Velvet Ribbon

Hi there, I made a new dress to wear on the annual dinner at my husband's work. My plan was to make a simple but classy dress using whatever fabrics on my stash. And I found a dark blue cotton blend fabric with elastane, it was leftover from  my previous dress. I didn't want to make a plain dress, so added lace overlay on the upper bodices and also lace sleeves. The lace fabric was bought recently and it was good to use a bit of it. For the pattern, I used my self-drafted pattern and added front and back pieces for the lace (in the white paper pieces below).  And here is the lace pieces after cutting, I used the scalloped borders in both front and back pieces. The sewing process was enjoyable, I did it in total of two days.  After sewing the darts and joining front and back pieces together, I sewed the lace front and back together and then I pinned and basted the to the upper bodices. I se...

Happy New Year 2022 everyone, I wish you a safe, healthy, and prosperous new year 💖 On my sewing table at the moment is a Burdastyle blouse with a side knot, I cut the blouse fabric and started sewing on December 17 but I couldn't finish it until today due to the holiday season. So, instead of waiting for the finished blouse to update this blog, I decided to publish the v-neck lace dress that I made at the beginning of December. I posted this lace dress on  my Instagram  last month, the reason why I sew this v-neck dress was to wear it at our 10th wedding anniversary dinner. I finished the dress on time but somehow I think it was missing something in this dress, I tried to add a bow at the waistline and silk overlay at the shoulder but I still didn't like the dress. In the end, I keep this dress for future wear and went to the mall to buy a dress for the anniversary dinner 😁 Well, I love this v-neck dress, simple and the fit was good. The dress has 3/4 sleeves le...

I mentioned in my  Instagram post  that I'm going to make at least two lace dresses to wear on a special occasion next month. As usual, I searched for inspirations on Pinterest and chose the right design that might suit me.  To start my sewing journey, I drafted the sheath dress pattern and made a muslin. I wasn't happy with the result, too simple for a special dress. So, I drafted another pattern with a princess seam bodice, I made a muslin and adjusted the fit. Again, I wasn't happy with the princess seam dress and decided to use the sheath dress pattern and modify it into a sweetheart style. I didn't make a muslin ( I was brave) and cut the peach color lace fabric as the main dress and silk satin as the lining. For this dress, I used five pieces of the main dress pattern (front bodice, back bodice, front skirt, back skirt and sleeve) and four pieces of the lining (front bodice sweetheart style, back bodice, front skirt and back skirt). The dre...

Hello friends, I was checking my closet last week and I realized that I needed to sew a few smart casual garments to wear for dinner out or a special occasion.  I made a list and started to sew my first garment, a simple color block dress to wear for dinner out with my husband and son in the local restaurant.  I followed my yearly plan and use stash fabrics first before buying the new ones. So, I checked my stash and found a leftover black crepe fabric and green lace remnant that I bought a few years back on my trip to Taiwan. The crepe fabric was just enough for the bodices, so I searched for another fabric in black and I found a knit blend for the sleeves. After I had all the fabrics, I decided to plan the dress design. I wanted a simple shift dress with a little addition. So I made the upper front bodice with an asymmetric line of lace over the black crepe. Also, lace over the black knit blend for the sleeves finished with a black sleeve band. I love...