The skirt was originally designed as an entry for the Textiles Alliance [link] butterfly project. I’m quite slow to sew though and was nowhere near finished by the time the deadline came around. Seeing as I’d missed the contest anyway, and there was no rush to finish, I thought I’d make a matching corset and have a complete outfit.

The wings were designed by trying to re-draw the butterfly by twosilverstars here [link] because I found real butterfly wings too complex to design from, then I added the little dots along the edge, a cross between tortoiseshell and painted lady butterflies.

The wings are white habutae and the black detail is black satin on the outer part of the wing, and black habutae on the inner part of the wing, both machine appliquéd into the same place so that lifted up or floating as a skirt the design is still visible.

The corset is white habutae with satin detail on a white cotton drill base. I wanted it finished for my holidays so rather than draft a new pattern, I reused the back of the pattern I used for my winter lolita outfit [link] and just re-drafted the front panels. When sewing the channels for the boning I alternated between black and white thread to match the appliquéd design so that it would blend in.

The corset isn’t particularly tight because I was wearing it to a gig and wanted to dance lots.

The hair falls were made by me too using as many different bits of lace and ribbon I could get my hands on and some very nice quality fake black hair.

This outfit in normal lighting: [link]
The butterfly hairpins: [link]


Pattern: Me
Bought items: ribbons, lace, grommets, the short skirt underneath