Oriental Fusion Fashion

For my senior prom the theme was oriental, I had initially planed on wearing one of the Chinese dresses that my dad got for me when he went there for business. But after some consideration I realized that it would be nearly impossible to dance in. I was certian that I would have to make something or not dress acording to theme (but that's no fun!) After doing some research on oriental clothing I came up with an idea how to renovate a modern formal dress into a hanbok/kimono cross. I had obtained an old bridesmaid dress from a friend of the family with the intention of remodeling it into a Victorian ball gown (which was later determined impractical because of the low back). I used this for the skirt. I modified a pattern I found at a fabric store for the kimono jacket (or if you prefer to be correct in your terms it would be a gi, but kimono jacket sound so much more elegant) and picked out some pretty oriental fabric for the obi (a.k.a. the sash) all tied up with the gold cord.

Oriental Fusion Formal Dress

Elbow-length gloves

Have you every made a dress for an accessory? Well I am. Last week when I was visiting my Grandma, I bought a pair of elbow length black gloves for only four dollars! The antique dealer was so kind!

So I have decided that the next dress I shall make is an evening dress to go with them, as I have been meaning to make one, but I could never decide on the color. So I think the best color that would go with the black gloves would be a dark wine color. Which will also go nicely with my long brown hair. I can't wait to start! I envision the dress to look something like this only a different color

It would multitask as my evening dress and dancing dress, so that I can justify making it. But I have to finish my other dress first, which is a plaid brown/teal jumper. Anyway I probably won't get to it until summer, still it's nice to have a project to plan for. Anyway I should go back to school work, oh wait, that right I'm done for the week! YES! *smiles smugly* That meaning I start sewing my jumper! I will post an update and pictures on that soon.

Spring Formal ~ 1920's

The homeschool group that I belong to is have a spring formal, and this year I am on the planning committee we decided that the theme is going to be a 1920's theme. I had suggested that we do the theme on the1800's but no such luck. Anyway, the 1920's  isn't so bad, it was an interesting time and some of my favorite authors are from the 1920's (such as Agatha Christie) When we had decided on that theme, I was thinking how on earth am I going to find a 1920's dress? After the meeting I was looking on the web for some ideas and patterns. I decided that I really don't like the style of most of the dresses (the fashion of 1920's dresses mainly was drop waisted, which is a style I don't prefer) but of all the dress styles I preferred the style of dress which is called a fishtail which looks something like this:

I really couldn't find anything in the way of a pattern under a hundred dollars, but as it turned out I didn't have to make a dress at all! The Saturday after all this my mother was out thrift shopping, and she wasn't even looking for a dress for me (since we had determined that I would have to make the dress.) She found the perfect dress, and it was also a fishtail! It is completely made of silk, and it only cost four dollars! It is truly amazing that even in the small things God is looking out for us.

         Now all I have to think about is the accessories. I am going to try and find some shoes from that style they will hopefully look something like this and won't kill you to dance in 

I also have some ideas as to what I can do for my hair. The style from around that time was a very short bob, not exactly friendly for the girl who has roughly three feet of long brown hair, but I have a couple tricks up my sleeve rather then cut my hair for the dance. As far as other accessories maybe a long string of glass bead or pearls, maybe a feather in my hair who knows? It should be a very fun night.