Two Breaths of Autumn

Here's some old ones from back in my undergrad days. I purchased a yard or so of some pretty black cloth with oak leaves on it, and I had a good idea as to what to do with it. Princess seams would be involved, as well as copious amounts of ruffles. Alas, this was my first time with princess seams and I didn't do any mockups. The resulting dresses were too wide, and I had to take in quite a few seams.

I had a lot more success with the ruffles. They're time consuming, but an inexpensive way to make an outfit fluffy. I had a bit of material left over from the ruffles that I didn't know what to do with, so I put tucks on each side, stitched a ribbon to it and made a headdress.

Yu Lian is modeling the simpler dress with a box ruffle around the hem.

Yu Wei's outfit is mildly risque as the front only buttons to the waist and is open past that. It never shows up in picture or in person so it doesn't bother me. All her ruffles are gathered in the back, on a straight panel of material with the back princess seams only on the bodice portion. 

Rufflebutt!

The buttonholes defeated me quite well. I tried doing them on the machine, but something went rather wrong, and the stitches came loose as I pulled the buttons in and out.  Now the fronts of these dresses are pretty fragile, and the clothes are in retirement until I can think of a way to restore them.