Making a Dress - Modern hanbok (dress)

Inspiration

So I have a jeogori but now I need a dress.

Lucky a modern hanbok/dress seems to be simple enough although this time round I am going to concentrate on a some elements.

One, pleated skirt.  That seems to be a defining feature on a lot of the dresses I have seen.

Two, this is not on all of them but on lots of the Leesle dresses they have a little loop on the front for a decorative accessory.  How cute is that?  Definitely putting this in.  If not for decoration, I could make a little purse to put some change.

Three, as you can see from the pictures above they are quite high waist.  Normally hanboks are quite quite up the chest, similar to empire line dresses so this seems only natural.

And for me an additional feature I want to put in is pockets.  I really can not live without pockets and it is annoying that modern day dresses that you buy these days seem to be lacking them.

Design

So time to trawl through my Otome no Sewing for a suitable pattern.

This time it is Book 8!

The two major changes.  One, I made is the neckline as this one is suppose to be square but I am aiming for a rounded one and two, the skirt will be pleated rather then gathered.

Now as I have just come back from Hong Kong with a few metres of fabric I thought I might make this dress out of the light denim I brought.


I need some lining as I have decided that all of my dresses will be made with lining unless it is a design feature.  Luckily I had some polycotton lying around from an order I made a while ago.  Yep it is multicolour dots.  Well at least it will be fun!

Construction

This all started off very easy.  Cut out the bodice pieces and sew them all together.  This was done in one weekend.

Then came the fun part, the pleated skirt.  My first pleated lined skirt with pockets!

Now I have made pleated skirts before but the lining has never been attached the lining to the skirt and never with pockets so this took a bit of thinking.

Measurement-wise I use the times 3 formula and cut out 3 panels.  One for the front and two for the back in both the outer and inner fabric.  I used the off-cuts from the main fabric to make the pockets as I didn't want to cut up more of my precious fabric from Hong Kong.

Now how should one sew pockets into a lined pleated dress?  Should the pockets go in-between the outer fabric and lining or behind it all.  It turned out that it had to be the latter because I didn't want my pleats to sit neatly into each other.

And that is when things went a little bit tricky.  Because I went with this method, I was essentially sewing my lining to the main dress.  This mean I have to be careful with construction or I could inadvertently twist things or worst sew my pockets in the wrong direction.

In the end it turned out fine although one of the pockets there is a little puckering on the outside but luckily this will be covered up by pleats!

Then I had a bright idea!  I should use some of the light blue and white striped trimming I brought for the loose sack dress!  It is the perfect colour.

If I just sewed the trimming onto the main outer fabric it would have been simple but no I decided to sandwich it between the lining as well.  My reason for this is to remove as many raw edges as possible as I wanted a professional finish.

However because of the way I sewed the pockets, I had to sew the trimming in two parts because I was not able to flip the fabric but no matter I somehow managed it.

Now to pleat the skirt and attach it to the bodice.

Add in an invisible zip and finally sew down the bodice lining.

Finally press with vinegar and a steam iron to set the pleats and ta-da one modern hanbok


Finished

Here it it.  The front.

With my fleece jeogori.

The little loop for hanging a little ornament.

Pockets!

Conclusion

There are small imperfection that I have noticed.

One, the pleats are not lined up perfectly with the pocket so you can see the opening.  You see it in the above image.  I could have tried harder but pleating is a pain with two layers so next time it will be better.

Two, I have never been able to add in a zip without some bunching of fabric but luckily the pleats will hide that ;)

And three, pleating.  It is a bit uneven but it can't be helped I suppose since I am folding two layers of fabric and each one slip past each other.  I suppose I need more practice here.

Making a Dress - Modern Jeogori

Inspiration

Lately I have been staring at modern hanbok,

Don't they look refreshing and light.  Probably completely inappropriate for the summer here in UK but they are so pretty.  Not to mention perfect for a work capsule wardrobe.

So what should I aim for?  On Leesle site there are plenty to choose from but I when for something simple and chic.

Design

It seems the basic elements of a modern hanbok is the jeogori (or jacket) and the chima (or dress).

However which one to make first?

I decided that since the chima/dress of a modern hanbok looks like a simpler make, I would tackle the jacket first.

I have to admit, I am not good at making jackets and the first decent one I made was the navy blue polka dot loose sack dress/jacket I made last time.

Therefore like a good cheat I used this pattern as a base.

So I followed the pattern around the armscye part as that is the hardest part for me and I found polka dot jacket was very comfortable.

Now rather then cutting it like in the picture I extended the line down from the bottom of the armscye by 13cms to create a short little jacket.  Then I create the front pattern to create an crossover.

Now I pinned the paper pattern to my Miffy 2 and added a collar.  What I didn't take a picture of is the issues I found.  The summary is that I could not create the collar I wanted with the back neck curve.

If I looked at the pattern for making a traditional jeogori, this would be straight and when I look at this picture below, it seems the back part is straight so I thought why not give it a go.

So I re-drew the back piece with a straight back neck.

Mockup time.

Hmmm so far so good.

Oh maybe a little care is need when I join the collar to the shoulder seam.

However it looks like I have a pattern.

Fabric

I was going to make this a lined jacket as I had some multicoloured polycotton in my sewing room taking up space but then I remembered my remaining stash of fleece.  As this is going to be a work wardrobe I might as well make something from that.  I do love wearing a fleece as I hate cold arms.

Also it would mean I don't have to line it!

Construction

Okay time to bite the bullet and make this.

Going well.

Oh good this has worked out nicely.

And this is where the WIP photos ended because the rest is just attaching the arms and hemming the bottom seam.

Finished

Not bad at all!  Almost like the jeogori in the picture.

Looking nice and smooth

Oh and as I had some ribbon with hearts, I thought that would be nice to use as a tie for the otherwise black little jacket.

Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with it, I can certainly wear it to work and it is nice and cosy but of course there are things I would like to change.

One, taper the sides a little.  On closer inspection of the original jacket, the sides are not straight down but taper in slightly to the waist.

Two,again closer look on the collar, there is a slight curve on the collar but only slightly.  This might mean I will need to re-design the collar but this curve is similar to the one I normally sew on a kimono so maybe it might not be too hard to incorporate.

Three, lengthen the bodice a bit more.  This is a bit short for my liking but it is still okay.  I will just have to look at it as a bolero jacket.