Wedding Dress - Tallulah by Stephanie Allin

Sometime the past offers up lovely little design gems and from Stephanie Allin "Jazz Age Collection" we have Tallulah!.

What drew my attention is the feather skirt.  Doesn't it remind you of the fringe dress of the flapper?  I can just picture the photos of the bride wearing this dress when there is a slight breeze in the air.

Tallulah by Stephanie Allin

Why I love this!


Don't you just love the contrast between the plain fabric and the feathers on the skirt?  It just looks so much fun to look at.

This dress will be perfect for those brides who have a short upper body because fabric on the bodice carries on into the skirt which will give the illusion of a longer body.

Also for you brides who can't decide whether to have hair up or down then I think this dress will work with both.  Have it up using finger waves/victory rolls or down where you brush out your pin curls for the more relax look.  Either vintage look would be great.

Hmmmm second thoughts

It is not the most forgiving of dresses!  I think a few hours in the gym and maybe some supportive underwear maybe in order to achieve the smooth look around the belly area.

Also it is not good for petite brides like myself.  The skirt will just overwhelm us and probably make us look shorter.

How to make a Tsuke Obi

Someone asked for a tutorial on how I made my tsuke obi so here it is!

Here is the list of things you will need.

Two lots of 2 metres of fabric your choice (for reversible obi)
2 metres of stiff interface
4 metres of ribbon
Sewing Machine
Thread
Pins

Of course if you do not want to make a reversible obi then you just need 4 metres of one type of fabric.

Instructions

Step one
Take your fabric and place it so the right sides are touching.  Now we need to mark the pieces!

Here is the basis pattern that I used.

To lay out the pattern I would recommend the following.

This way you are using the fabric economically so you can use the remaining fabric for other projects like making more obi!

As the pattern is basically rectangles you can lay the pieces so they are edge to edge.

Step two

For the interface, you will need to cut the same shapes as above except the measurements are as follows.

Again lay them out on your interface like the fabric.

Step three

You now have all your pieces at hand.  If you have not ironed the fabric and interface beforehand, give them a quick once over.

Step Four

We will sew the tare part first.

Take your tare fabric pieces and line them up with the right side facing each other and sew.

Snip the corners like below and then turn it inside out.

Now iron your tare and then insert your interface. 

You have not completed your first part!

Step five

Take your ribbon and cut it into 1 metre lengths and then singe the edges if you have synthetic ribbon.  If you have natural ribbon then turn the end of each piece on one end only leaving the other end raw.

Now take your waist pieces and two ribbon pieces and lay out as follows.

  Making sure that the long edge of the ribbon is 1cm away from the edge of the fabric.

Now pin the edge or baste the fabric together and sew!

Make sure you don't catch the ribbon when you sew the thing together and also don't forget to leave a gap of 30cm to allow you to turn the waist band inside out.

Snip the 4 corners just like you did for the tare, turn it inside out and iron flat.

Time to insert your interface, this can be a little tricky but if you have left a 30cm gap there should be enough space for you to push your arm into the waist band and position the interface correct.

Once you are happy the interface is in the correct position, sew the opening closed as neat and as close to the edge as possible.  If you are worried that your ribbons will rip off from all the tugging then you can sew over the fabric and ribbon to give it extra strength.

 Your waist band of your tsuke obi is complete.

Step Six

I left the otaiko part the last because it is the trickiest if you are a beginner.

Take one piece of your otaiko and lay it out so the right side is facing up.

Now take your completed tare piece and your two remaining pieces of ribbon and layout as follow.  You will want the open end of the tare to be on the left hand side.

To make sure you have place the tare piece the correct way round, the matching colours should be touching.

Fold up the ribbon and tare piece so they are within the fabric boundary and lay the second fabric piece of otaiko on top.  Pin/baste the pieces together and sew.

Snip the top two corners, turn it inside out and iron it flat.

Now insert your interface and sew the opening closed.

And volia you have a tsuke obi.

Wonder of the day! Golden Cape.

A lot of the time I go wow for no reason but this time it is different!  Just look at this!

Here is the pattern closeup!

And would you believe me if I said it was made from spider's silk?  No I am not joking this cape and the accompanying scarf was entirely made using the silk from the golden orb spider.

It does sound creepy but if you think about it, it is no more creepy then silk from the silkworm and this by the way is the natural colour of the silk that is produced by the spider.

If you want to see this wonderful piece of textile then it is on display in V&A museum from 25 January to 5 June 2012 and admission is free.  I must find some time to see it!

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/golden-spider-silk/

New kanzashi for you to enjoy.

For the past two years I have been purchasing vintage kimono fabric because I thought they would make perfect kanzashi.  However it has only been recently that I have decided to actually use the fabric.

So today I have listed three new kanzashi!

First one is called Midnight Sparkle.

It was so hard to capture the true colour of this kanzashi because it was a dark blue/purple silk with hints of red but I think the pictures does it justice.  There is even a little bit of sparkle to give your kanzashi something to shout about.

Second one is called Checkered Past.

This used a lovely checkered piece of kimono which I wish I owned because I lack a nice beige kimono.  It is set against black petals so you can see the true beauty of the fabric.

And thirdly, we have Mother Nature.

Using as dusky green/brown kimono fabric, it just shouts Mother Nature so adding a bit more green just helps the whole piece.

Lace kimono tryout!

So I made my first kimono!

But I could not stop and this time I decided to challenge myself by making a lace kimono.  I saw this lovely lace which had a scalloped edge which I thought would make a lovely edging on the kimono.

Lucky the scalloping was on both edges but it wasn't until I received the fabric that I realised that the pattern on the edge was not copied on the other side.  Not a problem really but it would have looked good.

I followed the pattern of my previous kimono and cut 36 cm strip pieces and then draped the pieces on my Miffy to see how it might looked.

It looked promising I have to say from the draping.

Collar will need a bit of tidying to reduce the number of layers of fabric.

And the back with the non fancy scalloping didn't look bad either.  Things are looking up!

Now the sewing.  

I started with the sleeves and what made this easy was the fact I didn't have to create the curve.  However hemming the edge was not easy because the lace was very light and stiff as it was synthetic and it occasional stretched because of the holes in the lace.

Anyway fast forwarding 4 days and I have reached this point!

The front didn't look as tidy as I hoped because of the vertical folds from joining the okumi panels and I am not sure I the stitching is straight or not as the lace as a slight stretch.

Time to sew on the sleeves which is were I decided to go freehand.  I just sewed them on very simply rather then follow the method I used previously because I didn't want to have layers of fabric around the shoulder.  I thought about french hemming but since the lace does not fray I thought why bother.  

So after a couple of my hours of sewing this is the finished result!  This lace kimono does not need to have an ohashiori because I used the scalloped edge to create the illusion of that fold.

You can see it more clearly on the back shot here!

The collar still looks a little bit messy but cutting of the excess lace helped with the appearance.

The front isn't as tidy as I hoped but the next time I make a kimono using lace, I will need to get some that is heavier because it was a pain not knowing if the stitching was straight.

Here is a closeup of the sleeves.  They are 70 cm in length so they will be hang lower then all of my kimono sleeves which are around the 50 cm mark.  I think I will wear it with my teal ro kimono or my green wool kimono however it doesn't look to bad on my pale green kimono. 

I am going to have a break from making kimono now and start on another one of my to do things!  

My next project will be a hanfu of this style!

I'll be using a pale yellow fabric with blue/green gridlines and it will hopefully be a wearable piece.  I will probably need to make a plain top to calm the outfit but but first I need to make it! 

Wish me luck!

Wedding Dress - Henriette by Vera Wang

Time for a fantasy gown time and this time I went for a Vera Wang creation.

Vera Wang gowns are always something special because they look so light and delightful and this one is a wonderful example.

Look at all that tulle around the skirt!  It looks scrumptious and decadent but at the same time retains the delicate nature of the dress.  And to keep with the current trend for lace the bodice has some which I think balances out the floaty nature of the skirt. 

Henriette by Vera Wang

Why I love the dress!

I love how the tulle is used to make the skirt!  Something as simple as arranging fabric could create a wonderful looking skirt still amazes me.  In addition I feel this skirt is very flattering for many shapes!  

Plus the cap sleeves on the bodice made from lace is perfect for brides who feel uncomfortable exposing too much flesh while at the same time want to look sexy walking down the aisle ;)

But oh dear!

The look of the dress is wonderful and although it will hide a multitude of sins especially in the leg department, height will be an issue.

Well to be more precise, it is the length of your upper body compared to your height.  The skirt is clearly a massive feature point but you must not forget about the lace bodice.  In order to show it off, you must have a long upper body or you could find yourself disappearing into a sea of tulle.

What do you think of the dress?  Have you got a dress that you think I should look at?  If so, then let me know in a comment below or email me at kittykanzashi@gmail.com.

Wedding dress Erika from Pronovias

Since my wedding back in October, I still have this craving for wedding dresses so to fulfil this desire I have decided that every week I am going to find a wedding dress that I like.

Therefore the first dress of the week for me has to be this one from Pronovias called Erika.

Wedding dress Erika from Pronovias

Why I love it!

Wow I love the lace on this dress!  If the lace on the dress isn't enough for you, this comes with a lace poncho which I think gives a lovely ethereal feel to the ensemble.

It also has a timeless classic feel because of the figure hugging design.

With that much lace, you can forget the veil!  A charming headdress will be enough to complete your outfit because you would not want a veil to cover all of the detail.

Hmmm so why wouldn't I buy it?

I have a nasty feeling that this style of dress is not very forgiving in the body department.  For example, being  only 5'2'', this dress would swamp me.  Then there is the figure hugging issue, unless you are going to be wearing control underwear on your wedding day, this will require a couple of months in the gym to tone your legs and arms.  

So what do you think of the dress?