A Tutu Fit For A Rockstar

Sometime last year, I took on a fun project-- design and sew a tutu for a bride-to-be's hen's night. The challenge: the bride is not a girly-girl type of uh, girl, so Kel Li the maid of honor wanted something feminine yet edgy for the bride. We discussed it and decided on a combo of soft tulle, pleather and studs: the ultimate hard and soft (hello Project Runway episode title!).

And of course, the tutu had to be in black ;-)

Here are the initial sketches:

While both are rock star-worthy, the tiered tutu was a little more playful while the single layer tutu was more... grown up. Kinda like Avril Lavigne vs Gwen Stefani, y'know what I mean? Kel Li decided the single layer was more becoming of Joanna (the bride), so we went with that.

Kel Li said the tutu has to be poofy, so a lot of ruffles went into it. I actually laughed when I was sewing them because the ruffles seemed never ending and I was surrounded by it!

And all the ruffles, ruffles and ruffles were worth it.. the hemline of the lining was so flouncy and pretty-- time to look for a subway grate ala Marilyn Monroe maybe?

And all that flounce, topped with layers of soft black tulle...

Gold studs on the waistband for that rock star edge. My favorite part though, was the tiny little widdle rhinestones.

Tutu: Unfluffed. Oh she's a rocker chick.

I didn't want to overdo the bling-ness of the skirt, but wanted the tutu to sparkle with a bit of dreaminess. So the tiny rhinestones dotted the tutu like stars in the dark sky.

And when the tulle is fluffed up by hand, that's when things begin to get dramatic.

Tutu: FLUFFED! DRAMA MAMA! SHE'S GOING TO SMASH HER GUITAR!! MASCARA EVERYWHERE!!

But don't take my word for it-- let the bride speak for herself:

Pic by Kel Li

Uh sorry she can't speak now, she's kinda... occupied. 

Hahahaha I love that bathtub pic, Joanna really rocked it!! Pretty epic.

Pic by Kel Li

I know this is super late, but congratulations again to Joanna the rock star bride! And thank you Kel Li & Nora for the fun project, and for the pics! ^.^

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Draped lycra slip and tips on getting a dress form

Sometime last year, I finally decided to get myself a dress form, and got mine from Leichio in Thailand. I posted this pic below on the day I received the package, and christened her Sha Nay Nay thanks to one of my Youtube favorites: Top 60 Ghetto Black Names

Yeah, I was so happy I felt like hugging her to sleep!

For my first ever project with Sha Nay Nay, I made a Lycra slip to wear under my dresses. The fabric is soft, so I can also wear it as a long tank top on its own.

Check out my boobies.

Just kidding, they're Sha Nay Nay's! Heh. Now stop checking out her cleavage! :P

This slip was fully draped on Sha Nay Nay, so no paper pattern pieces. I learned some pros and cons, which I'll get to below.

The edges were finished with small zig zag stitches, as I didn't want anything too bulky.

Here you can see one of Sha Nay Nay's adjustable dials, just like a cyborg eh?

Having a dress form has really helped me in my sewing adventures. It cuts down fitting time, and I'm able to create patterns from draping directly onto the form, like I did on the wedding dress. Here are some tips for getting your own dress form.

Tips on buying/making dress forms

If you sew for yourself and others...

1. Consider getting an adjustable dress form that falls within your measurements. Amazon sometimes has discounts-- while searching I found that the common size was M, and they were cheaper than the other sizes.

2. Check if the tailor form is pin-able. A pin-able form is needed for draping designs (some pin all the way into the body, and some pin halfway meaning you will have to angle the pin at a slant to push it in)

If you only sew for yourself...

1. Measure your body measurements (key areas: bust, waist, hips) and try to look for one closest to your size. It may be easier to buy a slightly smaller one and pad it up later to match your measurements, rather than buying a bigger one which might not help much with your fitting.

2. It won't be essential to have an adjustable dress form, so you get to save some money there :)

3. Like the above, check if the tailor form is pin-able.

4. Make your own! Here are a few ideas:

Shannon's duct tape dress form, made mostly on her own with the help of her adorable son. The thing I like about her version is that she filled the insides with spray foam.

Threads' mama got swag paper tape dress form

Sartorial DIY's amazing plaster bandages dress form. One word: WOAH!!

lazylinchen's sloper dress form filled with sawdust... another of my favorites!

Do you have a dress form, and if not would you be interested to make one on your own?

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The Capsule Wardrobe Mission: Flattering styles for the unique you

"... acceptance of your own body.
Whatever it's shape, it is healthy and it is yours."  
Caryn Franklin

Remember my post about my mission to create a compact capsule wardrobe? One night I sat in front of the TV watching Newsroom (I love Sloan in the show), and sorted out which clothes in my wardrobe to keep, and which ones to donate/throw, based on the body shape chart.

I'm a petite pear shape, which means most of my jeans has to be shortened at the legs. Speaking of jeans, it's almost always a nightmare for me to shop for jeans-- if the hip fits, the waist would be too big. If the waist fits, the hip would be too tight. Anyone else has this problem? The only time I bought jeans that I absolutely love was from Uniqlo, PLUS I discovered that they label their sizes 1 or 2 sizes smaller, which made me squeal in delight at first thinking I was on my way to becoming America's Next Top Model, and then sniggering "Ohhh you sneaky bastards."

I recently found Caryn Franklin's website and downloaded one of her free e-books (yes free! woop!) on dressing for YOUR unique shape. The book covers different styles of necklines, collars, skirt shapes, even jewelry and bags that are out there, and what works for your unique shape.

Each illustration is either marked with a tick (good for your shape), an "x" (not flattering for you), or a star (on the fence, depending on the actual garment variation).

Caryn writes in the introduction:

"Your best traveling companion through this e-book will be your acceptance of your own body. Whatever it's shape, it is healthy and it is yours. It is doing it's best to support you through the day with a myriad of clever functions that you take for granted. Sadly many of us aren't in touch with this and forget that, before it is a clothes-horse, it is a sophisticated biological miracle! Clothes then are the icing on the cake. Use them to celebrate all that you can be to yourself and others!"

I highly recommend for you to visit Caryn's site and download her free e-books. They're very well written and she's got all the shapes and variations covered (not many sites cover the petite pear combo), and perhaps we can learn together what flatters our bodies :)

Now, hopefully I can put together a capsule wardrobe like this from her site too...

Spring/Summer 2012 Capsule Wardrobe

Which combo do you like best from this capsule wardrobe? I'm loving the peplum cardi and the turquoise pants :D

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DIY Tutorial: Rope Necklace

It's been raining and raining over here, and that's a good excuse to stay indoors to spend some quiet time with some DIY projects (with a cup of tea! I know, I'm such a granny). I made this rope necklace last weekend, and I love wearing it! It's colorful, chunky, and dresses up a plain tee.

 Can you tell that my favorite color at the moment is green? Heheheh.

The chains were from one of my old necklaces.

They look like a hybrid between chain links and braids. And they're made out of laundry rope!

Here's how I did it:

You will need:

Laundry rope (pick a fun color!)

Quick dry super glue

2 x end caps

4 x jump rings

1 x lobster clasp

Chain

Pliers to attach jump rings

Masking tape

Scissors (*optional)

*Note: I say optional because it's used for cutting the laundry rope, 

which I supposed could be gnawed off with teeth too :P

Lay out the rope so the short end is on your top left. 

Now, the following steps might seem tricky but I assure you once you get the hang of it, you'll be fine ;-) Just follow the pictures step-by-step as you go along.

There are 2 main knots that you'll use in alternate sequence, which I've creatively named Knot A and Knot B. We'll start with Knot A:

WOOT! Now we'll continue with Knot B:

Knot B done!

Keep repeating Knot A and Knot B until you reach your desired length.

Tape masking tape around both ends of your knots, and trim according to the height of your end cap.

Try putting on the end cap to see if it fits. If the rope isn't snug inside the end cap, simply add on 1 or 2 more layers of masking tape to fatten it up, like I did mine :D

Apply thy super glue!

Dab some super glue into the end cap as well, and pop the cap on.

Repeat with the other end.

Attach the chain and lobster clasp using the jump rings, and you're done!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, and do leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Btw, I have this vintage dress hanging on Sha Nay Nay (my dress form), and I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with the dress. I need to refashion it for sure, but not sure if it should be a maintained as a dress or divided in separates (a blouse and a skirt). 

Hmmm.... what do you think?

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Tutorial: Sew-on bra cups

Having experience failure in the area of wearing stick-on bras (they keep falling out like stray chicken fillets-- would be rather confusing at a buffet), I much rather prefer to sew on bra cups into dresses that I can't wear a bra in. I made my first bra cup insertion in the Mad Men Wiggle Dress using this technique below, which I learnt from another tailored garment.

I've seen another tutorial where both the bra cups are manually joined with a sewn-on elastic band (so they are in one piece like a bra), but I couldn't do it with the bra cups I had because the edges were thin and I was afraid they might tear. So it depends on your bra cups I guess :D

This technique works best when the bodice has a lining piece (either a full lining, or at least a lining that covers your boobs so you can sew the bra cups onto the lining).

So here's how I did it:

Hmm, I hope I didn't miss anything out. If there are any questions just pop me a comment! Happy going braless! (sorta)

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Mad Men-ners Wiggle Dress

I'll be damned if I am in the advertising industry and never went to a Mad Men theme party. Thankfully, our friend Theo (who is a writer in an agency) and his now-missus Lisa planned a Mad Men wedding dinner, so phew, I won't be damned.

Ah, Mad Men. The fashionable show set in the 60s about an ad agency on Madison Avenue. Gorgeous vintage dresses and curvaceous ladies (or should I say, curvaceous Joan) paired with dapper men in even more dapper suits, PLUS it's about the ad industry. With both my husband and I working in the industry (my husband's a writer, and I consult for an audio production house for tv commercials), naturally we were excited about Mad Men when Season 1 came out. Then er, we kinda got bored. I think it's like doctors watching Grey's Anatomy... hehehehh

ANYHOOT.

I decided I wanted to make a dress for the Mad Men wedding dinner, and I decided to make one of the dresses that the Asian girl wore in one of the episodes of Season 4. You know which Asian girl I'm talking about right? I forget her name... she's the new intern on the show. But seriously-- she's the only Asian in the show, you can't miss her. Wait, what? You don't recall there being an Asian girl on the show? Good gracious, I can't even... gosh. OK, fine, I will google her picture and paste it here, maybe it'll jog your memory. 

Here you go, thank me later:

That's the Asian intern, beside Joan!

You remember her, right?

She's the intern who ALWAYS makes mistakes, remember? The klutzy Asian intern?

No? Maybe you'll remember this promotional poster instead:

Remember her now????

. . . . 

. . .

. .

. . . ok, ok, fine, yeah, that's me.

LOL.

(Love the looks on John Sterling and Don Draper's faces thinking about this crazy Asian intern.)

I drafted this dress, inspired by Butterick 6582 for the bodice.

The fabric is a faux houndstooth/plaid-with-a-houndstooth-mirage that I bought from Singapore when Ayu took me to the fabric market. I had initially bought it to make shorts, but after having drafted the dress I thought hey hey hey!! This would look fab too!

I love it that I had shoes that miraculously goes together with the whole look. Belt from Bangkok, and a vintage brooch that belonged to my husband's late mother.

For the back of the dress I drafted a deep-V (no place for a bra; thank goodness for sew-in bra cups [edit: here's how I did it] ) and a kick pleat for the wiggle skirt. The skirt length hits just below the knee like the sophisticated dresses in the 1960s (I think it also enhances the wiggle shape).

The dress is fully lined-- my first fully lined dress!-- and I love wearing it. It gives the dress a better hold (especially when the main fabric is not as structured), and I don't have to worry about having to wear a slip/whether my slip is showing. I think I really like deep-V backs, and would like to draft more dresses like that. 

Here's a photo of us at the dinner being irresponsible adults:

Tsk tsk tsk...

What about you, have you made a Mad Men inspired dress before? I love the fashion sensibilities of that era, don't you? :D

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