Dresses for Lunar New Year

It has almost become customary that I sew my new clothes for the Lunar New Year. To welcome Spring this time round, I made two dresses.

The Pink Bird Collar Dress

First, a very simple Pink Bird Collar dress from Christine Hayne’s Emery pattern. Just like my last two versions (here and here), the Emery is always a delight to sew but I do feel kinda sorry that this dress was only completed in January.

You see, it was supposed to be my dress for the Emery sewalong but life took a busier turn and I could only work on it again two months later. You can read my review of the pattern here. This minimalist version is made using a pink cotton fabric with tiny white polka dots and is completely lined with peach cotton voile. The collar and pockets were made with a matching bird fabric which has been in my stash for at least five years.

The bird fabric had all the birds in one direction facing left or right so I had to be careful with the collar pattern placement to ensure that they all stayed upright at the front of the collar pieces.

The only difference in terms of technique in this version was lining the skirt. And because the bottom of the bodice lining has a hand stitched finish, it is a perfect project to line the skirt from bottom to top. I cut the skirt lining a few inches shorter and attached it right side facing the skirt fabric before turning them out and ironing the hem. The look is really clean! This way, the lining seam at the top of the skirt is hidden under the hand stitched bodice lining.

Here’s a family photo taken on the first day of Lunar New Year after a sumptuous lunch of traditional Chinese food and goodies at my aunt’s. The kids were dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok which we bought during our trip to South Korea. 

I still owe this dress a belt though. Sometime ago, I contacted Cassie Stephens and bought three handmade reversible belt buckles from her. One of which was this adorable yellow bird which I selected specially to go with this bird collar dress. I can’t decide on the belt colors to go with this reversible belt buckle. Maybe yellow on one side and bright pink or red on the other? What do you think? Anyway, I’ll get it sewn once I finish up a few more projects in my overflowing project box:)

The Ming Porcelain Dress

The moment I saw this cheongsam for lil princess, I knew I had to get it for her. It’s so pretty!  And the moment she puts it on, I knew I wanted to make and wear a dress that matches hers 🙂

So I dug out this blue and white linen fabric and Simplicity 1803 from my stash and went to work. 

I used the Simplicity bodice and my favorite skirt with in seam pockets from the Emery dress pattern, trying my best at matching the pattern on this princess seam bodice. I was still sewing the hem after visiting my aunt on the first day of the new year so you see what a rush project this was. I wore it the next day for more visitations!

Having made some adjustments to the yoke and cut out section while fitting the bodice as it was gaping quite a bit, I am happy with how the dress has turned out. 

Here are some close up shots of my last-minute attempt at print matching the centre, princess seams and the yoke.

The bodice of this dress has more ease compared to the Emery and a much lower neckline on the back.

Not too bad for two last-minute dresses I guess.