Sunday, August 3, 2014

Summer Sewing: Oriental Inspired Dress

  Photography:  Esther Boller (myself)
Model:  My stunning sister Ruth

Since I've been home this summer I've been finding all of my past sewing projects.  A lot of them are still only half way finished so lately I've been completing them.  This is a dress that I started last summer, but I never finished it until now! 







Last summer I fell in love with oriental style dresses.  They have a really simple and beautiful shape that I think is lovely.  The pattern is my own that I designed and drafted.  The dress is a sheath dress with a standing collar, cap sleeves, hook and eyes connecting the front bodice, buttons down the back, and a vent flap in the back of the skirt.  There are also a lot of curved seaming detail in the bodice and the skirt

I'm slightly sad, because the fabric is such a heavy print a lot of the seam details don't show up very well.  I'd like to make another version with piping in the seams to make them pop; especially the detail seams of the skirt.






 New projects are on the way!  Below is an Instagram preview of the swimsuit that I was telling you about.  I'll be sharing the full photo shoot next week!
Posted by at
Labels: ,

17 comments:

  1. Мила ПолькаAugust 3, 2014 at 6:46 AM

    Incredibly beautiful pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. pencilfoxAugust 3, 2014 at 6:47 AM

    lovely dress….you do quite exquisite work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. SachaAugust 3, 2014 at 7:07 AM

    Beautiful fabric! You should definitely show us another version with piping!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AVYAugust 3, 2014 at 10:17 AM

    Your sister is gorgeous, love the dress too.

    /Avy

    http://mymotherfuckedmickjagger.blogspot.com

    ♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. LauraAugust 3, 2014 at 11:14 AM

    Beautiful dress and fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  6. RebeccaAugust 3, 2014 at 11:14 AM

    So excited to see the bathing suit! How do you get your paintings so big in the background?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Esther BollerAugust 5, 2014 at 7:56 AM

      Thank you, I'm excited to share more photos of it soon! It's all done through just playing around in PhotoShop, but I use the transform keys and then I scale it :)

      Delete
  7. JennyAugust 3, 2014 at 1:13 PM

    Oh my goodness! I just discovered your blog and spent the last 2 hours just reading and admiring... What a fantastically amazing seamstress and photographer, I'm quite overwhelmed! Can't wait to see what you continue doing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. BunnyAugust 3, 2014 at 3:42 PM

    Your hidden zip is brilliant. This is so lovely and there is so much I like about it from the fabric to the wonderful seaming. Love how you seamed in the sleeves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Esther BollerAugust 5, 2014 at 7:57 AM

      Thank you so much for your kind complements Bunny!!

      Delete
  9. lpAugust 4, 2014 at 6:06 PM

    This is a FABULOUS dress! How do you get so many curved pieces to all fit together on your dresses? I would LOVE to see a piped version, although this one is completely gorgeous. Your sister is a great model, too. I love the hidden zipper and curvy seams over the shoulders. I wish I could see how you create your patterns. I began reading your blog because I saw your '20's-inspired prom dress on Pinterest and that one (and that blue bathing suit) are so fantastic. It's like you are putting a puzzle together!

    ReplyDelete
  10. mokoshaAugust 6, 2014 at 10:50 AM

    stunning dress and photoshoot! and love the swimsuit too

    ReplyDelete
  11. CatherineAugust 8, 2014 at 4:43 AM

    So beautiful! All those little details are exquisite!

    ReplyDelete
  12. JonathanAugust 11, 2014 at 3:14 PM

    You should try out for Project Runway!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Heather LouAugust 19, 2014 at 10:36 AM

    Hello love. This is a really beautiful dress but I thought I would just pop in to say that "Oriental" is considered a pretty problematic word for the Asian community. It's similar to referring to black people as "Negroes". You can read an interesting piece about this here: http://askakorean.blogspot.ca/2009/07/whats-up-my-oriental.html

    In the same vein, Made by Meg wrote a great post a while back about why it's probably not a great idea to refer to fabric as "tribal" and "ethnic" here: http://megmadethis.blogspot.ca/2014/06/why-i-wont-be-going-tribal-this-summer.html

    What you've made is a cheongsam inspired dress. It's a Chinese design: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam

    Apologies if I'm coming across like the PC police but I think its important to consider our use of language, especially in fashion when we have a tendency to appropriate different cultural identities without fully recognizing their history.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sassy June 23, 2015 at 1:30 PM

    To be featured on SSB tomorrow. Thanks for permitting. https://www.facebook.com/SassySewingBees

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)