All knotted up

I first fell in love with Japanese born, London-based designer Miki Fukai via her simple, slightly utilitarian pieces.  I got lucky at a Designers UK sample sale and snapped UP two shirt dresses for £30 each.  However, I’ve since been obsessively poring over her website, admiring her play with knotted fabrics.  It’s the kind of embellishment that is eye-catching but not in a showy way.  These are pieces that makes you look twice.  Sadly, Miki Fukai is not widely stocked, not even in London and I’d be lucky to afford a piece anyway.  I suppose, I’ll have to wait and try my luck once again at the next random sample sale.  Perhaps the beautiful black satin knotted skirt will somehow find it’s way into my wardrobe for a lesser part of £50?  Yeah right Susie, let’s stop being delusional now. 

How wrong on a scale of one to ten would it be if I was feeling ‘inspired’ and made a DIY skirt in homage to Miki Fukai….. 

A/W06

A/W05 // S/S05

8 comments

  1. you wouldn’t be wrong at all…I always try to recreate items that i find attractive/can’t afford. If you do decide to go thru with it, please post!

  2. i say you should try it! i am so curious of what will come out of your creative brain (and hands!) 🙂
    hm..i was wondering..i have zero sweing skills as well, and sometimes i picture things in my mind and want to make them..but my inability of handling a sewing machine stops me..unfortunately.. how do you do it? for instance how did you sew that great diy dress, or the frilly thing on the primark jacket?

  3. I love that first black satin-looking skirt and the last jumper/vest piece. But good lord, I’d have no idea how to put it together!
    I think the latter might be easier to make, simply because satin can be a real pain to work with. Both look as if the skirt / jumper has been made as a base, then an additional layer of fabric strips has been sewn from the top and seams, been woven together, then sewn at the bottom.
    You could always experiment with the designs using some inexpensive jersey material, which could make a funky skirt / top. Then if it works, give it a go with a more luxe fabric?

  4. this would be a very fun project to try to diy. i would caution against doing it with a fabric that you like the first time also. you should definatly do it with a cheap jersey or even muslin first.

  6. I don’t think a DIY project creating something knotted would be that difficult. You’d just create a ‘framework’ – ie a basic shaped dress or top (with the seams not sewn together yet) then you’d add and pin in all the strips of material (for knotting) along the seams, knot them they way you wish so, tuck the ends of the strips back into the seams and sew the seams up. On the inside of the dress you be left with the excess material of strips, just chop them off and use an overedge stitch to finish. Easy!

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