wearing handmade: cheongsam incognito

hello! It has been awhile since my last post. I had been distracted by some knitting after I bought a beautiful Japanese knitting book – now the apartment is full of fabric AND of yarn! Hubby is speechless:-)

I have also attempted the Belladone by Deer and Doe Patterns. It is still in the works after I almost finished it and realised it is too tight for me… I guess I was too optimistic (optimistically thinner and belly-less) when I tried the muslin  more about this hopefully, if I manage to summon enough patience to rip the zipper out and make it bigger.

This is another handmade item which I never wore as is but plan to wear it with this bit of styling fix.

I love cheongsam dresses (mandarin collar dress) and made this in linen awhile back, thinking it could become everyday wear in the summer.  But the reality is that it takes quite a bit of courage (for me) to wear it a regular day. I think pairing it with a summer knit and white flats takes the “cheongsam-ness” to a more subtle level for roaming around the city:)

wearing handmade: all it needed was a belt

Have you made something not because you loved the style but for other reasons, ie. the pattern looks easy to make, the leftover fabric would just be enough to make this… to satisfy a sudden sewing urge, etc.? Then, do you actually wear the item or does it take permanent place in your closet?

The wing dress which was made using fabric I bought for my niece’s dress (I then found nicer and softer fabric for her ) was in danger of being a permanent closet resident.

Until I bought a belt for it.

Now it is the most-worn item in my handmade collection! ^^

Belt: Forever 21

Before I started sewing, I did not pay much attention to fashion or styling (my closet was pretty much full of black or more daringly grey or navy colored classic pieces).  Sewing leads me to think more about how I can pair up accessories with my handmade clothes to make them look better, and makes me more tempted to try different colors and styles (I love black pants and white t-shirts but I am more interested (hobby-wise) to sew a pink dress, or a flowery blouse for instance:)

How did sewing change your perspective on clothing?

sudoku dress

Hello!  ^^

It has been awhile since I uploaded any updates on my sewing, but that is because I had been having seamstress’s jinx? or seamstress’ block:-(

I had attempted to make two dresses which did not turn out – mostly it was due to me being impatient and not taking the time to make a muslin (what was I thinking, I was working with a vintage pattern!) After that, I decided I should try to be more patient in my sewing and was very inspired by SoSewLovely’s blog to be more detailed-oriented in my work (and even bought some pinking scissors – how could I have gone so long without them!)  For this dress, I carefully made a muslin and paid more attention with finishing the seams, etc. and it really paid off!

I love this Pleated Petite Dress pattern from the first time I saw it in Burdastyle magazine 2013/02.  I call this project “sewing sudoku” because the process of making it was an intensive work-out of the brain (just like sudoku:)!! There were many hurdles to overcome.

First, the pattern was for a petite size so I needed to lengthen it – it took a long time to figure out how and where to lengthen since the dress was asymmetric and pleated along the entire left front and at the front shoulders. I followed the  general lengthening instructions in Burdastyle magazine (adding some length to the armhole, a bit just below the shoulders, and a little in the area just before where the hip starts). By doing so I was able to avoid lengthening in pleated areas (except for the area above the hip, which I did by just drawing the two consecutive pleats a little larger than they are in the original pattern).

The second challenge was that I used a Liberty fabric which would be see-through on its own so I decided to line the dress. The most difficult was to figure out the correct technique to line this asymmetrical and pleated dress. Should I:

1) treat lining and dress fabric as one layer? or

2) make a “copy” of the dress and attach only at the shoulder and neckline (as in the Tweedy Danielle) so that the bottom of the dress would remain free? (in that case would having the pleats in both the dress body and in the lining version make the dress too bulky?) or

3) draft an alternative pattern for the lining so that I can avoid pleating the lining?

In the end, as I had no idea how to draft a pattern for a lining and it seems too complicated for this dress anyway, I decided to do a combination of 1) and 2). In the areas with pleats (shoulders and left side of body), I treated the lining fabric and dress fabric as one layer, pleating both at once. In the other areas, I treated the lining separately, and attached the lining as a mirror copy of the dress body.

I almost fell off my chair when I found out everything all worked out^^ I couldn’t believe it would work the first time without countless seam-ripping attempts! To avoid having the lining stick out at the bottom (as the back is slightly longer than the front), I cut and hemmed the lining “dress” to touch just above the hem band of the real dress body.

While I think I would like to see this dress in a plain fabric perhaps so that the pleats would have more limelight, I am very happy with the way the dress fits!  It is not my everyday style but I look forward to wearing it to a special occasion like a wedding or a special event – perhaps a cherry blossom viewing party!

Have you had any “sewing sudoku” experiences lately?

Fabric: Liberty Tana Lawn SS2013 Hugo Grenville

Pattern: Pleated Petite Dress (Burdastyle magazine 2013/02)

Spring planting and hanami (cherry blossom viewing)

Last weekend was the peak weekend for cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo. As per previous years, I go to the Meguro River to see the blossoms (and turn back pretty quickly as there is always large crowds). This is the first spring I spend in my new apartment/garden, and I am happy to report that we also have a cherry blossom view from our balcony!

 

I finally cleaned up the balcony and did some more spring planting.

 

The stock flowers which were the liveliest during the winter, were the first ones to go in the spring – it died due to a plant disease… I replaced it with several species (ivy, petunia, and Pennyroyal). I know that eventually all these space-demanding plants will require their own homes but I guess for now they should do fine together.

 

I also bought another pink flower (I don’t know the name but love its colour). As you can see it is very pink in the garden this year.

 

Speaking of pink, look at the Camella , it looks like it will flower very soon!

The herbs are starting to grow again! And the thyme and oregano turning green again! I am relieved as they turned red in the winter so I was not sure whether they would “recover” in spring.

The pansies are still flourishing – its delicate but strong flowers overflowing from the planter. I also got some “Forget Me Not” and planted it with the other small flowers which were already in the garden.

 

I should make the pepper pesticide spray again. Spring means growth – for the flowers and also for plant diseases!

Spring is here!

It’s getting warmer and warmer in Tokyo (17 degrees Celcius today to be exact). I can tell that my plants are getting out of the dormant stage and my balcony is starting to be lively again.  Planting season to begin!

For those who are following the fate of my petunias, one (the purple one) survived the winter and I saw a blooming flower today! Amazing that it survived snow and quite a cold winter at that. Let me post some pictures of it when there is more than one flower.

I will post an update of the entire garden once I have time to clean up a bit, but here is a small update to start. I bought some new plants to replace those which did not make it through the winter.  Look at the planter on the left with a new white petunia, primrose (in purple) and Pennyroyal (mint).  I just picked these up at my local plant store randomly, but upon doing some research, I found that Pennyroyal is useful for aromatherapy –  I can’t wait until it gets bigger!

I also got some new greens – pineapple mint, and an attractive ivy with large leaves, as well as sugar vine.  Looking at these greens is so relaxing – I think that I am going to get more once I have these planted

Thank you for visiting my garden!

a weekend DIY project in the garden

To get ready for spring, I decided to paint some old plastic pots to hold some new plants I had bought. After my success with painting my big planter (in aqua below), I love painting plastic pots and have quite a few in my garden now which are painted plastic ones. Every time I have a chance to go to the hardware store (rarely), I go and pick up a tube of outdoor paint in an interesting color (there is a brand of outdoor called “Nuro” in Japan which are the size of a tiny toothpaste tube, perfect for this purpose).

The round one at the bottom of the picture as well is a painted plastic pot from the 100 yen shop (dollar store)  :)

Here are my new set of three pink pots! I think they match the new flowers perfectly:)

From the left: Primula Juliae Hybrid, Camellia, Asteriscus

flowers and fish for Valentine’s Day

Last week was a festive one with Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. As in Japan, the tradition is for women to give chocolates to men (don’t worry, there is the opportunity for reciprocation on White Day on March 14th), I was not expecting anything from my husband and was very pleasantly surprised when I came home and saw a bunch of flowers, chocolates, and…..wait…. little raw whole fish??!! on the dining table!?

haha, upon a look close up, I realize that they are chocolates which are packaged to look like fish…the package even comes with little packs of “wasabi”, so cute! :)

 

This special chocolate with Japanese creativity really made me happy:)

real work clothes: cord shorts

I decided to subscribe to Burdastyle magazine for three issues after buying the February 2013 issue because there are so many nice patterns in it. For example, the Paule Ka dress and the Chanel-like jacket, so beautiful and the jacket especially is ultimately what I want to make for my wardrobe!  However I was attracted to the more simple, casual items which I know I would wear endless times- the college girls series of boyfriend shirt, and pleated shorts, etc.

I first finished the pleated shorts. They are so simple to make and fit perfectly, I only adjusted the pattern lengthwise a little for my height. I think they will look nice also with a blazer for work, or with a hoodie for the weekend.

The material is a thin blackish grey cotton corduroy which gives off a nice shine and changes expressions like velvet in different angles.

I am so in love with them!  Actually, I was starting to feel uneasy about my New Year’s resolution to make my own clothes, worrying that what I have made so far look too homemade. But these shorts don’t look homemade at all, and gives me new “energy” to continue with my NY resolution:)

a dream for soy milk lovers?

A good way to gain visibility in the supermarket is to offer your product in a huge variety, of course:)

Not that Kibun soy milk (all the products with a drawing of the sun on the middle shelf as well as the first two products on the top right and the product on far right on bottom shelf) needs any additional recognition – in Japan this flavored soy milk is probably as much recognized as Coca Cola.  I just had to take a picture of this as I was so excited – as a fan of Kibun soymilk – I had never seen so many flavours (this was taken in another part of Tokyo from where I live)!

In case you are wondering… (and I am dying to list them! the flavors are (from left to right) grilled sweet potatoes, sweetened red bean soup (a Japanese dessert), chestnut, annin (almond tofu – a Chinese dessert), strawberry, pudding (for some reason, the only ones on sale), yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit), almond, matcha green tea, cocoa, black sesame, milk tea, and wheat germ coffee, AAANDDD, on the top shelf… unprocessed (in cream color) and regular processed (in green)… and the large green box on the bottom shelf which is a large version of the regular processed.

Impressed?

I was very much, but I found out there are even more varieties upon visiting the Kibun website!

Fruit mix, banana, grapefruit (!?!) and vanilla ice-cream!!! wonder who made the choice at that supermarket to not stock vanilla ice-cream flavour…^^

survivors of the first snow

This is my first update since my garden experienced snow for the first time, and sadly this time I cannot start my post with “my garden is doing well” like usual:(

What a difference the snow makes!  In my December garden update all the plants were surviving including the petunias which were still looking beautiful, but after the snow the pink petunias died. The purple ones still manage to hang on, although there is only one flower which looks healthy. I really hope it will make it past winter.. so close!

It seemed like not long ago that I was worrying there is not enough space and pots in the garden, and now there are quite a few empty pots.

The stock are the only ones which look really strong, and the pansies, of course!

I have yet to research on the reason, but after the snow the leaves seem to have a red tinge to it…

The geraniums were doing so well before the snow, and now it has just red leaves (already cut most of it before taking the picture). The ivy also seem to have a red tinge.

Of course, as there were some goodbyes, there are also some newcomers to the T&J garden:)

The first one I will introduce is the Japanese primrose (in the hanging basket) – it does not look too fresh because it took some time for me to transfer it from the nursery pot to the basket. I love the colour!

Then comes an arrangement of marguerite daisy, anemone, and primrose. So cute planted together! I did not read up on the water requirements but hope they will like “living” together.

The last one is a nemesia – still to flower. I hope I can show you some pictures of it in flowering state soon^^

One last introduction – daffodils from hubby^^

So here is the latest sun table. I look forward to adding more as Spring comes with more delights:D