chipao - drape
Draped the chipao a few weeks ago, made the paper pattern for the main pieces (haven't done the facings yet), and cut out a muslin (from the mallards in the marsh fabric - yay for $1 bolts). Now it's waiting for me to stop being lazy and start marking / sewing. I hate transferring dart marks -- it's so tedious and boring. I wonder if there's a quick way to just trace them from the pattern onto the fabric?
The draping went pretty easily once I figured out how to do the darts. Since my fabric is stripey, I was trying to avoid a bust dart that cut across the stripes - like so, but I just could NOT figure out how to get all the shaping into a fishtail dart over the waist. This pic from a Shanghai tailor shop makes stripes look ok w/ a side bust dart, so we'll see how it goes. (Why can't there be one here??)
kajino - capsule
I just saw the most perfect little animations while browsing around on YouTube (yeah yeah, I should be using Google video).
It's a small series of conceptual videos that follow a pink-haired girl through her adventures. The colors! So many, so brightly sherbety, and yet they look so good together. Love the style. Snazzy music and smooth animation are set to a quick pace.
Best of all, they have really really interesting ideas on the integration of technology into society. I like the small details the most, like the dresses that zip into little capsules for tucking into compacts.
Go watch! (they're only about 3 min each)
Portable Airport
Space Station No, 9
Sora Tobu Toshi Keikaku
(According to the YouTube details, they were created by Studio Kajino for Capsule, but I couldn't find out anything else. )
making a chipao
I think I'm going to make my own chipao for the wedding, since I can't find any being sold in a material and pattern I want. All I wanted was something geometric or simple in cotton, but the stores only sell shiny brocade stuff.
(from In the Mood for Love)
It's really hard to find resources on sewing techniques! I've managed to scrounge up instructions for:
Cording and Chinese knots/buttons
Bias binding (pdf) - the pretty edges on collar and hems
I also found a Japanese sewing book at Kinokuniya, "Elegant Chinese" that I will try to decipher.
I suspect the really useful stuff on the web is all in Chinese, but my reading abilities only stretch as far as comic books. Searching on "中国旗袍" (Chinese Chipao) turned up all these sites I couldn't understand. Huafunet.com seems like a treasure trove of historical and modern Asian costume info though.
Here are some cute little paper-doll games I found during the research:
Historical Chinese Dress
Traditional Chinese Dress
Japanese Dress