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Vivat Veritas

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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open back

Made:: Mint Peplum Top

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lingerie elastics mintI love buying small things during my travels to remind myself of the place I visited (we all get souvenirs, right). While I was in NY in February, I met up with Sonja of Ginger Makes at Garment District (more update later on our meetup!). I didn’t buy a lot, but one of the things I bought was one yard of this mint green cotton. The fabric is very soft. It feels like a gauze fabric. I also bought the same color elastic, hoping to launch into making lingerie.

Recently I have been busy making clothes for the customers and just did not have enough time to make things for myself. Then I realized whenever I went out, I am wearing some clothes that I either thrifted or bought at forever 21, which is okay, but I get asked why I don’t wear what I make. I needed to update my own wardrobe to better represent my brand.

I only had one yard of this fabric, so what I could make was limited. I wanted to make a long flowy dress, but I didn’t have enough fabric. So, I used the same pattern as this dress, just added a peplum below the waist band.

mint top1 mint top2 mint top3And guess who took these photos….mint top collageChieSignature{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest}

 

 

Copy Cat

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Recently, I was asked to make a copy of a dress for someone. It is pictured below. I think it is a cute little dress and the plunged back neckline is lovely. Usually, copying a dress is not something I do but I gladly agreed to make a copy (in different fabric) of this dress because I liked it so much.

These photos are the only images I had for of the dress. It would have been be so much easier to make a copy if I had the dress in hand, but I had to make do with just these photos. Looking at the photos, it seemed like there were darts in the front neckline, had small cap sleeves, mini length square skirts gathered at the waist and it closed with buttons in back. Whenever I make my own patterns, I sketch (terribly, but sketching helps organize my ideas) the garment with some notes and ideas on the side. I did the same in this case, and decided to make a muslin. I hoped to be able to wear the muslin, so I used this cute butterfly satin I recently bought in Nippori.
After making the muslin, it became clear that there were some adjustments needed to be made. For instance, the neckline needed to be lowered to imitate the original dress, shoulder line needed to be narrowed so that the sleeve seam line would fall on the shoulder bones. I thought the darts starting from the neckline to right above the bust line was an interesting feature. I don’t think I’ve used any patterns in the past that have this kind of darting in the bodice. Has anyone? I think it works well for small chested pieces, but I wonder if it works well for busty girls. I don’t know how I would adjust the bodice pattern piece for say, a D-cup.

I went ahead and added the trim all around the neckline. It was not until I connected the two back pieces together that I realized I had made a crucial mistake…look.

I forgot that the trim overlapped in the back. At this point, I didn’t know how to fix this mistake without starting the whole thing over again, I didn’t have enough seam allowances to fix this.

This is why it’s always a good idea to make a muslin before trying out a new pattern, especially if it’s the one drafted on your own! :p

Here is the finished result. It’s fully lined. I love the result. I might use this pattern again to make a dress for my upcoming Guam trip. Andy I are headed to the island for our  five year anniversary…I’m trying to make some VV outfits in preparation for the trip.