If you don't know me, you need to know I love to put all sorts of stuff on my head, from cat ears to home decor. That's one of the things I love the most about Lolita fashion: it allows me to go crazy on the head gear section (as if it wasn't crazy enough already!) I remember this Christmas meetup where I just grabbed ornaments from the tree cause they matched my dress that day.

Another thing I love about Lolita is having the chance to be creative and create my own pieces, so I've been super excited with the canotier fashion that has been going on lately, and I decided I would make my own one for the summer International Lolita Day, cause I love crafts and getting messy!

Here we go with my tutorial for a customised canotier!

Step 1: Get a canotier

It can be a hat that you find in some random local store or a part that you find on a specialised supply shop. The second one is bound to be bare (without the signature ribbon around the crown), whilst the ones that are "ready to wear" will have a coloured ribbon that probably doesn't match your outfit plans. For me, that was the case.


Therefore, I grabbed a needle and a pair of scissors and got ready to unribbon my straw hat. If you have a seam ripper, that would work better, but I don't have one yet. After a while, you will have a bare hat ready for decorations!


Step 2: Sew a ribbon

It is time to start making your canotier your own, so just pick your favourite ribbon or lace. Bare in mind that you will need material to cover the diameter of the crown and one or two extra inches.

The joint usually falls on one side, and I recommend that, if you are decorating your hat, you cover that bit with your decorations so you don't need to worry about it. If that's not the case, just make a bow with the same material you're using around it.

Now it is just a bit of patience sewing the ribbon around the hat. Make sure you sew on the top side, and just do the bottom one if you realy want more support. When I reached the end, I folded it a bit before finishing it so I didn't have a loose bit, even if I was covering it later.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the sewn lace but you can see it later in other pictures!)

Step 3: Decorate!

Or as I also call it, glue gun time! It is time you pick your favourite flowers, lace, fruits, pieces... and go as over the top or simple as you want. I've had some trouble finding nice fake flowers in Spain and, as I'm great at procrastinating, had to go for a local, next-day delivery shop four days before my meetup that ended up having pretty nice flowers.

Here is the lace I used and some hydrangeas I ended up discarding for this project

I wanted it to match the dress I was wearing for my meetup, so I went for a pink-ivory colour scheme. Make sure you try different set ups before you actually put everything together. I recommend to take pictures of the ones that you like so, even if you don't make it now, you can get back to those designs in the future. Alternatively, if you have made a proper design on paper before, you just need to recreate it in real life.

I tried this setup but ended up going for something different

Step 4: Wear your hat!

Now you only need to put your hat on and enjoy your one-of-a-kind piece. Here is a picture my friend Merkades from Dolls Stories took.



Bonus: Add safety measures

If having a hat on your head is going to make you feel self-conscious, feel free to sew a couple of plastic or metal combs to the sides so it stays in place!

Have you been making some accessories lately? What is your favourite handmade piece? Please show me in the comment section!

As requested, here's my review of issue n.6 of the Otome no Sewing mook. For those not familiar to it, Otome no Sewing is a biannual Japanese publication with several Lolita fashion patterns and instructions on how to sew them. There is both full outfits and separate pieces for you to make, and coordination ideas for the clothes. Moreover, it comes with a few crafts tutorials for small accessories. This issue was released in winter 2014. I bought it on Amazon from a seller called samurai media for 21,61€ (including shipping) and it took almost a month to get to Spain from Japan. I'm sure there's cheaper or faster sellers (it retails at 1200 yen/9,60€) but it was convenient for me at the time.


Now, first thing I'd like to state is I don't know how to sew and I've been learning Japanese for about 6 months now (and of course nothing related to sewing vocabulary). I recently bought a sewing machine and I'm learning how to do stuff on my own. That said, the instructions are pretty much self-explanatory. It comes with pictures and you can easily figure out how to do what you need to do. Of course, you also need the skills to put it together, which I'm trying to get now!



As I said, this is a winter issue, so it includes a coat and a jacket design. Apart from that, you will find the following:

• Hime Lolita outfit. Includes JSK, jacket, overskirt, fur cape, blouse, petticoat, echarpe, bonnet and rosette.
• Classic/Country Anne of the Green Gables outfit. Includes OP, apron, bloomers, long skirt (more EGA-like), blouse, totebag, hat and shawl.
• Separates: kodona pants and cape, underbust JSK, long sack OP (which is slightly different from the one on the Classic outfit), military style, double breasted JSK, simple shirred JSK, pleated skirt, tiered JSK, simple JSK with solid top and printed skirt.
• Tutorials: puffy velveteen headbow, mini bow clips (BTSSB style), loom bead appliques (for decoration, charms...). 

As you can see, you get a lot for your money, particularly if you get it closer to the retail price! Not all de designs are patterned tho (that's the case of the bloomers and the petticoat, for example). The garments included in the pattern sheet are shown on both sides of the sheet. However, the patterns for these are drafted in the mook and quite easy to put into paper/fabric.

These are the pieces included in the patterns

• I've gained more weight that I wish I had and Lolita brands are tending to release smaller sizes lately.
• I'm quite bored of the same clothes we see on mainstream shops, and buying the bulk of my wardrobe overseas would be expensive.
• I need to do new things.

De vez en cuando, nacen algunos seres especiales. A primera vista, no se distinguen del resto; pero para el ojo que los conoce, que los sabe ver, tienen un brillo especial, una luz propia. Yo a veces les llamo hadas, o florecillas, o simplemente lolitas.

Sin embargo, parece que muchas de esas hadas nacen con una enfermedad congénita en el alma que hace que se desgasten más rápido que las personas que viven a su alrededor. Parece que el agua que beben y el aire que respiran no estén hechos para ellas, que las envenena poco a poco. Parece que es una epidemia entre las hadas el que los edificios nos oculten la luz del sol y nuestros pétalos se marchiten. 

¡Ah! ¿Pero qué es de un hada sin sus alas? Volad alto, volad a Arcadia. Liberaos de las cadenas y volad lejos de todo lo que os hiera, porque más que nadie, las hadas pueden escapar de lo que les hace daño.

Para ti, para mí, para todas. Porque a veces se nos olvida.

Ok, I feel like I really must write this, and that I must do that also in English to reach as much people as I can. For everyone who has spoken with me for a little while, it is quite obvious that, even if I make fun of some Feminist constructs, I am strongly Feminist. I have been in the other side, not only thought that equality had been already achieved but also found it not deserved. And then I accepted the harsh truth: I was wrong, and also abused by someone who didn't even want to be my boyfriend. 

Vale, creo que tengo la obligación de escribir esto, y de hacerlo también en inglés para que pueda llegar al mayor número de gente posible. Es evidente para cualquiera que haya hablado conmigo durante un rato que, aunque me burlo un poco de los conceptos feministas, soy una feminista acérrima. He estado en el otro lado, no sólo pensando que la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres ya estaba lograda, sino pensando que no era necesaria. Y entonces acepté la cruda realidad: además de estar equivocada, estaba con alguien que me maltrataba y que ni siquiera quería ser mi novio.

About that time (half a year before) I had met Lolita. For me, it was like finding home. This guy didn't want me to dress in it on a regular basis (only to conventions) as it was a disguise. A DISGUISE! HA! Anyways, I left him, grew up as at least a decent lolita and, what is more important, a critic woman. A woman who knew the world is still damn wrong and must be changed. 

Por aquel entonces (más o menos medio año antes) había conocido el Lolita. Para mí, fue como encontrar mi hogar. Este tipo no quería que lo vistiera de forma habitual (solamente en convenciones) porque era un disfraz. ¿UN DISFRAZ? ¡JA! El caso es que lo dejé y me convertí en una lolita bastante aceptable y, lo que es más importante, en una mujer crítica. Una mujer que sabía que el mundo todavía estaba jodidamente mal y había que cambiarlo.

Going back to the issue here, Lolita was born as a Feminist reaction against the patriarchal statement in which young women in Japan were trapped. Let's picture it. Japan, at some point in the 1970's. Mary Quant's miniskirts everywhere. Women should show their skin, BUT it was Japan after all. You can't do it if you're being dishonourable; you can't do it without being that perfect angelic being that you're supposed to be. You can't disgrace your family. What is important is society, not the individual. And suddenly, Lolita bloomed there. Retrieving something so fantastic for them as the Rococo era and the Victorian fashion, they re-wrote, re-designed it in order to create a new fashion that was unique, breaking with the rules of the stated fashion in Japan: not the European trend of miniskirts nor the Japanese modesty of a kimono. They covered their skin and worn their clothes in order to be comfortable with themselves, not to please someone else, not to be gazed.   

Volviendo al tema, el Lolita nació como una reacción feminista al sistema patriarcal en el cual las jóvenes japonesas estaban atrapadas. Imaginemos el Japón de los años 70, las minifaldas de Mary Quant por todos lados. Las mujeres debían mostrar su cuerpo, pero al fin al cabo hablamos de Japón. No puedes hacerlo y no ser honorable; no puedes hacerlo sin ser ese ser perfecto angelical que debes ser. No puedes deshonrar a tu familia. Lo importante es la sociedad, no el individuo. Y de repente, el Lolita floreció. Recuperando algo tan fantástico para ellas como el Rococó o la moda victoriana, la reescribieron, la rediseñaron para crear una nueva moda que era única y rompía con lo establecido al respecto en Japón: no era la moda europea de las minifaldas ni la modestia del kimono japonés. Cubrían su piel y se vestían para estar cómodas con ellas mismas, no para agradar a nadie más, no para ser observadas y admiradas.

Lolita fashion is indeed expensive if you go for the mainstream brands, I give you this. But hell, how much satisfaction in getting yourself a dress which is over 200€ and wearing it. Or filling your wardrobe with Bodyline, replicas, handmade pieces payed with that money that you earned or that you saved from your budget instead of going out for food with your friends every week. I must say that I am proud of all my fellow lolitas who work so hard to save and earn their money to pay for their passion. 

La ropa Lolita es ciertamente cara si vas a las marcas más conocidas. Pero cuán satisfactorio es comprarte un vestido de más de 200€ y ponértelo, o llenar tu armario con ropa de Bodyline, con réplicas o piezas handmade pagadas con ese dinero que has ganado o has ahorrado de tu paga en vez de salir a comer con tus amigos todas las semanas. He de decir que estoy orgullosa de todas esas lolitas que se esfuerzan tanto en ganar o ahorrar el dinero para costearse su pasión.

And now, there is a new trend when it comes to loli-secrets and confessions in the comm. Sugar daddys and baby girls. Lots of girls saying that they got a sugar daddy so they payed for their dresses, or asking for help about how to find one or accusing someone to have one just because she buys a fair amount of burando. I get it. First and second thing, this always happens, not only in Lolita. I get it. The third one, I get it. "Haters gonna hate", basically. But then I was on tumblr, just scrolling (regular evening) and I found this post from the blog lolitafashionconfessions, which I find very nice and into which I've submited something. 

El caso es que  parece haber una nueva moda entre los loli-secrets y las confesiones en la comunidad Lolita. Sugar daddys y baby girls, u hombres mayores que mantienen relaciones principalmente sexuales de forma habitual con jovencitas a cambio de caprichos para las mismas. Hay montones de chicas que dicen que tienen uno para que les pague los vestidos, otras que piden ayuda para encontrar uno en incluso algunas acusan a otras de tener uno por la cantidad enorme de ropa de marca que se compra. Lo entiendo. Siempre habrá este tipo de personas que optan por la vía fácil. En el último caso, me limito a la sabia cita "Haters gonna hate". Pero estaba esta noche en tumblr, lo típico, y encontré este post en el blog lolitafashionconfessions, que me parece genial y al que envié algo yo misma.

"Tengo 14 años y no puedo esperar a mudarme y empezar a vivir por mi cuenta. ¿Por qué? Porque quiero convertirme en una sugar baby y ganar dinero para ir a la universidad y estar fabulosa vistiendo Lolita allí." [link]

So it's not only that a pre-teen is saying that she wants a sugar daddy. I could get if she wanted one for some kind of fetish (I myself had some weird fantasies when I was very, very young). But she wants him to pay for her dresses and college. She has no intention of working hard in life, of getting anything by herself more than an older man who wants her for her vagina. This, you little girl, is some form of prostitution, in case you don't know. Not only that, but you are taking all that freedom that was so hard to get, for your mother, for your grandmother and for the women in the country in which the fashion you so deeply long for was created and throwing it directly to the dustbin.

El caso es que no es sólo una preadolescente diciendo que quiere un sugar daddy. Podría entenderlo si fuera por el morbo (yo misma tenía algunas fantasías peculiares cuando era bastante más jovencita). Ella lo que quiere es que le pague la ropa y la universidad. No tiene ninguna intención de trabajar en esta vida, de conseguir algo por sí misma más allá que un hombre que la quiera por su vagina. Esto, jovencita, es una forma de prostitución, por si no lo sabes. Y no solo eos, sino que estás cogiendo la libertad que tanto les costó conseguir a tu madre, a tu abuela y a las mujeres del país en el que se creó esa moda que tanto adoras y la estás tirando directamente a la basura.

For me, we lolitas must have morals, strong ones. And they don't have anything to do with decency, modesty, piety, chastity or any other thing you can collocate with a True Woman from the 18th and 19th Century. Those morals I'm talking about are independence, strenght, knowledge, kindness, fellowship. A true lolita for me is a New Woman. One who is able to fight and work for her rights, her independence, her goals. I, my dear anon, will never considered you a lolita, no matter how awesome are the coords you make with that money, because you don't deserve that, you don't know what being a lolita means, but only want the frills.  

Para mí, las lolitas debemos tener valores morales, y muy fuertes. No tienen nada que ver con la decencia, la modestia, la castidad, la piedad o cualquier cosa que pueda asociarse con la True Woman de los siglos XVIII y XIX. Los valores de los que hablo son independencia, fortaleza, conocimiento, amabilidad, hermandad... Para mí, una auténtica lolita es una New Woman. Una mujer que es capaz de luchar y trabajar por sus derechos, su independencia, sus objetivos. Personalmente, querida anon, nunca te consideraré una lolita, sin importar lo maravillosos que sean los conjuntos que hagas con ese dinero, porque no lo mereces. No sabes lo que significa ser Lolita; sólo quieres los encajes.

♥ Chii ♥