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Vivat Veritas

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

Photo inspiration for Spring collection shoot

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The photoshoot of my mini Spring collection is coming up this weekend! I am busy sewing, preparing and coordinating for the shoot, and really excited to share the result here sometime next week. I am working on a fun collaboration which I can’t wait to share with you very soon..

Here are some of the photo inspirations that I’ve collected for the shoot. All the top photos are from Liebemarlene Vintage and two bottom are from That’s Chic.

We are aiming to catch the soft light from the background, and the main shoot will be done right before sunset..I’m really hoping that it won’t rain this weekend! Wish me a luck❤

Friday shop update and some thoughts on international shipping fee

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Happy Friday!
Here are some things that were recently added to my shop. Lots of prints!
Top left: Black and White stripes scarf, $12
Top right: Black & White rose kimono dress, $50
Bottom left: 50’s inspired plaid dress, $90
Bottom right: 50’s inspired floral dress, $90

A recent purchase I made online got me thinking about the cost of international shipping fees. I found a dress I liked for $10, and the listing said it includes domestic shipping fee within the U.S. So, I emailed the seller to ask how much the shipping fee be to Japan. It was extra $10, so the total would be $20. Double the price?
I decided to ask her to ship the item to my family’s address in NY, so they can forward the item to me, which in the end, will cost me less money. Honestly, it does not cost $10 to ship a light weight summer dress to Japan from the U.S.  I know because I ship world constantly!

Granted, I have only lived in the U.S. and Japan, and have most of my experience working within those countries but, I often feel like etsy and ebay sellers are overcharging the international shipping fee. I don’t know if they are including the so called “handling fee”, but many times it makes me feel that they are trying to make money by overcharging on shipping fees. I understand higher shipping fee cost if you are getting a wedding dress in a big box, or industrial coffee maker but honestly, it really turns me off to see sellers charging exorbitant for no reason.

I usually charge $5 for orders from the U.S., and $7 for other countries. I charge a standard $5 for U.S., shipping even though, many times, I end up paying a slight difference out of my pocket.  The way I see it, most of my customers are from the U.S., and I do not want the shipping fee to be deterrent from ordering from my shop. Also as I see it, the seller should be quick to refund if they cost is less than had been previously expected.

Just my two cents…..what is your take on shipping fees?

28 weeks

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28 weeks! I officially started the third trimester of pregnancy. It’s crazy! Everything is going so fast. Not much change from last week..just having some sleeping problems time to time. I don’t sleep well 2 nights out of 3. I wake myself up trying to change sleeping position…

So I’m wearing my first self-made maternity clothes! I did not intend it to be maternity dress, but it turned out the dress is so comfortable and has some slimming effect because I used black jersey for skirt part. I made this to be part of my mini Spring collection, and the photos on models (not pregnant) will be up soon! But in the meantime, you can see more pictures on mannequin on my flickr page here. It will be available in white &black and solid black.

I like the dress because I know I will be able to continue wearing it even after the birth..I’m just not a big fan of some Japanese maternity dresses, that makes you look obviously pregnant and shapeless.. like this one or this one.

Last week, I spent one night sewing up two little baby girl’s dresses – aren’t they cute?! I love how they turned out! I simply used some left over fabrics from making adult clothes, and I thought it was a great way to use up my left over fabric stash.

I used the pattern downloaded from a Japanese website, called Handmade no Kokoro. They have many patterns download for free in pdf file. If you are used to using BurdaStyle patterns, it will not be a problem figuring out how to use them. The only thing to note is to add seam allowances. I used pattern no. 12 dress for these dresses.