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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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Made:: Drape Drape 3 Inspired Grecian Dress

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gracian dress1{Self-made Grecian dress, thrifted sandals, Alexander Wang clutch, H&M earrings, Gorjana necklace and bracelet, Oia Jules bracelet}

A few weeks ago, my sister got married. The wedding was wonderful. To be honest, I don’t always enjoy going to weddings, especially because it is expensive to attend (you have to bring at least 300 USD as a gift, plus additional after-party cost and transportation), but my sister’s wedding was truly special. She met her husband, got engaged and married within 9 months. I am so happy for them! As always, I was working on the dress to wear to the wedding up til the the night before. I have to stop being so last minute, but I couldn’t help it. Usually I go for more structured dresses like skater dress with fitted top or this Chasing the Waterfall dress, but this time I wanted something different. I bought this lavender jersey at blogger meet-up in Nippori, and was anxious to use it for something drapy and loose. The side drape on skirt was done using the pattern no.10 from Drape Drape 3 book from Hisako Sato. I bought this book about a year and a half ago, and had been wanting to make something from it. The biggest reason why it took me so long to actually make something from the book was because of the patterns. Since many of the patterns in the book are not supposed to cut on fold, each pattern is gigantic (check out this Instagram photo!). Also the pleating on the pattern was terribly confusing; it took me good three hours to figure out how to put it together.

I got tired by the time I finished the side drape, so I decided to do the rest on the flow. I just cut out fabric pieces and tucked here and draped there, and finished the waist with elastic for comfort. grecian dress close up Since I have no breasts to support the V neckline, I had to use double sided tapes to keep the shoulder and neckline. I really liked the back V line and the loose fitting silhouette goes well with my delicate gold jewelry. Sadly, Andy was not a big fan of this dress, as he said it looks like I’m wearing a garbage bag. 009DSC_0166 copy DSC_0168 copyMy sister made a beautiful bride…yumi weddingfamily photo2ChieSignature

 

The Process of Making Wedding Dress

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Hi, This is Rina. Chie and I are working on the wedding project as Chie has already posted. I’m taking on the bride’s wedding dress and the groom’s dress shirt and bow tie. I really appreciate this opportunity, and I’m so excited to learn from this experience.

The bride shared her favorite dress photos with me. We discussed dress colors, silhouettes, fabrics, and some details. We decided to make a beige A-line dress with tulle. This is one of the most interesting processes to make garments.

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Chie drafted bodice patterns, and I drafted the skirt pattern based on the book, 2Way Wedding Dress. I also drafted the gloom dress shirt based on the book, 男のシャツの本.

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I made a muslin for the wedding dress, dress shirt and bow tie as the first step. About wedding dress, we checked the fit, length of the skirt and train. I was relieved that it wasnt necessary to modify it drastically. However, the shirt is a bit too small in the armhole and collar for him. I realized that I have to go back to drafting patterns and modify them a lot. I usually make garments for myself, so I am able to modify and fit on at the same time. But I can’t do this on this men’s dress shirt making. Plus, I haven’t got used to making men’s garments. After coming back from the first fitting, I stared photos he wears the muslin shirt, and stared books explaining the relation between muslin ruck and physical types. I shipped the modified muslin dress shirt to him few days ago, and asked him to try it on again. I’m waiting forhis response now. I hope it fit well for him!

I’m sure I will be able to learn a lot of things through this project.

I went to Marunan in Shibuya and Okadaya in Shinjuku to buy dress fabrics a few days after the fitting day.
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These shops are not as cheap as Nippori, but I like them because stores are well organized and clerks are willing to give me advice. They have a wide range of formal dress fabric. You can order fabrics on their online stores, but you can find more things on the real stores.

Unfortunately, Marunan is going to shut down the store as well as their online store at the end of August. The clerk said they are going to close business. I’m sad because I like their assortment of products. Everything in Marunan is on closing sale, so it worth looking at if you can stop by Shibuya!
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I’ll update more about the wedding project process.

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先日のChieさんのBlog Postにもある通り、今わたしたちは一緒にウエディングドレス製作をしています。Chieさんは新郎のタキシードを、わたしは新婦のドレス、新郎のドレスシャツ、蝶ネクタイを製作しています。

とても責任ある仕事を任せてもらえて本当に嬉しく思っていますし、とてもわくわくしています！

このドレス製作において、まず花嫁から、彼女の気に入っているドレスの写真を数点頂きました。そして色やシルエット等について話し合い、ベージュのAラインドレスを作ることにしました。

パターンの作製はChieさんに協力してもらうのと同時に、”2Way Wedding Dress“と”男のシャツの本“という本を参考にしています。

シーチングで仮縫いを行い、フィッティングを確認します。ドレスはいくつかの補正をするだけで大丈夫そうでしたが、新婦のドレスシャツはアームホールや襟に大幅な補正が必要でした。正直、男物の洋服を作るのは不慣れなこともあり、不安もありますが本とにらめっこし、補正した仮縫いシャツを新婦へ送りました。サイズが合うといいなー。

フィッティングから数日後、ドレス生地を購入するために渋谷のマルナンと新宿のオカダヤへ行きました。

生地の種類も豊富ですし、店内もきれいで店員さんも親切なのでとても買い物がしやすいです。オンラインでも注文を受け付けていますが、実店舗にしかおいていない商品もいくつかあるようですね。

マルナンは今月末で閉店するとお店の方が言っていました。商品の品揃えが気に入っていたのでとても残念です。

またこのウエディングドレス製作についてはアップデートしていきたいです！

不慣れなことも多く、右往左往していますが、新郎新婦が気に入ったものが作れるように頑張ります　：）

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More Rina’s posts….
– Book Review: Over 100 Years of Style by Decade and Designer, in Association with Vogue
– Handmade Dog Cllothes

Making a Tuxedo

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in process2 copyGuess what I am making now? A tux! Rina and I are working together on a wedding that is coming up in the Fall. Rina is making the dress for the bride, bow tie, and dress shirt for the groom, and I’m making the tuxedo for the groom!

I’m excited about the opportunity, but at the same time, I have a lot to learn. I’ve don’t really dabble in men’s wear, save the occasional t-shirt like this, let alone a full suit! The groom knows this, and still gave me the ok and his blessing to work on his.

For the jacket, I decided to use BurdaStyle Ehren #6049 pattern. It has been a while since I used BurdaStyle pattern, and I forgot how long it took to print out the patterns, tape them together and trace the size of my choosing. I spent a whole night doing that! I will say that the convenience is nice, to be able to download it with one click and there you have it.

For the pants, I was just sick of taping the papers together, so I used the pattern from Burda magazine from 2008. When I was in the U.S., one of my very good friends was from the Ukraine. When she went back home for the summer, she bought me a bunch of Burda magazine, which was awesome! The only catch was that they were in Russian. So I stared at the magazine for a while, trying to figure out the size. I entered “waist, Russian, translation” to get the result for “waist” in Russian, so I could find the right size for the groom. Thankfully for the pants, there are only a few pattern pieces; front and back pants, pockets, and fly. Before cutting the muslin pants, I tweaked the pattern a lot based on the measurements of the best fitting pants he currently owned. I shortened the pants and widened the hip and thighs.

in process1 in process3We just finished our first fitting last Saturday. The pants fit the groom almost perfectly (just needs a bit tweaking on hip and thighs), but the tux top needs a lot of modification. I know what happened looking back on the process. The test square in the Ehren pattern turned out to be 11cm x 11cm, instead of 10cm x 10cm. But by the time I saw that, I had already printed out the 50 pages of the pattern and did not want to redo it.

I’ll be updating my first suit making journey here. If you have any tips, advice, or recommended reading for suits making, please send them to my way<3

first fittingChieSignature

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