Ack, sorry my first ask was kind of redundant! I was rethinking what I sent you originally, and seeing others’ asks on specific coord advice now, I feel a little silly, haha. ^^; I guess I didn’t want to be forward or bothersome (I realize you probably have a lot to do running the blog). Anywho! I’d like to be posted anonymously instead of publicly, or messaging by pm.
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/Poodins/blogging/op1_zpse5ad9c56.jpg
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/Poodins/blogging/op3_zps5f39e1e3.jpg
I bought this OP a few months back, and am planning to debut it at a meet-up in a few weeks. It’s a Red Queen Piece, and it didn’t cost me a lot under the circumstances which I bought it from the vendor (a big reason I was able to get it at all - I haven’t really gotten a lot of other pieces because of financial reasons). I like it, but looking at it again a couple months later, some of the features really just aren’t for me. I’m planning to add at lest one layer of ruffle to the bottom for length, because it’s awfully short. I’m also going to remove some of the tulle/lace trim (and maybe replace it) because I feel it kind of clashes with the lace in other areas of the piece, and also seems to be of poorer quality to me.
http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag82/Poodins/blogging/op5_zps3b9777e8.jpg
My big question, though, is about the sleeves, particularly their lace trim. It seems awkwardly long, and again, the type of lace just looks a little cheap to me. I was wondering which of the following alterations might look best to you. I was considering either removing the lace trim altogether, or replacing it with a smaller, better quality lace trim or even some ruffle trim. Another thing I was considering doing was just removing the narrow, lengthy part of the sleeves altogether, in favor of just making it a short sleeve dress. Which do you feel would be the better option? I realize these things would drastically really lower the resale value, which isn’t much of a concern to me, but at the same time I’m not ready to go in there hacking and slashing for either option just yet.
Response from Lolita Tips:
The first thing I want to say is don't worry at all about resale value. RQ-BL isn't exactly a sought after brand. They're an offbrand shop that make a lot of replicas and things that aren't really Lolita. They only sell their items wholesale and because of that you find them in a lot of ebay shops and TaoBao shops. In all honesty, I think doing modifications could actually increase the resale value.
So, now that you don't have to worry at all about resale value, let's get into those modifications. I was lucky enough to find the same dress on ebay so I can see how it looks on a person and I can definitely agree with your wanting to add ruffles to the bottom to lengthen it. What I would personally do is remove the tulle trim from the bottom and also the checkered fabric (which I would remove from the collar as well) and then add a few rows of black ruffles coming out from under the dress to give the illusion of an underskirt and have them go far enough to lengthen the dress to the knee. If you do like the checkered fabric I would still remove it from the bottom and do the ruffles but then re-purpose that fabric to create a narrower ruffle at the bottom of the black ruffles (maybe cut the checkered fabric the long way and sew it end to end so you have a piece long enough to create a ruffle.)
The rest of the dress looks pretty nice except for, as you said, the lace on the sleeves. I think I would remove that and replace it with a ruffle rather than lace.
