dress for okinawa

you know how people (around the internet) talk about sewing clothes, saying "oh it's so simple, it only takes 20 minutes!"...? yeah, this was NOT one of those kinds of projects.

no, this one took...um, more hours than i'm willing to admit. but, it was also my first i'd-actually-wear-this-out-of-the-house clothes project. when i was in elementary school, my childhood best friend and i made all kind of crazy (read: unwearable) stuff on my mom's sewing machine in the basement. needless to say, none of it ever saw daylight. and since i don't even know how to go about using a "real" pattern, i used this dress i bought a couple months ago as a template to start from and then just worked the rest out as i went.

it took me two days, lots of seam ripping, even more sewing and resewing, pinning myself several times, a trip back to the fabric store and there may have been a couple four letter words in there too. and, it was TOTALLY worth it. because i love it.
the fabric is estuko furuya "lion" in purple. i saw it referenced as eggplant somewhere; it might have a cool funky name like that, but it looks pretty much "purple" to me.
my original plan was to have the whole top part be sewn using elastic thread for the "shirred" look but, alas, my sewing machine doesn't play well with elastic thread. (i'd LOVE to upgrade to a bigger, better sewing machine that likes fun things like free motion quilting and elastic thread and probably a hundred other things my baby can't do...) instead i just added some strips of elastic across the back for a semi-shirred look.
i learned several things, the most time consuming of which was how to add fabric so that it doesn't show. i used all of the 2 meters of fabric i bought and the dress was still about 20cm too short. so, off to the fabric store i went to get another yard (note to self: at this height, floor length sundresses require at LEAST 3 meters. yes, self, please remember that.) from that additional one meter, i found the sections that lined up with the front and the back, only to find out they were dangerously close to overlapping with each other and it almost didn't work. but, it ended up working perfectly. if you look to the left of the lion, you can see the seam, but only if you look closely can you tell on the tree part. and from far away, i don't think anyone (except a sewer) would notice.i also figured out how to make adjustable and detachable straps. i tried getting photos of them, but they are a bit rough on the edges and don't photo well. basically they work like the straps of a convertible bra. lots of options: straight from front to back, or crisscrossed in the back, or (my favorite) use one strap and the 2 front hooks to make a halter top.

here are some close ups of the fabric.

i love it. and i've even got about half a yard left over. maybe it will become a simple tote bag or maybe a little drawstring pouch.

or maybe i'll horde it away and wait until i splurge on more etsuko fabric and make a beautiful quilt. i'm leaning toward a medium sized tote bag. because it's too fun not to show off. i mean, it's got lions on it! what else could you possibly want??