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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 日本語

日本語

The Marriage of Figaro Costume

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I’ve had some interesting assignments recently…making costumes! I haven’t had much chance to make costumes except for my failed attempt to sew a past Halloween costume, so when I was asked to make Cherubino’s costume for the Marriage of Figaro, I jumped on it. The fabric was provided by the client (bright green satin with dragon print!) and I bought the triming. The buttons are from Zakzak and ribbon is from Tomato, both in Nippori. Zakzak has some fun trims, like crazy belt buckles. Worth checking in whenever you are in Nippori.Ive made men’s vests, tuxs and pants in the past (here and here) so I modified it a bit to fit this project.  Added a mock pocket flap. One good thing about making costumes is that the clothes don’t necessarily have to be functional. Here are some close up photos of the pants. I used men’s trouser patterns, shorten the length and added some cuffs.  Tada! Ridiculously shinny vest and jacket set. I’m sure you can spot Cherubino from the miles away. I also made a costume for a customer who wants to do cosplay as a character from a video game, Parasite Eve. I don’t play video games and have no idea about Parasite Eve, but the quick google search taught me it’s  “a 1998 survival horror action role-playing video game”. I was to make a dress for Melissa Pearce, and here you can see the character I based the dress for.It was simple to make but ended up very heavy because the fabric used was velvet. I used closed to three meters.

コスチュームを作るお仕事をしました。
一番上はオペラ、フィガロの結婚のウルビーノ伯爵の衣装。
ベスト、ハーフパンツ、ジャケットの3点セットです。

2つ目はパラサイトイブというゲームに出てくるキャラクターのコスプレ様ドレス。
たっぷりのベルベットで作りました。
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Embroidered Jeans

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After finishing up my last knitting project, I needed another portable project for when I watch TV or travel. Because the season is heading toward Summer, I took a break from knitting and decided to transform my boyfriend denim. It was already refashioned once from thrifted mom jeans to tapered boyfriend fit but I wanted to incorporate the embroidery trend (You can see my mood board on Pinterest). I had a lot of embroidery threads left over from my previous projects (here and here) so I had everything I needed to tackle this project right away. I used this Japanese book, titled “可愛いハンガリー刺しゅう：はじめてでも楽しめる伝統ある手仕事” and followed the patterns. I used an erasable pen to draw patterns on the jeans. Ｍost things are done using satin stitches and lines are done by stem stitches (useful article on 10 hand embroidery stitches). The trick is to first do the running stitches around the border and then fill the canvas with satin stitches. This way the embroider has more 3D effect. Here are some progress photos – from left, 3/23/2017, 3/9/2017 and 4/19/2017. It took a couple of months to finish. I’m glad that they are done before the embroidery trend is over. After I finish all the embroidery, I had to take in 12cm total of waist. I followed this youtube tutorial. 12cm was a lot to take in, so you can see the side seams are not in true side anymore. Sorry for the many butt photos! But I needed to show off the months of handy work:)  

昔サンキューマートで買った古着のジーンズをリメイクしました。
右後ろポッケとサイド、前股あたりにハンガリー風刺繍を。
海外ドラマを見ながらと、旅行中の飛行機の中でちくちく刺していきました。
刺繍トレンドが終わる前に出来上がって良かった！

ウエストが大きかったので、１２㎝つめました。

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Refashioned Kimono Dresses

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Upcycling kimono into dresses has become a continual project. You can see my past kimono refashion posts here, but these mermaid dresses are by far my favorite. I’ve never tried one-shoulder style dresses in the past, and I’m pleasantly surprised to say these are comfortable to wear. You do not have to worry about dress slipping like you would when wearing a strapless dress. It feels pretty secure.

The more I work with kimono fabrics, the more I feel comfortable working with it. This one came in Kimono shape, as opposed to a roll form of fabric prior to refashioning. Because the dress is long and has some train, I had to take the kimono apart, iron them and lay them all on a ground to figure out how to cut so that I won’t be short of fabric near the end. I am always impressed by the hand sewing that goes in in kimono – corners are perfectly matched and the thread colors coordinated. Sometimes I feel bad to take it all apart.

Navy + Hazel

I completely forgot to take “before” photo of this kimono, but it was originally a furisode, which means “winging sleeves”. It is a style of kimono distinguishable by its long sleeves, and is most commonly worn by unmarried young women. It’s a type of kimono that 20-year-olds wear at the Coming of Age Day (seijinshiki)

Orange + Black
Black Tomesode Upcycle

This one was upcycled from tomesode, which is type of kimono worn by married women for special occasions like wedding. My mother wore it for my wedding. Usually the patterns are less busy than furisode, and they are placed under waistline or lower.

最近作った着物のリメイクドレスたち。
振袖と留袖をフォーマルドレスにお仕立て直しました。
ワンショルダーは初めて作ったのですが、ストラップレスのドレスみたいに落ちてくるのを気にしなくて良いし、フォーマルな場面でもそわそわしないで着れて良いです。

最近京都で着物生地の染める工場を見学させていただく機会があったので、新しい興味をもってリメイクに取り組むことができました。京都旅行の詳細はまた後日書きます♪

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