Best Birthday (So Far)

Hi dolls,

As I had mentioned before, yesterday was a very special day I've been looking forward to with excitement: Not only was it my 21. Birthday, but we had also planned a Lolita meet-up! I was determinated to make it a great day, and so it was (^.^).
We met unusally early in St.Gallen and went shopping first, because the shops would be closing at half past noon. We went to Bambola Schläpfer, a fabric store where they sell the most expensive and most amazig fabrics I've ever seen. Afterwards, we went to the factory store of Bischoff Texil, where they sell beautiful lace trims and fabrics a lot cheaper, since it's partly rejects and rests, but nevertheless worth a visit!
Then, after noon, we went to pick up the rest of the group who didn't want to get up that early respectively weren't interested in going to the stores. We had lunch and took some pictures at the abbey of St.Gallen, before the little light that was left would disappear. In the end, we finally went to the textile museum. The exhibition was breathtaking (and very inspiring).
I was happy everything went (more or less) according to plan, and I think we all enjoyed the day, despite of the very cold, undfriendly weather (at least, it wasn't raining). It was great to see so many beautiful Lolitas, especially some I haven't seen for a while or got to know for the first time. It's always fun how we communicate in a mixture of German, French and English, since we have attendands from every part of Switzerland and even from abroad!

But now, enough of the blabber, here come the pictures! (^.^) As announced, I wore my Sugary Carnival OP for the first time, I was so happy!

Outfit rundwon:
Headbow & dress: Angelic Pretty
Wig: GothicLolitaWigs
Bag & accessoires: handmade
Socks: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
Shoes: Bodyline

With Aya

Mint girls ^^ we all wore something mint, such a coincidence!

With Lea

The whole group

And a bonus pic: I was quite happy with my make-up that day, unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture of it until I was in the train heading home after a long day. So it's probably not the best photo, but just for the record (^.-)

Polymanga 2013

Hello my dear readers,

every year on Easter weekend, the Polymanga takes place, an anime and manga convention. It's very popular in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and France, but almost unknown in the rest of Switzerland, unfortunately. Aya, who had been attending it last year, and I decided to go there Sunday and Monday. The convention was held in Montreux this year. It's a really beautiful city, just on the the lakeside. It's just quite a journey to go there, for me a train ride of 2.5 hours. Nevertheless, it was very fun, being with my dear friend Aya and also meeting a lot of people, some of whom I knew before and also new ones (^.^)

There were a lot of amazing cosplays and other great-looking people, but I actually didn't take many pictures. So instead, I'm just going to show you what I was wearing. I decided to go in Lolita both days.
On Sunday, I wore my new corset:

Outfit rundown:
Wig: GLW
Blouse: handmade
Corset vest: handmade
Skirt: handmade
Tights: H&M
Shoes: Bodyline
Umbrella: Lisbeth Dahl
Alice band: Claire's
Rose hair clips: H&M
Cameo brooch: handmade

On Monday, I tried a Sweet Lolita look:

Outfit rundwon:
Wig: GLW
Headbow, skirt & necklace; handmade
Blouse: Innocent World
Tights: H&M
Shoes: Bodyline

I'm sorry for the picture spam, I hope you don't mind! (>.<)
Besides the usual activites, there were also a lot of shopping stands. Although I didn't have a lot of money to spend, I couldn't resist when I saw these cuties:

The five dolls from Rozen Maiden as keyrign pendants! They're so cute (*.*) I love the tiny details, such as the hairstyles!
I hope you had a pleasant Easter weekend too! Did you do something special? I'd love to hear (^.-)

Giveaway Winners!

Hi my dears,

as promised, the winners of the giveaway!

Winner of the Set 1 is Frederica! Congratulations!

 Winner of the Set 2 is Naomi! Congratualtions!

The two winners will be contacted immediately. For all those who didn't win, thank you very much anyways for participating! Please don't be too sad, there will surely be another giveaway soon (^.^)

Je T'ai Vu Sourire

Hi dolls,

little change of plan: I will announce the winner of the giveaway not tomorrow, but on monday, because I will visit the Polymanga, a manga and anime convention that takes place in Montreux this year, so I probably won't have time tomorrow.
Today, I had a really pleasant afternoon with my dear friend Aya, whom I haven't seen for ages. It was so nice to see her again! So I dolled up a little, of course (^.^)

Outfit rundown:
Hat&skirt: handmade
Alice band: Claire's
Bolero: handmade
Blouse: Innocent World
Lace collar: ebay
Socks&shoes: Bodyline

Last Call

Hi dears,

just a reminder, my giveaway will end this sunday, so it's your last chance to participate!

I also updated my sales (once again), and added a pair of shoes, some jewellery and a lot of fabrics! Check it out if you're interested (^.^)
http://ff-and-ss.blogspot.de/p/sale.html

Corset Vest

Hi my dears,

this weekend, I finished sewing something I've been looking forward to for ages. I started making it two weeks ago, but then didn't have the time to finish it immediately (you see, I can only sew on weekends, and not even every one), but impatient as I am, I was brusting to finally complete it!

As you might know, I love corsets. And I love vests. I think both of them go quite well with Lolita and other styles I admire. So why not combine the two? 

I've seen corset vests before here and there, so I decided to make my own version. It's quite short, so I can wear it with Lolita too. I first thought about making an underbust cut, but this is not very flattering for me, so I went for a more classical vest cut.

I only had to buy the busk (clasp? I'm not sure what it's called in English), the rest I had all in my fabric stock. The dark brown fake leather has been lying around literally for ages, it was too small for a real garment, but too big to throw away. The sand coloured fabric is actually a polyester fabric, but it looks like suede leather. I got it out of a jacket my grandmother gave me, she didn't use it anymore and asked me if I wanted it, so I was glad to take it (^.^). The lace finally is another leftover from a jsk.

I used golden eyelets to match the busk. The ribbon was white originally, so I dyed it with black tea. Like this, the contrast is less harsh. It's not the exact same shade of brown as the rest, probably if I had dyed it with coffee, the result would have been better, but I think it's not too bad like this.

I wanted to make something special for the lining and ended up liking it almost more than the outside (^.^). Normally, I just take a plain cotton fabric for the inside, like IKEA-Bomull, it's cheap and nobody sees it anyways. But some of you might be familiar with the expression Innenschön (an invention by Natron I believe?), and I had these cute pink patchwork fabrics lying around.

And to prove that it goes with Lolita (and because I had the dress and the petticoar with me):

Valse Des Fleurs

Hello my Ladies (and Lords, if present),

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend! I did (^.^)
On friday, I usually don't have any lectures, so this week, I took the opportunity to visit my Lolita friend Lea in Fribourg. Such a beautiful city, I have to go there more often! If you happen to be in the area, it's definitively worth a visit.
I decided to wear a Lolita outfit, matching the almost spring-like weather:

Outfit rundown:
Hat: H&M
Doctor bag: Loris
Fake fur collar & gaiters: handmade
Longsleeve: handmade
Jsk: Last Country
Socks: Bodyline
Shoes: Deichmann

Accessoires:
Sewing machine necklace: handmade
Birdcage necklace & earrings: handmade
Snake ring: Romwe
Cameo ring: handmade
Hair clip used as hat brooch: H&M

Found My Heart On A Sugary Carnival

Hello cuties,

First, an important announcement: this is going to be the 100. post with the tag sewing! That's amazing, right? So if you thought I'm not going to make a big fuss about it, you're completely wrong (^.-)

But hey, I have something else to celebrate, which I'd love to share with you! Ready? There we go:

I had several ideas for the title of this post, and I probably chose the most shallow one. Tant pis. Two years, two months and six days ago, I made a post with a similar title, and today it's the second most read post on my blog (wow!). Back then, still in the beginnings of my Lolita journey, I expressed my admiration for my favourite print: 

Sugary Carnival by Angelic Pretty. 

Although my approach and my tastes in Lolita fashion have changed greatly since then, some things remained the same. According to this, I still wholeheartedly subscribe to what I wrote back then:

I enjoy looking at OTT Sweet Lolitas, with their hair piled up and covered in accessoires. Sugary Carnival therefore is - for me - the incarnation of OTT Sweet itself. This is probably the only brand item with Sweet print I'd really like to have (one day, you know...), I think either in lavender or in black.

Who would have thought, that, one day, these reveries would turn into reality? Me certainly not.

But nevertheless, they did, and today I can announce proudly to be the owner of the OP re-release in black, with matching socks and headbow. I'm sooooo happy, you can't imgaine (^.^)

(By the way, my observant readers might have guessed it after reading my next-to-last post, I hinted it a little).

So, altogether oblivious of the fact that I just had spent my whole budget on this dress, I decided that, in order to wear it with dignity, I needed some more accessoires. 

The first that sprang to my mind was the infamous Magical Pony Bag by Angelic Pretty, which is often seen coordinated with the print. I like ponies, and I like the idea of a pony as a handbag, but I really don't like AP's interpretation.

It's creepy, right? It's creepy as fuck, especially with these closed eyes. I mean, come on, AP, you can do that better!
Anyways, I thought I definitively can do that better (she said that so humbly). As I never made a plushy from scratch beore, I decided to buy one and turn it into a bag. When I saw this little fellow, I fell in love immediately:

It's face is sooo cute!
The biggest problem was that it was in a lying position, whereas I wanted it to stand. So I had to take most of its body apart, cut new pieces hoping it would turn out as I imagined and sewing it back together, thereby adding pink and shocking pink fleece fabric, which match the print quite well.
I sewed a lot by hand, and I think it turned out not too bad. Or what do you think?

The head is only supported when there is something in the bag, otherwise it hangs a little sadly. This is not a big problem as I tend to stuff too many thing in my bags anyways.

The reins are made of hear-shaped plastic beads, arranged in a rainbow (*.*)

It's sooo fluffy (^_^).

On the saddle, I used a heart-shaped ornamental stich to add some detail. Yes, my sewing machine provides it, isn't that amazing? I made the saddle towards the end, if I had thought about it earlier, I would have adorned more pieces, like the hoove parts...

I also had fun adding lots of bows everywhere (^.^)

I know, people could say it's a replica (I can already hear them scream). Yes, formally, it's a replica. And yes, I'm against this kind of thievery, because it can really hurt a fashion label. But (yes, there's a but), I'm not going to sell it, I won't make any profit out of it. I just made it for myself. So I hope the Lolita gods and Mana will stretch a point here.

Anyways, after that, I turned towards more crafting activities and made another matching headbow, a necklace and some bracelets:

For the headband, I made double bows with the fleece fabric, added a mini my little pony and glued the whole thing on a headband. First, I wanted to make only hair clips, but then decided that a headband would be more convenient.

Also for the necklase, I used a mini my little pony and the same hear-shaped beads I already took for the bag.

So, that was it with the long post, congratulations if you made it until here!

The question remains, when am I going to wear all this crap? For the nex meet-up, of course! I'm really looking forward to it, as I'll see a lot of dear people again, and coincidentally it coincides with my birthday, too! So this just has to be a great day, right? Let's just hope it won't be raining, because then I'll have a big problem...