F for Fashion reconstruction #19

This particular piece of fashion reconstruction project took me longer than it should not because it was difficult to make, but because I was contemplating on the overall design of the dress, especially when it came to the sleeves - leg of mutton or bishop? bishop or leg of mutton?


In the end, after sleeping on it for a while (long while, indeed!), I finally decided to go with bishop sleeves, with a little twist.


First and foremost, this project should have started already last year but I postponed it till now because of the above mentioned and other factors included.


Nevertheless, it all came together in the end.


For this project, I have chosen a satin dress which I bought sometime in 2010, while living in Hong Kong and only worn it once or twice (if I recalled correctly).

The idea was simple really: I wanted to transform this dress so that it would look as though it was a seamless piece of long dress.


For this to happen, I needed to find the right fabric and colour to match. I could not decide whether to go with the shades of white, yellow, orange, blue, grey or brown.


After consultation with my sister and going through her stash, we found that she had no fabric to offer. So, we concluded that the best place to be was to browse our usual local textile stores, where we might find the perfect match.


True enough, we searched high and low, and finally found one that matched perfectly!


From then on, it was production mode all the way - I removed the parts off the dress, cut out the desired patterns from the new fabric, serged and stitched to form the new look I was after, until I hit a road block, I had to form the sleeves.


A wise one once said, "if you hit a road block, make a U-turn, and take another route". In this case, it was a mind freeze, so, I had to simply sleep on it for a couple of days. But it took me even longer than that. Never mind that, since this was not an examination or competition of any sort, I could take my time.


There was still enough fabric to make any kind of sleeves I wanted but since I am not one who wastes things, I decided that I could still achieve the look I was after by maximising on the minimum through manipulation. So, I just settled on the right kind of sleeves that would give me just that.


And the rest is history...


This is probably the least embellished dress of all my fashion reconstruction projects - beads at the edges of the cap sleeves.

Now that the new dress is completed, I am more at ease now to move ahead and tackle the next project.


Who could tell that this was a cut-and-paste project, if I had not disclosed the facts?


I can proudly say that you cannot find this item anywhere. 💃🐒👌🙋

F for Fashion reconstruction #18

This fashion reconstruction project is a replication of the one I did in August 2017, Fashion reconstruction #11, save for a few modifications.


It is a combination of a cap-sleeved polyester blouse I bought in the early 2000s and a long-sleeved cotton blouse which my mom no longer wears.

As with most of my fashion reconstruction projects, this one was also a work-in-progress type of project whereby I had to make a few adjustments and improvements, as I progressed.


Initially, I thought these 2 blouses would be enough for me to make a full length dress. However, after I have ripped the seams and detached the unwanted parts from my mom's blouse, I realised that I only could make a dress that would just reach my shins.


I still needed more material to make up for the shortfall!


Thankfully, I recalled keeping some remnants from my mom's previous baju kurung projects, and found the one that would match perfectly.


(This is just one of the benefits of sharing hobbies wih my family members because I could always "nick" stuff from them whenever the need arises. Just like I took some inches off my sister's elastic band for the sleeves of this new dress. hehehe)


Once I have acquired all the relevant material needed for the new dress, I turned into productive mode and it took me 3 days to complete the dress.


When it was time for a fitting, the dress looked good but I felt something was amiss with the sleeves. It was a little uncomfortable around the wrists because just then I realised that the sleeves were a bit short!


Because I still had excess material to play with, it didn't take long for me to make the necessary adjustment before the next reveal.


This time round, the sleeves felt comfortable around the wrist but they just didn't hang the way I expected them to be. So, instead of achieving the same look as my previous project, I decided to modify it.


After fidgetting with the sleeves, I finally achieved the new look I was after and looking at my reflection in the mirror, I could feel the satisfaction because it was even better than I expected.


I was tempted already to wear this new dress for an outing with my family that weekend but because Animama's Fashion Reconstruction is never really complete without the proper embellishments, I had to put it off.


So, after a couple of days of embellishment work, the dress is finally ready. Yes!

Hmmm. I can't wait to wear this dress for my next outing.


Who could tell that this was a cut-and-paste project, if I had not disclosed the facts?


I can proudly say that you cannot find this item anywhere. 💃🐒👌🙋