F for Fashion reconstruction #50

Although this is the 50th AFR, the reality is, I have only completed the reconstruction of 49 dresses. So, it is not yet time to celebrate until the 50th dress is completed.

Nevertheless, I am still on track because my aim has always been to complete 1 new dress (or two) a month and so far 43 months have passed since I started this journey in July 2016.

So, moving on....

For this fashion reconstruction project, I could not decide on anything else but a thrifted item bought in March 2019 from my regular flea market for $1 ~ a two-piece traditional Malay dress (baju kurung pesak) ~ because I liked the fabric (chiffon) and its motifs (rosettes). By the way, because of the translucent fabric, the dress came fully-lined (which I disliked).

Instead of making another baju kelawung (FR#39 and FR#42), my idea was to just extend the length of the dress with fabric from the skirt that came with it because I did not have any remnant material that matched.

Also, with the uncertainty of the current health situation (the covid-19, a coronavirus outbreak which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and had spread globally), I refrained from stepping outside of my comfort zone to look for fabric, in order to avoid infection.

Hence, I would just have to make do with the resources I had at hand.

I thought I only needed to remove the laceribbon (which had seen better days) and lining material from the dress; and dismantle the skirt and cut to fit the bottom of the dress. 

But, I ended up dismantling the whole dress and resurgered as well.

Anyway, once all of the above was done, before I reattached the dress (minus the two kekek), I worked on the neckline first because (lessons learned) it was the most crucial part of the process, but not my favourite (like the sleeves).

If anyone asked me why the neckline looked the way it did, that was because of a missnip. And that is alright by me because I like it since the new dress was not meant to look like a traditional Malay dress but a full-length dress.


When the neckline was completed, I then continued working on the skirt. Instead of gathers, I opted for pleats on the left and right sides of the skirt.


There was no issue until I started sewing the seam of the skirt. Not sure why but I just could not seem to sew a straight line. So, I gave up on the third attempt and decided that it would probably be better and neater if I were to hand stitch instead.


When I put on the new dress, I knew something was missing and the little birds perched outside my window told me that I should embellish the neckline with some beads.


I actually wanted to embellish the ends of the sleeves as well but realised that, that would be too much (work!). hehehe


Perhaps some other time?


All in all, I finished the new dress within two weeks with some breaks in between.


So, without further ado, I present to you, my first baju panjung (baju panjang kurung) aka a long dress that looked like a two-piece traditional Malay dress...

One good thing about the new dress is, if I wanted to, I could wear it back-to-front as well because when I tried it on, I felt comfortable wearing it both ways.


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.  💃🐒👌🙋