Of a meetup and a birthday, part II

First of all, a thank you to Miss Caro-chan of F Yeah Lolita, who included The Midnight Ballroom in her list of new lolita blogs, in a recent post on starting one's own lolita blog. In that list, I was pleased to discover a few more delightful blogs that I hadn't known of previously, so do have a look! I especially enjoyed reading a very new blog entitled Doomicorn Rainbow.

And now, let the meetup report continue!

For the rest of the time until I left, we chatted and took pictures. Here are a few candid/"through the crowd" shots I took. They aren't perfectly posed of course, but I like the feeling of depth or being "in the moment" that they portray (to me at least). Once again, if you'd like your LJ name added or anything of that sort, please let me know!

Pretty soon after, I had to leave, but I look forward to our next meetup! For more (and better) photos, check out the pictures that Oli posted on EGL

And since I didn't get outfit snaps of myself any before, I asked my mom to take a few outfit snaps of me when we got home. I wore my casual mary janes because casual loli was suggested. Also, the headdress tends to fall forward--though it doesn't seem to have been doing it too badly in this picture.

 
I love headdresses. At the meetup I decided that I rather enjoyed being the only headdress loli there, with my quaintly antiquated obsession with them.

And before I forget:
Skirt and headdress (and necklace, which you can't see very well)~handmade.
Socks and blouse~Target?
Shoes~?
Gloves~Hot Topic.

I don't believe I've posted a picture of the complete skirt, so here it is. (I had to lighten the picture a bit--and do excuse the clutter. It seemed the light was best ontop of this table.)

It isn't perfect, but I'm proud of it for a first major sewing project. Here's the button detail...

Well, I do hope you enjoyed my meetup report! There's been talk (on the Orange County lolita meetup group at Meetup.com) of having a meetup in which we sing some Japanese karaoke. I hope I can go, and maybe even sing something from Versailles (my absolute favorite Visual Kei band).

Here's an amusing anecdote for you. Currently I'm studying Japanese, but much of my vocabulary came from various songs I've taken it upon myself to memorize. So as you can guess, it's always great fun when the textbook introduces a word or character that I already knew from Versailles, which causes me to promptly begin singing the song from which I learned that word. The current chapter has quite a few vocabulary words and kanji from Versailles, including no less than three kanji from Aristocrat's Symphony!  That was the first Versailles song I really loved, so 'tis quite fun.

Most recently I'm in love with "Prince." It would be very nice indeed if they had karaoke of that song...

-Ahem- Back to lolita, lest I go all dreamy-eyed (again).

In the near future, I hope to tackle some more loli-related sewing. I have some lovely black on black pinstriped fabric, with which I'm looking forward to making that blouse pattern I posted a few posts back (The New Look one).

And skirts! I must sew another one!

Of a meetup and a birthday, part I

At last, the long awaited first meet up report! (Warning--heavy on pictures.) The past few weeks have been full of pleasant and not so pleasant business, so I apologize for the wait. For pictures of my newly sewn petticoat and bloomers, refer to the post just below this one.


The Saturday of the meetup was my 20th birthday, so I was doubly excited. The day before I had baked zucchini muffins for the potluck picnic, using this recipe. (I cut the basil in half, and it was plenty strong enough.)

(I had a picture to show you, but at the moment I can't seem to find it.)

This is the second time I've made these, and they turned out pretty good both times. I don't think I should have doubled the recipe though, as they started to go bad before we could eat them all.

So, I got dressed, and we (my mom, ten year old sister and I) were off to the Santa Monica pier! It took us a while to find the loli group, as we were a bit late. But then a very cordial young man saw us and asked if we were looking for the meetup. If I remember correctly, he was the significant other of the host. He pointed us in the right direction (for which I was very grateful), and soon after, we came upon a grassy bank right in front of the beach, where a multitude of Frilly Ones were sitting on picnic blankets.

Upon seeing me, a group of them motioned me over to their corner, which greatly helped this shy loli to get over her nervousness. My mom and sister went off to enjoy the beach, and I went over to the group that had waved. We chatted and picnicked for a while, and I just sat there taking it in. Later the host, Oli, joined the group where I was sitting. She was an excellent host all through the meetup, and I'm very glad she put this meetup together!

After we were finished eating (the ones who tried my zucchini muffins seemed to like them! <3 ), it was...picture time! Everyone was so adorable. I snapped a few shots of the various corners of the picnic...

And now, some non-candid ones of the lolis I was sitting with. I didn't catch everyone's LJ name, but the loli on the left is Oli (of the blog Lemontree), who hosted the meetup. The loli on the right was my partner in a game we played later. If anyone would like their LJ names added, please let me know!

To my left...

And to my right...

 

And to my left again! Several of us were quite thankful for our parasols, as it was very sunny that day.

Later, more lolis showed up, including the girl who wore my favorite coordinate at the meetup. I was very excited that a) I recognized and knew the name of the print on her skirt, and b) it was the Midsummer Night's Dream-inspired print from AatP (my favorite brand)! Later I asked to take a full coordinate shot.

I love her blouse too. Aren't those sleeves to die for? When we were chatting, she confessed that butterflies were a favorite motif of hers, and complimented my handmade butterfly necklace. She had a butterfly necklace too, so I guess in a small way we were twinning. ~

After the picnic was finished, we stood in a huge circle and introduced ourselves, saying our name, our LJ name, and one interesting fact about ourselves. I told them it was my 20th birthday, and they all sang Happy Birthday to me! <3 I was quite charmed.

Then we played a few games, including Red Light Green Light, and... Well, I'll have to pause to explain the next game, as I don't know the name. Oli handed out "name tags" that would go on each person's back, and we had to guess what was written on our tag by asking other people "yes or no" questions. Then we had to find our "partner." I was a Pokemon called Plusle, and my partner was "Minum" (the loli in the pink tartan JSK). I don't know much about Pokemon, so I'm glad I had  her to help figure it out!

I especially enjoyed the irony when a sweet loli was "Gothic Lolita." Then another sweet loli was "Maki" (very fitting, no?)--but her partner ("Asuka," of course) was a very beautifully Moitie-esque goth loli!

I believe the creator of the Pink Zombies Etsy shop supplied many of the prizes that were handed out. I received a blue bow (not as dark a blue as in the picture) in a pink bag, along with her card. The bow was crocheted, I think.

After that, we played one more game where we stood in a circle, and sent one person out of earshot. Then we elected a "leader" who would decide what motion we would all do, and then change the motion whenever they wished. The person who had been sent away had to come back and guess who the leader was. It was fun--some of the leaders got quite energetic and disco-y (notably our lovely host).

That's all for now, but do come back for part II!

Of sewing pics and a solitary loli outing

Well, I am now the loli in residence at my local community college! A couple days ago, I wore loli out for the second time ever, for a presentation in which my partner and performed a dialogue discussing our love of street fashion--in Japanese. Both of my classes at the college are Japanese this semester. I'm hoping to transfer to a state university and complete a major in the language.

My only other time wearing loli was the meetup--of which I shall indeed make a report, never fear.  So as I walked solo across campus, attracting curious stares (but nothing more), I rather had the empowering sense of joining all the brave lolis before me who have worn the frills alone. Unfortunately I don't have an outfit shot, but this coordinate was similar to my coord for the meetup, which you will see ere long.

In class, I had the chance to explain to my partner why my skirt was so poofy (in English, after the presentation). When I was leaving campus, a girl called out "I love your dress! That's awesome." I wished I could have stopped to strike up a conversation with her instead of just saying "Thank you," but I was afraid my ride was already waiting. Maybe the girl will be sitting there again next Monday, who knows? I hope so.

So now--sewing pictures! First, the bloomers... (Keep in mind that I used flash for these.)

Instead of elastic, I used a silky cord (I found it in the "trim" section of Joann's Fabric Store) as a drawstring in the waist and the legs, and that ribbon on the legs functions as a casing, with an open tube in the middle between the ribbon and the bloomer fabric. Here's a detail shot of the cord.

It's fairly easy to thread the string through a safety pin, but very tedious, as I have to repeat the process every time I wash my bloomers (I'm afraid to wash the drawstrings, as they ravel easily). I believe, for my next pair of bloomers, I will just bite the bullet and use elastic!

And now, the petticoat! (Excuse the shoes everywhere.)

It could be a lot poofier, and next time I shall make it so. I'd like to make this petticoat, in particular. Being so heavy, the skirt needs a much more hefty petticoat, but I didn't realize quite how much tulle I would need at the time I was buying the petticoat material.

I used same drawstring cord/trim for this one, and it works a bit better because I don't expect to have to wash the petticoat very much. But I didn't have enough of the cord, so I have to hold tightly to each end when I pull the petticoat over my hips, or they disappear in to the casing!

This is the inner layer, made out of a different material (no flash this time, but I did have to lighten it).

Whoops, that's my hair in the corner. Anyway, I like how it has silver flecks like the night sky with stars. On the same note, there are tiny black polkadots on the other two layers! Hurrah for whimsical fabric that no-one but you will see. <3 Of course I'd love to put together a few gothic fairy kei outfits, and maybe I'll use this as a skirt.

You know, I would like to start writing in "bite size" chunks and posting more often, as I have seen other blogs do. So I will end this and go set to work right now on the meetup report post.

Of dressing for a winter fairyland

First of all, thanks to all my fifteen followers! You make me encouraged that this blog is coming to be loved. <3 I want to thank everyone for the hits, as well!

In the last post, I promised you some sewing pics, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait till next post. I've almost completed my coordinate for the upcoming meetup (yikes! this Saturday! and it's my first meetup too). And so in the future, I will certainly bring to you pics of my full coordinate and a meetup report, as well as pictures of what I've sewn so far. But for now, I wanted this to be more of a "musings" post, as I was inspired by a recent post on another lolita blog...

Not long ago, Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm wrote about choosing personal themes to incorporate into Lolita, for the upcoming fall and winter season. I quite enjoyed her fanciful and very sweet loli take on the "Season of the Lolita". But now, if you will, hear a goth loli's version of a winter fairytale.

Because I am only just starting to build my wardrobe, some of these will be themes that I'd like to add to my wardrobe regardless of the season. Still, I've selected a few that I think would be especially appropriate for winter. As a loli in Southern California, unfortunately I don't get to see much snow, but I have visited Kentucky numerous times at Christmas, and these past two years I lived there for college. The experience of living through two rather surprisingly snow-filled (for Kentucky) winters has not dampened my love for the mystery and stark beauty of that season. And so, several of my themes will strive to bring the cold loveliness of winter into one's personal aesthetic.

Symbols/Motifs:

~Roses. Deep bloodred for romance, and for the strange lingering poignancy that memories of summer leave behind. White roses for sorrow and snow, and ghostly innocence. Black roses for, as always, dusk-shadowed, lovelorn whimsy.

 ~Black thorny stems. Winter is a time of "sharp" contrasts (so to speak), and this motif reminds me of one of my favorite winter contrasts: the dark, leafless branches interlacing against the pale grey sky.

~Chandeliers.  Bejeweled with crystals and lights, they suit the festive decadence of the season. But I adore chandeliers in any season.

~Spiderwebs. Although you wouldn't find many spiders in winter, their delicate silvery webs give an abandoned, desolate air to whatever they adorn, which suits the frozen world. Although I didn't realize it when I first wrote down this theme, the skirt I'm working on incorporates it! The bottom layer is all covered with a pattern of spiderwebs.

~Windows. Tall, tapered windows with many panes, and perhaps the moon or a tangle of rose-vines peeking in through the glass (can you tell I'm thinking of Alice and the Pirates? Specifically, and very ironically, their new Midsummer Night's Dream-inspired print, which has won a solid place on my "If I ever buy brand" list, just behind the exquisite Vampire Requiem.) Windows like these make me imagine Christmas parties at a great house, filled with a vision of sugarplums and glowing candles and guests shimmering in satin and brocade.

~Music boxes. Often in stories (at least in my own), a music box or the tune it plays will hold a wistful memory of a more idyllic time, perhaps a character's relatively carefree childhood. The above-mentioned Christmas parties seem a fitting time for those fanciful, fairytale memories to be created, to hold in one's heart like a melancholy jewel even amidst more troubling times.

~Other motifs that seem to suit winter: swans (both white and black), Victorian cameos and lockets, brooding towers and castles, ravens and perhaps other symbols from the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Speaking of whom, I have discovered (well, re-discovered, as I knew about them already) Nox Arcana, a wonderful gothic instrumental group that creates stunning music. Haunting, poignant, melancholy and beautful. One of my favorite piece so far is The Raven on the album Shadow of the Raven, which consists of music inspired by the writings of Poe.  This piece's ageless, wistful sorrow reminded me of a character of mine, who as it happens is called "the Raven" among his people--it's a title of sorts--and the coincidence quite delighted me.


Now, on to the color themes!

~Red, for winter cheer. Possibly combined with white, silver, or black.

~White, by itself or with silver.  I have wanted to try gothic shiro for a long while, and I think it would perfectly suit a fairy world of snow and ice, beneath the pale cloudy sky.

~Black, of course! Being primarily goth loli, it may take me a while to add other colors into my slowly building wardrobe. However, I'm of the belief that frilly, decadent black suits any occasion. Still, although gothic kuro remains my number one love, I would like to try accenting black with silver (one of my favorite color combinations. Silver is so pretty with anything).


Wardrobe pieces/Design features I would like to try:

~At least one OP. I have a secret longing for at these, never mind how us new lolis are advised against them (based on the fewer mix-and-matching options they give than skirts and blouses).  They make me think of party dresses! Of course, who needs an excuse like a party to dress up?

~Vests. Lately I've found that I love the look of a vest over a frilly blouse. Sadly though it's been too hot to wear them here!

~Possibly more hats. I would love to make or find a tiny top hat. (In her latest post, Yajaira at Lolita Poupee directs us to a wonderful top hat tutorial by Tom Banwell at his blog.)  Then there are always cake hats, gothic style! I saw gothic cake hats on live journal a while ago, but unfortunately I don't have the link at hand.

~A skirt with the top layer caught up to reveal a ruffled underskirt. Something about this look seems very princessy to me. Which reminds me! Gothic hime is another style I would like to try, and I do believe it would suit the winter season, whether at festive gatherings or alone in the twilit winter forest.

~Detachable sleeves, possibly. It does get cool in the winter in California, and of course there's our annual Christmas trip to colder states. I'm looking forward to said trip, not least because I'm starting to miss the winter in Kentucky.

In any case, for obvious reasons this goth girl is looking forward to the return of cooler weather! I've come to believe that summer is California's winter, in a way--that is, it has some of winter's less-than-preferable traits. Many plants die or hibernate in the heat, and being outside becomes rather uncomfortable. Anyway, I hope I've inspired my dear guests in planning their own fall and winter wardrobes, whether lolita or gothic. After all, the "Season of the Lolita" is also most definitely the Season of the Goth.

Of frills and the what-not with which to make them

And she pauses to ponder whether the deluge of crafting and sewing photos she brings this evening will cause any problems in terms of computer speed for her dear guests (she hopes no problems will be had).

Recently we took a trip to the fabric store, so I'll start with the items I bought there. Most of these will be a little dark, so I apologize in advance.

It's always fun looking through the bin of remnant fabrics, and I've been wanting to make some doll clothes, so I purchased a couple of remnants. I don't know if you can see it very well, but this is a rolled up scrap of black lace.

I thought this was too cute, in a delightfully gothic way, to pass up. I might make a doll dress or skirt out of this, and then maybe put a layer of lace over it. However, I'm tempted just to make accessories for myself with these!

While browsing the red tag (clearance) fabrics I found this tulle-like material, which I plan to use as the bottom layer or two of a petticoat I'll be making in the next couple of weeks. I used the flash so you could see it better, but it's much blacker in reality. I love how soft it feels, and there are tiny sparkles in the fabric! It reminds me of the night sky. Of course no-one will see it, but (to loosely borrow an idea from Victoria Suzanne of Lolita Charm), why not wear a petticoat that reminds you of the stars at midnight, even if you're the only one who knows?

Just as she needs a petticoat, this beginning lolita will need bloomers too--so I found a soft black knit in the sale section that I plan to use. The fabric itself didn't seem interesting enough to warrant taking a picture, so I'll wait on that till I start sewing up the bloomers.

I found a lovely and very loliable pattern for a button up blouse (New Look 6599), so I bought that as well. Usually, in and outside of loli I like scoop-neck blouses that don't button up, but recently I've started to think that on occasion, I'd be quite willing to wear a button up blouse, provided it was sufficiently frilly.

Now, what else have I been stitching up? Well, I decided to make a headdress, out of an old skirt from a thriftstore and some ribbon. I love headdresses, and made this one to practice both for headdresses and for making other trifling fancies such as ruffles, ribbon roses, and bows. By the way, this video is an excellent rose-making tutorial.
I'm really quite proud of how this headdress came out. All I need to do now is make the ties out of a few more strips of that skirt's fabric.

As you may remember, I'm making a skirt (which I hope to finish in time for the meetup on the 21st, although that will be interesting since I have a petticoat and bloomers to sew before then as well!) The past few days I've been attaching The Endless Ruffle to the hem.

Here it is! It was quite an experience sewing on the ruffle, so I'm rather proud of the results. The room where I photographed it is very dark, so I had to use flash. The material is much darker and much less shiny in real life. That open side (on the right)  is where the zipper will go. I have a feeling this skirt will be very poofy once I gather it all!

Speaking of (a different kind of) stitches, I'm knitting a pair of lace knee socks, using a sock pattern from Ravelry.com. For the top few inches, I plan to lace them up, so that's why they aren't being knitted in the round quite yet. Unfortunately I am plagued with very sensitive skin, so socks that press too tightly against my legs can pose a problem. However, it can be fun to find ways to work around problems like this, and I rarely pass up a chance to add "corset lacing" to a garment!

Of spiderwebs, ruffles and cosplay

And she returns to the ballroom with an array of long-promised crafting photos, and with thanks to her dear guests who have waited so patiently for an update!

Ah, Real Life. Busy, as usual. But not entirely in a bad way, as evidenced by the photos below of my excursion to Comic Con a couple weekends ago. (Wait...does Comic Con count as "Real Life"? It does for me!) Of course, I can't entirely blame my absence on real life, as various fandoms hold their share of the fault. (Yes, I do admit to writing fanfiction, and I blame that on my obsession with Lady Ursa and most especially Prince Ozai of the Fire Nation.)

Now, onward to a group of sewing photos that have been waiting quite a long time to see the light of day--er, cyberspace. As mentioned in the last post, I have been working on The Endless Ruffle for the lower edge of my first loli skirt. Somehow I feel that last sentence needs a <3 at the end, for maximum whimsicality. Which I am quite in favor of!

At any rate, here is the ruffle all spread out on my floor. It looks a bit shinier than it is, because of the flash. Pretty endless, no?

From what I've read, the hem of one's skirt should be four times the circumference of the waist, and then a ruffle is two to three times that! So you can imagine the fun I had basting, especially with that stiff material. (The fabric is synthetic, but I've been told it resembles taffeta, which I suppose lends a bit of that "richness" I'm looking to include in my coordinates. The next skirt will probably more of a natural fabric--partly because I live in very hot Southern California, after all.)

Despite the sewing tribulations, I persevered, and gained victory over The Endless Ruffle!

Here is a close up of the fabric.

Again, the flash makes it look extremely shiny. I fiddled with it a little in Gimp2, but couldn't seem to do much about it (perhaps when I become more of a Gimp guru). My carpet is a much darker green, for that matter.

The spiderweb design is a raised "fuzzy" material. This skirt will be two layers, and for the top layer I have a variation of the same fabric, with a patter of blossoms instead of spiderwebs.

At this point, I still had the basting thread in the ruffle. I like that shade of blue, though. It made me feel very Moitie, even though the thread's a bit lighter than the Moitie shade of blue (even without the flash).

The skirt still needs quite a bit of work, but I hope to complete it by the third week of August. You see, there is a meetup planned for the 21st, which as it happens...is my birthday! What better way to celebrate turning 20 than to don my first complete coordinate and attend my first meetup? Pictures of all this sewing and meetup-attending will be forthcoming, I assure you.

Now, onto a little bit of non-loli crafting. Last year for Comic Con, my mother and I (mostly my mother) made an Ursa cosplay that I am quite proud of, as it turned out rather gorgeously. So for two years now, I have attended Comic Con as young Ursa from Avatar: the Last Airbender.

At the convention, Ursa found her favorite student from Monster High: Draculaura (at the Mattel booth)! I'm sure you see why a whimsically romantic goth girl such as myself can identify with her.

This year, I made myself a few new accessories for the cosplay--hence the mention of crafting. At Micheal's (a craft store) I found some lovely beads from Blue Moon Beads, specifically their Asian-influenced line of beads, called Orient Express. With these I made two hair clips, a matching ring (looped around my finger with a ribbon), and a necklace. The pendant makes me think of the Fire Palace, or perhaps Avatar Roku's temple!

Young Urzai (UrsaxOzai) has a special place in my heart, so I mainly cosplay young Ursa, specifically during her betrothal to Prince Ozai (i.e. before she became Princess Ursa). I figure His Highness totally decked me out with jewels--do excuse your host's girlish giggle--and said assumption did rather add to the enjoyment of working on my cosplay! To complete the "decked out" look, I bought a few more accessories, from Target as it happens. There I acquired two more hairclips, a hair elastic (for the back of my top knot), and a ring made from a zipper!

I have a few more crafting pictures for you in the near future, which will include the goods from a recent run to Joann's (my favorite fabric store). I hope to post them very soon, but I believe I should end this post before it gets much longer! In the meantime, do look over the long list of tutorials which the marvelous Miss Caro-chan has compiled over at F Yeah Lolita. As a sewing loli, I know that I at least shall find this compilation quite useful!

Now, happy sewing or however it is that my dear guests like to amuse their darkly frilly hearts. <3

Of strawberries and apples

And she assures her dear guests that she is indeed working on said loli skirt, and will post pictures soon, but first she has a rather more lifestyle-related post to make. (She also wishes to thank all of her followers--fourteen before her seventh post! She never expected that...) And now--

Baking, my dears! Of course, nothing says that you have to like baking or any other "lifestyle" hobby to consider yourself a lifestyle loli (just as a fondness for bats, The Addams family, or any number of traditionally "oh-so-gothic" interests are in no way required to consider yourself a goth). Still, my younger sister (the one that made the lovely Fire Nation doll clothes from a previous post) has been baking a lot recently, and a couple weeks ago she inspired me.

That evening, my parents were to attend a bible study, and my mother wanted to make an apple and strawberry crisp but didn't have the time. So I decided to give it a shot, and by all accounts the people at the bible study quite enjoyed it! We still had enough apples and strawberries left over to make another one, so I did so the next morning and halfway through decided to document the process in case any of you darlings should wish to try it.

I used this recipe, which is very simple. At first I couldn't find our canister of cinnamon, so after a little research I discovered that ground cloves can be substituted, although one must use markedly less, because the taste is so much stronger. The first time I made this, I hadn't ended up with quite enough of the topping (I used brown sugar to fill in the gaps after baking, both times) so I tried to add proportionately more of each ingredient. I only roughly estimated, but it seemed to turn out all right.

Now, for the fruit! This is where I started taking pictures. Having had lots of practice by this point, I was getting better at cutting up apples (which is hard!). I thought I remembered using three (green) apples the first time, but this time two were almost too much for the dish I was using. Maybe it was my (somewhat) improved skill in cutting apple slices.

The strawberries were much easier to slice (if you have a small, sharp knife)--and I must say, I felt very loli while doing so! I cut them into thirds or even fourths whenever I could, and ended up using a one-pound container of strawberries for each crisp.

You can see the strawberries over a layer of apples (which you can't see quite as well). It already looks delicious, no? For the first crisp I ended up using several teaspoons of lemon juice, so the apples wouldn't brown in the air. I'm told it that the first crisp tasted a little tart (though apparently not in a bad way) even though I had tried to compensate with sugar, so this time I used less lemon juice and sprinkled lots of sugar on the apples as well as on the strawberries.

Here are the strawberries with sugar (which was melting, so I had to take the photo quick)! I thought this looked like the perfect sweet loli dessert. Even this goth loli thought it looked delicous!

After this I sprinkled on the topping, and then it was into the oven! As you can see, there was plenty of topping, but after it baked some of the strawberries still showed through. The recipe didn't say whether to preheat the oven or not--but I did so and only baked the crisp 35-40 minutes instead of 45.

While it was baking, I decided to dress up. Till now my wardrobe has been more goth than loli, but I have added several pieces that (to me) fit the loli asthetic, while not being loli themselves. I don't usually dress this fancy (though I intend to change that very soon), but I was somewhat inspired by knowing that I would post this...besides the fact that none of my long pants (better known as trousers to some of you) were clean at the moment.

 
 
 red tartan top: Target

black shirt underneath: thrifted? (I believe I got it from my sister--a different sister from the aforementioned one)

skirt: originally a long skirt that I found at a thrift store, which I altered quite a bit last summer (practicing to create garments that "fit the loli aesthetic" despite not being loli themselves). I cut off the lower part and sewed it back on a few inches below the waist line to create the illusion of an extra layer.
Then I gathered the sewn on part vertically in several (well, three) places for a scalloped effect, and sewed on several little roses of red ribbon to match the printed ones on the fabric. One of the gathers broke, so I've been using a safety pin to hold the gather in place (you can't really see the safety pin here). I've decided I rather like the punk-y effect of the safety pin, despite it's being unplanned!

bows: either Hot Topic or Icing

bat necklace (hard to see): Hot Topic

Also: In this photo I'm sporting second day curls from Michelle Phan's tutorial for paper bag curls on Youtube. They were quite a bit curlier before I brushed my hair.

I know the peacock feather looks like it's in my hair, but it's really behind me! The effect of the "feather in my hair" does quite amuse me, looking at this photo.

Here's the crisp after I took it out of the oven. After it cooled a little, I filled in the holes with brown sugar.

Later that night, I tried a piece.

It wasn't too bad--and others of my family, my mother for one, seemed to like the crisp very much. However, something seemed a little bit "off" to me. It's a little hard to be less vague than that, as I'm not sure whether it was "too bland" or what. I may have to experiment a little with this recipe. Still, I'm glad I was able to make a dessert involving fruit--especially strawberries, which are my favorite--and I hope to bake more things like this in the future.

That notwithstanding, chocolate will always be this goth loli's first love. Especially fudge, and truffles...!

Ah, yes--a word of warning to those of you planning to use ground cloves: If you know that the crisp may not be eaten up right away, be careful to use a very tiny amount! The taste of the cloves tends to get a lot stronger after a few days.

Well then, next time I shall regale you with tales of my deathly struggle to gain victory over The Endless Ruffle, and perhaps also post pictures of the goods from an upcoming (and long-promised) trek to the fabric store...