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Before & After | Maternity Dress to Peplum Top

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DIY Peplum Top (click through for pictures)

Most of you know how much I like quick refashioning – it is a great way to update your wardrobe without putting in much effort. I still like making clothes from scratch but I can’t deny the instant gratification that quick DIY projects provide.

Here is another “old” piece my friend gave me. It was never worn and it is from Max Mara! I’m sure it cost 3-500 dollars. She said it was too potato sack-y for her and I kind of agree that the shape is rather unflattering. Initially my thought was to make a skater dress like this, but I quickly realized that I didn’t have enough fabric. It’s hard to gauge how much fabric I have when it is in an already constructed clothes form. So I had to change the plan mid way and turn it into a peplum top. Considering how much wear I’m getting from this peplum top, I didn’t mind the change of plan 🙂

I forgot that stripes (especially wide stripes) require more fabric…sigh. I made this little peak-a-boo cutout in the back not really on purpose but because of the lack of fabric. But I think it turned out ok!
Before and After of Max Mara Maternity Dress DIY (via vivatveritas back details peplum top DIY peplum top from Max Mara Maternity Dress in processmatching stripes (1)The fabric shed a lot so as soon as I cut, I added the iron-on interface and surged the seam allowances. matching stripes (2)DSC_1752P.S., Check out more Before & After like this here, here and here.

洋裁をしていることを知っている友達からは、よくいらなくなったお洋服のドネーションをしていただきます。
これはMax Maraのワンピース。
たぶん高かっただろうな。。。１度も着ていないらしい、とっても状態が良いワンピースです。
簡単な作りで、ほとんどダーツとかも入っていなかったので、作りやすかったですが、ボーダーなのは盲点でした。
ボーダー合わせに結構悩みました。

ぺプラムトップスはちょっと食べ過ぎてもぽっこりお腹が隠れて好き♪

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Summer Gataway to Ajiro, Shizuoka

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Ajiro Pool copy

I think Airbnb is the greatest invention – traveling and finding a place to stay on a budget was a pain before, when you had only two options: staying in a hotel or staying with friends or family. Back in June, I was going through Airbnb and found this amazing Spanish style house in a place called Ajiro in Shizuoka prefecture. It is little over an hour away from Tokyo and the beach is nearby. I booked a room immediately and we just went there last weekend.

Ajiro is a quiet fisherman’s town. It is one stop away from the big beach and hot spring resort, Atami. When you go outside the metropolitan area in Japan, you get a very different feel – it is quiet and people are very friendly. We asked directions to the super market from an elderly lady on the street. Not only did she give us the directions, but she also offered her friend to take us to the super market! We decided to walk since it was relatively close but it makes me smile to bump into people who offer kindness to strangers.

The place we were staying was about 1.5km away from the nearest station. The host said to take a cab but Andy and I decided to walk, since we walk and bike daily. We thought why not?! We get to see things on the way. Little did I know there was a reason for cab comment. It was 45 degrees uphill all the way to the house. It took us close to an hour. I felt horrible for Kiko but by the time we realized it was a bad idea, we could not find cab anywhere and it would have been dangerous to climb down the hill. I’m still amazed Kiko made it to the top without much whining.

The host, Yoshiko’s house was lovely and she provided the experience that was more than a regular trip. It was kind of like a home stay experience. She was an amazing chief and we hung out, chatted and drank wine together. Wine tasted so good after all the walking!

Airbnbを使って、１泊だけの小旅行に行ってきました。
泊まったのはこちら。
プール付き、２４時間かけ流し温泉付きのスペイン風のお家です。
レビューを見て、評価が高かったので即決しました。
素敵なおうちも素晴らしかったですが、ホストのYoshikoさんも素敵で、いつもとは違った旅が楽しめました！
すごくおすすめです。

Summer House in Ajiro (via vivatveritas.com)Ajiro Local Beach Beautiful Spanish Style Home Spanish Style house in Ajiro Shizuoka Summer gataway (via vivatveritaschie sig2Find me elsewhere:

Upcycled Kimono Dresses

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Upcycled Kimono Dress via Vivat Veritas Blog

Hello! I recently worked on a few kimono dresses so I wanted to show the finished products here. These dresses were upcycled from vintage kimono fabrics. This was the first time I worked with kimono fabric so it presented a few challenges!

The first challenge was that the kimono fabric in Tanmono(反物) form has a very narrow width. If you haven’t seen what Tanmono looks like, here are some examples. Its width is about 35cm and the length is about 12 meters. This is not where I sourced the fabric, but Ichiroya has many beautiful antique kimonos – I love this, this and this (all 100% silk). They also have an English page. Since the width is so narrow, the patterns need to be adjusted so that I can cut out each piece without disrupting the patterns or motifs of the fabric.
blue kimono dress kimono remake blue kimono dress via vivatveritas Kimono upcycle dressBeige Kimono Dress Details Beige Kimono Dress Inside Beige Kimono Dress Vent Beige Kimono Dress

Second challenge is how to match the patterns of the fabric. Since many kimono fabrics are one-of-a-kind, in one roll, you might get all different patterns. What I did was to take a look at the entire fabric (12 meters of them!) before I started cutting and planned out accordingly. For the below dress top, I looked for a similar pattern in the fabric and although they were not completely the same, I mixed and matched so that they look like they belonged together. The process is similar to matching plaids. I’ve worked with plaids in the past (did not love the process though) so it helped. Beige Kimono Remake Dress via Vivat Veritas In process of Kimono Dress1 kimono dress in process

Overall sewing from Kimono fabric was fun, and I love handling the 100% silk. Have you made something with antique or traditional fabrics? What were the fun parts and challenging parts?

pink kimono upcycled dress via Vivat Veritas pink5

最近お仕立てした着物ドレス達です。
反物を扱うのは初めてだったのですが、楽しかったと同時に中々頭を使いました。
最初に生地（１２メートルほどあります）を確認して、どの模様をどうやって合わせるかを大体決めてから、裁断していきます。
布幅が３５センチほどしかないので、型紙の調整もします。

やはり良い生地を扱うと気分が上がりますね！
絹１００%で、特にブルーのほうはうっとりする手触りです。

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