Lolita Tie tutorial

This kind of tie doesn't seem to be very popular at the moment. The big bow kind seems to be rather more in vogue. However as I've finally got round to making a less scruffy version of my tie pattern I thought I would put it up here with a bit of a tutorial. They are still very cute.





Here's what you need to do.

First you'll need the pattern. Click on image of the pattern on the left and it should open up nice and big. Right click and 'save image as' to your computer. It should print out on A4 or letter size paper just fine. Make sure it doesn't 'crop' or 'scale' when its printing out.

• You'll also need some scraps of fabric - large enough to cut 2x piece A and 1x piece B. If you fabric is very lightweight you might need a bit of interfacing.
• Some ribbon - enough that it can easily tie around your neck in a bow.
• Some bits of lace, ribbon, buttons etc for decoration.

Pattern info:
As you can see the pattern pieces overlap - so its probably best to trace piece B onto another bit of paper before cutting out A.
The dotted lines on piece A are for if you want to make a thinner tie.

Getting started:

1. Cut two 'A' pieces and one 'B' piece from your fabric.

2. Sew any decorations you like onto the front of one A piece, sewing your lace facing inwards as shown. (sounds a bit weird, but it all gets turned inside out at the end.)

3. Take the second A piece and pin it on top of the first one - front sides together. Sew nearly all the way around the edge leaving a gap along the side of the thin bit at the top. There's not a lot of seam allowance - only about 5-10mm.

4. You should have a tie shape with the lace etc on the inside. Turn it inside out. Now you can see why we sewed the lace pointing inwards - its pointing outwards now! Use a slip stitch to close the gap and maybe give it a quick iron.

5. Now we need to attach the 'knot' and ribbon. Fold over
the thin top part of the tie backwards and put in a couple of stitches to hold it in place.

6. Thread your ribbon through the gap. (You could also use a band of fabric with a button or velcro, but I'm using ribbon here to show the basic idea.) Sew the long edges of piece B together. Turn the tube inside out and iron it flat with the seam in the middle. You shouldn't be able to see the seam from the front now.

7. Next wrap this around the where you have stitched down the top part of the tie. Sew the back edges of the 'knot' together keeping the seam on the inside.

8. Done. Use the ribbon to tie it around the collar of your blouse.

Lolita Christmas Card - attempt 1

I felt like doing some crafts yesterday so I made a start on a Christmas card. I say 'a' card because this one took ages so I only got one done!

In case anyone is interested...
I made the coat hanger out of fuse wire (the thicker kind) and the dress and bow are just made out of scraps of fabric and ribbon. I did sew down the sides of the dress so they looked neater but I suppose glue would work just as well.

I might make a few more bits and then photograph them for my cards - that way there would be more chance of them getting done before the last posting day.

Lolita finds

I've seen a couple of nice things this week. Firstly this jacket from Warehouse. Although its not cheap at £75, it has a lovely shape. Its quite Edwardian and elegant looking. I think it could work well with a more aristocrat style - or maybe for work.

At the other end of the scale I found a great tartan jacket in the sale at Primark. Its more in the style of a biker jacket than a blazer. It was really difficult to photograph so you can't see the details that well, but it has another zip pocket under what looks like the right lapel. Anyway it was only £5! Bargain.

Also at Primark this week they have a tiara headband for £3 which is quite pretty.

Last but not least, I got one of the much talked about H&M mini top hats. Here is a less than brilliant picture of it perched a top of my loaf. Its a bit bigger and not quite as funky as the Accessorize headband hat, but well worth its £4.99 price tag.

Thinking about Christmas Lolita things

Its getting towards that time again when decorations start appearing and Starbucks have their 'festive' red cups out. So I've just started to let myself get a little bit excited about Christmas. I'm hoping that I'll have time to make a dress from the snowflake/doily fabric I got ages ago. I think it could work with a white fake fur trim? Maybe a little bit 50s? Needs a little thought first.

Its also getting near the time when I (should) start making my Christmas cards! I'd really like to do a lolita-esque card this year, but we'll see how that goes, my drawing skills are not great.

And finally I've started looking for presents for people and making a list for santa. I think list ideas is a really good site for this where you can add things from anywhere, on or offline.

Halloween 2 and false eyelashes

Okay, as promised here is a picture of the dress I reworked for my halloween outfit. I think its much nicer this way.
(Plus here's a picture of me modeling it - bet you wondered what I looked like huh? well there you go, all big hair and teeth.)
I wore it with the black blouse/socks to the gig we went to and with the white blouse/socks for my living/dead (whats more scary?) doll look.
I did my hair really big and curly with a black bow and for my make-up I did dark eyes with red liner and wore false eyelashes.
I'd never used them before and they were fantastic! Actually thats why I ended up just being a doll not a broken one, I didn't want to hide them or squish one side with my eye patch. I really recommend trying them if you never have!

Halloween Butchery

Happy Halloween!

With very little time and even less spare cash to put together an outfit for halloween I've resorted to butchering one of my previous projects. Remember this dress? Well I've never actually worn it since I finished it. The square neckline never really suited me and the sleeves were not quite right.


So I've made it into a jumperskirt by removing the sleeves and the ribbons. I've also made it into a rounded neckline. It was quite easy to do as the dress was fully lined so I could sew the edges of the sleeve to the lining to finish it neatly.


I'm going to go as a broken doll to the party I'm going to. I know its not very creative but I think it'll be fun. I get to wear full lolita, totally over the top make-up and an eye patch and no-one will look twice. Heaven!

Lolita Fabric - custom printing from spoonflower

There are a lot of nice fabrics out there but one of the things that really makes brand dresses stand out is their custom patterns. Especially border prints. I love the Moitie 'Iron Gate' print but I rarely see nice border prints available on the roll.
Recently I've been quite excited about Spoonflower. Its a site where you can get your own fabric designs printed on demand in small quantities, like lulu but for material. Its currently priced at $18 yrd and although this is at the higher end of what I would pay for fabric, if I could have anything I wanted in the world.... it starts to sound tempting.

I'm going to have a go soon and get a swatch printed up to see what they can do. I'll let you know how it goes!

High Street Finds - black/gothic/gorgeous

Recently there have been lots of loliable things on the highstreet, especially things with cupcakes and sweets, but theres also been quite a lot on the gothic side.

Topshop has been quite good for accessories this season with nice chunky heart and flower rings, those heart bags and plenty of bows on brooches and headbands. This might be something to do with the fact that some of their current collections are called 'Wonderland', 'Punk Couture' and 'Pagan'. I think one of their best items is this rosette/corsage. Its available on a brooch or on a elasticated headband.

It seems that all the shops have headbands with bows of various sizes at the moment but my current favourite is one from Matalan as it has a very thin band. The fabric covering the band has also been sewn on which looks a bit more sturdy than the glued ones. Some of the ones that I got at Claire's a while ago have started to fall apart, mainly at the ends so the plastic starts to dig in the side of your head. eugh.

Moving on... I saw this little beauty whilst shopping in Birmingham last week. Its a mini top hat mounted on a headband from Accessorize. Its actually more cute in person and I love it, love it, love it. But I do not love that it is £25!

Also while I was in Birmingham I went to Blue Banana which is an alternative clothing place conveniently situated right next to a Starbucks.


The staff there were really nice! (Hello if you were the person I was talking to about Bodyline, nice to meet you the other day) And they had some nice socks like these Pamela Mann ones. I got the ones with black bows to make up for not getting the mini-hat. *cries for hours*


I thought some of their bags were really cool too. They had some of those 'bowler bags' with gothic-y stuff embroidered on the front for £12.

Happy shopping!

Sewing Techniques Book

I got a new book yesterday called 'The Complete Book of Sewing' its a DK one and has lots of step by step instructions. Not so much on how to make specific items but more about using different techniques.
Theres a section on doing different kinds of zips, altering patterns, different seams and hems and photos of each step.
Theres also a useful section on fabric types and what they are used for.
I think it will be pretty useful, I suppose you could find most of the information online if you really needed to, but don't you think it's nice to have a book sometimes?

Things for sale

I am currently have a bit of a wardrobe clear out and I am selling some of my lolita things including my beautiful Baby the Stars Shine Bright - Red Riding Hood dress. SOLD
The details of this and the other items I have for sale are here (on my LiveJournal account) if you are interested but do not have an LJ account please contact me by email or leave a message here so that I can get back to you. Thanks.