My friend just ordered her first Lolita dress not long ago, and was so excited for it to arrive! She showed me the dress she bought, and it was lovely! It was a black and white gothloli dress with ruffles, lacing in the front, and a cute matching cape. I was excited for her to get it too! Unfortunately, I didn't realize the site she had bought from was Milanoo. The dress ended up being poor quality, looking nothing like the picture, and it fit her all wrong. I had read a post about Milanoo before, so I already knew that it wasn't the place to go to for Lolita dresses. The only good thing is that the dress isn't entirely beyond restoration. She was actually thinking about burning the dress (seriously, burning it), but instead decided to leave it with me and let me do whatever I thought might help it. This dress is an experienced Lolita's worst nightmare. The photos I took of the dress actually make it look better than it is. The fabric isn't great quality, but it's not too bad either. I'm thankful for that, so at least there's still hope for it.
So far I've ripped off the trim along the edge of the cape and added gathers where it was, I've ripped off all the criss-crosses on the front (which were actually sewn down onto the fabric), and I've shortened the ruffles on the sides of the dress and along the collar of the cape. When my friend comes back to my house on Thursday she's going to try it on so we can adjust the top. It's really tight on top, so we're going to cut out the back and add lacing so she can adjust the tightness (it'll look kind of like the back of Suigintou's dress from Rozen Maiden). We're also going to cut out the top and turn it into a jsk style. I'll hopefully have new lacing in the front by the time she comes, which will actually work instead of being sewn down.
There's a lot of work to be done to this dress, but I really think it'll come out nice.
Oh, and I didnt realize this for a long time, but that dress is actually fashioned for a character from xxxHolic, I believe. I think her name is Ame, but I could be mistaken. Even if it does double as a cosplay, I think Ame's dress is beautiful for Lolita fashion! ...Now if only I can restore this dress to life. ^.^''
