Yuki Clothing

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Category Archives: Dresses


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Yellow Asymmetrical Neckline Dress

This third version of the “asymmetrical neckline dress”, was a little something I started working on right before Easter (hence the colour). I wanted a nice and comfortable dress that I could wear at home so I decided to make it in this wonderful yellow jersey that I bumped into at the fabric store.

I was also interested in seeing how the jersey would drape compared to the other fabrics. Even though it’s the same pattern, it looks quite different from both the tartan and the graphite dress. The other two fabrics had a bit more structure compared to this one, which basically lives a life of its own.

For more information about the pattern, check out Asymmetrical Neckline Dress – making the pattern

Front…
and back!

Now you might think that I’ve been holding onto this since Easter (when I was supposed to have finished the dress). Problem was that a bunch of other stuff got higher priority, like making a new dress for a spring wedding we were attending. Then I got very tired and nauseous which didn’t exactly put me in the mood for finishing the dress. Now that I finally had the time and energy to finish it, it doesn’t really fit like I thought it would when I started in April ;)


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Tartan Asymmetrical Neckline Dress

By now, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of my loyal readers started to wonder if I ever made a tartan asymmetrical neckline dress. Did I perhaps give up after making the necktie? I certainly did not! Did I have the energy to blog about it? Nope, sadly I did not. But better late than never! :)

The main fabric for the dress is a medium heavy cotton fabric with a tartan print. Its properties are similar to my usual muslin fabric from IKEA, only a bit thicker. For the lining of the skirt, I used a regular lining fabric (probably polyester). The graphite version of this dress didn’t have a lined skirt and the only reason for that was that the inside of that fabric is very sleek as it is. The cotton however, needed lining, otherwise I would’ve ended up with a skirt moving higher and higher up my thighs.

Inside of the tartan dress (front).

An improvement from the graphite version of the dress are the belt loops. Since the tartan pattern changed between the skirt and the top, it would look much better with a belt. And to keep a belt in place, you need belt loops :) Another detail worth mentioning is the “chain sewed” thread that attaches the under skirt (lining) to the outer skirt. This keeps the under skirt from sliding around.

I’ve also included a neat way of sewing darts and fastening the thread. Just start sewing your dart and when you’re close to the edge, carefully sew a couple of stitches parallel to the edge. After the parallel stitches, steer the needle over the edge and sew ~1-1.5cm without any fabric. Stop sewing, lift the presser foot and move the fabric towards you. Now sew a couple of stitches on the dart to fasten the thread. It’s quick and easy and the result looks great every time.

Close-up on one of the two belt loops.
This little thread prevents the under skirt from moving around.
Quick and easy way to sew a dart and fasten the thread.
The inside of the invisible zipper.


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Asymmetrical Neckline Dress (part3) – the Graphite Dress

It’s time to show you the final version of the Asymmetrical Neckline Dress! If you’re interested in how the pattern was constructed and how the muslin turned out, you can read about it here and here.

The fabric for this dress is something I picked up on our first trip to Japan. While in Tokyo, we paid a visit to Tomato, a really nice fabric store in Nippori (Fabric Town), and there the it was! The fabric was just sitting on its shelf, waiting for me to bring it home. :) My original plan for it was to make a blazer or something but as soon as I started planning this dress I knew I had to use it. I love how well it drapes, and the colour is just gorgeous.

And of course, you’ll get some pictures from the wedding I wore the dress to. The weather was great during the afternoon. It was quite windy but the sun was shining brightly. This meant that my hair was all over the place, and looking into the camera wasn’t an easy task.


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Asymmetrical Neckline Dress (part2) – the muslin

In a previous post, I wrote about making the pattern for this dress and now it’s time to show you what the final product could look like. As you can see, the cotton muslin is a tad bit see-through and enables you to see what the interfacing looks like as well as the outside.

I designed this dress with one thing in mind – to fool people in to thinking that I’ve got an hourglass figure. My body type is actually a mix of pear and hourglass and whenever I gain weight, the pear shape gets more emphasized. For example, if I compare my measurements with H&M’s sizes (who seem to be making clothes for skinny, rectangular people), my bust is 38, waist 36 and hip 40. With this data in mind, I wanted to make my bust appear a bit bigger. I think I succeeded with the front of the dress, however… the back side is another story. The shape of the skirt doesn’t exactly draw the attention away from a certain area.


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Asymmetrical Neckline Dress (part1) – making the pattern

Ever since we came back from Japan, I haven’t done much bloggin’ about my sewing escapades. However, this doesn’t mean that I haven’t spent any quality time with my sewing machine. On the contrary, I’ve actually finished a number of projects! The one you’ll be hearing about today is a dress made for a wedding that took place just days before our flight left for Japan.

My first plan was to make something from a book called Pattern Magic 2 by Tomoko Nakamichi. I had my eye set on the “cowl neck” for the back of the dress and “the facing is a curve” for the front. I followed every instruction but the end result looked absolutely horrible. I’m sure something must’ve happened when I picked out the size because it ended up being too big and overall ill-fitting. I quickly abandoned ship and decided to play around with the fabric instead.

This thing is just too big, especially around the waist.

This thing is just too big, especially around the waist.

Inspired by the bias drape of the cowl neck, I went for a bias drape on the front of the dress. The fabric has such a nice fall and drapes really well. I’m also totally in love with the colour! Depending on the light it shifts between graphite, brown-ish and green-ish.

Amazingly enough, I found a pretty cool shape on the first attempt and proceeded to make a muslin pattern. For the top, I prepared two muslin pieces. One to go on the back and one for the front. I wanted a smooth neckline without any seams so I took a large piece of cotton, folded it on the bias and basted horizontal to the fold to keep everything in place. To mark the CF (centre front), I basted perpendicular to the folded neckline. The back piece needed a bit more stability and was folded on the crossgrain and then basted in place. The last preparation of the back piece was basting the CB (centre back) line perpendicular to the folded neckline.

The initial drape
Matching CF and bust points

First step when draping the front was to roughly fit it over the shoulders and then match CF on the muslin with CF on the dressform. Next step was to mark the bust points to be able to work with the look of the bust darts. Then adjust the shoulders and cut away excess fabric. I decided to only have two bust darts directed towards the centre and down to the WL (waist line). The side seams were pinned in place as well as the armhole. With side seams and CF in place it was easy to pin the bust darts. The same procedure was then repeated for the back piece. The only exception was that I made, in total, 4 darts in the back. To finish off the top, I marked out the WL with a black ribbon and cut off any excess fabric.

Skirt front. CF and HL match the dressform and dart is inserted.
Skirt back. Notice the extra ease visible at the HL.
Darts added to the back of the skirt.
Match HL and pin side seam.

The muslin preparations needed for the skirt was to cut out two pieces (front and back) and then mark CF, CB and HL (hip line). I had previously marked the HL on the dressform with a black band and now I only had to match CF, CB and HL to that of the dressform. Next up, I pinned the side seams roughly in place at the HL with a little ease added. Then I added the darts to the skirt, all while matching them to the size and placement of the darts on the top. To add some more shape to the skirt, I pinned the side seams in place while sloping it inwards towards the knees.

Finished pattern!

Paper pattern: