Shopaholic tendencies

Ahh, I'm using the new interface on blogger now and it feels so clean and new. :)
Okay, so previously I said I wanted to make a more serious collection, but I keep steering towards more casual styles yet again. The recent release of dresses are more lady-like and more of 'Going Out' styles. I still want to make a set of 8 to 10 pieces that can be mixed and matched (like the fun editorials in Japanese magazines, where the model wears different variations over a week), and yes, this has nothing to do with themes. In addition, mother has so much skills in her, it feels like a waste making simple clothes like t-shirts and cardigans. I would like to get my mother to sew more outerwear (and yay, there's plenty of fabric for outerwear)!

 Anyway, while I'm going with the flow, here's a photo of the most recent haul of trims and fabric I got:

It's so hard to find pointelle knit fabric in shops (and rather expensive on etsy), so when I saw these two in the form of cardigans in a shop having a sale, I just went ahead and bought them in the biggest size possible. Oops, more limited edition pieces. :p The lace trims I got from a shop selling trinkets when I was on the way to catch The Avengers with a friend. (The movie's fantastic, by the way. I think Pepper and Tony Stark are made for each other!) I was so thrilled to find elastic lace, they would come in useful for socks, but then, how many socks are already available in the market? :x Will need to figure out more uses for elastic lace. Oh oh, and I love the 'wheat' look embroided mesh lace in taupe. It would make a lovely slip dress with a red cardigan. <3 I only got a metre of it, and I think I would like to go back and buy another 4 more metres so I won't regret not having enough.

Right now, the ideas in my head range from white lace shorts to cream biker jackets and lace embellished cardigans. I cannot tell myself to stop buying fabric until I have used up a significant amount from the stash I have at home, because it doesn't work! ;A; I cannot resist beautiful things. Oh pah...

A more serious collection

I borrowed some books on fashion design recently and decided to go a little more deeper into the designing of clothes. Our brand takes pride in making quality clothes that are special, and I felt certain pieces from the previous collection didn't hit the mark. It was more of making dolly sized clothes that I would want to wear under a casual atmosphere, but I guess lovesprung's muse has her casual days too. (I'm not saying I'm the muse here~ :p) We will make more unique pieces with interesting accents!

Following a book's guide, I am now working on 6 looks for the next collection. I took photos of my dolls nude so I can draw the designs on tracing paper above for more accuracy that my mother can follow when sewing. Usually, I just draw from scratch on a 'fashion design illustration' way, but the body proportions were off, and it was rather hit and miss.

Here's a peek at a white chiffon jacket with a peplum waist design. You can see the inspiration I got from the gathered chiffon trim at the top. I would like to have a printed chiffon dress underneath the jacket too, so there's the white chiffon sample fabric atop the green printed chiffon (from our 2009 collection! :D I was digging through our fabric and this caught my eye again):

And the reference photos of my SD10 model that was behind the sheet of paper (my Unoa model's printed at the back):

Hopefully with this method, it can possibly save us more time to create more interesting pieces with more details! :))

Seaside feeling

I've been wanting to do a nautical-themed collection for a while, and after acquiring this soft navy suede fabric perfect for preppy blazers, I have been excited about getting my mother to sew some new outerwear for this year. Here are the fabric and cords I have collected over the years (not a lot, but the key fabric to be featured):

Designing and creating clothes can be such a wonderfully fun process. X3 I get to scour magazines and websites for beautiful designs created by real designers and be inspired by them.

Also, thank you to all for viewing the previous collection on Etsy! Mother is still working on the Birdsong dresses (and they are all sold out!). Here is a shot of the completed socks. <3

Recently, I decided to give momokoDolls another chance. Some time in 2009 I had bought two of them (a Lacy Modernist and a WUD002), but I didn't feel inspired to make clothes for them (other than a maxi dress for WUD002). I have been looking at Momoko/Fashion Royalty clothes for the past few months and felt my interest stirring again. I still have a soft spot for miniature things :p

Here's my So Cute Marine girl which I got off eBay without her clothes (I was also lusting after a Safari of Dry Wind (cold version) girl for her cute hair but alas, my funding is not enough):

I love the colour of her hair and her makeup looks sweet. I think I should stick to Momokos with nude lips. I was afraid she would look stoned/dumb because her eye makeup is clear and clean (no think lashes/eyeliner), but she looked fantastic with back light! I shared two more photos of her on Flickr, so do check her out properly there. :>

She's wearing this tank top I made (I altered a pattern from one of the DCR books so she'll have a nice scoop neck showing off some cleavage), but the straps were to thin so you can see some ugly serged parts. I tried to make her a pair of grey jersey shorts too but they didn't fit well because I used patterns meant for stiff cotton instead so they were too big and loose. It was embarrassing making this mistake with my mother around to see it. -_-; But she taught me a great way to sew shorts that fall nicely on legs. So yay to that!

April's first release coming up at 12noon!

A third part of our Spring Summer 2012 release will arrive in our Etsy store in less than an hour's time. :>

There's a preview up on our Facebook page, so do pop by and take a look before the store begins its sale.

The pieces in this release are pretty varied. Two sets will be available for both SD and MSD sizes, both include dresses in gentle colours of mint and white. I came across the above bird print fabric recently and couldn't resist getting some. I also found another black chiffon with multi-coloured birds very similar to one of Marc Jacobs' bird-printed fabric! :D

There will also be a one of a kind skirt version of the Galaxia dresses for MSD girls. This fabric is my ultimate favourite! For its amazing softness and pretty digital prints, it was a wonderful find (though a wee bit pricey). I can't stop touching it! Haha, many times I have wanted to wear what my dolls are wearing. :)

Do also expect a ooak white dress set for the MSD girls. We actually had this made last year but I kept forgetting to release it together with the earlier collections. x_x;; Finally, it will be out! It has this delicate embroidered initial sewn on the front of the dress. I've gotten hold of some embroidered initials from a Yahoo!Japan auction a year or two back but didn't have any ideas of how to best utilise them in designs. So here's the first one that got made!

The rest of the items will be from our 2009 collections. Mainly jackets for the SD/SD13 boys. Oh yes, we used to have boys in our midst and my mother made amazingly detailed and real-life jackets for them. So grab your chance to purchase the last few remaining jackets she made for your fashionable hunks. <3

Packing in progress

Thank you to everyone who visited our Etsy shop on the day of our big release last Friday! :) I apologize for not being able to post a thank you note earlier because I caught a bad bug Thursday night.

My family members had fallen ill one by one, and I thought I would be the last one standing... Lol. It was a fever and a flu, and the fever didn't go away until Sunday morning (but it returned in the evening). The flu gives me a blocked nose that makes it hard to sleep at night. *grumbles*

I could only safely begin packing work today when I'm finally recovering (working a little makes me tired very quickly, but at least my fever went away, I hope). Mother has also started preparing the made-to-order items. There are some packages with ready-made items that can be mailed tomorrow. ^^

Can't wait to start preparing the next collection!

Excite, excite! Can you feel my excitement?

Hee hee, I'm just barely keeping myself from bubbling over with great excitement. <3

I've prepared 32 draft listings of all the items we'll be selling and the date and time are out (Do note it down on your calendar)!

Etsy store here!

Previews available on Facebook.

The packages I've been eagerly waiting for have finally arrived today, too!

(I'm still waiting for another two :p I've been a bad girl, shopping online so much.

If I may hint, one of the packages will hopefully rekindle my try at making smaller modern clothes again)

So here're the goodies that reached me~

The adorable macaron charms were made by Jocelyn of AiClay. I just tried to figure out a necklace for msds with a 1:12 sized charm, and I must say, it didn't work. The chain just wasn't dainty enough. Maybe I should try a ball chain, however, the clasps I have are solid brass and heavy, they kind of pull at the back and the necklace will flop up. :( Back to the thinking room on what kind of necklace I can make (other ideas that came up were suede/lace/ribbon replacing chains)

In addition to the macarons, I got pretty lace for more projects! I am so lucky to have so many materials that inspire me every day. There is never nothing I can make. XD I guess I can keep designing things to make and bother my mother to help me realise these ideas for a long, long time.

Lastly, my Unoa heeled sandals arrived from eBay! They're meant for 22" American Models. I was so crushed that I lost three other auctions for awesome black shoes. ;_ ; I hope to get more realistic and affordable heels for my girls in future! Alas, my wallet cries in pain, so now I'm doing my best to save money once more. There is still the need to get a new Mac because my 5-year-old MBP is getting old and slow. ;o;

Here's another shot of my Narae in her hot heels:

On our way~

We've been making gradual progress on the upcoming collection. I know, I've been talking about it for two plus weeks now, but our progress has been pretty speedy. My mother caught a cough recently, but she has been nice enough to help me with a few more designs. ;_; She's resting right now, and she needs to spend time revising for an English exam this Friday. She is such a hardworking woman!

Here's a look at one of our not-so-limited (meaning not just 2 pieces ;) blouse:

This is the slim msd version, awaiting buttons/beads to be sewn onto the front. The SD version is also done, just waiting for me to pick out the matching button details. :) The use of eyelet fabric and lace for this blouse was inspired by Mercury Duo's Spring/Summer 2012 collection, which was also part of this season's lace trends. I love lace, and I love spring. There's always beautiful lace come spring time!

And here's a very bad photo of a possible coordination of the eyelet blouse with the polkadot skirt (and an older piece: candy floss vest).

I have been preparing our Etsy listings with the completed pieces. Right now we have 6 items in the 2 sizes we offer. A one-of-a-kind dress and shorts, limited edition shorts, blouse and cardigan. Then for non-limited items, we have a cute lavender polka dotted pleat skirt and the above eyelet lace blouse. I still want to make more knit cardigans/sweaters with lace details, tank/spaghetti-strapped tops, hopefully some lace socks, tote bags and macaron necklaces!

Not to forget some pretty dusty mauve collars with rhinestone accents! These can be worn under the peterpan collars of the above eyelet blouse too:

It feels great to have time to create things. Oh boy, I was also hoping to draw some accompanying artworks to release with this collection. I wonder if I can get over the barriers within me to make that happen. ;_;