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Christmas Crafts: Diy Elf on a Shelf with Outfit Tutorial

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Saturday, May 19, 2018

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.

The old costume before the makeover.  It was bought from Bodyline in a lucky pack.  It is supposed to be a maid cafe outfit from the anime series Love Live.

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 cafĂ© uniform from the anime series, Love Live

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

A close up of the collar (which is too small to fit over the head even when unbottoned) and the golden necktie.  The gold is too much for my tastes.

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.

A close up of the matching maid headband that includes a rather large black and gold bow angled on the headband.  It will have to go.

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

The odd pair of gloves that came with the costume.  They are intentionally made to fit only about half way donw your hand.  It looks okay on the animated show, but not in real life.

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…

The made costume after the makeover.  The collar is gone with a pretty new lace and pink ribbon trimmed neckline.  The headband is now trimmed with ribbon and lace with a matching ribbon bow.  There is lace and pink ribbon along the skirt and more ribbon on the apron.  And no more odd gloves!

…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.

A close up of the collar before the makeover to demonstrate what was done to improve the maid costume.

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

The collar was cut off along with the sleeves, and an inch of fabric was cut of the shoulders to adjust the fit.

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.

A close up of the new neckline of the costume.  After resewing the shoulders and sleeves, the new neckine one sewn with added lace.  Pink ribbon was added along the edge along with two tiny pink bows at the corners of the rather square shaped neckline.  Two straps of ribbon were also added.  These are to be criss-crossed and tied around the neck when worn for a pretty touch.

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.

A close up of the sleeve.  Pink ribbon was added along the cuff of the puffed sleeve.  It looks so cute.

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

A close up of the skirt hem during the makeover process.  It had gold ribbon along the edge, but this was removed to reveal a raw edge.

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.

After the makeover, the skirt is finished with the same lace and ribbon as the new neckline.

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!

The maid style headband with the old large bow.  The bow was carefully removed with a seam ripper, but it looks too plain without it.

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.

The maid headband after a makeover.  Two rows of lace were added with a line of pink ribon running down between them.  The headband is finished with pink ribbon bow which is cute but a little more subtle than the old bow.

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.

A close up of the apron.  Pink ribbon was added along the apron ruffle to tie it in with the rest of the newly made-over costume.

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:

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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Friday, May 11, 2018

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.

Two broaches made from scraps of pretty lace.  One has a bow and pearl center, the other has a cameo.

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.

Close up of the cameo lace rosette broach.

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.

Close up of the pearl and lace rosette broach.

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.

Close up of the back of the broach.  It has a felt circle glued on and a pin back sewn on.

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.

Here’s the updated list:

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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Monday, May 7, 2018

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 from Bodyline, after a little makeover.

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.

Blouse l364 from Bodyline, before a little alteration.  It has puffed sleeves with bows, heart shaped buttons, ruffles down the front, and a peter pan collar trimmed with faux pearls and lace.  A great blouse for lolita fashion.

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.

Close up of the blouse sleeve with it's pretty lace.

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?

The blouse sleeve after removing the ruffle with a seam ripper.

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

Close up of the collar of the blouse.  You can see that the faux pearls on the collar do not quite match the pearl heart buttons down the front.

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. 

Bodyline blouse l364 after removing the ruffles from the sleeves.  It looks cuter this way.

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

Bodyline blouse l015 before a little alteration.  It's a decent blouse for those into lolita fashion, with a couple of changes.

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.

Close up of the blouse collar showing off the pretty lace.  It would look great if it wasn't for the extra row of the same wide ruffled lace.  It makes it look like there are two collars instead of one.

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.

Removed the collar and the extra lace from the collar.  There is a visable seam where the extra lace use to be, we will need to deal with this.

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.

Pin and re-sew the collar back on to the blouse, but backwards on the blouse so the odd seam won't show.

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

The re-sew collar of the blouse, the extra lace is gone and the strange seam is on the under side of the collar so you can't see it.

…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. 

The madeover Bodyline blouse l015.  The extra row of lace on the collar has been removed along with the bows on the sleeves.

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

Bodyline blouse l582 before a dramatic makeover.  It came out of a lucky pack so it is missing the detachable sleeves.  The collar will be removed and a new neckline will be sewn.

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.

Close up of the cameo pin that came with the blouse, it is a little scratched up and could use a makeover too.  That will be for another craft project.

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.

Close up of the blouse collar. It is a high straight collar with two layers of ruffles with lace.  The ruffles are overdone and will be removed with small scissors.

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.

The high collar of the blouse after removing the ruffles.  It looks great like this and could easily be worn for vintage and antique clothing styles like steam punk as well as lolita fashion.

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.

The blouse with the collar cut off.  The new neckline is cute in a pretty square shape and just needs to be trimmed and finished.

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

Some lace and edging from one of the ruffles as been sewn along the new neckline.  Just need to turn it and top stitch in place.

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

After turning and topstitching…

Close up of the new finished neckline for the blouse.  It has nice lace along the edge and a bow on the front.

…It looks like this.

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

Close up of one of the sleeves.  The bows were replaced with cute little ones that match the one on the front of the blouse.

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

Bodyline blouse l582 after a lot of sewing.  The collar has been removed completely, the neckline changed and bows removed and added.  It is now an adorable lolita style blouse.

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:

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


Give it a try:

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