Lolita Blog Carnival: Skills every lolita should have

Well time to get back to doing these. And this topic is really important to me so what better way to start.

1. Clothing care and minor alterations

To me any adult who doesn't know how to replace a missing button should seriously reconsider their life choices. In lolita these sort of skills are extraordinarily important. The style is fussy and accidents happen so some basic skill with the needle will come in handy. I'm not saying that everyone should know how to make a lolita dress but minor fixes would be good. Same goes for recognizing and understanding clothing care instructions and possibly knowing when it is possible to ignore them. (I mean come on, the blouse is made of cotton, I do not need to dry clean it, dear any brand ever.)

2. Hair styling and make up

Lolita is an intricate style and to pull it of well it is good to know at least one great hair do and the very basics of make up. I believe in finding one great look you love and starting to vary from there. I for example love the bob cut weither it is straight and sleek or slightly curled and cute. In make up the principle is the same. Find something that works really well and work from there. 

3. Critical eye for quality and fit

As an expensive fashion it is important to know that you are getting what you are paying for when purchasing lolita clothing. If something is less than good quality to your eye and feeling you shouldn't buy it. Same goes for fit. Every dress should compliment one's body and if they don't (even with reasonable alterations) they aren't worth your money.

4. Social skills and graces

Let's face it. Wearing this style makes you highly visible in everyday life. So it is good to know when to be polite and when to shut people down and leave the situation.  No one minds the occasional "Why are you wearing xyz?"- question but no one should stand for harassment. 

 One also has to remember that the community is part of lolita, so having basic courtesy will make life much easier for everyone. 

5. One signature bake for picnics and tea parties

 In this community there will always be those events where you need to bring something. So just figure out something you can do perfectly again and again and bring that.  It doesn't need to be super complicated as long as it's tasty and you can do it well. 

Other participants

Vanilla Bear

Cupcakes and unicorns
It's witchcraft

Ruffle cloud

Lolita blog carnival

Madame Parapluie

Auntie Mims on: Tricks of the trade or what I said in Hellocon

The Auntie Mims Icon was commisioned from Lemontree11

Hello dears!

Here is a the short version of what was discussed in my Hellocon program "Tricks of the trade or how to care for your Lolita garments."  

This will be more of a resource-type post and has a lot of general information.

Clothing care symbols

Here I will go through the basic western clothing care symbols. Here is where I got the pictures for this blog post and the program. In the links section you will find a more detailed guide for the western symbols and a guide for Japanese symbols as well. 

First up is the washing symbol. This is fairly straight forward. If this is in your care label you can wash the garment at home. It usually will show which temperature to use. If the garment should be hand washed the symbol will have a hand  in it.

If any symbols has a cross over it it means you cannot do this to your garment. In this case you can't wet wash it home. 

This is the ironing symbol which will tell you on which setting to Iron you things. In this case it's the medium setting. Again if it's crossed over you can't iron the garment. 

This is the tumble drying symbol which naturally means that you can tumble dry the garment. As with the others the symbol should tell you which setting to use or if the tumble drying is not allowed. Other drying symbols will also be square in shape.  

This is the symbol for professional laundry. It will usually indicate which sort of program to use with a letter and have lines under it to indicate which setting the dry cleaners should use. In Japanese clothes dry cleaning is often recommended even when it's not needed. More on that when we tackle the typical lolita materials in the next topic. 

And finally we have the bleaching symbol. This symbol tells if you can bleach the garment and which sort of bleach is good for it. 

Typical lolita materials

Lolita has many forms and uses many materials but to my experience these are the most typical.

Cotton: If it's not printed or two tone (white lace on dark material or vice-versa) you should be able to just chuck it in to the machine and wash in the typical setting for a cotton garment. Blouses, bloomers and unprinted cutsews can be machine washed always. If it's printed you can hand wash it but check first if the print is known to run. 

Chiffon: Lolita often uses polyester chiffon which can be machine washed in the appropriate setting. 

Polyester: Unprinted polyester is machine washable. If it's printed I'd hand wash it or use a really gentle setting on my machine. 

Velvet: I am sorry ladies but this you will have to drag to the dry cleaners. 

Wool: If it's knit wash it at home in the wool setting of your machine and flat dry to prevent stretching. If it's a coat take it to the dry cleaners.

Always wash the garment according to the requirements of the most sensitive material used. For example if you have a dress with a velvet bodice and a chiffon hem, take it to the dry cleaners. 

General tips 

~ Wet thin socks before using them even once. This will increase the elasticity and prevent runs. Wash all socks after every use.

~ If your garment is slightly wrinkled hang it on a hanger and take it to the bath room with you next time you take a hot shower. The steam from the shower will take care of any small wrinkles. 

~ After washing your lolita garments straighten the lace when the garment is still wet. This will save you time and nerves when ironing. 

~ Always test stain removal products on a unseen place on your garment. Seam allowances are a good option. 

~ Wool cardigans that are not stained but have a musty smell can be just aired out to remove smells. Wool is self cleaning fibre which is also why you should dry clean your winter coat only once a year unless some rude person splashes mud all over it. 

~ Do not wash your head bows by sinking them in water as this may cause rusting. If your head bow has a stain dip a corner of soft towel to water and in a drop of soap and then vigorously rub the stain to remove it. This technique will also work on make up stained collars and other stains. 

Links

Garrment care tag on my blog: Here

Clothing care in EGL: Here

What prints can be washed: Here

Japanese washing symbols: Here

Western washing symbols: Here

How to fix print bleeding Here

 And as this post is already super long I will leave the shoe care, ironing and mending techniques for another time. 

If you have any questions or topics for Auntie Mims to write about leave the in the comments and I will try to answer them. 

Thank you for reading this kilometre of a post. 

Auntie Mims

Auntie Mims on washing lolita garments

This series was born when my good friend Caramea suggested that I would make a post about cleaning and stain removal tips for lolitas. However I decided to make it proper series about garment care, starting from this and moving on to ironing and storage and even little fixes.  I hope you will find this useful. Any questions on the topic and suggestions for post will be welcomed.

 First things first

The style of cleaning a piece of clothing depends on it's material. Most brand pieces are marked to be washed on a dry cleaning place but in most cases you can just forget the pesky tag and jug the thing to the washing machine. I only use dry cleaning for delicate pieces (More on that later) and prints that I know will run. In general most lolita clothes can be washed at home. It's matter of following certain principlas when it comes to fabrics and washing.

If your dress is cotton and the laces and the fabric are the same colour and there is no print there shouldn't be a problem with washing it at home. This also goes for polyester.

On prints always consult the list of what can and can't be washed on EGL before proceeding. (Link provided at the end of this post.)

Silks and wools should only be washed with products designed for them to keep them nice an perfect. I generally take my winter coats to dry cleaners and wash silks at home.

Always separate darks, ligths and colours. This way everything comes out from the washing machine the rigth colour. 

When in doubt (or scared that the washing machine mith ruin your clothes anyways) wash by hand. This way you see what is happening to your clothes. 

Ultimate guide to materials

Different materials call for different techniques. Some simply can't be washed at home while others will survive just about anything. And if that wasn't enough different materials need to be dried differently. So next up a handy dandy guide to fabrics.

Acetate: Dry clean or machine was on a cold tempature. Don't wring or put it through a spin cycle. Hang or dry flat. No tumble drying. Iron this while damp on a cool tempature.

Acrylic: Machine wash. Hang  or dry flat. Iron with a cool tempature.

Corduroy: Wash as the material dictates (usually cotton), turning the inside out. Tumble dry is okay but will dry hanging too. Leave inside out for ironing.

Cotton: Separate darks and lights and machine wash. Whites may be washed on hot tempatures, colours just warm. Hang dry and iron on a hot tempature while damp as the wrinkles will set quickly.

Denim: Wash as cotton but first time do this alone as the colour will bleed. Turn inside out to discourage fading. Hang to dry to avoid shrinkage.

Leather: Sent to a specialist dry cleaner. Spray with protective product once back.

Nylon: Wash by hand or in machine with a cool tempature with close colours. Nylon will revert back to it's natural greyish hue if mislaundered.

Rayon: If washing instructions are missing dry clean only.

Silk: Dry clean or wash by hand in a cool tempature with a gentle product. Do not rub as this may break the silk fibres resulting in chalku blooms. Hang or dry flat. Take care with spot removal as this may leave rings.
Steam or iron with a cool tempature on the reverse side.

Suede: Again trust the experts and spray with an appropriate protector once back.

Wool and cashemere: Dry clean or hand wash. Machine wash if your machine has a special wool program. Coats should always be dry cleaned but sweaters and knits can be washed home. Use a gentle soap for example baby shampoo and only

 

The reasons to take the garment to the dry cleaners:

- You don't know what fabric it is.

- The garment has two or more fabrics

- The Garment is beaded or has metallic thread

- The fabric is velvet or taffeta or othervise very dressy

- What the blaces is that stain?!

- If the garment is cotton or linen and you think it migth shrink. I must however tell that these fibers migth hold on to particles of the dry cleaning solution which isn't really healthy for your skin.

Although there are dry cleaners solution to use at home I would recommend taking it to the cleaners as they know what they are doing and have the appropriate equiptment.

Tackling stains

Stains are annoying. The dress is othervise perfectly fine but you managed to drip some whipped cream on it? Worry not. Stains can be removed.

For items that absolutely require dry cleaning, try to remove the stain with a white paper towel (no rubbing!)  and take it to the cleaners.

The basic techniques of stain removal are as follows:

1. Using a storebougth prewash product and then laundering.

2. Bigger stains: Just launder it.

3. Soaking. If the material is fragile (silk or wool) only do this for a few minutes.

Always test your stain remover on a none visible part of the garment to make sure that the fabric dye wont bleed. We all know how easily some brand prints do this.

Basics:

Non greasy stains

Rinse as soon as possible under cool water. Put some soap to the stain and press suds through. Rubbing migth make the situation worse. Rinse again under cool water. Let it dry. If you are out of the house utilize the hand drier in the ladies room keeping the fabric away from the heat. Launderin as soon as possible is recommended if the stain is rather bad.

Greasy stains

Use talcum powder to soak up the stain and let it sit for twenty minutes. Gently brush of. Apply stain removing product (which you have ofcourse tested before hand).  Even after this grease stains should be laundered as soon as possible in the hottest tempature the fabric can take.

For combinations (chocolates, dairy products...)

Treat as a greasy stain but if it persists use an all purpose product.. Launder again as soon as possible in the hottest tempature the fabric take.

These above are good general ideas but next I will tell you some more spesific techniques that may come the way of your lovely frills.

Tea and coffee: Rinse in warm wather and then wash in warm soapy water. On wools and silks apply glyserine and let it stand and rinse with warm water.

Alcohol: Even colourless alcohol will turn into a nasty brown splotch if left untreated. Sponge several time with white vinegar diluted  1:1 with warm water.  Launder.

Blood: Soak as soon as possible in cool heavily salted water, then dap with liquid laundry soap. Launder as usual. 

Ink: Immediately flush the garment with cold water then treat the stain with hand soap which is most effective against ink stains. Rinse and reapeat if necessary.

Candle wax: Put the garment into a garment back and toss it into the freezer for an hour. The peel of the hardnened wax. Launder as usual.

Grass: Treat with liquid soap rubbed in to the stain and if the stain is persistent sponge with denatured alcohol (again test before hand).If all else fails, dry cleaners.

Mud: Let the mud dry completely first. Remove dry mud wit a brush or a cloth. Presoak and launder.

The nasty stuff that forms around the collar of your blouse: Rub with a damp cloth soaked in laundry soap gently. If the stain persist launder.

Useful Links

Fixing dye bleeding

Egl clothing care archieve

What can and can't be washed list

Japanese clothing care symbols

Nex time: Ironing.

Mademoiselle Parapluie

P.s. I really need to draw an Auntie Mims icon. Or maybe commission one. We'll see.