Making a kimono inspired dress

Hi needle workers, today I would love to show you how I made this mini buba dress for a friend.

This style is very common in my area and it can be worn as casual or even to an event that's how versatile it is. She wanted something simple yet elegant and I knew this style would look good on her.
This dress design is inspired by the kimono design. The neckline and sleeves are cut as a kimono.

As we all know, the kimono originated in Japan. Kimonos are of different types and are formal and difficult to wear but in Nigeria here we added our traditional bubu design to create this amazing design that is casual and easy to wear and style. This design can be either long or short.

Making this dress was quite easy except for the neckline design which was quite tricky. Since most kimonos are in jacket form while this is in dress form, sewing the neckband was a little complicated.
It took me about 3hours of hard work to make this amazing dress.

The fabric used is Ankara which is pretty common where I live. Ankara fabric has a short length. It is by 45” in length unlike most of the regular fabric lengths which are by 60”
I lined the fabric to give it a more structured look and feel.

Material used:

• 2 yards of Ankara fabric
• 2 yards of lining
• 0.5 yards of black crepe
• Thread
• Rhinestone cord trimmings
• 0.5 yards of fridges
• Stay interface for the neck pattern

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PROCESS

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I folded the fabric and chalked out the pattern for the front and back pieces

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I then cut their respective linings and made is 3.5 inches shorter

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I went ahead to join the shoulders of the Ankara and joined the shoulders of the lining as well

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I cut a 2 inches band for the neck and the sleeves

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Then I sewed it to the neck and sleeves

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I then cut a pentagon shape from the plain fabric and ironed the stay interface to it. I folded it 0.5 inches round and ironed it for easy sewing

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I sew fringes at the bottom of the shape

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I joined the lining to the Ankara

Then I pined the pentagon-shaped pattern to the front and sew

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I sewed the sides together and attached pockets to both sides

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I hand-sewed the rhinestone cord trimmings to the bottom of the pentagon shape to add extra bling

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I ironed and welcomed this beautiful mini bubu dress ready to be worn

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Here is the final result and it looks so good
Hope you like it. I will be happy to know your opinion in the comment section

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Thank you for visiting my blog✨❤️

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All images are mine, thumbnail made with canva