[coord] Moi Meme Moitie blue coord worn

 Oops, I didn't post the follow-up to the previous coord composition blog post in this entry here... It didn't turn out amazing or memorable so I guess I forgot about it, but in case I don't make a post for February (I skipped Valentine's day which was during the week this year), here is my ILD winter 2022 coord for wearing at home.

As you can see, the first coord on the left was basically the worn version of the final coord of my brainstorming post, except I added a double navy rose chain to the bolero. As expected, you can't see the silver on tights because of my short stubby legs. Overall it looks acceptable, but the cropped length of the bolero didn't mesh with the long length of the dress, it just highlighted the wrinkly expanse of the skirt. I probably would have skipped the rose chain and pearl chain if I were really planning to wear this out, this is better as a simple coord.

Not satisfied, I tried again with a different wig and different accessories for the sweet country look on the right. This was not necessarily better as a concept, but I do prefer cream and off-white accents over pure white, and I like the use of a lacy open front duster/cardigan from normal Western fashion. So this has points for being creative and sort of covering the wrinkly skirt. Here I finally used a cream/gold necklace and headdress made by Minori, and wore an off-brand lacy blouse and cream/gold socks and shoes.

Which do you prefer? I think I prefer the sweet country look. It was too difficult to create a cohesive gothic or classic coord without buying anything new, whereas the lace duster was a really inspired decision with an almost mori-kei vibe that went with the long length better. I'm still divided on this dress. I really wanted a Moi Meme Moitie main piece to keep, especially one so lightweight and unusual, but without matching accessories from the brand itself, I don't think I'll wear this dress out, so it would be better to sell.  However, I don't think anyone will buy it lol!

[discussion] happy new year! again lol

In January back in the good old days of livejournal, the EGL community would have a yearly wardrobe theme where everyone would post every lolita piece of clothing they owned in a post for others to ooh and ahh over. I only ever participated twice, and since livejournal days, I only did a quick video clip of my lolita dresses once. I personally like seeing the rarest and most valuable (both monetarily or emotionally) pieces in another lolita's wardrobe because that's just fun and I'm nosy, but I wouldn't go searching for such posts. So I don't think it would be worth the time/effort to post my own wardrobe since it's not the most unusual or rare or even the biggest, and no one would be interested.  No one is interested in my regular coord posts for one thing, not even the amazing ones I've done in the past few years. On the other hand, I should keep better track of my clothes for insurance and just archival purposes.

Here are some upcoming coords for 2023 you should keep an eye out for, and what I need to work on to complete those coords.

1. Alucard vampire aristocrat with the Alice and the Pirates jacket. I need to get a long white or platinum blonde wig and maybe classier knee-high boots, but I do have a vest and various blouses already.

2. Meta bunny, this is the year of the rabbit/cat after all. I don't really have a great headdress for this coord, certainly no bunny ears, no socks either. I wanted to make some jewelry or wristcuffs to match as well.

3. Speaking of, I want to do another cat coord. Or several! I have a good idea for a series but I just need to get the perfect cat ear headdresses.

4. Cowboy lolita. I posted some potential coord ideas here for a steampunk take, then never took worn photos. I also have a really good idea for a series here lol, but would have to buy a bunch more items and I dunno if I want to do that.

5. another handmade dress (or more) from Otome no Sewing. As mentioned before, I have fabrics for a copy I want to make (that may or may not be in a sewing book already), and I have leftover toile cotton for a one piece dress. I also need to finish my Sakizo cosplay (lolita-adjacent). I don't have a lot of other fabrics that are nice enough for lolita (maybe just regular clothes), but I would like to construct a hoop petticoat skirt for summer wear and of course, finish off some scraps to make accessories.

[etecetera] composing a coord #2 - Moi Meme Moitie blue

This is in the same series as my coord composing (see the first post here for cowboy lolita). I wanted to try to create an outfit with another tricky-to-coordinate dress, this Moi Meme Moitie blue checkered high waist one-piece "Juliette" dress. I bought this dress on sale a couple of years ago, interested in the potential of styles from one cut due to the long waist ties, however, I did not consider that I don't own a lot of items in this particular medium desaturated shade of blue. Here's my problem solving process, the method to my madness.

Personally, I would classify this dress as classic lolita, veering into aristocrat or historically influenced due to the straighter silhouette and longer length, almost Regency era. It could be styled as gothic if you used black as the contrast, even though the blue is not the usual navy or sapphire or royal blue seen in gothic styles. I decided to go for an elegant classic lolita look first.

Firstly, while I didn't own a lot of medium blue in this French military uniform hard to describe color, I did own navy blue items. Then I decided on my neutral contrast color, which is white/off-white, and my metallic color, which you will see is a combination of gold and silver. I gathered accessories related to this color scheme but focusing on Moi Meme Moitie items first because I like to wear as much from a brand in the same season as possible if they match, then chose the best coordinated combination.

Here is my first attempt!

 

 

[dress, tights, gloves: Moi Meme Moitie; headband: Alice and the Pirates; shoes: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; necklace: off brand; pearl chain: Baroque]

 

I added some navy accents with the sapphire and pearl chain from a Baroque dress and the navy/white pearl and lace headband. I used gray/white tights which technically doesn't match the metallic color of gold, but the dress is long enough on me that you can't see the grays that much. To match the gold chain, I decided on pale gold shoes that have a silver gray lace frill which would hopefully match with the tights. Finally, the white lace gloves echo the lace headband and give some interest to the wrists instead of leaving them bare. I didn't add any earrings or rings to this coord because it's on a mannequin and you can't see them anyway, but I have a white rose enameled ring and some pearl studs in mind.

After all that, I don't think this coord will look great on the human body. I have doubts about the short gloves just on their own, I think adding a white lace shawl or scarf or even bolero covering the area between the end of the sleeves and the wrists would make the contrast look less stark. Maybe a lace overskirt or apron could work, but that would make the coord much more sweet and country.  Another concern is the lack of other shades of the main shade of blue. As far as I know, the brand doesn't carry anything else in this color which is annoying but understandable. If pressed, I would add a matching blue rose to the headdress, because that's a very Mana thing to do.

Now let's take a look at how this dress in various lengths and colorways was coordinated in the Moi Meme Moitie fashion shows (this one in Scandinavia a few years ago). Obviously the medium blue dress is the shorter version below, but you can see how they chose to sort of match the blues using the white/blue floral tights and then added white hairbow and short bolero and shoes for the contrast. The model wearing the white dress had no other main pieces which gave off a Regency look, whereas the model wearing the green dress (an even rarer color to be fair) wore a black bodice corset over and a black blouse underneath to make a faux two-piece set. The model wearing the black dress wore it over a black nun-style blouse with white sleeve ruffles so it appears to be a long-sleeved dress. I think these are all good styling choices for the Moi Meme Moitie brand of elegant gothic/classic, though I would have changed the necklaces and added bracelets or wrist cuffs. The bare wrists might be ok for historically inspired, but for lolita I feel like they needed at least one thing on the wrist.

Here is my revised coordinate based on further consideration. I basically added a white princess sleeve bolero and changed the shoes to white to match. I also added a white lace collar repurposed from a choker/headdress.  Still not sure if this looks good on though...

[bolero, choker ruffle: Atelier Pierrot; shoes: Sosic Shop]

 

Stay tuned for my worn coordinate for winter International Lolita Day this year and see how it looks on a person!

 

[coord] Miss Danger Heavenly Bones jsk

Happy early Halloween! Here is my spooky coord for the season, wearing my Miss Danger Heavenly bones dress in black 2021 preorder. This is a beautiful piece and I am so happy to have gotten it because it is totally my style. I had a few other ideas for Halloween but I was too lazy to work on costumes even though I had the entire week off, so I just put together this coord from what I already have.

[jumperskirt and sash: Miss Danger; blouse: Elegy; necklace, ring: Tiny Passerine; brooch: Rhapsobroderie; earrings: Metamorphose; tights: Taobao; shoes: Sosic Shop; gloves: Restyle; headdress and chain and flowers: Michaels, Hot Topic, Claire's]

I thought this coord is about as good as it was going to get with stuff I already owned and without making new stuff. I did have another halo headdress that I wore for my angel coord that I could have used since the skirt fabric is church vestment so it would have matched thematically, but the headdress had a lot of pearls on it, and the dress didn't have any white anywhere. Which is why I took the pearl straps off my shoes.

I really love the embroidery and beadwork on the ribcage bodice, so lavish and rich and eerie with the heart brooch. Here I wore my adjustable hoop petticoat so the skirt could be displayed to its maximal size (which was very maximal lol), and I like how the overskirt provided another layer of texture. I did pin a black tulle train from a previous costume to the back but you can't see it in this photo and it wasn't that great so no further pictures. If I felt like it, I would have made a new halo headdress out of just gold and crystal rhinestones and maybe added a tulle veil or better train, but it wasn't super necessary.

I'll save my previous costume ideas for another time. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween, stay home if you can, be careful if you must go out!

[coord] belated summer sailor lolita

 This was the coord I was going to post for summer International Lolita Day except I was doing something else at the time and posted an old coord instead. I love Metamorphose's sailor lolita items, they usually release one banger dress a year as sailor/military seems to be one of their specialties. I ordered this dress  new but the pandemmy progressed and I never had a chance to wear it out and even if I did, I have second thoughts about wearing a white dress outside or to eat lol. I didn't even get to order the matching accessories (they were sold out by the time I remembered) and so I made do with DIY and offbrand stuff.

 

[Dress: Metamorphose; hat: handmade; bracelets and rings: offbrand; socks, hairclips: Forever 21; other hairclip: Liz Lisa; shoes: Secret Shop]

Ignore the sloppy salute, it's bad, I know. Anyway, not much to say about this coord other than I wish I had bought the matching hairpiece, cuffs and socks, but I think flipping it to white stripes on navy is pretty interesting and unexpected and I kinda like it. I sewed the hat myself from Otome no Sewing volume 3. The socks have a little anchor on them. The dress colorway is actually off-white and looks a little dirty and grubby on the seams to me, but through the magic of photography filters, the whites and navys don't look so mismatched in the photo lol.

Most of my dresses aren't A-line, they usually have a seam at the waist and lots of puff for the cupcake look or just an empire-waist babydoll sack cut. A-line dresses may not always fit you perfectly if you don't have the ideal shape (see my nurse dress), but luckily this dress has shirring and back lacing and waist ties and fits me so neatly. Plus the two deep pockets? A rare Meta win!

[diy tutorial] Precious Bbyz cutsew from a regular t-shirt how-to

 I was feeling inspired and generous watching thrift flips on Insta/Youtube and I attempted a lolita style cutsew tutorial for you that is doable and not nonsense. If you have a t-shirt with a cute print that you  don't want to wear as a baggy unisex shirt anymore, this is an easy tutorial for you to dress it up but still be comfortable (unlike some lolita fashion cutsews ahem.)

Materials:

- a unisex short sleeve t-shirt that fits across the torso but is too long (from Precious Bbyz!)

-1/8 or 1/4 inch elastic (depends on your sleeve hem)

-thread, a regular sewing machine (no serger/overlock needed), pins, scissors, ruler

Steps:

First, get your t-shirt that fits you across the shoulders and bust, but is too long. This is not a resizing tutorial despite some shirring in the back so it does have to mostly fit already.

Mark where the shirt hits at your natural waist and add an inch (for lolita) or crop it up higher or lower if you want. The cut-off portion will make your ruffle so you want at least 4.5 inches cut off at the bottom (to make a 2 inch ruffle as in my shirt). Also carefully cut off the ribbed collar at the neck, that can be thrown away. Cut off the very bottom hem close to the double-stitching line to use as binding for the new collar.

Cut the cut-off bottom portion in half lengthwise to make 2 long tubes of cloth. Then cut the tubes apart at one end and sew the short ends right sides together to make one very long strip. This is your ruffle, proceed to hem one edge (because you cut off the original hem already) by folding over once. Since knits don't really fray, you don't need to fold over twice, I prefer it folded once so the material retains its flexibility.

For the collar, we are using the original bottom hem as the new collar to replace the ribbed collar we cut out.  You do need to finish the neckline so it doesn't stretch out and curl and get worn down, and the bottom hem which could not be used in the ruffle is perfect for this.  You can use the hem as is and just sew it on the collar right sides together, then press the collar up and topstitch the seam allowance down, just make sure you stretch the collar while sewing to keep the collar lying smooth against your collarbones (that was my first mistake lol). Alternatively, you can use my method to "neatly" cover the unfinished edge.  Undo the stitching on the original bottom hem and unfold it so you have a long strip of fabric with a fold down the length, which is now your makeshift bias binding. For either collar option, measure the length of your new widened neckhole and decrease it by 90% and then add seam allowance overlap of one-half inch, and cut the bottom hem to that length, and most importantly, make sure to evenly stretch only the collar as you sew it to the body of the shirt. If you're using my bias binding method, sew right sides together of your makeshift bias binding to the collar, then fold over using the original fold as a guide, then stitch in the ditch from the front to secure the back of the binding to the shirt. Note, you do not need to fold the back of the binding again like you do with wovens because knit fabric won't fray, hooray.

For the sleeves, you want to puff the sleeves for a lolita style cutsew, but since the shirt mostly fits you, the sleeve isn't big enough to make a truly gargantuan puffy sleeve. But I like to use the hem of the sleeve as a casing for elastic and this does add a little puff to your sleeve. The same as in my previous tutorials, I cut small slits on the inner sides of the sleeve hem right by the seam and then thread a thin elastic (I used 1/8 inch elastic from Daiso back when I made masks that are now no longer recommended) through the hem and then sew the elastic ends together. The elastic should fit comfortably around your bicep when flexed, and since the original sleeve is a little wider than that, there should be a small bit of puff when you finish.

Back to the peplum ruffle, gather the ruffle in your preferred way and pin to your shirt bottom hem right sides together. Sew down with a straight stitch. Flip your ruffle down the correct way, press the seam allowances up and topstitch the seam allowances to the blouse. This will keep your ruffle from flipping up while wearing. You can also overlock/zigzag the unfinished ruffle edges but if you topstitched, you won't need to since it won't fray past the topstitching.

Finally, if you want the fit to be a little more fitted, but don't want to mess with cutting up the sides of the shirt, you can add a little shirring elastic on the back. This will only take in the width by one or two inches, though.  Mark where you want the shirring on the shirt. Cut a piece of thin elastic that is at least once inch shorter than between those markings. Pin one end of elastic at your marking and you can start sewing it down while you pull the elastic to meet the other marking. Don't stretch the fabric, only stretch the elastic.

 

You're done! Now you have a cute top that is perfect to wear with jeans or shorts or lolita skirts, with a breezier neckline and cute girlish details. I purposely made this cutsew to highlight the print and be comfortable and easy to wash and use no other materials, so no elaborate ribbons or fake collars like in my previous cutsew tutorials. But you could easily make a square neckline and add ribbons to tie across like the old-school lolita styles, just make sure you have enough of the bottom hem saved to bind the neckline. You could forgo the peplum ruffle and sew the ruffle to the sleeves instead, or use the cut off scraps to make ribbons or bows. So many options, all comfortable and relatively easy to do.

If you have an overlocker or serger, and an actual twin needle or elastic stitch setting on your machine, you can get much more professional results than my regular machine, but since the new neckline should be big enough to fit over your head and the waist doesn't need to stretch too much, a regular straight stitch works.

If you want to see the very speeded-up video tutorial, check my instagram reel here!

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A post shared by t nguyen (@atelierinsomniel)

 

The reason I made this refashion was because I didn't like the cotton fabric of this shirt. It's a beautiful color and quite thick, but it's scratchy to me and the huge print makes it not great for sleeping in. But I wasn't going to throw away a shirt from an indie lolita artist, so I experimented on it for making this tutorial. I'm so happy with the results, this is cute, relatively easy to do (once I realized my collar mistake and redid it), and doesn't have the fussy details of other cutsews. I'm eager to refashion other cute printed tees into cutsews now!

[coord] belated International Lolita Day and old pic!

Once again, late for International Lolita Day last Saturday lol. I was attending a photoshoot (outside and masked) this boiling-hot summer ILD, so I didn't dress up afterwards, but I did edit some old photos from Ikkicon 2017 (a winter con) to post on Insta. I had worn a Baby the Stars Shine Bright jsk with a headdress I made inspired by one from that year's release for Baby/Alice. Later I sold the dress even though it was sooo cute, I never understand why I sell my stuff lol. But as long as the new owner loves it, I guess it's fine.

Photo on the left is new to you and never posted, the photo on the right is copied from my previous post here:

https://starsbegantofall.blogspot.com/2017/01/coord-ikki-con-tea-party-with-baby.html

 

Obviously since I sold the dress I can't rewear this coord, but I think it's already fine as is especially for a coord over 5 years old. I probably would just take away that huge brown bow. Not sure why I wore it, I wasn't even wearing brown shoes or purse??? I guess there were dark brown silhouettes in the print on the dress, but I should have worn a smaller brown bow and added more brown jewelry if that was the case.

I am currently working on at least 3 elaborate cosplays even though I am having second thoughts about going to cons this year, I'll probably just wear them inside my air-conditioned relatively virus-free house.  As mentioned, I do have a few lolita-adjacent sewing projects to work on for summer and fall should I get bored of cosplay - an otome blouse, a hoop petticoat skirt, a replica JSK, some hair accessories, and at least one casual otome skirt with clearance fabric from Joann's. I also want to make a few small accessories that are not j-fashion but still cute. We'll see how my summer goes...