I haven't been very busy lately. We have Anime Milwaukee coming up, and I wish I had more done but I've been so lazy lately.

When I came to Chicago I wanted to write, and I'm honestly surprised that this little hobby of sewing has become such a big part of my life. I owe it to all the super nice girls (and guys) who buy my goods at conventions and on my currently inactive Etsy.

So anyway I finished a dress this week I am going to share. It isn't perfect, I had some fabric I was itching to use and I know would look cute even if it wasn't perfect. I was trying a new idea, and with a little tweaking this idea will be a fantastic one I can use again and again. I'm going to make another similar dress soon using the same pattern with different alterations and straps instead of puff sleeves.



This is Mandy and she was my model. "But Amber!" you say. "I thought you only made plus sizes!" Well this dress was an experiment, and I only had three yards which was almost not enough. As you can see the skirt isn't really Loli full, though it will accommodate a petti. Although it is good for classic Lolita, which is my fave. The dress was a basic one that I've used before, but it usually has straps instead of sleeves. I took a long, hard look at some other dresses and realized I can make puff sleeves by attaching rectangles creatively.

Unfortunately, I was a little too gung-ho about making the neckline modest, and I started the sleeves too far in, and as a result I got a strange sort of V in the back, which you can see here. For some reason I can't get blogspot to let me put another picture in and that makes me sad.

I hand-pleated the box pleats along the bottom. It was a pain, but for this dress I think it turned out way better than if I hadn't.