ethnic print maxi and scarf

I had this crazy idea of walking a marathon length distance from home to some part in tokyo on friday night with Andy, just for the fun of it. I really wanted to execute the idea, but with strong wind and rain last night, it didn't happen. Instead, we rented the 2nd season of Lost, and watched at home.

Here is creation 5-6 from ten dollar challenge... I really like this maxi. Since I love this print, I wanted to make it in a design that showed the print. With the left over fabric, I made a scarf to go with.

Oh as to the side braids, thank you all for the advise/comments:) I'll try the braids and post up some pics here soon..:)

Side braids

Photo via SallyJaneVintage Tumblr.

I saw girls with side braids all over the place from pictures of New York Fashion week (Alexander Wang, especially!), and bloggers like Song of Styles and Late Afternoon. I think side braids is a chic as well as practical way to put your hair together. I really want to do it myself too, but I personally think side braids look better on blond or any kind of dyed hair, than plain black like mine... Any advise on how to put the braids together nicely even with a jet black hair, or should I just dye my hair??

Eye candy of the day

All images via Bohemian Musings
Sorry, I don't know who the photographer is for this.. but I love the dreamy and girly images. Such an eye candy.
Lace, white cotton blouse, and flower on hair. so pretty.

one fabric, three ways.

Creation 2-4 from ten dollar challenge! I had 2 meters of stripe jersey fabric, and I managed to squeeze in three things. I'm trying my best not to make a waste of fabric. I overbought fabrics when I was in Philly, and I had to give them all away and throw away some scraps when I moved.

This one is a bubble sleeve tunic, and although it's not showing in the picture, it comes with a pinned on bow. I haven't posted this on etsy yet, but I will, sometime this week..


Stripe scarf - I love making scarf with left over fabrics. It requires a very small piece of fabric, and I think scarves are great way to add some accent to simple outfit! Also it keeps your neck warm when you put your hair in bun:)
And again, back bow. I'm obsessed with back details! I guess I'm less embarrased to show my back than my front for some reasons. I used basic T-shirt pattern I drafted before, and changed it up a bit. Listed
if you are interested!

♡Have a great rest of the weekend♡

Pictures of you and VV clothes

Samantha Nandez and JMG Jewlry Design in Vivat Veritas clothes!

I had all my weekend plans canceled this weekend.. On Friday, my friend got sick and couldn't do dinner, and today, Andy and I were supposed to go skiing, but he got sick with fever. We planned the ski trip a month ahead of time, so I'm so sad!

Anyway, these girls kindly took a picture of themselves in the clothes I made, and I'm thrilled to see the clothes found a new home! I probably enjoy more seeing other people in the clothes I make than wearing them myself. So if you have some pictures of you in VV clothes, I would love to see them and post them on this blog:)

Peek at my sewing room

Here is some photos of my sewing room - it's still messy, and there is a lot of room for improvement, but it got so much better than before. I used to use my father's study as my sewing room, but I had to evacuate from there since that room was sooo cold. This time, I have my sewing machine, serger and iron in the same room, which makes the creation process so much smoother. On top of that, there is a bed in the room, so when I get tired of making stuff, I can take a nap!

Although it's not showing in the pictures, there are two chairs in the room - When I sew, my husband sits next to me to study Japanese. He reads some sentences he came up in Japanese and I check his work:)

Pale pink

This is my creation #1 from 10 dollar challenge! I think this is my very first time using "pale pink" color for clothes making. I love this color, and how girly the color makes you look. But I always felt it so hard to find perfect pale pink. So I was happy to find this fabric in Nippori the other day for such a good price.

If I were to wear this dress on a regular day, I would ware a tube top inside..so my back is not attracting attention 24/7. But the dress can be also worn by itself to clubbing or night out with girl friends I think.

Sorry about talking about weather and temperatures so much in this blog, but the weather was just crazy today. Today started off with a blizzard in the morning, then got cloudy, and by the end of the day it was sunny! Three weathers in one day. The weather man needs make up his mind, I think.

Random inspirations of February

From Top left, Dresses from 2010 fall/winter collection, this and this (sorry I forgot which label these were from), Fabric weaving for dress (not Jessica Alba, but the dress next to Jessica is wearing), Channel Clogs, vintage 70s water color kimono sleeve dress, Blue T-shirt dress.

I'm spending more and more time inside, sipping coffee and eating excessive amount of banana bread my mom baked...I just can't wait to warm up!

Right now, I'm really into watercolor paint-ish floral fabrics, like the one above. I found this great maxi dress from Zara, in really nice mixture of purple and blue, like a water color paint. I could not decide on it since it was like $70, and when I decided to buy it, it was gone! This kind of things happen to me all the time.

three day weekend

My three day weekend was filled with baking, a small gift exchange with my husband (with $20 limit! It's really fun, and forces you to be creative:), lots of chocolates, dinner at Bangkok Kitchen, jogging and yoga, sewing (more stuff coming at the shop!) and a cup of coffee and crocheting at a small coffee shop with fire place. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The sweet & nostalgic photography above are from UK Photographer, Lola's Room Photography. I love her girly and dreamy photos - perfect for Valentine's day! The prices are really reasonable as well, ranging from $15 to $25. I can't wait to get a place of my own so I can decorate it with her photos!

ten dollar challenge

Last weekend, I went to a fabric raw in Nippori. It was really windy and super cold. I got off at the wrong station, and ended up walking to the fabric raw for about 30 mins instead of taking subway or cab, bad idea! On top of that, I realized I only had 1000yen (10 bucks) in my wallet once I got there. It was too cold out side to walk to a bank, and the fabric stores there don't accept credit card.

So, I decided to challenge myself and buy as much fabric as I can with my 1000 yen. In retrospect, it wasn't a bad idea, because I always end up buying too much, or spending too much money. When I left Philly I had two big plastic bags full of unused fabrics that I had to give away.

I bought fabrics above with 10 bucks: from top left, clockwise:
1. green polyester fabric - it's such a fun fabric! The pattern on it has a bird and small cat all over the place. 2 meter = 200 yen
2. pale pink jersey fabric, 2 meter = 200 yen
3. gray and black stripes jersey, 2 meter = 200 yen
4. ethnic print polyester fabric, 2 meter = 200 yen
5. white lining fabric, 2 meter = 200 yen

--------------------------------------------------
Total= 1000 yen (about 10 dollars)

I'm going to come up with 5 different outfit with these fabric and post it here! I'll see what I can do with 10 bucks;)

Sailor Collection II

I'm so going against the weather! After these creations, I still had this helm fabric left. I just added this dress to my shop. This time I experimented with pattern mix, polka dot + helm print.

Ask my anything!

I'm giving this formspring.me thing a shot! Ask me anything♡♡♡

♡Pastel Green Peter Pan Collar Dress♡

Cut out details

I have been drawn to elaborate cut out details lately, like Wang's shoulder cut out dress from Spring 2010 RTW, and some vintage dresses from 70's, like this one, or this one. Those back cut out details are so interesting, I can't help staring at the photos. Also, I think Luella's heart cut out dress is just adorable.

So here is my version of cut out dress:)

I used Danielle pattern from BurdaStyle as a base. Danielle pattern has been one of my favorite patterns from BurdaStyle just because it is so versatile and you can arrange it in so many different ways. Their smallest size is 34, but I think it gets too loose around bust area (or maybe it's just me since I have no boobs), unless you wear the dress as a jumper. So I took the top front panel, and adjusted to fit better. For the back part, I traced the Danielle top back pattern twice, and cut it in shapes you see in the pictures below. There are two back panels: top and bottom. The top part has a button closure and the bottom is connected to the waist band, and has a zipper closure.

I'm thoroughly happy with the result, and excited to make more variations of it.
And what's great about this dress is that with a cardigan or jacket on, you can wear it to work etc, without looking too revealing. :)

♥♥Cut out garden party dress♥♥

Favorite Links

♥Fashion♥

• Be In Style
  
• Bohemian Musings
• Budget Fashionista
• By The Girl
• Cupcakes and Cashmere
• Denimology
  
• Elinkan
• Fashion Chalet
• Fashion Fillers
• Fashiontoast
• Glamourai
• Jak & Jil
• Kansas Couture
• Karla's Closet
• KENZA
• Kiko's Blog
• Le Blog de Betty
• Lulu
• MouseVoxVintage
• Oh Leoluca Vintage
• Sadie's Wardrobe
• Sally Jane Vintage
• Stockholm Street Style
• Strawberrykoi
• The Cherry Blossom Girl
• The Clothes Horse
• The Sartorialist
• The Stylish Wanderer
• ultramarine Vintage
• Vain and Vapid
• we wear things
• What I Wore
• what's your tale, nightingale?
• WhoWhatWear
• WishWishWish
• Wardrobe_remix
• Weardrobe

♥Sewing & Craft♥

• a common thread blog
  
• bespoke
• Casey's elegant musings
• Chelsea
• Crochetie
  
• Cutting Edge Stitches & Seams
• Grosgrain
  
• Little Sweet Hearts
• Not Enough Time for Everything
• The Cupcake Goddess
  
• very purple person
• ooobop!
  
• Sew Retro
• snaok
• Vintage Sewing
• Wardrobe Refashion

♥Photography♥

• Samantha Nandez
• Greg Lytle Photography

♥Pregnancy♥

• Adored Austin
• Bleubird Vintage Blog
  
• Dear Baby
• HANAMIK
  
• Mairuru
  
• Pacing The Panic Room
• Sometimes Sweet
  

♥Shops♥

• Adore Vintage
• CUT + PASTE
• Go Jane
• I Dont Like Mondays
• Lookbook.nu
• Market Publique
• Net A Porter
• NOW Discount Womens Gladiator Shoes
• Paint Or Thread
• Supermarket Sarah
• The Supermelon
• Tokyo Made

If you'd like to exchange links, please contact me at chieduncan@gmail.com.

Gift for myself

Wearing: Vintage 70s dress, thrifted cardigan, payless booties,
coat I got 5 years ago in Japan, and Bally bag.

Last week, I went out to Ginza (it's like 5th Ave. in NY) with my high school friend. I knew what I wanted to get, and was glad to have found it on 50% off sale! I bought this Bally bag as a gift for myself...what's the occasion? Well, Christmas bonus from my job, plus, having 100th sale for my etsy shop. I usually feel terribly bad for spending a big money on clothes, and I rarely do it, but for some reasons, I can justify spending money on bags. How crazy is that..

By the way, I was in right timing for the Rebecca Minkoff project at TweetMyBag. By posting a picture of your favorite bag at TweetMyBag, you get 25% Rebecca Minkoff bags and enter a style giveaway from Rebecca, and of course I entered it:) Liebemarlene Vintage and KeikoLynn made lovely posts about their bags in their blogs as well.

I was in terrible mood this morning, so I threw on my favorite dress. I knew it would help my mood and it did. I auctioned this off at Market Publique for 20 bucks! And the color, pattern, fit... just about everything is perfect with this dress. I'm ashamed to say that that was my very first time to purchase clothes online. The whole time I'm selling clothes online, I had not bought clothes online until a couple of months ago. But after that experience, I realized shopping clothes online gets pretty addictive..sometimes you can just lost in worldwide web, browsing through all the pretty things that you could buy.

Stitch n Bitch in Shibuya

This photo is terribly blurry since it was taken in a dim light, and I think I only made it worse by turning the picture into black and white setting... Oh well. I like this picture because we look like we are having a lot of tun, and Kayo and I did in fact, at Tokyo Stitch & Bitch meet up in Shibuya, Respekt cafe on Tuesday night.

Stitch & Bitch is a crochet and knitting meet up group that meets every week. You can bring your own project, have some drink and dinner, and chat with other girls. I've signed up for it a while ago but did not have a courage to go by myself, but this time I followed Kayo.

It was really fun, and I think this is a great way to meet other crafters if you live in Tokyo area! I was quite impressed by everyone's knitting & crocheting skills too.

Respekt cafe, where they meet, is a bit far from Shibuya station, but really nice and cozy inside. Also the food was great - I ordered some Thai rice, and it was delicious:)

Valentine's Day - Free shipping!

I'm offering a free domestic and international shipping for all the orders received between now to February 14th (Japan time).
To receive the discount, please enter the code "Valentine VV" to "message to the seller" box when checking out, or if you want the invoice adjustment before hand, just send me a message!
The link to my shop is here♥

Any special plans for the Valentine's day? In Japan, Valentine's day is a bit different from the one in the States. Valentine's day here is a girl's love confession day. If you have a boyfriend or husband, then girls give chocolate and gift to their guys. For those guys who does not receive chocolate from the ones they love, we even have a thing called "Giri Choco", which means "obligation chocolate". Obligation chocolates literally means chocolates given to male co-workers or friends out of obligation.
Anyways, my husband and I agreed on doing the Valentine's day in American way. So I get some gift! :p

Blouse, blouse, blouse.

I can't believe it's already February! Time really flies. Last night, it snowed in Kanto area (Tokyo area) for the first time this winter. It's pretty rare. I hope this will be it! I really don't like snow. Perhaps this hatred toward snow came from the times I had to deal with too many snow related problems in Philly. Once our car door decided not to close, because the door got frozen, and while Andy was driving, I had to hold the door the whole time! It was ridiculous.

Over last week, I made a couple of blouses. I took a break from making dresses, and decided to use some fabric left overs, that are not big enough for dress, but enough for a top.

☆Peter Pan Collar Blouse☆
Inspiration is from Alexa Chung, she was wearing a white peter pan collar T with jeans, flats and Mulberry bag! I only had green fabric, so it's not quite the same..:p

☆Cross over blouse☆
I love this fabric! It's amazingly soft. I had this left from Tokyo Made Market.

☆Floral blouse☆
Pattern is same as above, (you can tell that I'm into cross over detail!) but for this, I made the sleeves rolled up. I used fabric covered buttons and a sash I made from the same fabric to roll up the sleeves. Fabric is from Thailand.