Thoughts of a Millinery Collector : Atelier Angel and I Do Declare

Welcome to another installment in my millinery series! In this entry I really wanted to showcase more indie made items that go above and beyond in the handmade category. Both these women, are in my opinion, sensational and acclaimed in their sewing skills. But  as well as being accomplished in these fields they have been known to dabble in the millinery department and are quite astounding in that craft as well. So while I wanted to present some of their millinery works, I additionally want to touch on their main focus of their talent, sewing. I took great pleasure in being able to interview D.C. local, Atelier Angel, and Ney York native, I Do Delcare, so please enjoy! 

First headpiece is from I Do Declare, one of her handmade lace hats. I commissioned this piece after Rufflecon 2014 as I had instantly fallen in love with her pieces. I originally had no idea that she actually handmade the wide brim felt hats, but when I received my finished product in the mail I was so surprised. I had never imagined this was what she was doing and I was awestruck and immediately a devoted IDD fan.

The hat itself is a soft sturdy felt and looks pretty normal from the top. There is also a simple grosgrain ribbon attached and a bit of a curve on the top to tell the hat has been shaped. But when lifted, the hat has an almost halo-esque appearance due to the hand stitched lace on the underside.

You can see how the hat is hand cut for its length and the brim folded over and sewn in the top photo. There is also a hand sewn sweatband and haircomb to help keep it on your head in photos below. The hat is a great depth and perches well as a regular hat or tilted to showcase the halo look.

Her attention to detail and the craftsmanship in her hats are outstanding, but I feel that these are just a teaser to the amount of work she does with her clothes. This is easily one of my favorite hats that I own because I adore the wide brim and sleeper feel vibe it gives until you look up. I really hope to get another soon in a more muted halo one day. 
Hey Kelsey! Thanks for taking the time to do this Q and A. How long have you been into millinery and sewing?
I started sewing when I was around twelve. I had my mom teach me so that I could make my own Halloween costumes! I didn't like the ones that came in those plastic bags and was determined to do better.

What inspires you when you think about creating a piece, sewing, or otherwise?
I always draw from history. I'll be going through a book or visiting a museum and thing "ah that's a sleeve I have to try out" or "I've got to pleat something that way" nine times out of ten I'll build a piece around something like that. The rest just falls into place.

So do you sell at conventions, and are there other items or areas you are focusing on now?I do sell at some conventions. I always try to get into Otakon and Rufflecon, but I'm moving more toward doing custom pieces and working on having a piece or two produced in a factory. 

Tell us about your lolita sewing patterns, is there anything you have coming up that you'd like to share?
I've been working with a pattern maker in Cleveland to have my patterns made factory ready. My own patterns are ones I've made myself so I know their quirks, but you can't send that off to a factory! I'm waiting on the first factory made sample of process.my Enchanted Blade print to come back to me before starting the pre-order 

When drafting a piece together, whether it be millinery or dress making is there anything you watch or read to help with the creative process?
I always love to have some sort of background noise when I work on things. Old BBC documentaries are my staple but for the last collection I worked on I ended up listening to a bunch of old Bob Vila episodes! Quite a change from historians telling me about the Northern Renaissance.

Photo by Yanise

Are there certain materials that you like working with more than others when working on projects?
I adore heavy fabrics, velvets and brocades are my favorite! I also love working with silk taffeta and dupioni. I always want my pieces to have a really special feeling and there is something about the weight of a wool or a high quality brocade gown that has that. I also really like doing small hand sewn details. Things that can't be replicated by a machine especially. And having a lining in a surprising fabric is something I like too. Like a bit of lace trim on the inside of the dress that only the wearer sees; details like that make things feel special to me.

Photo by Xin Photography

Here is I Do Declare's facebook, and for latest updates be sure to also check their instagram and  etsy.




My second showcase is for the infamous halo bonnet by Atelier Angel. This bonnet was actually a piece she had made for herself and you can follow the process of its creation cataloged in her tumblr here, here, here, and here. As an avid follower of her sewing projects, her dabbling into bonnet making was really quite inspirational and wonderful to keep up as she progressed with its construction. It was a very rare opportunity to procure this one of a kind item and such a stellar piece of lolita millinery and to record date by far the crown jewel of my collection.

The bonnet came with a triple ribbon bow with pearls as well spare parts if any of the other pats should get lost or go missing. Such a doll! The amount of pinning, blood, sweat and hand sewing doesn't really show in the close ups but it had to be an unimaginable amount. The detail work is incredible and you can even see the where its hand sewn across the bottom of the brim.

The bonnet is actually three different shades of gold and with the way its constructed; it gives it a lot of textured depth when worn, especially with the accompaniment of intricate trim covered with varied sized of pearls. The back of the bonnet is equally as refined and you can actually see the texture created.

So while I'm happy to own this wonderful piece, it is a bit of a challenge to wear sometimes! The reason is, I believe the original owners head was a little bit smaller than mine so when worn properly, the bonnet actually kind of bows a bit awkwardly. I have to wear it really forward, but I guess if no one else notices it doesn't really matter, haha. I'm very very happy that I own this piece and sort of wish she would make more bonnet/hat items; but given the amount of time this one took, I totally see why she plans on not doing it anytime soon or any sort of mass production of such. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a huge lolita inspiration as a friend and to own a piece of her work makes it all that much more a special sentimental piece for me.

How long have you been into millinery and sewing?

I've been sewing since 2000. Mostly cobbled together cosplay costumes with high school friends. But I didn't get serious about apparel sewing until I became interested in lolita fashion in 2003. Japanese brands didn't ship overseas and going through a shopping service was quite daunting and expensive at that time. I've always liked working with my hands, so I decided to teach myself how to sew for real. Admittedly it was a lot of trial and error at first, but overall a very rewarding skill. Some people still remember my Antique Beast rococo OP replica I made from 2005 when I meet people even now. I tried my hand at millinery for the first time 2 years ago when hard brimmed bonnets came in fashion. With a wired under-structure, the piece becomes even more sculptural in nature and that opens up a whole different door of possibilities. I just hate all the hand sewing that’s involved. 

What inspires you when you think about creating a piece, sewing or otherwise?

I  tend to get fixated on a specific element or technique that I want to figure out. For example, for my red and gold Elizabethan dress, I wanted to try my hand at drafting slashed sleeves as well as constructing a fully internally boned bodice. It’s not historically accurate at all since I picked and chose which elements I thought were fun to make. I think of sewing as problem solving and I’m actually more drawn to the pattern drafting aspect than the finishing touches. Once I’ve figured out the puzzle, I tend to lose interest. So most of my larger pieces are one-of-a-kind because I never have the same level of motivation in remaking something.  That said, there are times that I just fall in love with a fabric, and I have to design the garment around it, like my gold and black Dolce Gabbana inspired dress. 

So you don't sell at conventions anymore, but are there other items or areas you are focusing on now?

I couldn’t keep up with the grueling convention schedule and the travel that it entailed, so I’ve been selling through the Lolita Collective, which I highly recommend in their professionalism and service. I’ve been also trying to transition my shop to mainly providing computer drafted lolita sewing patterns with western sizing and in english. It’s been my dream for many years and I’ve finally launched last year. The first two patterns are available on etsy for immediate pdf download – one is for a wired headbow and the other a smaller otome sized headbow. I’ve been very encouraged by the positive feedback I’ve received so far.

You mentioned starting to do computer drafted lolita sewing patterns, is there anything you have coming up that you'd like to share?
 I’m currently working on a detachable nun collar pattern as well as a bolero pattern. The bolero pattern will be for more intermediate level sewers and it will be graded in 5 sizes to start. The goal is to eventually release at least two new patterns a year with increasing complexity.

When drafting a piece together, whether it be millinery or dress making is there anything you watch or read to help with the creative process?

If the piece is historically inspired, I do research on the construction of the garment from museum pieces and paintings from that time period. Luckily a lot of the collections are now online for viewing, but I’m severely jealous of people who can just pop in on a weekend to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Any period relevant movies also help to get me in the mood. Right now, I’m obsessed with the huge sleeves and nightgowns in Crimson Peak and the huge Edwardian hats in Mr. Selfridge.

Are there certain materials that you like working with more than others when working on projects?I tend to use a lot of pearls, silks, and dot tulle. My friend calls dot tulle, Angel’s tears, because I love the look but working with it makes me cry.

Atelier Angel's facebook can be found here. Her sewing Tumblr and portfolio, and Etsy are also great things to follow. Watch for updates about upcoming sewing tutorials like her upcoming nun collar and bolero digital patterns as well as other neat things!

I'd like to take this time to thank both of these lovely ladies for taking the time to let me ask them some questions and feature their personality and wares. I hope you enjoyed this spotlight and look forward to more from these wonderful folks!

Review : Baroque X Sakizo - Rapunzel Imprisoned Princess

Hello and thanks for joining me in my first review of the new year! Today I am writing about the new upcoming series, Rapunzel: Imprisoned Princess, a collaboration between korean brand Baroque, japanese artist Sakizo,  and dress pattern provided by Miss Anri from Dear Margret ( tumblr for us english speaking folks. ). There's been a lot of buzz around this series since it's arrival on the Baroque webpage back in November and after the first reservation period now closed, the second wave of reservations has just recently opened. I was instantly interested when I heard these three were collaborating for a lolita related venture and could not wait to see the fruits of their hard work these past months. I've been given a rare and unique opportunity to show other fellow lolitas interested in this series some first hand info and detail on this new release and I can't wait to get started!

The dress I received was so graciously provided from Baroque and I have also been informed tights will soon follow illustrated by designer Sakizo at a later date most likely in May. I'm also told they are from the same company that hers are produced at so the quality should be better than the ones I received prior. ( The review for these tights can be found here. )

The print is very vibrant and the polyester material soft to the touch. It's different from their prior series, Ridiculous Circus, which was a crepe chiffon but still just as light. The fabric is very reminiscent of the material Haenuli used for their Whipped Cream Kitty series as a comparison.

In the following photos I have a few close ups of the actual print. There is an incredible amount of intricacy in the print and the dyeing is a lot better from the previous series as well. The black is much darker than before and true to color than with the previous release which was a big gripe of mine. It still lightens around where the fabric is folded and sewn over but for the most part it is pretty uniform in color and a lot more saturated than the older series on this kind of fabric.

The production value is a lot better as well. When inspecting the print, I could not believe the amount of time put into the small details. Sakizo really puts out a lot of impressive work, but I think she really went all out on this one. If you look at the image below you can actually see under the flowers and above the embroidery style bottom border, there is a stretch of birdseye motif instead of black negative which is not replicated anywhere else on the dress. Albeit a very insignificant addition, I absolutely adore little details like these.

There is a lot of depth to this particular dress; overlaing the vertical print is also a baroque pattern overlay which gives it an amazing tapestry feel.

You can see however in the image above, the polyester fabric does have a bit of a lighter sheen / saturation than a dress printed on cotton, but this is only visible when you're extremely close. This is also only printed on one side so if there is a snag the print can become distorted.  



In the photo below the stripe placement of the bodice to skirt isn't really aligned to look more fluid, but I think given how busy the print is, it isn't as noticeable as Pearl Drops on the Dry Flower. There are some loose threads visible, but were easily pulled away, but I left them in this photograph to show you. The birds in the cameo were the only ones found on the dress as well, which I thought was very interesting. 

I kind of wish they would have tried to match the front bodice pattern better because it looks kind of all over the place; but the detachable choker helps to break up the mismatched alignment. A skirt overlay will also be included with this series and would also help to camouflage the misalignment so I don't really feel this is a huge negative aspect to the construction of this dress.

Also I feel that it should be mentioned; that since the print is one sided this is something to also take into consideration while storing your dress. The top part of the bodice has a ruffle made of the dress fabric and it should be kept ruffled correctly otherwise it may wrinkle or pleat in such a way to show the white unprinted side which will stand out horribly in the wine, black, or navy colorway..

The lace across the bodice shown here is also pretty delicate, I would have wished it color matched each particular colorway instead of it being across the board ivory. But I think  some simple hand dyeing would be a quick fix to that if you're a stickler about that. I think it looks very different when used in the OP version so I guess it just sort of depends on your preference.

In the photo below you can also see the very top of the straps of the dress. They are lined on both sides with elastic to make them stretchy to help accommodate for different sizes instead of different buttons for strap adjustments. 

As you see, this is the main back of the bodice here. There is no corset lacing, which with this series I'm on the fence about. Usually this has been an on again off again gripe for me with cetain releases as it makes it harder for someone who is on the smaller of the measurement scale to make these dresses smaller; especially when they are inbetween the two allotted sizes. This particular series however also allows for some custom sizing while reserving. But if you can't get it customized, at least there is a bit more of an overlap with the two sizes available so it's not such a problem as other brands that also do releases in two sizes..

In this second photo above, this is the only place I found an actual illustrtaion of a girl and not just the repetition of the hair and window design. It seems the bodice has a completely different print from the skirt and that may be why they don't exactly align. I thought this was pretty cool just because it makes the print a little less princess-y and open to be a little bit more versatile.

This is the underside of the dress, with pretty straight and clean hem lines. It is however lacking a slip lining, but since this was only a sample dress I was promised that the regular production dress will include a lining.

This below is the side seam which is aligned really quite well. My finger is pointing on the line of the seam that runs horizontally across the photo. Especially with the bottom border print, it was pieced together very well.

Something to note about these kinds of dresses though. As this was just a sample dress, it's normal for snags and small imperfections to sometimes be missed which is no problem because they're samples. However I must stress that with these particular dresses, it's kind of easy to distort and mess up the print if you are careless and scratch or snag your dress on something. ( I think I mentioned earlier my Haenuli Whipped Cream Kitty is also printed on material identical to this. )  These dresses are usually printed on one sided polyester and sometimes if there is a snag it'll show up kind of like how a run in a stocking looks.

There was a small snag when giving this dress it's first once over inspection and I think it also shows in a prior photo earlier in my overview.

Overall construction: 4.7 out of 5 
Print Overall Crispness and Alignment: 4 out of 5 

Regarding print placement and alignment; I found the bodice print to be my only issue that could potentially dissuade me from purchasing this dress. But I suppose it would really depend on how ocd you are or how good your powers of distraction are with accessory placement along these points on the dress. If you're good at it I think this would be a fantastic edition to your wardrobe.. If things being just a bit off alignment wise keep you up at night, you might need to seat this one out.

All in all I think Baroque has kept up to the standard of the previous dress I purchased from them, Ridiculous Circus, ( you can read about my review for it as well as Missing Letter Keys here ) but has improved exponentially with their color printing as well as getting the print crispness clearer and sharper with each release. I hope since they are using a new company in Japan for production of their new dresses, that their popularity will boom.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the upcoming series, Rapunzel: Imprisoned Princess by Baroque. I look forward to seeing more of their future prints and am glad I got this opportunity to help give some insight on one of my favorite korean indie brands. A special thank you to Mana Kim and all the lovely people that poured themselves into this series and made it possible; you guys are getting better and better and all your hard work has definitely been noticed!

And lastly, I want to apologize; I have been having some issues transferring images from one device to another so there are not as many clear photos as they got drastically resized,unfortunately. I hope to have this remedied soon so until then thank you for understanding. 

If you're interested in reserving this dress the 2nd round of reservations are still open until January 22nd. I think the items still available consist of the JSK, headdress, 3 way choker, innerskirt, head ribbon, and bonnet. I think the OP slots are filled already, but you might want to contact them and double check. English and non Korean reservations are done through their facebook page found here. Below is a shot of the JSK I used for this review with everything it comes with and all of the colorways available. 

I am now in the process of making the final tweeks to my wardrobe post for this year. I hope you guys stay tuned for that and thanks for reading!

Baroque : Missing Letter Keys / Rabbit Circus Comparison

I was recently contacted and asked to make reviews and a construction comparison of different dresses from one brand. Today I'm reviewing/comparison of construction for Baroque's Missing Letter Keys and Rabbit Circus. 

Communication is generally pretty good with Mana and they have also as of recent made a USA reservations page to make it a little bit easier with ordering..You can find it here.


Baroque's Missing Letter Keys and Rabbits came shortly after Pearl Drops on the Dry Flower in November 2012 and arrived around the beginning of January of 2013.

I own the black as well as the orange and although these are the same print there are a few slight differences that I'll also point out later.

The fabric for this dress was cotton. The print is pretty crisp and with some of the keys actually spell out the name " Baroque. " I thought this was a really nice touch to implementing the name into the dress. There is also a simple tag right next to the color coordinated zipper though no clasp at the top. You can also see some loose threading at the top of the dress where the lacing meets the zipper. 

The print is only on one side of the dress which is fine and there is partial back shirring as well. In this second photo you can also see that the lining is orange to match the dress which I thought was pretty cool.

 

The bottom pleated hem was sewn to the bottom of the lining as you can see here. It's.. well a bit of a mess when you look at the underside in the second photo and along the hem top right with the lace in the third. I'm not a grand seamstress by any means.. but I would have expected a little bit more from a company who is mass producing dresses. 

Another thing I would like to mention was that with my orange dress I only had one set of button holes with no option to adjust the straps, where in the back version of the same dress there are two. 

 

The print doesn't really match up very well on the side nor on the bodice ( it was a rather large issue with the Pearl drops series ) but it's not that noticeable when the sash and bows ( 2nd photo of all the bows and said sash as well as the free gift ) are worn over the dress.

It is nice however that there are little differences with the print of the ribbon details when placed next to one another.

Overall construction: 3 out of 5 
Print Crispness and Alignment: 4.5 out of 5

I have to admit even with the hiccups with the actual construction this is still and will forever be one of my favorite print dresses. It is a dress I never get tired of seeing and would someday love to own all of the colorways. I think that puts me at a somewhat biased opinion because I am willing to look over its short comings because I favor the print so much.




Baroque's Rabbit Circus came out after The Antique Chair collection in Feb of 2014 and shipped around April of this year. This is also after the Kingdom of Lolita series from which I ordered tights from Baroque. .

 I own both the black as well as the red gold colorway of this jsk with a black and white glitter star apron skirt.. thing.

The material is a heavier thick chiffon, dare I say crepe chiffon? I don't remember if this was noted during the reservation period and maybe I missed it , but I was actually surprised the dress was this material when I initially unwrapped these from shipment. The print is crisp and has a lot of details, even more than Missing Letter Keys. Again they also incorporated the name into the star designs and banners on the dress which I find very charming. There is not a tag with these dresses as there were in the prior releases however. 

With this print, the alignment is a bit better as you can see in the first photo. A majority of this print was along the border of the dress or along the bust so there wasn't a whole lot of print matching/aligning to make sure of. I'm super happy it didn't cut into any of the cameo portraits in either jsk so that's a plus.

 The print is one sided and the fabric dyed. My only complaint about this is that the black jsk doesn't really look black. It looks more navy in natural light and it it is virtually impossible to match to a black blouse. In the red x gold colorway and the navy x gold, the gold is more of a brown and not really gold at all like the trim which I would consider gold. The lace detailing is pretty intricate and is different from the original design. Though there are lots of left over threads from sewing the lace and dress together, the lines are cleaner and not as messy as before (see 2nd - 4th photo). The slip is also black to color match the dress.

On the back there is also partial shirring and adjustable straps. Both jsks this time had 4 sets of holes this time so felt no need to photograph twice.

The dress came with a lot of loose fibers / threads but the overall construction is a lot better than before.

The apron that was included with the jsks or ops came with in your preferred color option and  with or without stars. I chose stars for both colorways. The only drawback to this is that glitter gets everywhere... Seriously. I don't mind it so much, but I did have to shake out my comforter a few times after taking these photos.

Here is also the free gift that was included with this order as well as the extra bow. 

Overall Construction: 4 out of 5
Print Overall Crispness and Alignment: 4.5 our 5 The off color of the black really puts me off

I do enjoy this print and the thought and detailing  put into the print should not go unnoticed. My only qualms are of the choice of material as the dying make the colors a bit off, and since this material is a bit heavier than cotton it weights down your petticoat a lot faster. Also the straps even on the shorter settings have a big tendency to slip down during the course of the day.

The Weigh In 

 

Missing Letter Keys:

7.5

Rabbit Circus :

8.5

Missing Letter Keys is my favorite print wise, but construction wise Rabbit Circus is way better and cleaner.

 It should also be noted that for reasons unknown to me, these newer dresses by Baroque ( Circus, and from the looks of it, the cutlery dress ) can fit a much larger petticoat  ( think meta size huge poof ) and by doing so kind of makes it looks like you aren't wearing as much of one when the dress is worn. I am wearing one petticoat in the first photo and three in the second. It has also been noted that the dress pattern person, dress maker, and tights factory have been changed recently so there might be even more differences in construction, colors, and material choices in the future. In the next week or so I will be able to make a re-evaulation and review of Baroque's upcoming products as they have so graciously provided a pair for me to review.

Thanks for taking the time to read and hope to see you soon!