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
Remember the dress I refashioned it over the summer (also wore in this video)? Whenever I buy/make a dress, I try to think of ways to wear it differently. One dress should be able to be styled in at least three different ways: 1. Wear it by itself 2. Wear it as a top 3. Wear it as a skit. This dress is like an extension of a T-shirt; it is fitted and very easy to style.
I wore it with the peplum top I recently made, and also with a vintage pleated skirt I bought in Shimokita.
I bought this black tank maxi dress at a small shop in Aoyama, Tokyo for 599 yen ($6). I don’t remember the name of the shop, but it was on a back street near the Max Mara store. The shop has a variety of clothes, shoes, accessories and watches for all 999 yen, but when I went there they were having a sale and some of their stuff were 599 yen.
I usually try things on even if the clothes are super cheap, but this shop didn’t have a fitting room. So I went ahead and bought this dress … mistake! I put it on when I came home and the fit was horrendous. Look at the pictures above! There were multiple problems with this dress – I don’t know how one simple dress can have so many flaws. The armholes were too tight and uncomfortable; neckline cut super unflattering; and the whole dress made me look like I was five-months pregnant.
So I decided to dissect the dress and made it better:
First, I lowered the neckline. I wanted the neckline not too low that I’m showing my bra, but low enough so I have breathing room (I hate turtle necks!!) and still look flattering. I wore the dress in front of the mirror, marked where I wanted the new neckline to be with chalk. After that, using a french curve, I drew a new neckline and cut.
The neckline and arm holes are finished with bias strips. I didn’t have the same black jersey for new bias tapes, but I had a similar one with the black block pattern. So I made bias tapes with that.
Using this bias strip, I finished the neckline and arm holes. I had to widen the arm holes because they were too tight.
For the body, I marked new lines based on my bust, waist, and hip measurements so the dress fit to my body. I did not include seam allowances because I wanted the dress to have minus ease, considering the fabric has a lot of stretch.
Finally I added a thigh high slit on the left side.
Now I like this simple maxi dress so much better. I can see a lot of possibilities for different styling, using belt, scarves, accessories and jackets. It is also a great transition piece to have from Summer to Fall.
I bought this sun dress at a thrift store for 390 yen (about $4.50) last year. This store is one of my go-to thrift shops in Machida, named 390 mart. Everything is 390 yen. I like 390 mart for its price of course, but also because they actually have a decent vintage selection, rather than someone’s old uniqulo sweater from 2010. I bought the sundress even though the size wasn’t right (it was large) because I thought the print was pretty and I didn’t have any red color dresses. Last year I altered it by taking in the sides so it would fit me better, but still, I only wore the dress twice…Lesson learned: Don’t buy clothes that don’t fit you unless you really have an intention to take time to improve the fit!
This year, the dress was still in my closet, and I almost took this to a recycle shop or thought about giving it to a friend. But after refashioning the old skirt a week earlier (here and here), I decided to keep it to completely refashion the dress. I turned it into something like an extension of t-shirt. It’s so comfy duringthese hot summer days. I didn’t use any pattern, I kind of went at it with scissors in hand, as I tend to do when I make myself clothes (I’m lazy and there is no pressure!). One mistake I made was to cut the neckline too wide, so when I first wore it it didn’t cover my boobs. I tucked in the neckline a bit so there are a weird tucked/gathered spot on neckline close to the shoulders, but what can I do.. I wasn’t sure how else to fix it without de-stitching it all!
Worn with Kate Spade wedges and Oia Jules bracelet
The dress has raglan sleeves, elastic at waist, and bias finish at neckline.
