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Custom Wedding Dress & Kimono Upcycled Clothes | オーダーメイドウェディングドレス&着物ドレス

/ Archives for Chie

Chie

Inspiration: New Sewing Books

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These are the sewing books that I recently acquired. I read them before bedtime …

First the book in the middle of the above picture is “Cool Couture” by Kenneth D. King. I bought this book recently. After taking the bombshell dress course at Craftsy, I became interested in couture techniques and how to incorporate them in ready-to-wear garments. I forgot who recommended me this book, but I think Kenneth King is pretty famous. The book has a step by step instructions on some couture techniques from piping to different pocket installation. Although the book has plenty of illustrations and pictures, I personally need to follow it while I make a sample, or else  I would forget the process. One of my dreams is to take a sewing class by Kenneth King and Susan Khalji in NY (or Baltimore maybe). I’ve read Gertie took her course, and taking her course has become one of my sewing life goals! It is quite expensive (I think it is about 900 dollars for 5 days), but would be a great way to invest money.

The book “Fitting You Figure” is a collection of articles by vintage Threads magazines. Marina from Frabjous Couture (excellent blog btw, and she guest blogs at BurdaStyle too) kindly sent it to me since I won her giveaway 🙂 I’ve just started reading the book, and it is great. As with the Kenneth King book, I will need to try the techniques with my hands to really acquire the skills, but it is really interesting to read through the articles.

The last book in Japanese is from a local library. I visit there every other week and pick up several books to read at night. This book is titled “How to be a fashion designer“. I just started reading it last night, it gives a brief history of several designers, including Junko Koshino. While reading their stories, it dawned on me that success does not come over night. These famous designers have years of sewing, pattern making, designing experience.  They all patiently wait until their break comes. They have years of waiting time, where they learned the industry, leveled up their skills and so on. Watching Project Runway, sometimes it looks like success comes to you over night, but for most successful people, it does not. I was really encouraged by it:) If I were to become a famous designer tomorrow, I would not be prepared to take the success and would blow the opportunity. I don’t have the necessary skills or knowledge yet. So much more to learn!

Lastly, I found that this etsy shop, Isabel’s Patterns is having a 50% sale on vintage patterns! I picked up 4 new patterns today. They are a boy’s shirt, men’s robe, high waisted wide legged pants and a night gown patterns. I can’t wait to receive them! Check out her store – She has more than 400 vintage patterns, and they are really cheap!

 

You Are Invited! Holiday Craft Fair in Tokyo Midtown

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Hi everyone! I am having a booth this Saturday the 10th at the Oakwood Premier Tokyo Midtown. It will feature some of my pieces. If you are around Tokyo, please stop by and say hello 🙂 Tokyo Midtown is a chic shopping mall that opened up about a year or two ago. Some of the Tokyo Fashion Weeks runway shows are held here (I went to Shida Tatsuya show this fall). I’ve heard that there is a gorgeous holiday light setup for Christmas, which I am looking forward to seeing!

As said above, it’s on Saturday 12/10, from 12pm to 4pm. The entrance fee is 1000 yen, but it includes drinks, 500 yen donation to Resilience Japan, and 500 yen coupon toward a purchase at the fair. Looking forward to seeing you!

 

Copy Cat

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Recently, I was asked to make a copy of a dress for someone. It is pictured below. I think it is a cute little dress and the plunged back neckline is lovely. Usually, copying a dress is not something I do but I gladly agreed to make a copy (in different fabric) of this dress because I liked it so much.

These photos are the only images I had for of the dress. It would have been be so much easier to make a copy if I had the dress in hand, but I had to make do with just these photos. Looking at the photos, it seemed like there were darts in the front neckline, had small cap sleeves, mini length square skirts gathered at the waist and it closed with buttons in back. Whenever I make my own patterns, I sketch (terribly, but sketching helps organize my ideas) the garment with some notes and ideas on the side. I did the same in this case, and decided to make a muslin. I hoped to be able to wear the muslin, so I used this cute butterfly satin I recently bought in Nippori.
After making the muslin, it became clear that there were some adjustments needed to be made. For instance, the neckline needed to be lowered to imitate the original dress, shoulder line needed to be narrowed so that the sleeve seam line would fall on the shoulder bones. I thought the darts starting from the neckline to right above the bust line was an interesting feature. I don’t think I’ve used any patterns in the past that have this kind of darting in the bodice. Has anyone? I think it works well for small chested pieces, but I wonder if it works well for busty girls. I don’t know how I would adjust the bodice pattern piece for say, a D-cup.

I went ahead and added the trim all around the neckline. It was not until I connected the two back pieces together that I realized I had made a crucial mistake…look.

I forgot that the trim overlapped in the back. At this point, I didn’t know how to fix this mistake without starting the whole thing over again, I didn’t have enough seam allowances to fix this.

This is why it’s always a good idea to make a muslin before trying out a new pattern, especially if it’s the one drafted on your own! :p

Here is the finished result. It’s fully lined. I love the result. I might use this pattern again to make a dress for my upcoming Guam trip. Andy I are headed to the island for our  five year anniversary…I’m trying to make some VV outfits in preparation for the trip.