Autumnal Prints

One of the best things about Lolita is the fact that there are so many different themes that there is something appropriate for every season and occasion. One of my favorite, and the most practical, thing to match my Lolita coordinates to is the season. There are a few things that, to me, are just perfect to wear in the Fall season. You don't have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe for Fall, and you're not forbidden to wear anything not on this short list, but here are some suggestions and ideas if you are looking to add a special piece or two to match this season.

Autumnal prints
  • Tartan. I think the one print that matches the season most of all is Tartan or Plaid, especially in muted and earth tone colors. Maybe it's Tartan's association with back to school, or the fact that it's often made of a thicker and warmer fabric, but Tartans are always perfect for fall.
  • Heraldry and royalty. While this is a rare to see coats of arms in prints, it is much more common to see crowns used. This is probably just a personal preference, but for some reason these things, especially combined with subdued classic colors and printed in dull golds or warm browns, always reminds me of autumn. It might be the color combos that are so often used with these prints, or maybe it's the link to history and so these prints sort of have a back-to-school feel, just like Tartan.
  • Forest scenes. Even if the forests aren't gold and red and in full autumn bloom I still find forest scenes to be very Autumnal when it comes to Lolita prints.
  • Deer. This can sometimes go hand in hand with a forest scene print, but a print featuring deer, so long as it's not Angelic Pretty's pink chubby cartoon deers, always screams Autumn to me.
  • Apples. An infrequent theme that is just perfect for the Fall season, for obvious reasons.
  • Floral prints in muted colors. While pastel flowers might be very Summery, flowers in muted browns, dusty pinks, and dark salmony pinks are very reminiscent of Fall and sometimes even goes so far as to look like bunches of red and gold leaves to me.
Here are some specific prints that always feel very Autumnal to me, especially in these colors.

What are some of your favorite pieces to wear in the Fall? Or pieces, prints or non-prints, that you've always wanted to get a hold of to wear in this season? Do you match your wardrobe, even just some of it, to the seasons? Or does your wardrobe know no seasons besides adding some layers in the winter?

So You Want To Start A Lolita Blog?

While this isn't from my backlog of Ask Miss Caro-chan questions, it is a question I have been asked a lot. That question is: how do you go about starting a Lolita blog? I've had this blog for over a year, and if I do say so myself, it has been pretty successful, at least, a whole lot more successful than I ever thought it would be when I started! So with this post I will be sharing a few tips and tricks that I picked up along the way.

Before you make your first post
There's really not a whole lot of prep you have to do before you make your first post, but there are a couple things that really help.
  • First of all, you're going to need a blog name. Now, judging from my own blog's name, I don't really have a lot of tips for picking a good name! But toss some ideas around in your head and try to pick something both fitting and something that isn't already taken. Do a Google search for your future blog name to make sure that there isn't anything else with that name.
  • Make a list of blog posts you would like to make. You don't even have to have any idea about what you want to write in those posts, just do some brainstorming about what it is you would like to write about, or even what you would like to read about. I do this every month or so, I don't always follow my list, but it's really handy to pull up whenever I'm a bit lost about what to write about.
  • Set up your blog. Before you even make your first post, you're going to need somewhere to put it! I use Blogger and I would highly recommend it. Personally, it has everything I think I could ever need. Wordpress is also a popular choice, but I have never used it. Some people use Livejournal, but honestly I wouldn't suggest it for a public blog because Livejournal is seen much more as a personal journal site, and some people are hesitant about reading other people's Livejournals.

Tips and tricks for starting your own Lolita blog
Once you have a name, a place, and some ideas for your blog once it's time to get started!
  • Comment on other blogs. The best way to get your blog's name out there is to comment on other blogs. Remember to fill out the whole form box, especially the one for your site before leaving a comment. And, of course, leave a genuine comment about the post you are commenting on, don't just ask them to visit your blog or spam their blog with obnoxious self-promotion.
  • Link to other blogs. Be sure to keep a blog roll of all your favorites on your own blog. Blogger has a handy widget that will automatically post all the blogs you follow. As well as that, link to other blogs in your posts if you found them helpful while writing yours, or if you just think they are interesting. Remember that these other bloggers aren't your competition, they're your peers, readers, and muses.
  • Be active in your online community. In the case of Lolita, that would be EGL or whatever forum you happen to frequent most of all. Post a link to your blog on your profile page or your signature and start participating in discussions. Eventually, so long as you don't make a habit of arguing with everyone for the sake of arguing, people will start recognizing your name, and your blog.
  • Be helpful. My main reason for starting F Yeah Lolita was because I have learned a lot about Lolita over the years and I really wanted to share all the things I've learned, and this, I think, has been one of the biggest reasons why my blog has been successful. I most often find that my most linked and talked about posts are ones in which I share some kind of advice or tips. Even if you consider yourself a Lolita newbie, there's still something helpful you can share! Maybe a handy tutorial for making something cuter, a review of your latest purchase, or a cute Lolita find in a mainstream store, share your knowledge of the frills and people will really appreciate it and come back looking for more.
  • Don't get too personal. Of course, it is up to you how personal you want your blog to be, but a good rule of thumb would be to avoid treating your blog like your own personal diary. People might love looking at your daily coordinates and hearing about local meetups, but most people are going to feel awkward and shy away if you start ranting about your boyfriend or parents or any problems you might be having. If you feel you absolutely have to type up these things, consider a separate, lockable place to write them up, such as Livejournal.
  • Post often. A rule I certainly need to follow more! Make it a point to post at least once a week, it keeps people remembering your blog if it pops up on their blog roll frequently. If you need some motivation to post more, draw up a list of what to post on what days. For example you might post a tutorial or a link to a tutorial on Mondays, a review of something on Tuesdays, a great find on Wednesdays, a personal reflection on Thursday, and your weeks worth of coordinates on Friday, or something along those lines!
  • Get some Analytics. Google Analytics is a really handy tool to know where your hits are coming from. You can find out who's linking you, how long people are staying, and which posts people are reading most of all. It's easy to install and very useful for knowing what your most popular pages are.
  • Just enjoy blogging! My final tip is to just enjoy blogging, don't make it a chore. Try not to focus too much on how many hits and comments you are getting, just focus on blogging about what you love!
Personally, I don't think there can be too many Lolita blogs. Everyone has their own take on the fashion and their own experiences to share so the subject never gets old.

If you want some more advice about starting a Lolita Blog, especially advice that goes a little more indepth about the whole blogging world and finding your place in it, check out Miss Lumpy's series Operation LoliBlog.

To all my fellow Lolita bloggers, how has Lolita blogging been for you? Do you have any tips and tricks for getting your blog's name out there? Do you think that one particular thing, such as getting linked on a particular blog or site, was the start of getting a lot of hits? Are you simply thinking of starting your own blog, if so, what's holding you back?

To the right of this post you can find a list of a lot of Lolita blogs that I've been following for a while, but I know there are a lot of new blogs out there, and I would love to feature them in this post. So if any of you have a new blog, leave a comment with a link to it and I'll make a list of up-and-coming Lolita blogs and link them at the end of this post!

Up-and-coming Lolita blogs

Ask Miss Caro-chan: What To Do With Older Ita Dresses?

Sorry about the complete lack of Ask Miss Caro-chan! I haven't been getting notified of new questions and just now realized I had a bunch of questions waiting for me. So hopefully I can work through the backlog of questions in the next few weeks.

My first question is a tough one that many Lolitas have to deal with:

In the past i started out as an ita loli but wish to start afresh. i have begun buying Qutieland clothing but i still have two ita dresses. What should i do with them? they cost me about $150 each and i doubt i can sell them... xXx

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a few lace monster skeletons in my closet, but what to do with these? Especially if, like most lace monster dresses, they cost quite a bit more than they are probably worth, it's sometimes hard to just toss out a dress that cost you so much, even if you're currently embarrassed about it. Luckily, you have a few options when it comes to dresses like these.
  • Bite the bullet and sell it. You're definitely not going to get as much as you paid for it, and honestly, if you are going to sell it on the egl_comm_sales you're probably not going to get much more than $20. If you sell it on Ebay you have a little better chance of getting some more money for it, as the market is entirely different than the comm_sales. People are on the comm_sales are looking to buy Lolita and strictly Lolita, while on Ebay you're going to get cosplayers and people who just like that particular style.
  • Modify it. A better option is open to you depending on your creativity, skill, and what the original dress looked like (and is made of! Amazing, creative sewing skills really can't save a dress made out of neon pink costume satin!). If the dress is Ita simply because it has some bad lace on it, take the lace off. If it's very short, you can either attempt to add a row or two of ruffles to the bottom or wear an under skirt with it. If there are other typical Ita trademarks such as very wide corset lacing, huge bell sleeves, large and poorly made bows, all of these things can either be removed, or with some skill in sewing, modified.
  • Wear it in new ways. This is an option if your dress isn't so much Ita as it is simply out of date and not of the best quality. After you've removed any thing you feel is cheap or unattractive try to think up some unique and up-to-date ways to coordinate the dress. If the dress comes with accessories such as leg warmers, detachable sleeves that don't attach to anything, or a rectangle headdress with too much lace on it, simply don't wear that piece with the dress. If you want to try to make something that is borderline Ita be unquestionably Lolita make sure that all the other pieces in your coordinate are, without a doubt, Lolita. Make sure you're wearing a nice blouse with it, make sure your socks aren't topped with yards of extra fluffy cheap raschel lace, and wear a more up-to-date head piece like an Alice bow.
Again, not everything can be saved by some clever coordination and a seam ripper, but it doesn't hurt to try! Here are some examples of pretty typical Ita dresses that can either be transformed into something a little nicer, or that are pretty hopeless.

These two dresses are typical Ita dresses, but I think they are on the milder end of the Ita scale and can definitely be saved if worn a little differently. The first dress just needs to get rid of that weird, extra long petticoat thing out from underneath it, loose the detachable collar and the detachable long sleeves and it's a wearable Lolita dress of the Gothic persuasion. The lace up V in the back is kind of weird, but it's not too obnoxious and could easily be hidden with a long hairdo. The lace on it even looks to be black eyelet lace, which is perfectly OK. The second dress looks to be even easier, just nix the capelet with the huge rascel lace ruffle and there's a perfectly cute Kuro Lolita dress under there with minimal to no lace. Coordinate it with cutesy black shoes, some white over-the-knee socks, a purse shaped like something cute like a crown or a purse with a big emblem on it, and top it with an Alice bow and you've got a much more up-to-date outfit than the maid headdress and stripey socks that is shown with the dress.

While the second coordinate mentioned is straight forward, I wanted to do a quick virtual coordinate for the first dress, minus the sleeves and collar. Adding some decadent Gothic accessories and a small rose headband could give new life to a dress like this.


Here are two typically Ita dresses that certainly look like dresses I bought in my early Lolita days! The first dress is covered in huge stiff bows, to the point that you can hardly see the actual dress under all of them! The second dress, while a little better, suffers from the typical problem of having wide ruffles of cheap lace. Both of these dresses can't really be worn as-is without looking very Ita-y, but with a few simple modifications by someone who knows their way around a sewing machine, even a little bit, they can be a thousand times better!

This is the first dress with the big bows and bad lace photoshopped off, while closing up on the image I found out that it had a cute scalloped hem! It looked very plain without anything on it so I've added a few details that would be relatively simple to add. Some better quality lace along the bottom hem, a simple bit of lace and corset detailing on the front, made a bit more subtle with the use of black ribbon for the lace-up, and a couple of matching bows on the straps with a little pearl chain.


For the second dress, I would remove the wide raschel lace going up the sides and along the hem and replace it with a much more narrow strip of lace. I would also remove the weird little white bows along bottom of the dress and either add an extra ruffle or wear it over an underskirt to make it look longer. I would then either change the halter strap so that the ends of the bow weren't so long or make them into regular straps. I would keep the black ribbons on the front because I like dresses with those kinds of ribbon details.

These two dresses I deem unsaveable for a few reasons. The first one simply isn't a proper shape and would be nearly impossible to make into a proper shape without remaking it completely. The best hope this dress would have would be to take off all the lace and cut it to make a blouse that is destined to only ever be worn under JSKs. The second dress just has way too much going on and also has a lot of weird stuff happening like asymmetrical hem lines and whatever is happening in the collar/sleeve area. Again, this dress would need a nearly complete remake to make it wearable. Dresses like this, that would involve too much work, simply aren't worth it and in that case I would try to sell, or just say to hell with it and give it to GoodWill.

I am not suggesting that you go out and buy some dresses of questionable taste just for the sheer joy of spending a few hours carefully ripping lace off of them, but if you have something like this sitting around in your closet that you are too embarrassed to wear, but cost too much to just give away, why not give it a shot if you have a little bit of sewing skills.

I actually have a few dresses sitting around in my closet that are from my early Lolita days that instead of just selling for $15 I am thinking of new ways to wear. One of these dresses is an older Hot Topic dress, the only Hot Topic dress that could actually be considered Lolita. It was a black and white dress that was actually, I think, a pretty accurate Angelic Pretty replica (it actually looks a lot like the second modified dress in this post!). It's just a little short and a very old design, but I hope to make either a cute black and white Sweet Lolita coordinate with it or a sort of old school coordinate. In contrast, I also have a couple of other dresses that barely can be called Lolita hiding away waiting for me to just plain get rid of.

What kind of old dresses do you have sitting around in your closet? What do you plan on doing with them? Giving them another chance, giving them a make over, or just let them gather dust?

Gothic & Lolita Bible 37

I feel like I've been waiting forever for the new Bible to come out! Like many Lolita's, I don't really buy the Bibles any more. With import fees they are just too expensive and sometimes they are nearly impossible to find without having to spend even more on shipping. So, instead I wait around for someone else to buy it and scan it and upload it to Jmagazinescans, a Live Journal community devoted to scanning and uploading Japanese magazines. Earlier this morning I did my usual desperate check on the comm to see if the new Bible has been uploaded, and what do you know!? It has been! By two different people no less. You can download your own copy here or here. Of course, there are drawbacks to just downloading the magazine, first of all being that you aren't supporting the makers of the magazine, but also you sometimes have to deal with low resolution scans, missing pages, and you don't get to have your own flesh and blood (er, paper and glue) copy of the magazine. But, for free, you can't complain, and you can always pick up the real thing later if you really like it, and if you can find it.

This issue of G&LB was sort of a let down. Nothing really blew my mind and the photoshoots ranged from "meh" to "sort of neat". The patterns, on the other hand, are awesome, and a good incentive to actually buy it since scans of the patterns are nearly never included with scans of the magazine. Pattern scans for this issue feature a beautiful BtSSB nightgown, an h.NAOTO headpiece, a Peace Now star shaped purse, an Angelic Pretty hooded capelet, and an Innocent World apron, bustle skirt, and detachable bib collar. That's enough goodies to make up for the uninspired photos and coordinates!

One final thing, before I get to a few of my favorite pages, on the topic of complaining about things I love, let's talk about these new photo covers :( Frankly, I hate them. I loved the beautiful cover art that the Bibles used to feature and I really don't care about whoever it is on any of the covers. There is, sadly, little art inside each of the Bibles, so why take it off the cover and replace it with something you can find in abundance inside? The illustrated covers felt like something much more special to me, with glamor shots on the cover it feels like just another fashion magazine. The Bibles have always been a little bit more than just a fashion magazine, containing bits of Loliwisdom and sewing projects and all sorts of other useful things that make you a well-rounded Lolita, even if you couldn't always read the language. But the cover glamor shots sort of take away that feeling for me.

What did I like about this issue besides the patterns? Well, there were a few things at least, and I'd like to share some of them with you. Click for a much larger picture.


This issue also featured what looked like an in-depth guide to the different kinds of Lolita clothes and styles and laces. Which would be pretty useful and interesting, if I could actually read Japanese!

Prints I Would Love To See

The world of Lolita is filled with so many different symbols, designs, and motifs. But despite the vast array of loli-appropriate symbols to choose from, so many brands tend to stick with the basics like cute animals, desserts, and toys. This gets really old, really fast though, especially if you don't particularly care for that side of Lolita. Of course, there are a few brands always coming out with something a little bit different, which is always refreshing, but not nearly often enough. So, what kind of prints would Caro-chan like to see more of? Well! Let's find out :D


Cherubs
I would love a Lolita print with chubby little cherubs on it. The fatter the better, I love the little things, they are just too cute! And I don't mean a small 1 color print job reminiscent of Christmas fabrics, I want big Renaissance styled cherubs with pink cheeks and curly golden hair carrying garlands of bold colored roses floating around in a blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. A little over the top and tacky? Eh, not any more than teddy bears having a parade around the hem of my skirt.


Books
So this one has been done before, recently by Innocent World and a short while ago by Baby, but, still, I would love to see more prints with elegant antique books. Maybe a dark brown print to give it a quite, old, library feel with books lined up on a bottom hem. Not a neat perfect line of books though, but a bookshelf of someone who obviously reads a lot and loves to read. Some books laying on their sides, books leaning, books stacked on top of other books, as well as interesting items like old dolls, tiny globes, and pretty containers hidden among the books.

IW's take on books


Tarot Cards
I'm a sucker for tarot cards, I love the symbols and the art of tarot cards, and I would really love to see them featured on a Lolita print. Alice and the Pirates actually has an upcoming print featuring them, but since the remodeling of their website I have no idea where such things go, but the last I saw it was an all over print with tarot inspired designs all over it, which sounds good enough for me! I can't wait to see what it looks like.


Stained Glass Lamps
A lamp print dress might seem weird, but, hey, Innocent World put out a furniture print earlier this year, so lamps aren't too strange! I can imagine a bunch of different stained glass lamps lined up along the hem of a dress with a vertical striped flowery wallpaper pattern in the background.


Jewelry
I'm sort of surprised this hasn't been done before (or has it and I just can't recall? I bet if anyone did it was Meta!) but I would love a print featuring elegant Victorian styled jewelry. I would love this on a deep jewel toned dress, like burgundy or a vivid deep blue, with vertical lines of pearls and gems going down the dress ending in elegant scallops, sort of as if very long necklaces were draped over the dress. Actual rhinestones scattered throughout the print as well as a metallic gold ink would make a print like this fantastic and over the top in the very best way possible.


Tea Cups
Another print that has been done a few times, but not nearly as much as it should be done. I would love to see a muted pastel print with a decadent floral pattern in subtle colors with an assortment of tea cups at the bottom, some stacked up, some full, some tipped over even!

AP, doing the tea cup thing.


Medical Illustrations
A bit morbid and guro, but I love it non the less. I would kill to see some more grotesque in Lolita. Maybe a circularly system that connects to scattered anatomical hearts. I imagine this done in a faded red on an ivory background with the print done in a simple 1 color engraving style, just like old medical illustrations.


Octopi
Who doesn't want to see an octopus print Lolita piece? It seems like every time the subject of dream prints pops up nearly everyone wants to see an octopus print piece. What's so Lolita about octopi? Absolutely nothing, but they are such awesome animals. I would love to see a piece similar to Angelic Pretty's old Twinkle Mermaid print, a solid pastel sea green dress with simple octopi screen printed around the hem of the skirt.


Unicorns
Sure, we recently got Metamorphoses Twinkle Journey print featuring unicorns, but they were much too cute for my liking. I love the medieval styled unicorn, especially the one featured in a series of tapestries called The Hunt of the Unicorn. I imagine a print like this on a deep green background, with scattered greenery in the style of typical medieval paintings with an elegant forest along the bottom with unicorns grazing, resting, and generally being elegant and made of magic along the bottom. Metallic gold printing along the edges of horns, hooves, and manes, would make something like this look incredible.

Unicorns are so bad ass!

I'm not normally not too big on prints, I tend to prefer solids and generic prints like flowers, but if brands released a few of these, I definitely wouldn't be able to resist! If you're interested in learning a bit about the mythology behind often-used Lolita prints, Lolita Charm has begun a new series about just that, called Lady's Lessons, so keep your eyes open for more about that!

What kind of prints are you just dying to see? Do you happen to collect any and everything you can find on one particular theme? Are there any kind of prints you're just sick of seeing? Personally, I'm sick to death of toy themed prints, or really any print that would make me feel like I turned a nursery's curtains into a dress. As far as themes that instantly make a piece go to the top of my want list, definitely religious themed prints. While I am by no means religious, I really enjoy religious art, and it's always a treat to see it in Lolita, despite how controversial it sometimes is.

How To Clean Lolita Clothes At Home

This post might be a little boring for some people, but it's a very necessary post. I often hear people saying things along the lines of "For the price of brand, I should be able to just throw it in the washer!" which is just a ridiculous to say, often times high priced clothing needs special care when it comes to washing or, truth be told, they will get ruined. So, this post is about the various ways to clean and care for your Lolita clothes, keeping them looking as new as possible. Of course, each clothing piece may require a completely different cleaning techniques depending on fabric, trims, and even just varying from brand to brand and from piece to piece. I can't guarantee that these tips will work perfectly on every piece, but they are all a lot safer than just throwing it in the washer and dryer.

How often should you wash Lolita clothes?
This question has a few different answers depending upon who you ask, or which piece you are talking about, but my answer to this question is: as rarely as possible. Most Lolita pieces are not going to spend much time against your skin, you're going to have petticoats and bloomers and other blouses and probably even undershirts between your main Lolita pieces and your skin. So long as you aren't wearing all those layers on a 90 degree summer day, you're not going to be getting as much sweat on your Lolita as you would on, say, a tee shirt. After you are done wearing your Lolita clothes, inspect them for spots that need to be cleaned, if any, and clean those spots up with a damp washcloth with a little bit of detergent, rub it on the spot and blot up the excess moisture, do this a few times until the spot is clean. Try using a Tide To Go pen if you have one, it tends to be quicker and easier. After that hang your clothes up. This is very important because it helps air them out, and often times simply airing your clothes out will help with any smells on them, either from being places with a strong smell, perfumes, or just the regular smell of your own skin. Keep one of those little scented drawer sachets around the hanger if you are extra worried about any smells. If you follow these simple steps you can keep an item of clothing looking and smelling like it's new for a long time before you absolutely need to wash it.

General washing and wear tips
First of all, if you haven't gathered this yet from the intro, never just throw your clothes in the washer and dryer! While you should never put your Lolita in the dryer, especially if it has cotton lace on it, some pieces you can wash in the washer, but you should use gentle detergent, on the gentle cycle, in cold water. Also, you need to make sure you don't load up your washer with a bunch of stuff, especially not towels because they tend to get fuzzies all over your clothes that are hard to get off. Wash only a small amount of clothes at a time, and before you put them in be sure to take off all detachable things such as bows, lace up ribbons, charms, and anything else that you can take off. If you have something that laces up through some delicate lace, be sure to take that out because it can get caught on other things as it's going for a tumble and rip the lace. Bows, if they are very heavy, can also get pulled off and rip the fabric, you also may run the risk of the pin on the back rusting. Chains and charms should never be washed because they will nearly always break. Clothing should also be turned inside out before you wash it, because the piece will fade slightly with each wash and this way it ensures that most of the fading will happen to the inside. Once it's done you should hang it up somewhere out of direct sunlight to dry. Usually a washer gets most of the excess water out of clothing so you can often hang up pieces to dry inside.

If you have a clothing item that was both very cheap and has no cotton lace on it (dryers make cotton lace shrink, shrivel, and get fuzzy), you can, technically, put it in the dyer, but don't keep it in there until it's toasty and warm, put it in for only about half the time you normally would and then hang it up to finish drying somewhere. I use this for a few pieces that are "throw-away" (I hate that term though!) pieces from Bodyline, pieces that typically only cost me about $15 or a few dresses that I consider house dresses.

If you have the time, you should seriously consider hand washing your pieces, it's much more gentle on the fabrics and the trims. If you plan to hand wash, first remove all the bows and ribbons and flip the piece inside out, just as above, then fill up either a clean sink, bathtub, or bucket (don't spray them down with bleach to clean them before hand! Just wipe it down with some soap and water!) with some cold water and add a little bit of gentle washing detergent. Swish the detergent around to get some bubbles and then add your clothes. Swish them around a bit until they are completely wet and soapy and then gently scrub at any areas you think need to be cleaned, such as the armpits or hems. When you feel like it's clean enough take the pieces out and gently squeeze the water out. Don't wring the clothes! Just squeeze gently and then put them somewhere to drip dry. Remember that a whole lot of water is going to drip off a hand washed piece, no matter how good you think you got the water out, so hang it up in a shower or over a tiled floor with a whole lot of towels under it.

How to make sure you don't ruin your printed pieces.
Prints are a very touchy thing to clean. Some prints simply can't get wet! If you own a print, especially a rare and expensive one, check out this list on EGL that is a pretty in depth print list that lets you know how you can wash certain prints and what prints you simply can't get wet. If your print is not on the list, or has conflicting reviews, test a small spot somewhere hidden, such as on the back of a bow or near wear the knots in a waist tie would go. Test it by wetting a small spot and rubbing it a bit, let it dry completely and then checking to see if it bled at all. If the print looks sort of fuzzy and the whites look dimmer, beware! You now are the unlucky owner of a print you can't get wet.

So, what now that you know you can't get your dress wet? Well, the first thing you need to do is to avoid the rain! Secondly, you might want to rethink how you wear it, if it's a piece you normally wear all the time, consider only wearing it to special occasions, so it gets dirty less frequently and you have less chance of spilling a whole glass of water on it or getting caught in the rain on your way home from the grocery store. When the time comes to clean it you should stick to very carefully spot cleaning it and airing the piece out.

Caring for velvets
First of all, you should be careful when you wear velvets, because if you are wearing something that rubs up against it too much you can easily rub the plush right off the velvet so you end up with bald spots! Avoid wearing tight coats over velvet, be careful where you put your elbows if you have a long sleeved velvet piece (I have a velvet jacket from high school that I rubbed the elbows bald from putting them on tables!), be careful about putting your purse over your shoulder, and just generally be aware of what is happening to your velvet pieces.

When it comes time to wash your velvet, don't put it in the washer or dryer, because it will more often than not, ruin the nap of the velvet. Instead you should practice very gently spot cleaning it and hanging it up to air out.

If you need to get wrinkles out of your velvet, you can't iron it. If you have very slight wrinkles, try hanging it up in a steamy bathroom (this works well for other lightly wrinkled pieces too), usually this is enough to get the wrinkles out. If it is very heavily wrinkled try steaming it, either with a steamer or by setting an iron to steam and holding it above the velvet. Don't press down on the velvet with the iron, as it can ruin the nap of the velvet by pressing it down.

Cleaning fake fur
There are a number of Lolita pieces that are made with fake fur, ranging from trims to stuffed animal purses, to accessories. If you spill something on fake fur you should stick to gently spot cleaning the area. If the piece is very dirty there are a couple of things you can do, you can either put the piece in a pillowcase, tie the top of the case, and then put it in the washer on gentle and then when it's done in there remove it from the case and hang it to dry somewhere. You can also actually dry clean fake fur pieces with cornmeal, but this technique works best for small pieces such as small stuffed animal purses, as you will need a whole lot of cornmeal to cover larger pieces.

To clean fake fur with cornmeal you need to place the item you want to clean in a container with a lid and then cover it in cornmeal, put the lid on and shake it up for a few minutes, then leave it to sit overnight. The shaking will help get the cornmeal in all the crevices and help loosen dirt and the cornmeal should soak up any oil in the fur, pulling grime out with it. When you take the piece out, shake out the extra cornmeal and wipe it off with a dry cloth to get any difficult cornmeal off.

Cleaning and repairing marks on shoes
Shoes can very easily be cleaned a number of ways, depending upon the type and color of the shoe. My favorite method of cleaning shoes is Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, or any other kind of generic erasing sponge. I've heard that this only works on white shoes because it contains bleach, but a bit of googling tells me that there is actually no bleach in these, and I have had it work on a variety of different colored shoes. I guess, just like everything you clean, you should just check somewhere unnoticeable on the shoe before you go gung-ho and start scrubbing all over the shoe.

You can also buff out scrubs with a little bit of white toothpaste (the abrasive kind, not the gel kind) on a washcloth. Then use a little bit of shoe polish, mineral oil, or even the inner part of a banana peel to make the shoes shiny all over again.

Most Lolita shoes are made out of pleather and are prone to the outer layer of the pleather scraping away on really bad scuffs, leaving the inner, grey material visible. If this happens to you the best thing you can do to fix this is use a little bit of nail polish or permanent marker over the area to make it the same color as the shoe. It's not going to have the same texture or be shiny there any more, but this tends to happen to shoes in only a very small area and it will, at least, cover the marks from far away.

If bows or other decoration falls off your shoe, or the heel starts to peel away, pick up some 2 part epoxy or E6000 glue and glue it back on. Super glue or any kind of water based glue like craft glue or Elmers just wont work.

Cleaning out deodorant stains
Especially if you wear dark clothes deodorant stains are often a big problem. This can sometimes be fixed by switching deodorants, but, more often than not, is going to happen no matter what. The best you can do to prevent this is to wear an undershirt with short sleeves under your dresses and to wait for your deodorant to completely dry before putting your clothes on. If you still get white stains on your clothes from deodorant you can try a variety of remedies to fix this, but you're going to have to do a bit of experimenting to see what works best for you, and your clothes. Simply scrubbing at the area before you wash it is usually going to help a whole lot. But if there is still some stain left there is a few things you can do, you can either dampen the area with vinegar and let it sit for a while before washing it again, or you can try rubbing the area with a pantyhose. I have no idea what makes it work, but rubbing the deodorant stained area with pantyhose really does work to help get the stain out!

Caring for black clothes
Keeping black clothes "new black" is the bane of my existence! I have so many black clothes that I try to keep as black as possible. My routine is typically to wash infrequently, doing the spot clean and air dry thing, and when I do wash, always make sure you use cold water, as hot water will leach the dye right out of the piece! Use a cup of vinegar in your first wash to help lock the dye in (don't worry about it smelling like vinegar! Vinegar is a common home remedy for clothing care and the wash will get the smell out). Also buy some special detergent made for dark clothes to further help keep the dye in.

Even following these steps, there will come a time when your black clothes simply aren't as black as you would like any more. When this time comes you might want to reconsider redying them. Black dyes are sometimes tricky, as they are usually a very dark brown, or green, or purple, not actually black, so do a bit of research into what brand is the best brand of dye to use when dying something black. Even if it's a little bit more expensive than the $2.99 dyes, you're going to be using it on a very expensive piece of clothing, and honestly I think it's very much worth it to get a dress to look new again.

Keeping whites bright
The first thing you should know about keeping whites bright is don't bleach! You shouldn't actually be bleaching any of your clothes besides possibly gym socks. Bleach will just drastically shorten the life of your clothes and it can eat holes in delicate fabrics even after only using it once. Instead, look for some Oxy Clean or try to find some bluing. Many people swear by soaking clothes for a few hours in Oxy Clean to brighten them up. Bluing is also something that has been used to brighten up white clothes for centuries, what it basically is is a very very slight blue dye that is used to cover yellowing in white clothes, making them look brighter.

Those are all the tips I can think of for taking care of Lolita clothes! Nearly all of these are ones that I have been using faithfully ever since I started wearing Lolita, but, as I said before, I can't guarantee that they will all work on everything you need to clean or fix. Try a few things out and figure out what works best for your clothes, your budget, and your schedule. Also, check out this post by The Ugly Duckling on caring for your clothes for a few more tips, as we both had the same idea to write about the same thing around the same time, she just beat me to it!

What do you do with your wardrobe? Do you meticulously hand wash everything? Just throw it in the washer? Or send it all to the dry cleaners and let someone else deal with it? Have you ever had any major laundry catastrophes? I actually managed to ruin one of my first printed pieces because I had no idea at the time that some things couldn't be washed! It was an older Metamorphose print, Sweets Collection, that I tossed in the washer and it came out fuzzy and the lace sort of greyish! That had since scared me into very carefully washing all of my Lolita clothes.

Some Art I've Been Working On

Recently I've been trying to pick up the tablet and open up the Photoshop a little more than I normally do (which is to say, at all!) So I decided to put my rusty skills to use and make a few Lolita illustrations for my Etsy shop. And I want to show them off here, because I'm actually happy with them!


Click for a bigger picture

I tried to cover the three different styles of Lolita that I love and like make things for, Classic, Sweet, and Gothic. Making these was actually kind of addicting, and it was really fun to, once again, be able to sit down and be able to finish something. I kept the shading really simple in order to keep me interested in finishing them though! I used to go all out and try to shade as realistically as possible, but it takes so long I typically lost interest before I got to any interesting part of the piece.

Clearly, Lolita has pretty much completely overrun my life when I sit down and all I want to draw are fancy dresses I want to wear! Hopefully I'll stick with art, for a little while at least, and try to make a few more Lolita-themed pictures. Because these ones are shop related, I'm actually getting these printed on post cards to include with orders from my shop. I've already got one set! Now I'm just trying to decide if there's anything I need to fix with the remaining two before I get them printed up!

Metamorphose's Moonlight Night

With Autumn and Winter just a few months away brands have been gearing up and busting out some pieces that are a bit more Gothic and Classic than normal. Metamorphose has really blown me away with their newest print for reserve, Moonlight Night. It's a very simple looking print, sort of their answer to Moitie's Iron Gate, with a bronze gate print on either a black or ivory background.


The print is filled with a few classic Meta symbols, including fleur-de-lis, winged crosses, and twin swans. But, as is typical with Metamorphose, they are only releasing the print images and drawings of the future dresses, so you're going to have to use your imagination a bit to see what they are going to look like.


The skirt in this series is the only piece that has a photo of the finished product. It has a relatively simple design, which is perfect with a print like this.






The dress and JSK, on the other hand, have no finished photos are and are a bit more complicated than the skirt, making me a little wary of what the finished pieces might look like. The possibility of the print clashing badly with the design aside, the designs are both very pretty and have a very Metamorphose look to them. The dress especially with the attached choker and faux-corset details, which are both very old school looking details that Meta loves to cling to. I do wish that they had gone a bit simpler on the dress and JSK designs though! Meta seems to have a lot of fantastic ideas when it comes to designing dresses, but I feel like they should leave such elaborate designs to plain colored dresses, because all too often they end up looking like a bit too cluttered. But, then again, hot messes are sort of Metamorphose's trademarks.

While I have learned to wait for Metamorphose to release pictures of the finished dresses before I get overly excited and adding the dress to my dream dress wish list, I am optimistic about this print! Even if the skirt is the only piece that turns out to be the only good looking piece, it's still an incredible print on a perfect, if a bit simple, skirt.

What do you think of Metamorphose's newest designs? Are you sure that the finished pieces are going to be stunning? Or are you not holding your breath until you see the final pieces?

Edit: Chera has kindly pointed out that finished pictures of the dresses are up on Meta's English blog.



I'm actually surprised at just how lovely these dresses look with the print, despite how busy the design is! The JSK especially is just gorgeous! Oh Meta, you are tempting me, really badly.
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