Cheongsams with a twist

Every Friday our daily newspaper comes with a fashion supplement called ‘Urban’ and many a times, it gives an inspirational boost to my Friday mornings.

Today is one of those days! Check out these cheongsams with a twist featured in the supplement. I’m truly inspired to sew one with echino fabric like this one! Such an adorable Mod look!

And I adore the red polka dots and retro feel of this one though I would have prefer it with a stand collar. It didn’t look cheongsam without one.

And this color block version from Louis Vuitton (a smaller keyhole will up its wearability at my household) is kinda of refreshing!

My other fave source of inspiration is definitely etsy and today I chanced upon a super-duper talented tailor of ‘cheongsams with a twist’ there! OMG, check these out and more at the shop FlowerAge! I can only aspire to create something close to her level! I’m so excited to share these favorites of mine with you!

Black and white vertical print cheongsam with bell-shaped sleeves.

The perfect ensemble of print mixing plaid cheongsam with a houndstooth bolero!

How irresistible is this leopard print cheongsam with flare skirt!

Cheongsam chic is back!

TGIF! Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Echino Grassy Plain Dress

The dress that got me interested in Japanese Sewing Books is this purple scarf dress featured on the cover of ‘Les couleurs francaises’. It is also my reward dress for completing the target I set for myself in my Japanese Sewing Book challenge. I used my precious Echino Grassy Plain fabric which I thought was so appropriate for the design. The fabric was in my untouchable stash but I am glad it has turned into this dress!

The dress is Project C from ‘Les couleurs francaises’. It is relatively easy to make with many detailed diagrams. I used the pattern for size M, the shoulders fitted well but it was huge on the sides so I took them in quite a bit. The original design had a tie scarf collar. To make the most of this outfit, I decided to make some modifications and made the collar and scarf separately.  Here you see the dress with a collar I drafted myself. I wanted a collar that would look hidden when I wanted to wear it with the scarf.

Here’s the version with scarf which looks similar to the photo in the book.

And here I wear it slightly differently. I love the idea of a separate scarf, it is so versatile and you can wear it in so many ways, even with other outfits!

The scarf could also be used to drape a crowl neckline.

Or as a head scarf 🙂 I actually like this boho look quite a lot.

I love this Echino fabric! I tried my best to match the print on the side seams but it was not possible given that the print was wavy.

I hope you like my reward dress 🙂 I love it and can’t stop looking at it! I can’t wait for my princess to grow to be 100cm, that way we can wear matching dresses like the ones in the book! TGIF, have a fabulous weekend everyone!

New echino ni-co fabric!!!

I am so in love with the echino ni-co fabric collection which has just become available!!! My favourites are the orange helicopters (3rd from left), green helicopters (4th), brown buses (10th) and also spectacles in black and green!!! Fabricworm seems to be the first to have it available online! Which should I buy????
(above image from fabricworm)

Fabric Buying in Osaka

I’ve not been able to sew recently as I was busy planning and packing for a family vacation in Japan.  We came back on Saturday and I’ve been busy unpacking. I couldn’t resist sharing the lovely fabric I bought while in Osaka and I have Jacqui from Blooming in Japan to thank for giving absolutely superb directions to the fabric store located at the Ebisubashi shopping street! I had my two kids with me and it was not easy for serious fabric shopping but in 5 minutes, I managed to select the four Japanese fabric shown in the photo above. I love the prints and the price even more. The four metres of fabric cost 2,800 Yen which is around US$7 per metre! That’s probably half the price of what I’ll get on etsy excluding shipping!

I returned to the shop on my last day in Japan and bought more. After all, with the baby food and crackers eaten up, I now have more luggage space for fabric:)

So I ended up with some hello kitty and disney’s cars quilted material and even an echino print!

This is the first time I bought fabric while on holiday and that made me an absolutely happy woman!

Echino Scooter Playpants

I am in love with the designer fabric by echino and couldn’t resist making my son a playset with the scooter fabric in two different colour prints. While I’m still working on the top, my son has already started wearing the scooter playpants with the elephant t-shirt I made him. Such a sweet boy!