i said in one of my earlier posts that one of the things i liked to do was to alter clothing i already had to extend their use. so, my husband really wanted to wear "anko" to our friends wedding early in august. that's a term for couples wearing the same outfit/fabric. it is derived from "and Co." in business. we have lots of funny borrowed and modified english words in my language. anyhoo, i searched through my stash of traditional wear and came across some old iro and buba my mom-in-law passed on to us. it is basically a boxed shaped shirt with raglan sleeves worn with a single piece of cloth used as a wrapper (skirt). i figured if i messed it up it won't be that bad! it started out as a long version of v8229 without sleeves and with the flounce at the bottom. i was hung up on making the grey lace detail into the neckline. i didn't think to sew v-seams into it to make it curve but i have a feeling i may not have liked the fact that the lace was not continuous all around. anyhoo, the only thing that remained was the basic silhouette of the gown. i changed the neckline and made the lace into straps. (all freehand cutting by the way). i made the lining exactly the same way and included darts in both to give me a better fit. then i joined the fabric and lining right sides together along the top then turned it inside out and pressed it down. i inserted an invisible zipper at the back. interesting to do since the dress had stones and appliques! i found some moleskin fabric at joanns and displayed the reverse side as the belt. i really liked the end product. it took me longer to do than if i stuck to the pattern. i guess it's time to buy a dressform. i've been looking and i'll have a post on that in a bit.