bridal

How to Alter the Back of a Dress that is Too Small to Zip Up

June 8, 2016 By Chie

How to Alter the Back of a Dress that is Too Small to Zip Up

What do you do if your wedding dress is a bit too small? Zipper don’t go up all the way? I had one of those situations with my customer who is renting a dress from a dress shop. She is renting a dress, so the adjustment needed to be removable. I suggested making a gusset and a ribbon to hide the gusset.

A gusset is a panel that is added to expand a garment in a given area. For this wedding dress, a removable gusset was added in the center back in a place of a zipper. The gusset is shaped like a wedge with the wide end of it in the area that you need extra room. I made a gusset with an invisible zipper in center back so that attaching the gusset to the dress will be easier when putting on a dress.

To make a gusset inconspicuous, I made a 2.5cm width satin ribbon in matching color so it goes like a corset laced up.This is “before” picture of the dress with a flat knit zipper in center back. Here is the picture of a gusset. Invisible zipper in center back and shirred with elastics for easy fitting. Also there are small loops on sides so it can be attached with strings sewn inside the dress.The loops are attached inside the dress by hand so the ribbon can go through.

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Refashioned Wedding Dress

May 15, 2016 By Chie

このページを日本語で読む

Every wedding has its story – My latest bride, Erina wanted to have her wedding to include her mom’s dress. She inherited her dress from her mom who had passed some years ago. She told her wedding planner, no other details are important except for the fact that she can wear her mom’s dress. Because she is pregnant, some dress shops declined to refashion it for fear of improper sizing.

I suggested that we update her dress by taking off the ruffle sleeves and add a laced up details in back. Back lace up would accommodate the size changes. I moved the center back zipper to side zipper, added lace up details, tweek a bit with darts to fit Erina better.

The ruffle sleeves had pretty floral lace so I repurposed the lace for her bridal gloves. The gloves are made with tulle. It’s common to wear bridal gloves for a wedding ceremony in Japan. I know it is not so common in the U.S. I did not wear any for my U.S. wedding.

It was fun to get involved in such a special occasion and see the dress from 30 years ago transformed.

Wedding Welcome Bears

October 15, 2015 By Chie

I’ve had this blog since 2008, and this is the first stuffed animal project I’m posting in nine years! This was such a fun project to work on. It was refreshing to be sewing these cute bears which is different from garment sewing. No need to worry about the fitting!

I don’t know about other countries, but in Japan, it is very common to have a “welcome doll” of some sort at the wedding. They are usually sitting next at the reception area of the wedding. I have two friends’ weddings coming up in November and was asked to make them.

I googled “Teddy Bear Patterns” (テディベア　型紙)in Japanese and came up with this. For some reasons, the letters are not readable, but I just needed the patterns so it didn’t really matter. The fabric is a white fur bought in Okadaya. I’m a big fan of Okadaya online. It ships for 390 yen (about 3 USD) within Japan, and depending on their sale’s schedule, they reduce the shipping cost to half the price. It is cheaper than getting to Okadaya’s physical store in Shinjuku by train and I usually end up buying other stuff that I don’t plan on like extra fabrics or chocolate. Anyway, totally recommended if you live in Japan.

I bought 20cm of the fur and it made four bears and I still have some left. I used 2mm stitch length to sew the pieces in machine. Making four bears took much longer than I anticipated since it involved a fair amount of hand sewing like enclosing the opening for head, body, legs and arms.

The most fun part of this project was to make tiny dresses and vests! So fun. It reminded me of my childhood days when I was obsessed with my dolls (mine was called Jenny) and her dresses that my mom made. I just used left over satin and laces that were laying around.

Attaching pearl beads to imitate pearl necklace.Since I was making two of each bears (male and female), I made paper patters for the clothes. That way, I don’t have to guess the length and fit for the second time.

Tada! They are so adorable. Kiko liked them and she was sad when I told her they were not for her. Maybe I should make one for her. I found a doll pattern shop on Etsy, called Gingermelon. I might make some for Kiko.