Yao all come back now!

How many of you would love a holiday where all you do is sew and catch up on DIY projects? Sounds like my idea of heaven – as long as there were a cat or two around and maybe a tropical beach to relax on and dream up new DIYs! Although I didn’t have those, I did recently spend a few uninterrupted days sewing on an overseas trip, namely in Laos.
I did show you this dress as I was making it (out of a pair of vintage Yao pants, no less!) but here’s how it looks when I’m actually wearing it. What you can’t see from this photo is how much the dress twists around – the body material is cut on the bias, which, since wearing it, I have realised was not a great idea, at least not in heavy cotton like this with no centre seam! (Sorry, just threw a bit of a nerdy sewing rant in there to make it look like I know what I’m talking about!)

I’ve paired it with some gold cowboy boots which got me recognised by a fellow blogger who I hadn’t even met in person… well, I suppose they are pretty eye-catching!
Speaking of eye-catching, here’s a close-up of the embroidery on the sleeves of the dress (formerly the legs of the pants!) for all you craft-crazy textile lovers out there. 

The pants were sold as a set with this matching robe. It doesn’t seem to matter how old it gets, indigo-dyed fabric retains its (not unpleasant) smell, which is probably why Kelly was so interested in what I was wearing.

Normally the Yao wear a robe like this over baggy embroidered pants* (just like the ones I turned into the dress!) with the fronts somehow wound around the waist and a scarf tied around the waist to secure it. They certainly wouldn’t go around showing as much leg as I am here, but my excuse is that I’m trying to show you what it looks like from all angles! (And I am wearing shorts, it’s not like I’m flashing my undies or anything!) 

See? Here’s the back.

Again, I know what you crazy textile fans are like, you want to see close-ups, don’t you? Here you go, then… this is the front, with embroidery AND pom poms* around the collar…

This is the back of the collar. Embroidery, pom poms AND TASSELS!! (Yes, any attempt at resistance was useless!)

*If you want to see what an outfit like this would look like in its natural environment, you can check out a very old post that I did, but please excuse the weird formatting – my recent layout makeover means that all the content in my older posts has jumped around and they look even worse than before! But at least you’ll get to see some HUGE pom poms – looking at those and comparing them with the ones on my robe, I’m beginning to feel ripped off!

Category : embroidery, ethnic dress, ethnic groups, Laos, Yao