It's starting to look good, methinks...however, it seems to provide little in terms of support in the crucial area below the knees. I wonder, will two more trainless petticoats underneath solve the problem, or will I have to go the bustle cage way?


Aaand I'm all out of lace. I'm thinking of using tulle lace for the remaining ruffle rows, since it looked lovely when I tried it, but I'm not sure how historically accurate that would be... thoughts?

Although this dress is actually pretty new, it has quickly become my favourite - I just adore the 1890s girl fashions and have adored them since childhood. The sleeves!!! The skirts!

Sorry about the raw edges on the hat - it's not finished yet.

I wanted a dress I could wear both outside and at home; a practical, washable dress without any lace for easy upkeep, dress that could be dressed up or down as needed. And then I found this fabric at a local shop and was overjoyed - it was just perfect! Originally, I put lace at the hem of the skirt, but ripped it off - and I'm happier with it now. Cute. Practical. Comfy. With strong 1890s vibes. My preshioussss!!!
And you know what's the best part?
It's got POCKETSESSS!!! XD

Now I just need more of the 1890s-inspired dresses like this...

The second staple is a skirt my sister Iris made for me as a present - because aww, the teddy bear print!<3<3<3 Plus the simple elegance of the cut means it can be, again, dressed up or down as I please. And it's washable. And soft to touch. And voluminous. And I just love it.

Btw, there's still enough of this teddy bear fabric to make a skirt - so look forward to seeing it for sale in the shop :-)
Now I'm looking forward to see what the others have posted :-)

The Bloody Teaparty
Roli's Ramblings
Petite Tomoyo

The Fashion Show was a blast! Hopefully a video will be available soon; for now at least couple of pictures of one of the three outfits that we presented there. First then comes the Sleeping Beauty set.

Sleeping Beauty Jumperskirt from the Sleeping Beauty set, for sale here

Sleeping Beauty Blouse, for sale here

Sleeping Beauty Kokoshnik Headdress, for sale here

Sleeping Beauty Petticoat, for sale here

Here the set is worn by the wonderful Anna, who very graciously agreed to model for us.

vivianairisfashions@__rosegold.__ modelling for Viviana Iris at the Fashion Show in Brno - and being utterly stunning. The kokoshnik headdress, blouse, jsk and underskirt + petticoat will be for sale at http://vivianairis.storenvy.com/ soon 💕💕💕 #sweetlolita #classiclolita #kawaii #vivianairis #lace #pink #roses #white #indiebrand #handmade #cute #runway #fashionshow #egl

Příspěvek sdílený Rosa Addormentata (@vivianairisfashions), Bře 5, 2018 v 1:47 PST

Also, Viviana Iris has got an Instagram at last! You can follow it here: https://www.instagram.com/vivianairisfashions/ 

That's all for now, folks, hope to post again soon-ish:-)

So what does go into it, apart from blood, sweat and tears?

1. Piles and miles of fabric, lace, ruffles. Those bundles of tulle lace total 102 yards; I expect to use these up almost all on my new dress project (which you won't see until the Fashion Show :-) ). But then, the volume of the skirt is some 3 meters + ...


2. A cuppa. Seriously. A big one.


3. Research. Goes well with the cuppa. In fact, it is highly recommended to pair up these two. Going through my Pinterest board with free historical patterns and tutorials + my 1890s inspiration board, I've found this pattern to help me out with the front of the bodice:


Not sure yet though if it quite fits this particular project.

4. Period movies. Sometimes Vinnetou and Old Shatterhand movies. And other times historical documentaries. Because you need something to get you through all the boring bits such as pinning stuff together or fiddling with the hem.

Parohy (1947)

5. Passion. Or masochistic madness. Either will do.


6. Travelling and stalking antique shops, websites and flea markets. The narrow edging lace is from a lace shop in Bosnia-Herzegovina; the insertion lace is a handmade antique piece I found in an antique shop in Denmark. Imagine the excited squeal:-)


7. Time. A lot of it. A dress like this one, all neatly finished inside and with loads of ruffles at the front you can't see, eats up easily some 40 hours and more:



8. Patience.  Often what's needed is the patience to handsew, to nail the look just right, especially with complicated lace insertion patches or with bonnets or other headwear.



8. Money. These pretty things get costly and take a lot of saving up for if you're on a tight budget like me; the lace for this new project alone was some 181 USD. My piggy bank hates me. So someone out there, I hope you will buy the dress once it's doneXD

Happy New Year everyone! May it be a happy, healthy and blessed one! What New Year goals have you set for yourself for 2018?
For me, on the top of the list was to launch our Storenvy shop. And lookie look, it's opened today! Yaaaay! Check it out, you all:-) http://vivianairis.storenvy.com/

I'm still figuring out how Storenvy works actually, so the logo needs work (I fiddled around with it for a while and somehow I'm doing something wrong it seems, it keeps stubbornly staying cut off at the wrong places), plus I need to add more items, but yay, it's up, it's up! Expect a giveaway soon-ish to celebrate the launch!
Oh and we've got a FB fanpage now. Yup, finally:-) Join in for updates!XD https://www.facebook.com/vivianairisfashions/

My three-months-lasting string of incessant illnesses seems to be finally drawing to a close, slowly, so I hope to blog more... well, at least a bit:-)
So now, onto the haul!


Lovely, lovely fabrics, trims and notions...
There was a sale over at the Sartor silk shop, which meant I could get my hands on the green brocade I need for the soft furnishings of the green MSD room, the orange brocade for the 1:12 dollhouse and the dupion swatch I need for the fashion show!!! Yay!

 Oh and guess what else's new, guess what else's new - teh budding indie Lolita brand Viviana Iris got invited to participate in a fashion show in February!!! *happy dance* One more reason for the long silence - yours truly has been busy using up the scraps of energy she had for hunting down kilometres of laces and fabrics all over the internet. And ostrich plumes. And butterflies. And sparkly buckles. And ribbons. And pearls. This photo up there is just a tiny sneak peak of the lusciousness to come.
Oh my, there are hats to make, dresses to make, hotels to book, models to have a fitting with...

So, we shall present 3 outfits at the show; of those, 1 dress is done, 1 bonnet is done, 1 petticoat is done and 1 skirt and 1 headdress are nearing completion. Which means, still 1 dress (the most complicated one), 1 hat, 1 blouse and at least 1 petticoat to go... I've started putting together the hat, but so far it is in the mock up stage.
Still waiting for most of the lace. Still have some to order yet. Post Office, please don't fail me now:-)

Good luck everyone to this New Year!

So, I made it. Thanks to power outage that made most other amusements unavailable:-) Throughout yesterday, a windstorm has been raging all through the Czech Republic and it seems we've been lucky so far to have only the electricity hit...

The Challenge: Out of your comfort zone
... and well, it is. This is my first attempt at anything from 1830s - and it was fun!

Material: Cotton scraps from my grandma's destash, cotton batiste scraps, voile scraps for the stuffing

Pattern: drafted by my sister based on this tutorial: https://freshfrippery.com/2014/03/06/1830s-romantic-dress-part-2-sleeve-support-poufs/
Year: 1830s

How historically accurate is it? Not sure about the filling and perhaps I've stuffed the narrower part too much, but the cotton is accurate and it is all handsewn, so I'm hoping it's pretty good.

Hours to complete: Not sure, I didn't keep track... possibly about 2 hours?

First worn: Not yet
Total cost: About 50 cents for the strip of batiste:-)

Hi everybody. I guess a little explanation of what's been going on is due... I can't believe it has been this long since I last posted anything before the fabric haul post- but a lot of tough things have happened, with a grave injury and illness in my family, so in between of that and my own ongoing health troubles and schoolwork overload there was no space for blogging or creating anything much. I hope it will improve somewhat now that the exams are done and summer is here...

Anyway, for now at least a couple of teasers - stuff that I started working on before all this madness happened, but didn't get around posting them.

1. Bonnet for Ellie's dollies - started working on it seriously ages ago, still not done, but getting there. I hope she'll like it when it's finished...


2. An 1876 dolman - this began as the project for the red HSF challenge from last year, but I didn't make it... Red satin, white flannel interlining, lining will probably be black given the black lace trimming I'm gonna sew on. It seriously needs ironing. And I'm wavering whether to add a black net overlay...


3. The silver 1876 gown that was meant to be finished by the time of Ellie's visit to Prague last year - well, might be it will be finished in time for her next visitXD I need to find silver grey tulle somewhere...and more of this awesome lace. Has anybody seen it for sale anywhere?

4. A turquoise 1876 winter jacket - finally found the fabric which is the right colour! I'm planning to add a white net lace overlay over it; fingers crossed the jacket will look good with the silver dress.
This is the pattern I'll be using, I think:


5. An 1876 petticoat to go with the gown - I started a bit strangely, with the detachable train, because it's the fun bit:-) I ran out of lace and it's only the second row...

Hope you ladies and gentlemen are doing good,
with love,

Rosa