Easy Details

Recently, I've started making a few pieces of clothing for myself! And I've started to wonder what kinds of little details I could add to make them a little more exciting. So I've made up a little list of things I've seen in pieces from Japanese brands. I hope you'll try out some of these on your next sewing project!

Heart Shaped Pockets

Scalloped Edges

Pin-tucks

Easy Gathering Methods (Make Ruffles!)

Fabric Covered Buttons

Easy Appliqué

Fabric Flowers

DIY This Outfit! : Pink Girl

Hello! Welcome to the first edition of "DIY This Outfit!" This feature will *hopefully* inspire you all to get creative and either modify or make your own fabulous items for your lolita wardrobe! This time, we have an Angelic Pretty cardigan paired with a cute Bodyline skirt~!

Pink Girl~ by cat91151 featuring bow jewelry

It's a light and casual feeling coordinate, but it doesn't miss out on saving where it counts! That skirt costs $40 new from Bodyline, and it's a great staple piece in a sweet wardrobe. The socks can easily be swapped out for a pair of cute printed tights or a pair of socks you already own even. Here's where it gets pricey. That cardigan from Angelic Pretty costs over $100! I don't know about you, but I sure can't afford to pay that. So with some simple sewing skills (no machine required!), you can DIY that top and make it all your own.

First off, you'll need a base cardigan. This one is made from a type of cloth called Jersey (t-shirt material!) and it's super comfy. Just search up "Jersey cardigan" and some results should pop up that you can choose from. You can pick any color you'd like too, another great benefit of DIYing! Once you have the cardigan, all you'll need to do is decorate it. To make one similar to the one in the outfit, you'll need get some extra fabric to match your base cardigan from a local fabric store. Conversely, you could also get some patterned fabric and make the decorations stand out from the base. For instance, you could make it match the skirt by getting some light pink fabric and doing the decorations. If you plan to make your decorations out of the same type of jersey fabric (this is key for doing the ruffles seen in the AP one!), you'll need to know how to sew with the knit fabric. There are plenty of resources on this, I highly recommend this Youtube video though!

If you'd just like to add some bows down the front, that's pretty easy. You can make the bows out of cotton if you'd like, as they don't need to stretch at all. Follow an Alice bow tutorial, I personally like this one, but there are tons of them out there. Make as many bows as you want, whatever size you want. However, to achieve the look of the ones on this cardigan, the finished size should be around 3 inches by 2 inches. To make a bow that size, the fabric rectangles should be 6 in x 4 in (you'll have to add a seam allowance to those measurements!), and you'll need four bows. Once you have your bows made, simply attach them to your cardigan. Make sure you sew only one side down though. The other side can be closed by adding snaps to the bows and the base. If you want to add some to the sleeves, they should be a little smaller, and can be sewn down to the sleeves.

For the rest of the outfit, you can just pick from jewelry, shoes, and accessories you already have that match! Or you can make or buy some new ones, whatever you like best! What do you think of DIY This Outfit? What types of items would you like to see here? I hope to hear lots of feedback from all of my readers!

Contest! Country Coordinates and Crafts!

I've been trying to come up with a fairly straightforward contest for this month. While I really liked how the last one went, I wanted something with a creative element and less math. So I decided to do a coordinate contest. But then I thought, some people don't like to make coordinates, but they can draw or do some crafting. This spurred the idea for a crafting contest. Country lolita has a distinct handmade element to it that isn't as prevalent in many other styles. I'm not so great at crafting myself, but I wanted to pay homage to that handcrafted idea this month. So there are actually two contests, two ways to win, and two prizes.

The first contest is simply a coordination contest. You make a country-themed coordinate using Polyvore, Photoshop, or from your own wardrobe (with a photograph of all the elements together, it does not have to be worn). Then you email the coordinate to me at Theelegantwardrobe@gmail.com with a short description of the items you used. At the end of the contest, I'll post the winning coordinate here!

The second contest is a little different. What you can do is completely up to you, but it has to be a craft and it has to be country themed. Other than that, the sky's the limit! You can make an accessory, hairpiece, draw a picture, whatever! The only thing I ask is that you do not send photography unless you'd like to be entered into the coordinate contest. Whatever you make, take a picture of it At the end of the contest, I'll pick up to three winners! I may pick fewer though depending on the number of entries. The winner(s) will be posted here along with the coordinate contest winner.

Now the fun part, the prizes! I've thought about these a lot! The prize for the winner(s) of the crafting competition will be these adorable Hello Kitty gingham wallets! The winner of the coordinate will receive some strawberry-print stationary sets! All winners will receive a strawberry-scented Hello Kitty eraser too! Everything is really cute and country-themed! Prizes are subject to change based on availability.


The contest will end on Friday, July 1st 2011 at 11:59PM EST. I'll announce the winners the next day, July 2nd. If you have any questions on how the contest works, you can let me know in the comments section below. I hope that lots and lots of people enter!

Experiments in Tea Dyeing

Ever since I was little, I've had this fascination with color and changing the color of things. So when I learned about using tea, coffee, juice, and other natural dyes to dye fabric, I had to do some experiments. This wasn't my first time doing tea dyeing, but this was the first time I did such a comprehensive test with a wide variety of products. I wanted to post my method, mediums, results and application ideas here. Maybe they'll inspire you too!

Step 1

Choose your fabric! Natural fabrics work best, like cotton. Once you have your fabric, if possible, cut a test swatch. This isn't alway possible, for example, if you're doing a whole dress, an antique, or a single piece of fabric, like a handkerchief. In cases like these, try and find a fabric that is similar to your piece, and use that as the test. The test strip(s) are important to figure out the right amount of concentration (how long you steep your tea) and/or time to

leave your piece in. Since I wanted to try as many different dyes as possible, I cut ten strips.

Step 2

Soak your test strip(s) in a bowl of clean tap water. This removes excess dirt and dye from the fabric, as well as loosens up the fabric to accept the dye better. I left mine in the water about an hour. After awhile, take the fabric out and rinse it under running water. Pat dry, but don't dry them fully. They shouldn't be dripping.

Step 3

Start your testing! I used apple juice, orange juice, and cranberry juice first. Since these don't get brewed like tea or coffee, you can start dyeing right away. I left these swatches in for ten minutes.

Then I started with the tea. I only did three at a time. Each tea was brewed for four minutes. On the left you can see my set up for the swatches. I left all of the tea swatches in for five minutes each. Finally, I used this setup to try two more products, powdered juice mix (expired) and watered down raspberry vinegar. Now since these are only swatches, these little bowls work perfectly fine. But if you dye something bigger, then you will need a much larger container. It has to be able to hold both the item and enough liquid to completely cover the fabric.

This is the most exciting part, pulling your fabric out and seeing what happened! Swatches 1 and 2 (apple juice and orange juice) didn't really take any color at all. After drying overnight, the apple is a tinted white, almost like an off-white, and the orange didn't really change. That's to be expected, as they don't really have dark colors. The cranberry swatch, 3, came out really nice though. After drying, the color became lighter, but a lovely dusty pink color. 4, the green tea, was a light green-yellow when it came out. After drying, it's become much more yellowish. The earl grey tea, number 5, took the dye very nicely. My fabric has a slight print, originally it was white on white. This tea not only dyed the base fabric, but the print as well. Not every substance did that. Lipton tea is number 6, it seems to have gotten cut off. It's not much different from the earl grey in all honesty, maybe just a little bit lighter. 7 is a mint tea. This one came out pretty interesting. I didn't think it would be much different from the green tea, but it is. It's quite green, and the print was dyed darker than the base fabric on this one. It's quite lovely when you hold it up to the light. Ah, if only I could do curtains in it. 8 was the chai tea, and 9 was the lemon tea. They look pretty much the same after drying. They're both lighter than the Lipton tea (6) and the Earl Grey (5). The raspberry vinegar (10) was an afterthought, and I watered it down quite a bit. The color is quite flat, and it smells, well, like vinegar. Finally, number 11, the drink powder (strawberry lemonade FYI). Also an afterthought. This one is nice too! It dyed the fabric, and only a little of the print. It's a bit darker than the cranberry juice too.

Step 4

Let your fabric dry completely. The ideal way to do this is to hang it up on a clothesline overnight. I took mine and sandwiched them in paper towels. This probably lead to the lightening of the colors. Make sure they don't drip onto anything stainable. Do it over a sink, lay out towels below, etc.

Whew! That was a lot of dyeing! But what application does this really have for the world of lolita? So much! You can apply this method for lovely results when making your own accessories. You can control the color and get a completely unique piece all your own. You can dye lace handkerchiefs, and even socks for stunning results.

To seal the color in (prevent it from fading, bleeding, etc.), there's a very simple method. If you have a big piece, like a skirt or dress, then you can do this in your washing machine. I recommend doing this as a stand-alone piece to prevent your other laundry from getting dye on it and vice versa. Set it to cold and allow the machine to fill up halfway, before putting the piece in the machine. Stop the machine and pour in one cup of white vinegar, and 1/2 cup of salt. If you can, turn on the agitator for a few minutes to allow the salt and vinegar to dissolve. Put the piece in and allow the wash cycle to complete as normal. Once should be enough. Alternatively (and probably overall a safer option) you can do this same method by hand. This works well in small batches (if you're doing socks or a headbow or something), but could be tough for a big piece. Repeat the procedure until no more dye comes out.

Are you going to try it? I like to use this method to dye fabric for doll clothes, as they always are small batches. It gives a really nice antique look to fabric and it's a fun project!