Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #9

cut the ribbon loops, 8 wide for each circle/oval

Observing the illustration, I counted an average of 8 loops on each medallion, and eyed each length by experimenting with the circles/ovals. I cut them from the wider ribbon for the big and medium circles, and from the narrower ribbon for the small circle and the ovals. Also marked where the red lines will be embroidered with chain stitch, like the tasseled ribbons.

+ A simple task, that I prefer to calculate freestyle.
- there's a lot to embroider, before starting to glue them to the medallions.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Embroider the red lines.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #8

finished golden medallion pieces

I first cut the EVA foam "spaghettis" to match each circle/oval perimeter, and then wrapped each in a golden fabric strip, leaving about 1,5 extra in one end. Then I glued the golden piping's allowance to the back of the medallions with contact glue, and, before glueing the ends, wrapped the 1,5cm extra fabric on top of the other end, making a ring, and finished it by glueing the ends to the back.

+ I'm happy with the end result, and that I could make these from leftovers in my stash.
- The glueing part is still messy, but I managed to not spoil it.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Finish the ribbons and cut the ribbon loops.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #7

glued the drakalon to the EVA foam
and cut the gold fabric circles

 

covered the circles and ovals with the gold fabric

Glued the drakalon to the EVA foam, cut circles and ovals, bigger than the EVA ones in golden stretch fabric (from my stash), and covered the circles and ovals with it, glueing with contact glue the allowance on the EVA back side. I also cut EVA foam strips, that I folded and glued in half, lengthwise, and cut wider strips in the golden fabric.

+ I love being able to use stuff from my staff, especially when it looks so lush, like this golden stretch fabric.
- this fabric is a bit of a pain to glue with solvent based glues, but I managed not to mess it up too much.

THE CUNNING PLAN
cover the strips and attach them to the circles and ovals, making a trim.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #6

with a compass, traced different sized
circles and 4 ovals

Using some leftover EVA foam, I traced 3 circles and 4 ovals to make the medallions, and cut them with a scissor. The big circle is for the hat, the 2 medium for the choker and garter. The 4 ovals are for the shoes. I'm making doubles, because I may make some flat shoe covers too.

+ love reusing leftover materials, hadn't used a compass in AGES!
- I made a first try in leftover PVC (sintra), but it didn't work.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Glue some polyfill on top of each circle/oval, then line them with gold vinyl stretch fabric.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #5

made the tassel and added it to the (short) ribbon

Using the tassel yarn, or whatever it's called - it's shiny silky yarn, like the one in Chinese talismans, I made one tassel, loosely following a tutorial by, the Kawaii International NHK show presenter, Rin Rin Doll. Threaded one longer thread through the ribbon's point, passed it through the bead and tied it tightly to the middle of the unfolded tassel threads. The first ribbon is done, three to go, one short, two long ones.

+ I really like the effect, starting to look a lot like the artwork.
- I may need more tassel yarn, make them thicker.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Buy more tassel yarn, keep making the other three ribbons, and remake all the tassels thicker.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #4

glued the metal flower pieces to the big holes in the beads

From the beginning, I wasn't very happy with the hole width in the (now) turquoise beads, so I had to find a solution. Although this kind of brass dividers aren't visible in the artwork, I was lucky enough to find some that weren't too big, and the flower shape looks quaintly Asian. So I glued them with E6000 (I wanted to make sure I had a strong grip - it's hard to glue metal to something else) to each bead hole end. I love the result, I think it enhances the whole thing.

+ the metal ends enhance the pieces and add texture, making them less cartoony.
- I had little room to glue the brass pieces, the bead holes are indeed very big.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Make the tassel and finish this ribbon.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #3

cut the wider grosgrain ribbon and marked the points

folded the ribbon in half and sewed the marked point

trimmed the excess and added a drop of fray check to the point

folded the ribbon over, with tiny running stitches joined the sides
and embroidered the red line with a chain stitch

Yeah, I couldn't resist and bought the ribbon. I decided to go for orange grosgrain ribbon, in two widths: 4cm and 2,4cm. I opted for grosgrain because I like the sheen, and it doesn't look cheap. And I also bought red tassel yarn. I roughly measured the ribbon sizes, comparing to the artwork and cut the wider ribbon in 2 27cm long pieces, plus 2 47cm long pieces, which will be folded in half. At one of the ends of each ribbon, I marked the points at a 45º angle. Folded the ribbons in half and cerefully sewed both points. I trimmed the excess, at about 4mm sewing allowance, trimmed the point close to the stitches and put a drop of fray check on each point. I turned the 4 ribbons over, ironed the points neatly, and, with tiny running stitches, sewed both halves together. The result is a sturdier and neater ribbon, with the right shape. With the ribbons ready, I marked the red line about 1cm from the border - it could also be black, but red is one of the highlight colours in the artwork, in very small amounts, I thought red would look nice. Using dark red embroidery thread I already had, I neatly embroidered the lines with small chain stitches, that will later match the tambour embroidery on the dress.

+ I love the feel and look of the grosgrain, and I already had the embroidery thread.
- Getting orange grosgrain ribbon spools wasn't the easiest task, I had to go to more than one store to look for it.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Finish one ribbon first, complete with the bead and tassel, and then go for the other three.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Shawl #9

cardboard templates and leftover silver and black fabric paint

I pressed the purple fabric very well, to flatten the crunched effect to acceptable levels of texture. Observing the original artwork, I made thew butterfly template and three templates for the seigaiha pattern, this one has three stripes for each "wave". I'll be painting the seigaiha in silver first, dotting it with a dot tool, and then paint brush the butterflies in black on top.

+ I recycled the cardboard from cereal boxes, and the paint was leftover from other projects.
- it will take a looong time to paint the whole surface.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Do this at a slow pace and keep searching for a fabric for the outer skirt.

[written in 28.11.2020]

Yuuko Ichihara - Green Dress #2

I managed to perfectly match the turquoise on the beads

I had the wooden beads, I had the acrylic paint, might aswell paint them to match the fabric. And I did! Both with natural and artificial light, through the camera lense or my eyes.

my bead painting contraption

After I painted them with a normal brush, I made a contraption with bendy drinking straws, which I attached to my "painting booth" (it's a big cardboard box). I stuck two toothpicks on the bottom of the booth, joining two drinking straws on the long side, "threading" the beads onto the straws, and bending the bendy straw ends and sticking them on top of the toothpicks. Then I spray varnished the beads to seal the paint. Happy!

+ I matched the colour perfectly.
- the beads' hole is a bit on the big side.

THE CUNNING PLAN
Mmmm... Buy orange ribbon to go on making the accessories?

[written in 28.11.2020]