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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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DIY:: T-shirt to a Dress Tutorial

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t-shirt to dress DIY Vivat Veritas BlogSorry for posting kids related topics in a row. I haven’t been sewing much for adults except for wedding dresses, and the things I’ve made for myself, I haven’t had taken pictures. I promise more grown-up projects will be posted soon!

I got this idea of turning a T-shirt that is too small for a child into a dress on Pinterest. I thought I pinned it on my DIY ideas board, but now I can’t seem to find it! Anyway, this DIY is super easy. It helps both parents and a child, if your child is like mine, who LOVES wearing dresses and insists on wearing one every day. Killing two birds with one stone! t-shirt to dress DIY - What You Need - Vivat Veritas Blog

The idea is to take a small T-shirt (or it does not have to be small, but you can recycle the small one to make it last longer!) and attach a rectangle shaped, gather skirt. The fabric for the skirt part can be anything. The one I saw on Pinterest uses cotton fabric. It seemed like it was a quilting cotton. I used jersey, which I intended to use for my Spring jacket/cardigan but never got around making it. I think tulle or lace might work well as well.

I cut the jersey in one big rectangle shape. The width of the fabric is about 2 times longer than the t-shirt hem length all around.t-shirt to dress DIY - Step by Step - Vivat Veritas BlogOnce you cut the fabric, sew the side seams together to create a tube shape. After that, hem the skirt hem, and attach the elastic band all around the top hem. Attach the elastic part into the T-shirt to make it into a dress! It took about 15 minutes to do this. t-shirt to dress2 DIY Vivat Veritas Blog t-shirt to dress3 DIY Vivat Veritas Blog

I’m glad this cute cupcake t-shirt will last another 6 months!

小さくなっておなかが見えてしまうようなTシャツにゴムでギャザーを寄せたスカートを縫い付けて、ワンピースにしました。
スカート部分はストレッチ素材を使って動きやすく。
かわいい柄のキルト用コットンや、チュール素材でもかわいく作れると思います。
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Cupcake Decorating Party

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cupcake decorating party Vivat VeritasMy daughter turned three last week! We threw her a birthday party with the theme “cupcake decoration” (You can see the first birthday party “pink and piggy” here and second party “Minnie mouse” here). I love planning a party like this. I start by collecting images on Pinterest (party idea board), and slowly collecting the items for decorations. Andy’s grandmother was kind enough to send me many cute pieces like cupcake liners, hello kitty cupcake toppings etc.

The day before the party, I baked about 100 cupcakes(!), which certainly satisfied my baking urge that I get once in a while. For the party, I added the whipped cream on top, since I was too lazy to make actual icing. They don’t cell easy icing mix like they do in the U.S. here. The kids loved it! I was a bit concerned that decorating cupcakes would be beyond what a three year old and her friends could do, but they seemed to have had fun decorating and licking the chocolate toppings.

girls birthday party decoration by vivat veritas cupcake toppings by vivat veritas heart cupcakes by vivat veritas table decorationg for three year old by vivat veritas party decoration by vivat veritas cupcake shop birthday party by vivat veritas kids party cupcake decoration party by vivat veritas DSC_0277 copy DSC_0280 copy DSC_0284 copyI decorated the house with tissue paper ponpons and washi paper garland that my friend, Taren of Oslo and Alfred made. The one side of the wall is decorated with washi tape (DIY here) and I also have Kiko’s watercolor”art” hung up on the wall. handmade pinata by vivat veritas handmade pinata by viavt veritas2Andy is not known for his DIY skill, but he volunteered to make a pinata. That is something you can buy at Target for 10 bucks in the U.S., but in Japan such a thing does not exist. We tried to order one on Amazon, but after adding the shipping cost, it was about 50 dollars. Andy read some tutorials online, and used balloon, newspaper, flour and water to make the shell. After two or three coats, and letting them completely dried, he popped the balloon and put candies inside. It looked ugly, so I attempted to paint it with gold spraypaint, but it ran out while I was painting. So you can see it in the picture that the pinata has some “bold spots”. Oh well, the kids liked it, so I think that is what matters the most!

We did not call this party a “birthday party” on purpose. We did, at first, just like we did for her 1st and 2nd parties. But she started to act a bit princessy and act as though she would necessarily get all the attention because it was her birthday. So Andy and I told her that we are doing cupcake decoration party so that everyone can enjoy. It took some talking with Kiko, but at the end I think she understood. Attitude gone, problem solved.

I very much enjoying having my little girl in my life, and the more she grows, the better it gets. I don’t really look back on her baby days as I think she is more fun to hang out with now that she can talk. There are some kind things she says, like “come here mommy sit with me! Do you want some blanket?” that makes me chuckle. The other day, I let her paint her nails pink with my nail polish, and after she was done, she was so proud and asked me to take a picture of her nails(evidence here). Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to see her all grown up, living on her own and having a chance to grab lunch on Saturday or something. It would be amazing!  I look forward to those days.

娘が3歳になりました★

おうちで「カップケーキデコレーション」をテーマにパーティーをしました。
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Made:: Floral Spring Coat for a Toddler

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kiko floral spring coat by vivat veritasThe first year I lived in Philadelphia, I was surprised that the Summer came right after the Winter. There were multiple days of 40 degrees and all of the sudden, the temperature rose up to 80s and everyone starts wearing t-shirt and flipflops. As I love hot weather, I did not mind having Summer and skipping Spring. However in Japan, we have a rather prolonged Spring, where the temperature goes back and forth which makes me wonder every morning what in the world I should wear. I’ve learned to have multiple layers for Spring season in Japan, so I can take off one layer when I am dying of heat and humidity in a train, and put it back on for chilly night.

Be that as it may, I thought perhaps Kiko could benefit from light weight Spring coat. I was very pleased by the winter coat I made for her, I decided to make another one with the same pattern. I made a few adjustments this time –

♡ Added in seam pockets on the side, however, the pocket openings were too small for her hands!
♡ I did not add the round collar like the coat, and instead, left as no-collar coat.
♡ No lining.

I completely forgot that the seam allowances were not included in the pattern. As with many Japanese patterns, you have to add your own seam allowances when you cut out the patterns. One reader commented in the past that she does not add seam allowances to the paper pattern, but to add it while cutting the pieces out of the fabric. I tried that for her coat and it was very easy to do. I completely forgot to add the seam allowances on the go this time though. So the coat ended up a size smaller than the last one, but it worked out alright since the fabric is not bulky and there is no lining. kiko floral spring coat2kiko floral spring coat by vivat veritas2

I did not make her many clothes at all when she was a baby since we were lucky to have people giving us clothes as gifts or hand-me-downs. Also as a baby, Kiko could not care less what she wore. Now that she talks, it is more fun (or frustrating at times) to see her reaction to the clothes I make for her. Last time was a big success since she is into pink, but this time, she was not so crazy about it. It was a good opportunity to teach her to appreciate the gifts she is given even if she does not like it.

ピンクのコートと同じ型紙を使って、娘にスプリングコートを作りました。
今回は丸襟はつけず、ノーカラーコートにして。
花柄に丸襟はくどいかな、と思ったのもあったので。
あとはサイドにポケットを付け、裏地はなしにしました。

前はスナップボタン仕上げにしたので、自分でもぱちん、ぱちん、て着れます。

chie and kiko 20140407

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