Silver Afternoon - Auris Lothol

Hello lovelies,

two years ago I started collecting vintage pattern and sewing magazines. Ebay and an Austrian site similiar to ebay called willhaben.at are my best go-to for these old magazines. I am thinking about maybe scanning the magazines but some of them are really old and crumbling so I am not sure if that's a good idea. Maybe photographing them would be a better idea.

Record Magazine
Year: ca. 1946-8
Seller: Ebay
Language: German
A few magazines are missing the covers but the rest are fine. Sewing patterns are included.

4 vintage sewing pattern
"Universal Schnitt"
Year: 1940s
Seller: Ebay
Language: German

Illustrierte Wäsche- und Handarbeits-Zeitung

Years: 1928/29/38

Seller: Vintage market, ebay

Language: German

Mode-Katalog Warenhaus A. Wertheim
This is a reprint of a fashion catalog from 1902/03.
Year: 1902/03
Seller: Amazon
Language: German

Cut sewing pattern
Year: 1940s
Seller: Etsy
Language: English

Création de robes and smart ladies styles
Year: 1961
Seller: Willhaben
Language: German

Der Brautschatz, Schicht Kalender
Year: 1909
Seller: Willhaben
Language: German

La Couturiere
Year: 1890s
Seller: Ebay
Language: French

La mode Illustree
Year: 1890s-1900s
Seller: Ebay
Language: French

Praktische Damen- und Kinder-Moden
Year: 1933
Seller: Vintage market
Language: German

That's almost all of my collection, a few magazines are missing because I hid them too good under heavy boxes.

All the best,

Auris Lothol

Hello lovelies,

this year I attended Nippon Nation in Vienna again, it was very hot and the humidity was high and therefore I didn't really stay long both days.
On Saturday I wore my Ariel costume for about 2h and then I had to remove it. The extreme heat, not drinking much and corsets definitely did not do me any good. I was a really sweaty mess. so we gave up, I changed and we went to grab some burgers.

The only selfie from that day were I didn't look like a complete mess. My thanks goes to the AC.

Yuuumy. This burger was called "Fleischeslust" which roughly translate to "flesh lust" and is often used in a more sexual way.

On Sunday I run at the Japanese fashion show with a pastel lolita outfit.

This is the only picture I got from the runway until now. Maybe it's better that way, the light was horrible.

I wore a metamorphose temps de fille dress, with my hand made peignoir over it. The shoes are brand new and from rosemarie seoir. I wanted to use my real hair and set myself some pin curls the day before but it turned out horrible and I looked like an exploded poodle.

All the best,

Auris Lothol

Hello everyone,

last week was the third Sunday of July and time for our monthly lolita teekränzchen in Vienna.
After more than a year of blogging about our monthly lolita get-together, I don't think I have to explain much anymore, do I?

This month we went to Motto am Fluss which is a cafe located on a boat with a great view on Donaukanal. But for such a great location the service was just so bad. And don't get me started on the food, my burger was almost 15€ and wasn't even decent. The only thing I liked about it was the flavourful cheese.

I once again forgot to do pictures of my fellow lolita but a Hane Iro, a photographer with amazing fantasy pictures, took good shots of our group. I had to leave earlier again.

I wore my bird dress I bought on ebay. It was super cheap and it's 100% polyester, not the best material for a dress but for a casual meet it is definitely ok.
The hat is the bonnet I made for the historical event and the bag is from Collectif.

Hane Iro also took a picture of me and I look like a little potato without all my filters.

Look at the difference!

All the best,

Auris Lothol

Hello lovelies.

last weekend was a historical event in Vienna organized by the military history museum.
I like to go there a lot because it is one of the few historical events in Vienna and it also has a nice programme.
The last weeks were spent sewing a medieval costume until I run out of fabric. Then I tried to fix up the red burgundian dress but I didn't manage to finish that either. In the end I decided to wear my Biedermeier 1830s dress. It was finished completely. Then the day of the event I decided to do a bonnet. It took me about three hours and a lot of nerves because a friend was already waiting impatiently. Sorry again.

For the hat I used a real straw hat I bought a few years ago, the inner lining is out of thin satin chiffon and I also added a lace trim, roses and a bird. But you can use any material accurate of that time if you want to do it historicaly accurate, and if not, you have even more material to choose from.

I the cut a round shape into the hat. It looked okay at the time but I would recommend making it bigger because the sides of the straw always scratched my neck.

The hat is a bit browner because I used steam to give the sides a new form. If you don't have a steamer you can also use the steam of your iron. Just don't burn yourself. Also if you want to do anything with straw, better keep some water ready in a spray bottle because the straw is much more flexible once its wet.

My next step was to add inner lining, I used thin red satin and stitched it to the inner brim, fold it and also attach it to the outer brim. I totally forgot to take some pictures. I blame it on my bad time management.

After it was attached on the outer side of the brim I cut it, afterwards I added some lace to it and sewed it on again. That took the longest time and I also scratched myself a few times with the needles poking out of the brim.

I then added a yellow satin ribbon, some red flowers and a bird (which was already detached when I did the pictures) and I was done.

For the next time I will add more decoration but for now that was all I had.

Here are a few pictures of the event.

How do you like it?

All the best,

Auris Lothol

Hello lovelies,

so my last post was about the Harry Potter convention I attended. I already hinted that I made the hat myself and now I want to share my whole sewing process.
The hat is made out of stiff inner material, black cotton satin and hat wire. I later decorated it with a yellow satin ribbon and flowers to show my Hufflepuff colours.

I started out with a simple pattern that looked liked this:

Even though maths was my most hated subject in school it comes in quite handy when drafting round pattern. So what I did was measure out my head (54,5cm) and then use an online calculator to find out what the radius was.
Circumference: 54,5cm
The calculator said the radius was 8,67. I then used a bow compass, measured out the number and drew the circle. Now this will be the inner circle and will be cut out later on.
For the outer circle, I added about 15cm to make the brim. I didn't use a bow compass for this, instead I used my normal straight ruler. I was too lazy to draw a full circle as a pattern and therefore divided my pattern by four, but I can not recommend my method.
The top part is 50cm long and the bottom part should match the circumference. What I did was take a 50 cm long string and attach it to the peak with a pin. Afterwards I drew a kind of half circle with it.

I started with cutting one piece of each from the stiff inner material.

I used 1,5cm sewing allowance on every outer edge. The top part was left aside for now and I first worked on the brim.
For the next step I used milinery wire but I guess every other wire similar to it would work too (?).

I pinned the wire exactly to my marking for the sewing allowance and then kind of slip stitched onto the hat.

And here is a close up.
Next I cut out small triangles, I wasn't careful and almost cut into the wire a few times which would really have ruined my scissors. So be careful with that.

The triangles where then folded in, so that they covered the wire and sewn down with a quick running stitch. For this I used a stronger thread than my standard sewing thread.
The next two pictures show what it looked like from the outside and the last pictures from the inside.

The next part took ages but looks stunning. I marked my pattern in equal parts (more maths!! :( booh!) and cut them.

As you can see from the markings at the bottom it took me ages to get the right number because I always miscalculated.

Between one pleat an the next I added two more pleats and then glued everything back together again. Below is the finish result and keep in mind that this was just 1/4 of the brim and I needed three more.

I pleated this monster and guess who decided that this brim laced with needles was the perfect place to sleep?
Cats can be really horrible.

The picture beneath shows how the pleats are held in place in the middle. I had already sewn down the outer and inner edges edges.

Ironing is very importing. The difference between the former and the latter is huge. I don't recommend ironing in summer though.

Once everything was either ironed or sewn in place I had to decided if the pleats should be on the outer or inner side of the hat. I chose the outer side but in hindsight that was a mistake because the pleats were not visible once the hat was worn. Booh.
Here I place the pleated brim on my white inner lining.

Next is a method I like to use with round seams. I take a large needle and pull a thread through the other edge of the sewing allowance. Once I am finished I pull and the seam rolls itself onto the hat.

Before this part make sure the sides of your lining and the outer fabric of your top part are sewn. I forgot to snap pictures of this process. The lining is then stuffed under the outer fabric and that was it.

To be honest, I was not sure if that part was the correct way but I asked myself that a lot of times during this hat making process. I cut small rectaklinges into the inner lining and then connected the brim to the top hat part.

I cut out another brim, without pleats though, and place it over the lining again. With my neat trick for round edges I placed both of the sewing allowance inside of the hat, wedged against the white lining. Then I slipped stitched it in place.

The final step was sewing the edges of the inner rim. I again cut and then pushed the remaining part of the sewing allowance into the hat. Slip stitch was a good friend again here.