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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

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Chie

Inspiration: Theme desert

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All images via Liebemarlene Vintage
When I am making clothes for a photo shoot, I like to come up with a certain “theme”. In February, a photographer Amelia and I worked on a shoot with a theme “Secret Garden“. My next upcoming photo shoot’s theme is “After the carnival“, where I want to capture some images with bright sky, and Ferris wheel in the background with bright solid color clothes, such as juicy orange, bright yellow, or sky blue. At dusk, I want to have some photos taken with some melancholy feel, with a bit of sadness that the carnival is over. As props, I would love to incorporate balloons, big lollipops or cotton candy… 
I just read at Riannon’s blog that she was planning a shoot with a theme “Heroines in the desert”, and I thought the theme is so cute! I love the inspirational images she collected.

Guest blogger: Free PDF downloadable bag pattern by Nette

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Hi everyone. My name is Nette and I am from Germany. It is so nice to meet you! Usually, I write a blog over at nettevivante all about my sewing projects and other creative output. Anyway, you might wonder why you do not get to read anything by lovely Chie?! That is because she asked me to write a little guest post for her readers, while she is taking a break welcoming her little baby girl!
Having been inspired by Chie’s beautiful dresses for a long time already, I was really flattered to be able to jump in for her! Thank you Chie! ❤
This is a double premiere for me. Not only because this is my very first guest post, but also because I intent to keep you busy during Chie’s absence with my very first self drafted epattern and how-to.
So today I am presenting you a pattern for a simple, yet, highly versatile tote bag. I made several versions of it for ‘Pay it forward’ and am so glad that Chie is going to use hers for the baby! 😉
As you can see, this bag is just full of endless possible variations and I hope you are going to enjoy letting your mind wander and making one!
If there are any questions, leave them as comments here or on my blog, I would love to help you out then. AND if you really are making a bag, I would love to see your versions! Have a lovely day everybody!
❤Download PDF Eva bag instruction eva_instruction.
❤Download PDF Eva bag pattern eva_pattern.

Guest blogger: Freehand machine embroidery by Paunnet

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Hello, everyone! I’m Paunnet (but you can call me Anna) and I’m very happy to be here while Chie takes care of lovely little Sophia.

Today I’d like to talk to you about a technique I was introduced to about two years ago and that has been inspiring me a lot, lately. It is called freehand machine embroidery (if you’re a quilter you probably know it already) and it allows you to put your designs on anything you want without an expensive embroidery machine.
This is what you’re gonna need:
1.      A darning foot (sometimes called quilting foot): mine didn’t come with my machine, but I bought one for a few euros at my machine dealer. This allows you to move the fabric while you sew and to stitch in any direction you want.
2.      Water soluble stabilizer: it’s a plastic-y film on which you can draw you design. When you are done, you just wash it and will dissolve. I used Madeira’s Avalon, which comes in a roll of 5m x 25cm.
3.      A permanent marker: make sure it’s water resistant or the ink will bleed on to your fabric when you wash it.
4.      Tape: to tape the stabilizer on the fabric, so that it doesn’t move around.
5.      (Optional) Embroidery thread: I had some in my sewing box, but regular thread works great too.
Now you can choose your design and transfer it or drawing it on the stabilizer. I chose this sketch of three little girl dresses that I found a long time ago on the Internet.
The next step is to prepare your machine: put on the darning foot, set a low thread tension and lower the feed dogs (my machine has a button on the back, check your machine’s instructions if you don’t know how to do it).
Now start following the lines of your design. You’ll need some practice to adjust the movement of the fabric and the speed of the pedal, but it’s not too hard to get a good result. If you really can’t figure it out, there are a lot of Youtube videos in which you can see the machine in action, which might be more useful than my written explanation.
In the picture you can see I finished the the first part and I left a long tail before cutting the thread and moving to the next little dress.
Once you have finished, turn your fabric, with the help of a seam ripper, pull the threads on the wrong side and knot them, so your design won’t unravel.
Now you’re almost done! Rip the stabilizer and wash away the remaining.
I used my little dresses to make a zippered pouch (and I made a matching pencil case with an ice-cream design that I found here).
Aren’t they cute? They are for sale in my Etsy shop.
I also decorated a plain t-shirt with some butterflies going from the front to the back.
                                                            
I hope this little tutorial will inspire you to create something beautiful. If you try it, I’d be delighted to see your results!