Eclectic Natural Printed dress 個人獨特裙子

 

It's a sunny summer day. 

Go natural, be myself.......

in a stable, greeting by the horse in a beautiful day...........

 

Not in a fashion trend but eclectic is my way. The day in a natural wrap with my own eco printed/ dyed "experiments". Having a good day in the north of the territories........

I've done lots of natural experiments with fabrics in many ways. To make use of my various scraps, I designed a simple loose dress just with a few panels, the front & back of botanical imprinted silk, two sides with turmeric dyed chiffon. Cut both down sides of the chiffon to sew the scraps of botanical imprinted silk. 

While I was thinking the next step, Mogi grabbed it for a nap......

   It's done, shoulders with folds, waist with strips. 

This is eclectic dress, either can be front or back but with different styles.

 

Tie the waist side strips to make ruffles movement.

 

With the loop and the twisted knot, wrap around to have folds in the front.

Such easy and simple to make a free size loose dress, I made without measurement. I'm no good in measurement or calculation but only done in instrict. Since I was a teenage my father bought me a Singer sewing machine which costed him a month's salary. He loved all of us. Today I have my hands to print, to make my own dress all credited to my beloved father.  He's in the Heaven I hope he knows I'm happy with the talent he gifted me. 

隨心隨意做的一件衣裳，沒有刻意去量度，祗是直覺的剪裁，因為這是自己穿著，沒有外來壓力，很輕鬆的完成，感謝父親在我年少時送給我一台勝家衣車，練就我對車縫的興趣。

Thinking of him on Father's Day today.

Leaves print means lots 又是植物語

If a slip dress like this sold in a shop is nothing special or even customers may find the prints not impressive.. But.... to me, it means so much. 

若果這一件裙子掛在店內, 毫不顯眼, 祗是普通甚或陳舊 look. 於我而言, 這裙子是我的代理作, 因為葉子是在葡萄牙農莊採摘及實驗示範的絲質料, 我把四片裁縫成一件裙子. 配上 nuno felt 小背心, 一套輕柔夏日裝 .

 Mogi, "oh yeah, it's mum's signature dress". 

The dress is made with four pieces of these leaves prints I done in Portugal recently.  I know each piece of leaf where I got and how I printed.

The leaves of euc,  rose,  oak,  chestnut......

The different euc leaves from a friend's house and the tie lines made with nylon strings....  All these made the dress prints.

The dress does mean something for me - a keepsake of the holiday.

The dress is what I say subtle and natural.

I made the nuno felt vest to make it a set. 

How it go with my girl?

A casual wear on the beach

This means a lot to me - a dress of holiday. 

Bugs triggered me 技癢難耐

This nuno felt dress I made right after my workshop with Vilte Kazlauskaite last year.  I was quite pleased with this light and elegant first experiment .  My girl demonstrated it well, right?

去年在Vilte Kazlauskaite 的工作坊學習回來後, 馬上做了這件nuno felt雪紡裙子.

 I endeavour to have a change of this white dress which may be a risk to spoil it.  Fingers crossed but to move up, error and trial is the process of learning new skills.  I told myselt if this one turned out to be nasty, I can make another new one. 

雖然白色很清雅飄逸, 也想為裙子來一次顏色改變, 有可能會弄巧反拙. 可會嗎? 嘗試才有進步, 如何開始?  

Days before Hong Kong was devastated by the strong typhoon and many trees fell down.  On my way to the office my coach passed by the train station, I noted there were eucalyptus trees fell down.  It's a pity to see the scene. 

日前颱風襲港, 夜半十號風球高懸, 樹木東歪西倒, 在我上班途中經過中大火車站一帶的桉樹也連根拔起, 有點不忍.  那一刻使我馬上決定下班後去檢拾新鮮的樹葉做我的植物環保印染.

Such big trees took some years to grow but destroyed in a night. Sigh. A thought  hit me, why not pick some leaves for eco print. 

Immediately after work I went to the train station and got a bag full of two different kinds of fresh eucalyptus leaves.  In Hong Kong we're not allowed to pluck the euc. leaves.  Indeed they're too tall to reach by hand.  All those I picked on the road are "treasures" for me. 

如獲至寶滿滿的一袋兩品種的桉樹葉, 回到家裡立即把那純白 nuno felt 裙子進行實驗. 結果如何?  且看 .........

So, started the nuno felt dress for my experiment with the euc. leaves. Intended to have the  two different leaves types on the top and lower part.  Soaked the whole dress in diluted vinegar water.  Wrapped it and boiled for 45-min.

After 24 hours in a thermo pot, time to unbundle. Anxious to see how it will be......

The top is bold and bright with string marks.

But the lower part with this sort of leaves is not that obvious.

This is steps of making

Indeed I turned over the dress, the leaves were put inside (sandwich) so prints on both front and back. I rolled it up and tied it, boiled for 45-min and stayed in the thermo pot overnight. Unbundled it after 24 hours.

The front look

Back look with strings at the top.

Before and after.

Close up

Close look - nuno felt flowers, sheen of white mulberry silk.

Full look.

Before and after.  Daughter and Mother.

This is fine but my expectation is with deep brown or deep purple prints of leaves. May be if I bundled it with an iron rod or with iron in the pot, I can get it.  Anyway, worth for a trial,  I still have some leaves to test.

Could anyone tell me how do you think this outcome.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Eco print rose leaves 玫瑰葉印染

This is the third piece of eco print top I made during Easter holiday.

Books by India Flint

Since I received my books "Second Skin" and "Eco Colour", I've never stopped trying. I got more info from the books.This time I done with silk. I soaked the silk fabric in sea water overnight. Then put some rose leaves, rose petals, euc leaves, kind of orchids and a few leaves of
chrysanthemum and it's flowers. Steamed for 40 min and stayed in pot for 2 days.

Result with euc leaves and rose leaves are green and bold but others are not. Wondering if rose leaves are good on sea-water-soaked silk?

Anyway I still pleased with the rose leaves and used the nuno felt skill to make the neckline for the one piece top. Then machine sewed both waist lines.

Here's the look. Green is subtle.

Euc leaves (red ones) are not that bright as on chiffon. Wondering if it's because I used the leaves stored in fridge for 3 weeks?

This is back side.

The top looks a bit small. I may transform it into a girl's dress.

Now that Easter holiday just over. Routines back to track tomorrow. April has least working days. Wow, I'm still in holiday mood !