Spring Edwardian Wardrobe

Z here (yes, I am the spoiled one these days).  It's almost spring around here, and we're showing off the Edwardian wardrobe the human made last summer from JenWrenne's summer sew-a-long patterns.  She ended up resizing the original patterns for AGAT dolls for us instead.

First is Nellie's garden party dress, with embroidered inserts in the bodice and skirt.  The human happened to have a yard of embroidered eyelet scallop edging and a matching yard of embroidered eyelet insert that went perfectly with a piece of mint broadcloth.

Next is Lily in the rainy day dress made from a light blue calico with tiny white flowers.  The contrast is from white cotton, and the belt is from a piece of white bias tape.  This dress also ended up a little loose, but that means the blousing over the belt looks good.  (We think the human forgot to account for the extra fabric in pleats on the bodice in some way...)

Samantha is wearing a sailor dress made from this light blue linen with white stripes (please ignore the furry interloper).  It looks nice and summery, doesn't it?  The collar and cuffs are from white cotton.  Because it's linen, the pleats stay in well.  Sadly, so do any creases.  So this dress is usually hung up in the closet and not worn...

Finally, I'm wearing the pleated walking dress, which has a jacket and a skirt.  The outfit is made from a black cambric, with white contrast cuffs on the jacket.  The collar of the jacket didn't lie quite flat enough, so the human had to tack it down with an extra tuck.  The jacket yoke should probably be re-drafted if the human decides to make this dress again.

Upcycling for doll clothes

Z here.  Spring is right around the corner, and that means the dolls of Jinjia Mixed Goods need a new wardrobe for the season.  We're trying to get away from the quilting fabrics and old-fashioned styles and try out something more modern this year.  Which means it's a perfect time for the human to go through her massive stash of old children's clothing and cut them down to size for us.

The stash of children's clothes...

The challenge, as always, is seeing just how many outfits we can get out of the stack.  The stash  of clothing to be upcycled contains 2 mock-layered sleeve tshirts (one red/black, one turquoise/white), a pink/purple print mock-layered tunic over white sleeves, a pair of knit pants (purple with pink and lavender butterflies), 4 tshirts (one pink w/ hearts, one purple with hearts, one white with music notes, and one with a blue floral body and striped sleeves), a pair of white leggings, a pair of black jeggings, and a pair of light denim jeggings. 

Guess which of our new clothes was made from what!

And here we go...

Outfit 1 (Luciana)

White tank top

Turquoise graphic off-the-shoulder tee

Black denim mini-skirt

white graphic leggings

Outfit 2 (Z)

Turquoise and white mock-layer-sleeved tee

Black jeans

Outfits 3 and 4 (Sam and Nellie)

Black and red graphic raglan shirt

Black and red graphic mock-layer-sleeved tee

Black jeggings

Black denim miniskirt (seen in outfit 1)

Outfits 5 and 6 (Z and Luciana)

Short sleeve scrappy floral knit tunic

3/4 sleeve scrappy floral knit tunic 

Light blue denim mini-skirt

Light blue denim jeggings

Outfits 7 and 8 (Sam and Nellie again)

Knit dresses in 2 styles, with white bodices and purple skirts

White leggings

Outfits 9 and 10 (still Sam and Nellie)

Pink and purple print maxi dress over a white tshirt

Pink and purple peasant dress with a belt accented with a gold button

Outfit 11 (Luciana):

Pink graphic tshirt

Light blue jean shorts

Outfit 12 (Z):

White graphic v-neck tee

Purple floral knit pants

And finally, outfit 13 (Lily)

Blue floral knit dress with striped sleeves

Matching striped leggings

I think we got everything we could out of that stash, don't you?

Gothic Lolita Blouses

AND WE'RE BACK!

The human has survived her trip to China.  (So did Z.  And as it turned out, poor Z spent the entire time in a backpack in the hotel instead of going out on photoshoots.  Alas.)

And we are showing off our new spring wardrobe, featuring the brand new Gothic Lolita Blouse pattern from Jinjia Mixed Goods.  This pattern has been months in the making, and is the very first pattern in our Gothic Lolita wardrobe.

It's a super versatile blouse pattern, with so many different variations:

• 2 blouse lengths (long and peplum)
• 4 blouse fronts
• 4 collar styles 
• 8 sleeve styles
• Optional corset back lacing

If you're counting, that's 256 different blouses in one pattern.

Get it at our etsy store here:  Gothic Lolita Blouse Pattern.  Use the code JMG10TH until May 10 for a 10% off $5 or more.

Kana and Lily are the models for the detailed blouse pictures.  First up, the peplum blouse with corset back lacing.

 Kana's blouse has giant puffed sleeves with lots of lace insertion, a pointed collar, and a simple front (to counteract all the lace on the sleeves...).

 The best thing about lolita style is just how much trim you can put on one blouse.  If there's a seam, there's trim.  Best trims include 1/2" lace, flat or ruffled and tiny braids.

Lily's blouse is the opposite:  a super complicated blouse front, with very simple straight sleeves and a standup collar.  The sleeve also has lace insertion, and the blouse front has trim at almost all the seams.

 We don't know about you, but lace insertion is just so fun and easy, and makes anything look elegant.

Next up:  the long blouse variant with a plain back.  The corset lacing is for adjusting fit, since AG seems to be changing doll sizes with every production run.

This blouse definitely the classic blouse with a Peter Pan collar and (for the human) minimal ruffles and lace.  Just tiny ruffles at the front placket and around the collar.  It's good for a mid-century look.

 But there's also the flared/bell sleeve, if you want something a tad more 70s.

Country Lolita Style for Valentine's Day

Kana here.  Valentine's Day (and Chinese New Year) are just around the corner, which means new clothes are a must.  The human was trying out some of her pattern design skills, and came up with these two dresses for us.  Both dress have princess seams and more lace and ruffles than a dress really needs, even though we all know there is no such thing as too much lace.

As an early Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year present, here are some links to our previous holiday crafts: 

Valentine's Day Printables and Chinese New Year's Printables

But now onto the dresses.

Z's dress closes in the front with a row of tiny buttons (and working buttonholes).  There's tiny lace trim along the front placket and around the collar, and lace ruffle at the hem.  The back has corset-style lacing for an adjustable fit.  Four different types of lace sacrificed themselves for this dress.

My dress has a cute bib-front and a round collar, decorated with a tiny coordinating button.  The dress closes in the back with velcro, but also has the corset-lacing backing for a better fit.  The bottom hem has a lace ruffle, and lace edging besides.  But the best parts are the puff sleeves, with lace insertion in the puff and the cuff, and even more lace trimming at the hems and the sleeve seams.  This is all-out lace and girly-ness, and I love it.

The human needs to make some more adjustments to these patterns before releasing them into the wilds of Etsy, so keep tuned.