A Maid Costume? or An Anime Cosplay Fix

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

This next craft project is part of the preparations for a special event,  Phoenix Comic Fest (formerly known as Phoenix Comicon).

It’s next week and it’s fun to wear something special for conventions, cosplay or otherwise.

That brings us to the costume.  This costume came from another lucky pack.  It’s sold here at Bodyline and it is supposed to be a maid café uniform from the anime series, Love Live. 

It is kind of both a lucky and in-lucky piece, here’s why.

Underneath the gold necktie (which is a little too gaudy for my tastes) is only two buttons.  You should be able to unbutton the collar and pull it over your head, but even when unbuttoned it is too small to fit over most heads.  That includes mine.

And beyond that issue, there is the matching headband with the large gold bow, also not quite my taste.

And this odd pair of gloves.  They are intentionally designed to fit only part of the way on your hands.  It probably looks cute on an animated character, but not so much in real life.

Anyway, you’ve seen the before…

…And here’s the after.

It looks so much better, mainly because now I can actually put it on.

Here’s how I did it.

First, obviously that collar had to go, because the convention is a family event.  Top-less maids are not appropriate.

After cutting of the entire collar part, I also temporarily removed the sleeves.  I found that the top was a little big on me at the shoulders, so I needed to take off about an inch.

After re-sewing the shoulders and sleeves, I added lace to the new square-ish neckline.  Then I added pink grosgrain ribbon along the edge with little matching bows. 

I added ribbon neck straps too, these look so cute when tied around the neck.

I also added some ribbon on the cuffs of the sleeves.  Everything matches!  :)

Now for the skirt.  Obviously, with all the pink used on the top the gold trim on the skirt had to go, so I carefully removed it with a seam ripper.

This revealed the odd way they hemmed to skirt.  They folded the fabric on the right side and used the ribbon to cover the raw edge.  I’m not sure what to think about this.

Anyway,  I just went with the flow and covered that raw edge with my pink ribbon and added lace along the edge of the skirt.  Now the skirt matches too!

Now on to the headband.  Obviously the first thing to do was remove the bow using my seam ripper again.  But that left it a little too plain.

I just added two rows of lace across the headband with a row of pink ribbon in between.  All that was left was to add a pink bow.  Much better.

And the final change was to add some pink ribbon to the apron to help tie it in with the rest of the outfit.  I thought about adding some small bows too, but for now I’m okay with this.

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress makeover
• Doll undies
• Cameo and Hearts
• Blouse makeover
• Phone case
• Outfit
• Mother’s Day
• Costume fix
• Jammies
• Bonnet

Seven down, three more to go.  The next one may go up later than expected thanks to the convention and certain other blogging issues.  But it will be really cute, so look forward to that!

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Leftover Lace Rosette Broaches for Mother’s Day

This post may contain affiliate links, please checkout my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

Here’s a special craft project and a great idea for a quick and pretty gift for Mother’s Day.

Rosette broaches.

They are so very pretty and fun to make. I’ve made multiple versions before. 

All it takes is a bit of lace, maybe some felt, glue (like the Aleene’s Jewel-it I used), pin backs, and some embellishments.

If you look carefully, you should see that I used some of the lace leftover from one of my blouse makeovers.  That’s what I love about this, you can use up scraps and bits easily.

The first broach was inspired by my old button broach tutorial.  For that one I used a cameo style button I got at SAS. 

For this broach however, I used the other cameo from one of those sets of earrings I made-over (see Jewelry Makeover: Turning Earrings into Cute Necklaces).

So the one pair of earrings produced and cameo necklace and a matching broach.  However, I’m just going to give this away, it’s the perfect gift for Mother’s Day.

Since I had more leftover lace and all my supplies were out, I whipped up this second broach.  For decoration, I used a ribbon bow (made from leftover ribbon) and a flat back pearl.  It’s simple and it works.

Both of these pins were finished on the back with a felt circle to cover the raw edge of the lace, just like in my applique lace rosette broach tutorial.

If you want to whip up a few of these to give to your loved ones (or to add to your wardrobe), be sure to check out my tutorials.

• Lace Applique Brooch Video Tutorial
• Super Old Button Broach Tutorial
• Lace Rosette Video Tutorial (In case you need extra help, or cute cat videos.)
• Simple Ribbon Bow Tutorial

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress makeover
• Doll undies
• Cameo and Hearts
• Blouse makeover
• Phone case
• Outfit
• Mother’s Day
• Costume fix
• Jammies
• Bonnet

Six down, four more to go.  The next one will be up next week, and will be super cute!  Look forward to it.

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Clothing Makeover: Three More Bodyline Blouses

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

The latest craft project is another clothing makeover, technically three makeovers.

Three different blouses, all bought from Bodyline.  I had so much fun fixing up the last one I had to try my hand on these three. 

Two have fairly minor issues with them, but hang tight for the last one.

This cute blouse didn’t need that much done to it.

It has some of the prettiest lace I’ve ever seen and the cutest heart shaped pearly buttons.  And I normally don’t go for ruffles down the front of a top, but the ones on this blouse are actually really cute.

However, the problem lies with the ruffles.  They added the same ruffles across the sleeve, there something about this placement that bothers me.  It makes is so hard to enjoy the really pretty lace, isn’t it pretty though?

Anyway, just a bit of time with a seam ripper was all it took.  Ruffles no more!

I had actually intended to remove the faux pearls on the collar because they kind of clash with the buttons.  But I kind of got use to them, they do add a nice touch. 

So now this ruffly and pearly blouse it ready to be worn.

This blouse needed a little more to be done.  For starters, I love the ribbon bows down the front, but not the odd bows on the sleeves.

However, the biggest issue is the collar.  The wide lace is actually one of my favorite laces used by Bodyline, but I don’t like it enough to have two rows of it on such a large collar.  It makes it look like the blouse has two collars, and both ginormous.

Removing the lace leaves behind a visible seam.  I could have just covered it up with a smaller trim, but I decided to remove the collar.

Then pin it back  on backwards, and re-sew…

…to make a “new” collar.

The odd visible seam is now on the underside of the collar.  It did get a little bunched up while re-sewing, but it’s not that noticiable. 

So now the cute ribbon bow blouse is ready for use.

This final blouse came out of a lucky pack (the one this dress came from) and needed the most work of all. 

Being from a lucky pack meant flaws, like missing pieces.  It was suppose to come with detachable sleeves so it could go from short sleeve to long sleeve for cooler weather.

It did come with this cameo pin along with a ribbon necktie.  It is scratched up and in need of a makeover too, but that will be for another day.

Anyway, the problem with this blouse is the overly ruffled collar.  It’s funny how ruffles have been getting in way, I normally love them.   These ruffles are so not flattering, so I carefully cut them off with tiny scissors.

After cutting, the blouse now has an simple, yet elegant high neck collar.  This would be good look for those into vintage and antique clothing. 

However, I’m not really into high neck blouses, so back to more cutting.

I cut off the collar and cut a new, slightly square shaped neckline.  I find this much more flattering for me.

I then cut off the edge of one of the old ruffles and stitched it along my new neckline. 

After turning and topstitching…

…It looks like this.

I added a snap to close the top and a little bow for decoration.

I made matching bows for the sleeves to replace the odd looking ones.

And now my new collar-less blouse is ready to go.  These blouses were so much fun to alter, I wish I had a few more to work with.  Maybe later.

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress makeover
• Doll undies
• Cameo and Hearts
• Blouse makeover
• Phone case
• Outfit
• Mother’s Day
• Costume fix
• Jammies
• Bonnet

Five down, five more to go.  The next one will be ready in a few days, look forward to it.

Give it a try:

• Loops & Threads™ Start-to-Sew Kit
• Singer Sewing Kit Beginner's
• Loops &Threads Seam Ripper

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