One stitch at a time

By Douce Frivolité - 16:48

I recently decided that I wanted to learn how to sew. Although it's something that has been in my mind for a while, I had a couple of reasons that triggered the decision of actually buying a sewing machine and jumping into the handmade world:

  • I've gained more weight that I wish I had and Lolita brands are tending to release smaller sizes lately.
  • I'm quite bored of the same clothes we see on mainstream shops, and buying the bulk of my wardrobe overseas would be expensive.
  • I need to do new things.
And therefore, I decided I was going to learn how to make my own clothes. 

I guess I put the cart before the horse, cause the first thing that I got was actually a pattern mook, and not a sewing machine! I had been browsing handmade Lolita sites (mainly blog and Livejournal communities) and ended up browsing the content of several Otome no Sewing numbers. I've been trying to find out more about the series, but all I've managed to get is the designs are created by Shigetaki Akio. As the kanji for the name are the same than Namiki Akio from Kurara System, I don't know if it's actually the same person.


I got the sixth volume of the series, which is kind of old (late 2014). However, I fell in love with an Anne of the Green Gables style outfit and the short winter jacket pattern sealed the deal. You can check the content of the mook on Miss Carol Belle's blog. I bought it on Amazon.es and, to be fair, I don't regret getting it that early, cause it took like 3 weeks to get here from Japan. The mook comes with patterns, basic sewing instructions, detailed instructions for each garment, illustrations by Imai Kira and some Vierge Vampur ads. As a friend requested it, I will probably write a more in-depth review later and will link it here. The patterns are made to fit three different sizes (S-M-L), which don't really fit the equivalent Western sizing and certainly don't fit me, so I extended the sizes up to 5L and will obviously need to test the pattern extension before actually making any clothes.

As for the sewing machine, I honestly had no idea about what to buy, or how to use one. Hence, I resorted to good old Google and looked for a good tool for beginners. I was actually quite decided to buy a Singer machine, because everyone I know has recommended them forever. It was more than a matter of finding one with not too many functionalities but that would still cover the basics of what I needed. After some research and a lot of Amazon review reading, I decided to get the Promise 1409 against the Start 1306. It was mainly because it seems sturdier and it had way more reviews and all of them were positive (except for the few people complaining about the lack of a manual in Spanish or a cover for the machine).



As it happens, it does come with a manual in Spanish (and Italian) and a light cloth cover, plus the pedal/AC adapter and 4 bobbins, two felt parts to place under the bobbins and several cleaning and sewing tools. I had a hard time setting the threads up but using it is really fun and I can't wait till the weekend to get to know it! I've been gathering some resources online and will be putting a lot of love and effort into it! I actually started trying it out on a piece of paper so I got used to handling the pedal, holding the fabric and all that stuff, but I quickly moved to an old piece of t-shirt fabric, which was pretty annoying but worked as practice. Can't wait to show you the stuff I make!

Have you ever made your own Lolita clothes? Where do you get your patterns and ideas from? ♡ 


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