Remember the Qipao craze I had a few months ago after watching In the Mood for Love? Well, I really wanted to make a qipao afterwards. I had some scrape fabric left over from my 50s dress — I bought a whole 4 yards since it was only a dollar something per yard, and a qipao doesnt need much fabric — I thought it was perfect for it. I had made two qipao before, but the fit was pretty weird. Also, I did not want to deal with the traditional front closure anymore as it was hard to make sure that the two “lips” actually match and closes without gaping.
I decided to use a burda magazine pattern, 2009/04, dress 115. It is a simple sheath dress with a pretty decent fit, for petite!! I really liked the pattern before as it is a really interesting pattern, but I never had an excuse to make a dress like that. So I thought– this is perfect for my qipao!
I made the following alterations:
- the slits in the front/back is eliminated, instead, I left two slits on the sides, all the way up to my thigh.
- I changed the front shoulder seam a little so that it meets the collar in the center
- I added an asian style collar
- added piping at the shoulder seams
Not too many changes, right? I am loving the results:
I decided not to do my usual frog closure– the seams isnt exactly how it is in a real qipao so I didnt want to try too make everything else like a qipao. I also decided to put in the effort and make the inside look nicer than just sergered — they were binded with bias tape (zoom in to above picture and you can see it on the inside of the skirt), much cleaner!
If I were to make this again, I would probably do something different about the front shoulder seam — moving it around made the shoulder seen a little wide, so maybe I should have moved the entire seam together, instead of just the center part.
Even though I dont have much places to wear it to, I still love it a lot! I would definitely wear this much more than my old qipao pieces (which is never)!
JuebeJue 
It looks so cute, elegant, and well made. But you know what? It looks even better in person!!!
Love it. Looks great!
This looks great! What a pity I do not possess just this Burda magazine š¦
Love it too! Feels like the fabric’s just right for this dress. Also love the little touch you added by wearing the gloves =)
I love this. The fabric is perfect. I have a real qipao that a friend’s mother picked up in China, but it is too big so I need to alter it to fit. It is also embroidered red silk and a bit too flashy for every day wear.
Oh, now I want one like yours!
Beautiful, what a great dress and how pretty you look in it. Nice!
This is a beautiful take on that Burda pattern. I have 2 qipao, one the my mom bought in Hong Kong that is too oddly shaped to fit me at all and another that’s a hand me down from an aunt that is way too big for me. How I wish that they fit like yours does!
Very cool! š I love the fabric for this, but since you got it on sale, it’s doubtful that the rest of us could even find some. š¦
Super cute, you look like a movie star š
Very nice!! Great fit and print!
This is so weird. I was informed of your new post and even read it in my inbox but it’s not on your blog! Just letting you know if it’s a bug. Looking forward to pics of your new kitchen and your tree!!
hm! that is weird! did you try refreshing your browser? sometimes they dont realize that its been changed and just give you a cached version!
Refreshing was the first thing I did. Still hasn’t shown up. It is so weird…I noticed that the look of you blog just changed though.