Tsukuda Elegance Dress
Cabbage Patch Kids that were made in Japan exclusively for the Japanese market had very unique outfits. One of my favorites is the Elegance Line dresses. Here is a picture of some original Tsukuda Elegance Dresses.
I wanted to make my own because they are so rare, I haven’t been able to find any like this. Just by going off of this photo, I made my own:
I used the Pattern Butterick 6509
and changed it a bit. I drafted my own collar for it, made the bodice a little longer (about 1/2"), and used a 22.5”x 8” piece for the skirt. I used 3/8” ribbon. I sewed a zipper in the back.
Here are some pictures of my progress:
Sleeve
Casing for the sleeve
Elastic in the sleeve
Sleeve
Sewing the sleeve onto the bodice
Basting the lace on the colar
Both collar pieces right sides together
I used a strip of the same fabric to make bias tape to go around the collar after I basted the collar to the bodice.
Skirt
Dress so far
Back Edge of Dress. I folded over both sides of the dress 1/2”, pressed, then basted the sides right sides together, then basted the zipper on. The zipper was tricky because the dress is so small. I had the dress right side out and basted the zipper from the inside of the dress. I wish I’d taken a picture of it while I did it. Then I flipped the dress inside out and sewed the zipper as it was unzipped.
What would have made this dress easier would be if I had put the ribbon on before sewing it together, and it would be better if I had put the zipper on before finishing the collar. That way I put the bias tape around the zipper top.
I wanted to make my own because they are so rare, I haven’t been able to find any like this. Just by going off of this photo, I made my own:
I used the Pattern Butterick 6509
and changed it a bit. I drafted my own collar for it, made the bodice a little longer (about 1/2"), and used a 22.5”x 8” piece for the skirt. I used 3/8” ribbon. I sewed a zipper in the back.Here are some pictures of my progress:
Sleeve
Casing for the sleeve
Elastic in the sleeve
Sleeve
Sewing the sleeve onto the bodice
Basting the lace on the colar
Both collar pieces right sides together
I used a strip of the same fabric to make bias tape to go around the collar after I basted the collar to the bodice.
Skirt
Dress so far
Back Edge of Dress. I folded over both sides of the dress 1/2”, pressed, then basted the sides right sides together, then basted the zipper on. The zipper was tricky because the dress is so small. I had the dress right side out and basted the zipper from the inside of the dress. I wish I’d taken a picture of it while I did it. Then I flipped the dress inside out and sewed the zipper as it was unzipped.
What would have made this dress easier would be if I had put the ribbon on before sewing it together, and it would be better if I had put the zipper on before finishing the collar. That way I put the bias tape around the zipper top.