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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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Golden Gloves to Hemline Pt. 8: Power and Glory

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Some men earn greatness through perseverance and dedication. Other men have greatness thrust upon then. And then others of us receive greatness through endurance. I endured mockery, emotional and physical torment, sleepless nights and a near loss of sanity. But now VV ladies look below at the pictures and be astounded! Tommy Hilfiger ain’t got nothin on me!!!!

I have completed my first sewing project; a skirt for my daughter Kiko. I remember wining the golden gloves, my arms raised in exhausted bloody glory….my victory over thread and needle was no less sweet. It was slightly more bloody thanks to Chie’s vicious back hand slaps but no less sweet.

This wee skirt took 4 “@&$)(; hours to make but as you can see it was done to seeing perfection. Particularly the hem line which was do splendidly straight and perfectly constructed that Vera Wang would look in envy at my accomplishment. In all seriousness, if the sewing gods were to incarnate and create a skirt for a baby they could have accomplished nothing greater than I.

Today I sit, basking in the radiance of my yellow creation and ponder what lies ahead.

Any recommendations for project #2?

Fabric Weaved Bodice Dress

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The weather was nicer today than two days ago. It was still chilly, but thankfully was not raining so I snapped some photos of my recent creation. The other day I wrote about experimenting with fabric weaving. Here is the finished version!

The purse is my recent purchase from ASOS. I love the mint color!! This was my first purchase at ASOS, and I was very pleased:) Free international shipping was a big plus. Now I want these pumps from ASOS! 

Although each of the strips I used for weaving were not cut on bias, the entire bodice was kind of on bias because of how I placed the pattern. The weaving the fabric itself was very time-consuming, but the other portions of the piece came off without a hitch. Since the bodice was kind of on bias and the weaving created some stretch, I eliminated the gather in the bodice pattern, and treated the fabric as I do with jersey fabrics. I used the bodice pattern I drafted recently for another project. I added a gather at the waistline to replace darts. or For this dress, I even went so far as to take out the gather ease.

I had this blue fabric sitting in my stash for a while. I bought it on wholesale, but since the fabric is such a light weight, I wasn’t sure what to do with it. The weaving was a perfect fit for the fabric. It didn’t become too bulky but added some structure to the fabric, making it easier the rest of the sewing.

I lined the dress with the same fabric, as it is a bit sheer. Also added side pockets, and a matching fabric belt. The buckle is from this online shop I wrote about in the past.

Overall, I LOVE the result, and it was very satisfying to make. If you were to ask whether I’ll do it again, I don’t know…it really was time consuming, so I’m not sure.

While I was sewing this dress, I thought I had more to write about it, but I forgot most of what I wanted to say!

Fabric: light weight cotton
Lining: same as the fashion fabric
Pattern: self drafted bodice pattern, skirt is two big squares. Pocket patterns are borrowed and modified from BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook coat pattern.

Fabric Weaving

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Ever since I saw this amazing dress at Gary Pepper Vintage (I LOVE her style by the way!), I wanted to try my hand at fabric weaving. Last weekend, I finally had a chance to work on a new dress, and took time to try the new technique.

I cut many strips of fabric (about 35 of them) with 10cm in length, and about 120cm (fabric width) in width. Then I folded the pieces in half and sewed the edge together with 1cm seam allowance. Then I turned each piece, ironed, and started to weave them. 

I created “new fabric” with weaved pieces. After that, I used a bodice pattern and traced the line directly on the weaved fabric piece with  tailor’s chalk. Then I thread traced the line with the sewing machine, and cut the pieces out. I only used the weaved fabric for the bodice. I would have given up if I had to do the entire dress – It really took a long time.

I’ve finished the dress, but unfortunately I could not take photos of it since it was dark and rainy. Hopefully, I can show you the finished piece soon:) I really love the result.

I enjoy trying new sewing techniques – I feel like whatever it is, it always bring my sewing to the next level. I would like to try this Lattice smocking tutorial next.