F for Fashion reconstruction #48

I kicked off 2019 with my first "lbd to Lbd" (little black dress to Long black dress) series, i.e. a sleeveless blue velvet lbd and so I shall close 2019 with yet another lbd.


This fashion reconstruction project would be the fifth and also the final item in my lbd collection to be included in the "lbd to Lbd" series, i.e. a sleeveless black lbd bought together with the other lbds in late 90s.

Because it is lightweight, I initially wanted to pair this lbd with a baby blue chiffon material which I acquired from my sister.


But after second thoughts, I realised that I could actually salvage one of my mom's old pants instead because the material is similar to the lbd but just a little heavier to give the new Lbd a better structure than the chiffon would.


She had two pairs of pants with the same make and model ~ one is navy blue and the other, yellow. Both would make a nice pairing but I picked the yellow one because it gave a better contrast.

After that was settled, I proceeded with the seam ripping. It took me at least three days because the pants had zippers and elastic waistband.


Also the thread used was the same colour as the pants which made it even harder to differentiate between the material and thread.


Thankfully, the lbd was already ripped apart and sergered, well in advance, during one of my idle periods.


Once all the material were laid down and ready, it was time for the mannequin to take over and perform its magic.


After a few rounds of deliberations, I finally decided on the design I was after. It would be a little bit of everything that I have done ~ there would be gathers, frills and pleats, of course.


For the lbd, I removed the back zipper, moved the bottom part of the front skirt to the back and removed the sides of the front bodice because they no longer fit into the new design.


All of the material from the pants would complete the new dress, except for the sleeves because there was little material left over.


Thankfully, I had just enough remnant material that fits well with the colour scheme, for the sleeves.


I even had time to embellish the new dress with beads.


I was distracted by all the excitement of the festive season that it took me almost a fortnight to complete this project (and just over three hours before the year ends).


So, without further ado, here's what the final dress for 2019 looks like...

I must say that 2019 has been a good and laborious year for me indeed; full of ups and downs, but most importantly, I had fun making new dresses and it was all worth it!


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 #47

Another week has passed and another dress is born...


At first, I wanted to combine two blouses (bought in the mid '90s) but after much consideration, I decided to just sacrifice one because I thought the other one could be used for another project.


So for this fashion reconstruction project, I chose a floral cotton blouse and combined it with a piece of gingham and to extend the length of the skirt, I added two tiers of chiffon and laceribbon between the joints.

I constructed new pair of sleeves and reused the old sleeves as well. I also used laceribbon to keep with the same theme.


As with previous project, this one also involved a lot of hand and machine stitching.


Also, I had to make sure that the seams are aligned.


Halfway through the project, I caught the flu bug. This time around, it was not as bad as before because it was only due to the rainy season, nothing serious that I could not carry on sewing.


And within a week, I managed to complete the new dress.


When I put on this new dress, it reminded me of "Little house on the prairie". you'll see...

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 #46

What's common about the pieces I picked for this fashion reconstruction project? Crepe.


One is a long-sleeved flouncey-collared blouse I bought in Seoul while on a business trip in 2011 and the other, an elastic-waisted floral tiered mini skirt I bought from my usual flea market in 2017.

So, how do I make a long-sleeved full length dress out of these two?


Back to my stash of remnants again...


Thankfully, I still have a few pieces of chiffon remnants that complement very well with the colour scheme of the mini skirt.


I liked the blouse as it is, so I only had to loosen it a little bit by removing the front and back darts, realign the hem at the bottom and readjust the buttons.


More work on the mini skirt though because the new dress will have more tiers.


So, after disassembling the mini skirt, I pinned all the pieces together on my mannequin to get a better picture.


Once I was satisfied with the overall design, the rest was easy.


To extend the skirt further I used laceribbon of different colours that would serve as embellishments as well.


After tacking and stitching many rows of fabric, I finally completed the dress in five days. Phew!

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 #45

I think I like this project the most because the new dress is simple to do and looks elegant when worn.


At first I was not really sure what to expect when I picked this sleeveless top (bought in the early '90s) because I did not have anything in my closet to match it with, to make a full length dress.

So, I decided to just let my creative juices flow. When I looked through my stash of remnants, the colours just moved in my eyes like a kaleidoscope.


That's when I realised I could make something different but nice.


Because the fabric is light and flowy, I decided to use chiffon for the skirt and sleeves to have an overall light and flowy dress.


After picking the pieces I wanted, I began conceptualizing and designing a pattern in my head, while pinning the pieces together on my mannequin.


Once I was satisfied with the design, the production process began. I only had to remove the darts at the back and the hem at the bottom, cut pieces according to the required measurements, serger the ends, join them together and in no time at all, the new dress is ready.


It took me less than a week to complete the new dress.


There is no drama for this project either because everything was smooth sailing.

Someone asked me before, how or where I got the idea for all my dresses, and honestly, I did not have an answer because I just went with the flow.


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 #44

Prim and proper is the theme for this fashion reconstruction project.


The finished dress reminds me of dresses worn by nurses or maids in the 1930s and 1940s. What's missing is the white apron... hehehe


Anyway, for this fashion reconstruction project, I have chosen another lbd I bought some time in late 90s, together with my other lbds. This will be the fourth instalment of the "lbd to Lbd" (little black dress to Long black dress) series.

The lbd was a little snug on the bodice, so I decided to extend the side seams with laceribbon, which would also serve as embellishments.


And to lengthen the skirt, I sacrificed a mini skirt I no longer wear (bought in Seoul during my business trip in 2011) because the fabric complemented each other (the lbd is made of wool and the mini skirt, synthetic wool) .

Even with the addition of laceribbon in between, the dress came to almost 6 inches short, so I had to add ruffles at the bottom of the skirt to make up for the shortage.


For the sleeves, I reused the discarded sleeves from FR#36 and extended the length by using the same type of laceribbon as the bodice and black chiffon fabric.


To accentuate the front pockets and neckline, I used a different type of laceribbon.


The whole project took me just over a week to complete.

And all in all, I think I wasted almost zerowaste.


That reminds me of an incident... I recently commented on a post for their unnecessary waste of fabric and the owner of the post got a little offensive and defensive by commenting on my amateur-looking garments and offered a free tip ~ my garments would look less amateur if I ironed them before sewing and again, before posting.


duh! here I am, trying my best to go green i.e. reduce waste (and advocating others to do the same) and that means also reducing carbon emissions... so what if I did not iron my garments for the camera as compared to their so-called professional techniques that include unnecessary waste and carbon emissions? People can be so thick sometimes, it is unbelievably appalling.


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 #43

Smooth sailing on the calm seas...


This is what it felt like working on this fashion reconstruction project.


It started off well and ended well...


I wanted to do a quick and easy dress because after the last project, I just did not feel like spending so much time on making a dress, so I picked a short-sleeved buttoned-up black chiffon knee-length dress I bought some time in 2011 in Hong Kong.

Since I have quite a lot of chiffon remnants to choose from, I decided to pair it with some black and brown pieces I acquired from my sister's stash.


The idea was to just cut out pieces of cloth and attach to the existing dress, but alternating black and brown tiers.


There was not much unpicking to do except for the seams of the dress, sleeves and inner lining.


Once I have decided on the length of the dress, I went ahead and cut out the pieces accordingly.


Chiffon to me, is like cotton, although it could be a bit slippery, but it is well-behaved. That makes for a blissful sewing experience. Although I had some difficulties matching up the seams, there was really no drama.


To brighten up the dress, I replaced the black buttons with gold ones.


And within a week, I already finished my new dress.


The new dress looks really chic and classic ~ simple yet elegant. Light and flowy...

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 #42

According to Murphy's Law, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and Drucker's Law states that "If one thing goes wrong, everything else will, at the same time".


The above statements are true for this fashion reconstruction project.


After the success of FR#39 (my baju kelawung) I thought I should create another piece but adopt a different approach ~ instead of creating the "wings" like a typical kaftan (sewn from the outside), I would attach the "wings" as I would any ordinary sleeves (sewn from the inside).


With this approach, there would not be any stitches along the "wings" as it did with my previous version. However, it turned out to be more difficult than I thought.


Here's why...


For this project, I picked another two-piece traditional Malay dress or baju kurung pesak I bought from my usual flea market in 2017.

It is of satin material and the fabric was still in good condition with the exception of the sergered parts (they're nylon!).


Since the fit was good, I thought that this would be a straightforward job i.e. all I had to do was to just rip the side seams of the sleeves and the pesak; remove the little square pieces (kekek) that joined the sleeves to the pesak; cut out a matching fabric for the "wings" and attach them to the sleeves and pesak; and then sew everything back from the inside to form my new dress.


Boy, oh boy! It was wishful thinking of me.


Why? Because I just had to complicate things. Since there was more than enough fabric from the skirt, I decided to make full use of it. Instead of a long flared dress, I opted for tiers instead.


Of course, it took me longer than I should to complete this dress because things were not as it seemed. I discovered that all the four pesak were not uniform ~ the front and back were not cut out the same size.


So, in the end, I had to rip the seams off the entire dress and remove all the sergered ends as well to rid of the nylon threads, and adjust the pesak so that they fit nicely on the main bodice.


So, back to square one!


I also realised that making a baju kurung pesak requires careful planning and execution. One wrong move and I would have to start all over again.


Also, because of the arrangement of the floral motifs, I had to make sure that I joined the right pieces together so that there would not be any overcrowding. I also had to make sure I followed proper sequence ~ which pieces needed to be sewn first before others.


Once I got everything figured out, it was much easier to move forward.


The most tricky part was to make sure that the seams were aligned ~ this is the part where I can never make it right the first time, no matter how many times I have practised.


During the fitting, I realised that the shoulders were a bit too wide for my frame ~ even half an inch made a big difference! So, I had to trim off the edges, reserger the ends and join the shoulders again.


All in all, this project took me a couple of weeks to complete.


I am quite satisfied with the outcome of the new dress although I much preferred it if there was lesser fabric to work on because I found it to be more challenging when working with less than more.


When I have limited fabric to start with, it is much easier to add on new fabric but when I have more than enough fabric, I just do not have the heart to discard or waste any.

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 #41

This fashion reconstruction project is third instalment of the "lbd to Lbd" (little black dress to Long black dress) series.


For this project, I have chosen a sleeveless brown velvet lbd (bought in early '90s) and a sleeveless bohemian floral dress (bought early this year from my usual flea market for $1).

Initially, I intended to combine the lbd with a full length green floral spaghetti strap dress but I changed my mind the moment I brought home the bohemian dress because the combination of colours would complement each other.


To extend the length of the new dress and for the sleeves, I would need extra fabric. And so I went back to my storage cabinet and found the right fabric and colours.


This project involved lesser cutting but a lot of hand stitching because the fabric from the bohemian dress is of stretchy netted nylon and velvet that is not suitable for the serger or sewing machine.


All in all, it took me a week and a half to complete the new dress.


The new dress is quite heavy because of the extra fabric I have chosen is of heavyweight material that is usually used for pantsuit or skirts but it falls really nicely once worn.

Even my mom liked it because of the colour combination and pattern but unfortunately it would not fit her.


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 #40

This fashion reconstruction project is the second lbd (little black dress) to Lbd (Long black dress) series for 2019.


This time, I have picked a sleeveless khaki green lbd (bought sometime in the early 1990s) and paired it with a long-sleeved brocade-like green (with floral motifs) modern Malay dress (top only) which I recently bought from my regular flea market for only 50 cents!

Actually, I have already ripped off the seams of this lbd months ago because I had intended to pair it with a spaghetti strap dress, but it never materialised since I was a bit hesitant (not sure why).


But now I know the reason... Because, when I brought the Malay dress home, something just clicked! I saw that this dress would look better if paired with the lbd.


It took me quite a while to disassemble the Malay dress because it was also embroidered and embellished with beads and sequins.


Fortunately, the workmanship was good for this piece that even after I had removed the embroidery and embellishments, the fabric was still in tact - there was no hole or fabric run.


After much deliberation and conceptualisation, I finally decided on the design - it would be a formal dress with frills, of course!


To complete the look, I still had to go through my stockpile for more fabric to match and found exactly what I needed.


I did not need to discard much from the existing fabric either. However, I still needed to reserger the ends so that they would look uniform throughout the whole project.


All in all, I managed to complete the new dress within a week.


So, without further ado, I present my new Lbd...

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 #39

After a black number, it is only appropriate to alternate with a bright or bold number, no?


So, for this fashion reconstruction project, I chose a bright orange (with equally bold floral motifs) two-piece traditional Malay dress or baju kurung pesak gantung, a variant to the baju kurung pesak where the pesak starts a few centimetres below the armholes, thus creating the gantung or hang effect.


It was purchased from my usual flea market, back in 2017 which cost me $5.

The fabric for this baju kurung is silk-like and came already embellished with ironed-on stones and glitters that caught my eyes, the main reason I bought it.


But regret came only when I realised that there were snags on the skirt and the ends of the fabric fray really badly after I have ripped off all the seams and removed the serged ends.


This literally proved that "all that glitters is not gold".


Anyway, I have been meaning to work on this dress but never really settled on any particular design until now.


So, for this project, I opted for a more casual design i.e. a kaftan or baju kelawar but one which I have yet to see in boutiques or stores.


The concept seemed easy to execute ~ based on what I have seen from the web, making a kaftan is the easiest.


To create a full length kaftan with long sleeves, I had to add extra fabric for the "wings" of the kaftan since I could not salvage all of the existing fabric due to the abovementioned state it was in.


And because of that, it turned out to be even more tedious than I thought because my next regret came when I realised that I have picked the wrong combination of fabrics for a kaftan ~ one that frays badly and another that snags easily. OMG!


A new take on this project is to never again buy a dress that has glitters embedded (ironed-on) because these will interfere with the sergering and sewing, which can be a real nuisance.


For the first time during the lifespan of the serger machine, I broke the needle, all thanks to the embedded glitters, and now the serger machine performs much better than before!


Another mistake I made was to work on the neckline after I had finished working with the bodice.


I think I have never spent more time sewing (by hand and machine) on any of the previous dresses than I have on this one because it involved not only French seams but also fusible interfacing, bias binding, pleated frills and to top it off, I embellished the neckline with beads. Talk about being OTT!


After three weeks of endlessness, the day of rejoicing came, eventually. And the end result is beyond my expectations, really!


Here's what I meant...

At a glance, this new dress looks like a new variant of the baju kurung pesak, that is yet to make its debut into the market place. If it was truly a two-piece baju kurung, then I would call it my baju kurung pesak payung. hehehe


But since it is, after all, a full length dress, I am calling it my baju kelawung instead.


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 #38

Somehow I just could not stay away from black for too long.


As such, I have picked yet another black number for this fashion reconstruction project ~ a preloved blouse I bought from my usual flea market mid 2018 at only $2.

Since this blouse is made of lightweight fabric, I have decided to combine it with chiffon fabric to make up the new dress.


However, instead of making another all black dress, I decided to break the monotony by making a black and red dress instead (the chiffon fabric I have chosen has the same red hue that made up the motifs).


Also, making another black dress would have been too easy since all I had to do was attach a skirt to the existing blouse... boring!


So, the idea was for the new dress to have all of the fabric from the existing blouse for the front and the new chiffon fabric for the back.


I thought this was going to be an easy cut-n-paste project until I realised after ripping off all the seams that I did not have enough fabric from the existing blouse to make a full length dress for the front.


Fortunately, after going through my stockpile, I found some black chiffon fabric and a matching laceribbon. The laceribbon will not only extend the length for the front, but will also serve as embellishments for the new dress.


Even my mom noticed that I was hard at work because I looked rather intense.


Actually, I just could not wait to complete this dress because I could already imagine how it was going to look like when it is finished.


The existing sleeves were rather short so I had to make yet another extension.


All in all, I managed to complete this project in less than a week and it was really worth the effort.

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 #37

After seeing 3 black dresses in a row, I thought it was apt that I switched to some bright and lively colours (because first and foremost, my eyes needed the rest) so that I can follow up on the rest of the projects that are still in the pipeline with fresh eyes.

So, for this fashion reconstruction project, I picked a 2-piece modern Malay dress consisting of a buttoned-up collared top and an overlap skirt (bought from my usual flea market for only $5 in mid 2018).

What really caught my eyes was not only the vibrant royal blue but the yellow floral motifs as well.


The material is a mix of polyester and satin ~ a little bit difficult to handle because it runs (it is slippery and the ends frayed) all the time.

The design I was after was pretty simple and straightforward. It would be a flared long dress with no fastening but one that I can slip in and out with much ease.


All I had to do was remove the buttons and loosen the bodice by removing the darts in front and back; and add some flares to the skirt.

Sounds easy, no? Yes and no... because, once I started to rip the seams and disassemble the dress piece by piece, I realised that I had to remove the serged parts as well.


Meaning, I would have to reserger the whole dress because the thread used to serger the original dress was nylon and nylon threads do not stand the test of time.

Just thinking about it has dampened my mood...

But, because I really needed to complete this dress, I persevered...


It was not as bad as I thought after all, once I got the hang of it...


Initially, I was thinking of having gathers here and there but ended with having pleats instead because the material drapes better with pleats.


So, the overall theme of this dress became pleats instead ~ on the bodice, skirt and sleeves.


I really took my time for this project because I wanted it to be special.


It took me almost 4 weeks to finish this new dress because I got stuck, as usual, while making the sleeves.


In the end, everything came together and I even had time to embellish the dress ~ buttons, beads and sequins.

So for the reveal... here is...

This full length dress gives the illusion of a two-piece dress, just the way I like it!


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 #36

Looks like I am in the mood for black dresses this spring.


Actually, I was not planning on making this dress at all but while working with previous two dresses, it just happened that I saw a black short-sleeved chiffon blouse in my closet that I hardly wear (bought in Hong Kong some time in 2011) and thought that since my sister had some black chiffon remnants idling in her collection, perhaps I could make another black dress.

I imagined a blouse that will look like it is paired with a long skirt but in fact, it is actually a one-piece dress.


All I needed to do was attach a pair of long sleeves and a long skirt to the existing blouse. Sounds simple, no?


But it took me a few days just to come up with a design before I finally had the nerve to cut out fabric for the new dress.


The whole time was spent visualising, draping pieces of remnants on my model (the mannequin my sister lent me), just to make sure that I have picked the right remnant pieces to avoid wastage.


And once I was satisfied with the look, I went ahead with drafting and then cutting out fabric for the skirt.


I was working like a mad woman because it turned out I had loads of fabric to sew and they never seemed to finish ~ cutting, sergering, joining, tacking, sewing, gathering ~ repetitively.


It was tiring, no doubt, but satisfying once the dress took the shape that I imagined.


It's all because I did not want just a plain and simple long dress. I wanted a more elaborate design to match the existing blouse. I must have ruffles for this new dress!


After I finished with the skirt, I had a fitting but did not like the outcome of the new dress because the blouse still looked incomplete.


So, I decided to add ruffles at the hem of the blouse so that it would blend in with the skirt. And so it did!


Afterwards, it was time to think of a design for the sleeves. And this took me another few days.


I maintained the same vertically-stripey concept as previous projects but this time, I opted for peasant sleeves instead.


To narrow the sleeves a little, I added thin pleats from the top to the middle of the sleeves to match the details on the blouse, and ruffles at the bottom of the sleeves to match the details on the skirt.


It took me slightly over two weeks to finish this dress because I had to redo some stitching ~ I fixed a certain fabric inside-out, certain details did not match, one of the elastic bands for the sleeves got twisted after I secured the ends, etc..  hmmm there's no drama like that of a drama queen making a dress.


Regardless of the drama, all ended well, as always. And I cannot wait to wear this dress to a formal outing.

Although it looks heavy, this dress is actually lightweight and flowy ~ I like!


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 #35

This fashion reconstruction is the sequel to FR#34.


The second part of the skirt from the midi dress is combined with a cap-sleeved black cotton blouse I bought while on a business trip to Sydney in summer of 2011.

Because the bodice of the blouse was a little snug, I had to loosen it a little. So, instead of adding extra fabric, I decided to use lace and ribbons instead.


That would also give an effect of an embellishment to the new dress.


Also since the neckline was a bit low, I decided to add fabric and matching lace to raise the neckline for modesty. It also gives the effect of an inner garment.


Like the previous project, I also needed to extend the bottom of the skirt with extra fabric.


For the sleeves, I still kept to the same theme ~ vertically-stripey effect, but for this dress I opted for puffed sleeves instead, to enhance the existing sleeves on the blouse, giving them extra flounce.


I did not encounter much complication except that I had to make sure that the lace and ribbons were well aligned on both sides of the blouse, in front as well as on the back.


Within a week, the new dress is ready.

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 #34

Black is beautiful... And so are the 2 dresses that are going for this April's fashion reconstruction.


The first of the 2 black dresses is a combination of a sleeveless floral polyester blouse (bought while working in Beijing circa 2007) and a worn-out sleeveless bohemian midi dress (bought from a flea market while holidaying in Sabah in September 2017).

The midi dress only cost me RM10 but the yardage on the skirt was enough to make 2 skirts. So, because of that, I decided to create 2 dresses: one, which I will elaborate in this post, and another in the subsequent post.


I removed and discarded the top portion of the dress because it was totally worn out and not usable for any project, perhaps as a polish cloth? But I really did not want to waste any soap or water on it, so I binned it instead.


Now for the skirt, I had to be extra careful when handling the fabric because it was ripping at the seams. After I have split the skirt into 2 parts, it was much easier to carry on with the project.


Since the existing skirt is not long enough to make a full length dress, I had to attach new fabric on the top and bottom of the skirt.


For the blouse, there is really not much work to do except to sew it to the skirt after it is lengthened, and to remove the seams on the armholes so that I can attach new sleeves. Just then I realised that I had to change the buttons because the existing buttons were rather small for the buttonholes.


For the sleeves, I made a replica of the sleeves I had done for FR#29, whereby I joined fabric together to give a vertically-stripey (if there is such a description for it?) effect.


All in all, it took me less than a week to complete this project because everything I needed was within my reach.


Actually, I could already wear this dress before the sleeves were attached because it already looked pretty as it was. Besides, I thought I could always wear a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath or a cardigan for a modest look. But because I did not want to hassle myself with additional clothing, I decided to go ahead and attach the sleeves.


So, without further ado, I hereby present you the new dress...

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.  💃🐒👌🙋