ABOUT

A client of mine wanted me to do a guro lolita (gore lolita) bow for her. I am not that familiar with the substyle but I’ve always seen it done in white with a blood-splattered-all-over look. However, a simple white bow would be just that - simple. So I went on and did some brainstorming. What could make the bow more dynamic, interesting, and creative? It then hit me that Guro Lolita was basically an injured Lolita (poor, poor girl!) Instead of making just a plain white bow, I decided to play around with textures and mimic the effect of layered bandages. All my client needs to do then is splatter blood (or just paint) all over it for a more believable Guro Lolita Bow.  

MATERIALS

1. Fusible interfacing
2. Muslin cloth
3. Shears
4. Iron
5. Sewing machine or a needle and thread (handstitch)
6. Fabric glue (optional)

STEPS

1. Cut the interfacing into 3 rectangles. You’re free to use your preferred size but they have to vary in measurements. Make sure you are working with the stick-on side, you could determine this by bringing the sheet to a light source. The stick-on’s side is shiny and looks like it has dried glue all over it. Take the two bigger pieces and fold them in half. These would be your bow parts. Do the same for the smallest rectangle. This would serve as the middle strip that would hold the two bigger pieces together. Sew edges together. Open up the pieces and fold them again, this time positioning the stitched edges on the middle. 

2. Prepare your strips of cloth. For this tutorial, I used Muslin since it’s light and frays rather well, makes for a good torn bandages effect. Again, you are free to cut these strips in whatever size you want them. Just make sure that most of them could be wrapped around the entire piece.

3. Take a piece and start “mummifying” it. There are no rules in wrapping, only that the strips or even just parts of it come into contact with the piece, especially if you are layering them. Remember that the strips get attached to the piece by the stick-on side. Be creative and see to it that you achieve your desired effect. 

4. Once you have arranged your strips, it is time to iron them down. If you have correctly sewn the pieces earlier, you would find that the strips fuse with the interfacing! Continue ironing until several of the strips stick to the piece. For those that didn’t stick, you could use fabric glue or you could even leave them loose and hanging as this still contributes to the bandage effect. 

5. Do the same for the backside of the piece. Since you wrapped the strips all around the piece, you would see that the back is almost done. You could add more layers and iron them down. 

6. Continue mummifying and ironing all the pieces.

7. Now this has to be the tricky part. If you have your own way of constructing bows, go ahead and skip this step. If you don’t, here’s how I do it: Position the smaller piece over the bigger piece. This is the bow’s front side. Have them overlap for about 2-3 inches at the top. Make the folds: For single layer folds, I used pink pins. For the double layer, yellow pins. Fold the topmost part of the smaller piece. Pin. Fold another section, this time include the bigger piece (and this why I called it double layer as you are folding a section of the smaller piece and section of the bigger piece all at the same time). Do two of these double layer folds. Pin. Finally, resume to single layer folds. Do two of this using the bottom part of the bigger piece.  

8. Once you have folded and pinned these sections, bring them altogether to the middle. Use the smaller rectangle piece as a band to hold the bigger pieces together. Turn your bow to the back side and pin the ends of the band together. Sew. 

9. Remove all the pins. You could choose to leave your bow like this, with all the strips loose and hanging.

10. Or you could clean it up a bit, cut the excess and “texturize” the strips. You could do this by cutting the strips with a pair of dull scissors or the tip of your shears. Once done, attach the bow to a clip or headband. 

And voila, you’re all done! Now this bow is like a blank canvas. Several other things could be done to improve it.

SUGGESTIONS

1. For Guro Lolita, you could use fabric paint to mimic bloodstains.
2. For an antique Victorian doll look, you could use coffee to make your bow look old and worn out.
3. You could also try burning the edge of the strips for an interesting effect.

NOTE

I’ve given a great deal of time conceptualizing, writing, and publishing my designs/tutorials. So please share, not steal.

This review came as an afterthought so I wouldn’t be able to provide before photos for this one. But I guess it’s not that difficult to imagine how small natural irises are. As for my lower lashes, they are nearly non-existent! First up is Princess Mimi Sesame Grey, sometimes called the Bambi Series, from GEO Medical. I actually got two other colors in this style, one in brown and one in green. I’ve been wearing circle lens for years and I just could not wait to try on the bigger 15mm ones! Plus, I am close to blind without these graded lens. Talk about -3.25 myopia for both eyes. Left is the wrong side. I find this design special as it has these brown/yellowish specks towards the center. These specks make the lens look natural, almost blending in with your real iris. The limbal ring, the thick, black outline of the lens, contributes to the enlargement effect. If you’re going for a natural look, this design might end up a bit too big. As for the color, I love how the grey shows on my dark irises. I used to own an entire Geo Angel and Nudy series and I remember how frustrated I got when I could not have the colors show, unless I’m under a sufficient amount of light. The Princess Mimi/ Bambi series are different and better in this aspect. I bought this pair and the others from Eyecandy Lens, as they carry these with prescription.  What’s left of my lower lashes tray! Ah, lower lashes! They are gorgeous but at the same time, so time-consuming to put on. Or maybe that’s just me, as it is my first time to wear them.  I got this set from Ebay and paid around 20$, free shipping. I never thought I could spend that much on something as tiny as these. I actually cringe more whenever I convert the cost to Philippine peso, that’s around 800PHP! And I just spend that much on lower lashes, LOWER lashes! But oh, I’ve been eternally curious as to why these were so expensive and popular. I used to think wearing them didn’t make much of a difference. That’s until I got to put them on. It was chaos but the quiet kind. I was so frustrated at how tiny they were. I am not really a careful person (that’s why I only have a pair of them left) not to mention a patient one so the entire process of putting them on was an ordeal. But then, I think I could blame Dolly Wink eyelash glue for most of the difficulty I experienced. They just kept falling off, especially when I tried to bend them towards my eye curve. I eventually changed my eyelash glue to Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive and my life got significantly easier. I think I’ll do a review on these two eyelash glue products next time. Moving along, I read some reviews on the different Diamond Lash lower styles and I ended up choosing Princess Eye as I were after a more dramatic, bold look. And yes, I wouldn’t spend 20$ on something that wouldn’t be that visible! Of course they look so huge close up, you would say. But these babies, both the lower lashes and circle lens still register as huge and as bold in mid shots! All in all, I think it’s money well spent! Now if you got distracted by my bow (yes I find that a good thing), I think you’d be happy to know that I made it, together with the dress. If you want something like it, and maybe a dress, do visit my page as I accept commissions/custom orders. Then maybe I could buy myself another tray of Princess Eye, hehe!

I’ve been meaning to write this entry hoping I could chase the loneliness away. I thought that if I gave myself time to reminisce and look back I would stop feeling so empty. My work is one of the things that have kept me sane. 

I.

The first Wa Lolita ensemble I made.

Shoot in Little Tokyo, Makati, with Chai and Luisa.

Purchased and worn by Jannelle.

II.

The first and currently only one piece Wa Lolita I made. The fabric was from my Gramma.

Selfcapture in my brother’s room, and my early experience of wearing wigs.

Purchased by Miaow, met her for the first time at Bubble Tea, SM Megamall.

Handed down to Neko, Miaow’s sister in law, hehe. :)

III.

Wa Punk Lolita, commissioned by Miaow. 

This time when we met up we had a little meal at Bubble Tea.  Upon leaving I received a text saying not being able to wait to get home, she tried on the dress set at the restroom and loved it. :D

Had a mini shoot with her friends,

wore it to Ozine Fest Day 3,

and had photos with Neko, who was also wearing the Peacock dress.   

With the Wa Punk, I was finally able to realize my style which was mixing prints. Within a month before my departure to the US, I was able to finish two dress sets following the said design aesthetic. 

IV.

One was the Candy Color Set which also emphasized my extreme fondness of ruffles. Of course it took more time to make them but it was always worth it.

I wore it to my Farewell/ Despedida Party held at UP Diliman. 

It was bittersweet. I wished I had spent more time with my friends, more time knowing other people.   

It then became one of the first dresses I sold here in the US, along with the Golden Summer Set:

V. 

one of my favorites when it comes to pattern mixing.

First dress I shot with my first dSLR,

and it was nothing short of life changing.

I’ve become more passionate in sewing as I have access to the prettiest (and priciest) fabrics and tools. I want to design more because of these materials, I want to make more, explore more, experiment more. 

VI.

One of the happiest things that has happened to me here is this: a commissioned wedding Wa Lolita Set. :)

VII.

And finally, the most recent Wa Lolita piece I made for a client, a dress for her birthday.

This is why I love my dresses, this is why I love making them. They give me this feeling that I exist, wherever in the world I may be, whoever are wearing them. 

I only included my Wa Lolita dresses for now. I have made several and you could see them in my site. I would be talking about them too, soon.