lace trim as recommended on the pattern but realized I didn't have enough and had to buy 2 more spools of lace (but I used almost all of it, okay???) The two lace trims were shiny polyester "bridal" Venice lace for $2.99 for 2 yards. They look kinda cheap and low-quality on their own, but when paired with this koi fish fabric, they resemble fish or dragon scales or stylized waves and complement the print perfectly. Big brain move there. I used small lace for the straps and bow (which I wore as a headbow here but could also be pinned on the dress), and a larger version of the same lace for the ruffle hem.

[JSK, headbow, bracelets: handmade; blouse: Elegy Clothing; necklace: Luxmira; earrings: BB and Deco, Taobao; rings: Liz Lisa; socks, shoes: Baby the Stars Shine Bright]

This isn't the greatest coord ever, I think I should have worn bright gold shoes instead of antique gold ones, but I was getting sweaty in this new Dreamholic wig and didn't want to change. I did try to style it in a more wa-lolita style after but due to the sweatiness, none of the later photos turned out well. I will try again another day.

Anyway, I love how this dress turned out, very comfortable due to the shirring, Asian-inspired but not tacky. The main problems I had while sewing were 1) deciding to French seam seams that should not have been French-seamed, and 2) the button-hole maker on my sewing machine isn't working so I had to hand-bind the button holes and they look super messy. The pattern is very easy to follow if you have experience with sewing lolita, I only adjusted due to the amount of fabric I had and also I didn't like their dart placements. I may one day post a run-down of how I approached sewing this dress if anyone is interested!

Anyway, back to working on my gown... sigh...