Happy weekend Hive dear fellow creators on Hive, hope your weekend is already going as planned, well, mine just got busier. If I had the power to make my weekend restful and less busy, I sure will be doing that now. Still, no, I've got people around me who have happy celebrations this weekend. As expected, they all want new dresses for either a wedding, birthday, or graduation ceremony, and as usual, I will always be available to render the dress-making service.
In today's post, I will be sharing with you the traditional ankara and aso-oke combined Kimono jacket I made yesterday for a favourite aunt, today happens to be the wedding ceremony of one of her long time student, I can imagine her joy watching a little girl she once taught as a child grow into a beautiful and responsible woman, and today walking down the aisle. She was given the honour of moderating the occasion, so she asked that I make her something comfortable, yet stylish with an infusion of tradition, and of course, this outfit fits perfectly, Ankara combined with Aso-oke, a yoruba traditional fabric which will be well represented in the occasion today.
Another amazing thing about this jacket is that it can also be styled in different ways, imagine taking the second pair of trousers off, then having the kimono jacket shrugged over an armless dress, stylish! I know, right, so without further ado, let's get right into the making process. Trust me, it is easy to make.
Materials used
2 yards of ankara fabric
A pack of Aso-oke, though I didn't use it all up
Cutting And Sewing Process
- I started by folding the 2 yards of fabric first by the center, so a yard can serve as the jacket length, then I fold it again into four, by the sides, now I won't be cutting out the shoulder area; rather, it will be on fold, the reason it was folded this way. I first cut out the back round neckline, before separating and cutting the front side open.
- I folded the aso-oke fabric and sewed it around the center front, from one end to the other end.
- Next, using the aso-oke fabric, I extended the sleeve length on both sides down to the hem as well. Note that I top-stitched it on the ankara, rather than fold and sew.
- I went further to extend the length of the dress using the same aso-oke fabric.
And finally, I sewed downpocketsends of the aso-oke sides down, creating about 10 inches of space for the sleeves, before sewing. I also sewed two pocket to both sides of the front jacket.
And that completes the making process of the beautiful traditional jacket.
All images used in this post are mine