Making a dress - Brown striped JSK

Christmas holiday is a time for relaxing and stuffing myself silly with food however it is also a good time to sew!

A long time ago I made this lovely blue apron dress which I regularly wear for work as it is so cute and I thought it was time to make make another one but a bit more jsk-like.  Which means I fully lined it and sewed up the back of the skirt so I don't have to worry about wearing a underskirt any more.

So I dug out my old pattern from my shelf and started to prep my fabric.

Normally I would wash all my fabrics but I am once again using kimono fabric and unfortunately I forgot to jot down the fibre used to make this bolt so I decided against washing it and just steamed iron it to death.  I will be using a synthetic lining and from the crisp feel of the kimono fabric I have a feeling it is not natural so hopefully if I do need to wash it, it will not shrink.

This bolt came with a label but alas I don't know what it says so if you do let me know!

I started off with the lining as I had a lot of the material so if I made any mistakes I can make alterations.

And now to measure and cut my kimono bolt.  Which is always nerve racking....

So once I got over my hesitation I had the outer fabric cut and then I suddenly had a bodice.

With buttonholes!

Of course the next thing to tackle are the ruffles.

But I knuckled down and after an solid morning work I have it all sewed, gathered and attached to the skirt.

Then attached the skirt to the bodice and then attaching the lining to the skirt at the waist.

 This had to be done by hand which didn't take to long but there was a lot of fabric.

Finished

And here it is.

Yep that is one big bow!

I even dipped into my lace collection and added some detail to the bodice.

And the pockets as well as I thought they needed a little pick me up.

Oh and of course some more lace along the bottom.  This was the lace that I brought back in April 2017 when I went to Hong Kong.  

And I had to find some matching buttons for this jsk.  I went for something brass like since the dress is brown.

Conclusion

This project went relatively smoothly and with the overlocker certain things were a lot easier because I didn't have to worry about fraying.

I still have some material left so I might be able to squeeze a matching bolero jacket so fingers cross!

Making a dress - Hanfu top

Inspiration

So I have the trousers and the jacket but now a top would be nice.  Of course it is is a nice day a strapy top could be used which would mimic the wraparound top nicely.  However what about the colder days?

There I would a proper top or shirt in my work world wardrobe.

Design

Luckily there is a pattern for this.

https://torguqin.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/ganlings-shuhe-duanda-patterns/

Okay it is not correct for the period but then again I am not going for historical accurately here.

I had to tweak a little around the shoulder area because I learned from the jacket that I have wider shoulders then the patterned allowed.

Ever the hoarder of fabric now, I had some cream polycotton lying around.

Construction

I decided to tackle this in a serious of rectangles and then make the adjustments for the collar and sleeves once the fabric is all sewn in place.  This will save time in figuring out how long each piece of fabric has to be.

Now lets attached the front overlap to the main body.

Then the sleeves.

Now to taper the sleeves to the final shape.

Now to play with the collar and front.

Now to sew the sides and sleeves and add a collar and we are done.  

If you are wondering how I finished the seams on the body, I flat-lined them.

Finished

I don't know why I did not take any pictures of it when it is finished but here it is in action with my hanfu suit as I am going to called it.

Conclusion

I know I made the top for winter but it is still a bit too thin for my liking.  So this is now a summer top.

It is also on the see through side so I will need to wear a top inside as well.  Yeah not quite turning out as planned I have to admit but it was a good exercise and now I know what fabric I need to aim for in the future.  Thick cotton!

I do love the long and flowing outline of this outfit.

Will need to make the trousers shorter as they are a bit too long for office wear but are probably the correct length for the style.

Now when will I find the time to wear it??