There's a thing in Nigeria called 'Asoebi' which translates to 'family cloth'. It's simply the code of dressing to parties and occasions where everyone usually wears the same fabric. I was part of an asoebi group for a wedding recently and I made my dress.
The idea of the asoebi is to get a uniform look which makes the party look more glamorous I guess. The party celebrant is usually the one to sell the fabric, a tradition that gets them crazy profit on sales. I got three yards of this particular fabric double the price I'd get it in the market. It's the Asoebi tradition and not really expensive so I don't mind.
I chose to make a simple off-the-shoulder style dress but with some detail on the sleeve and the side of the dress.
The Making
I cut out the front and back pieces of the dress with my regular dress pattern, cutting off 5 inches length off from the shoulder down to make it off shoulder style. (I hope that makes sense?)
I did same thing for the sleeves, cutting off 3 inches length from the top of the basic sleeve
I cut two long pieces of fabric, 10 inches wide to attach to create a balloon for each of the sleeve
On each piece, I made kissing pleats and then attached to the first part of the sleeves
And for my side detail, I cut out another long piece of fabric, folded into two and ironed on estay (I don't know what you call it but it's that white cotton material ironed on the insides of clothes to make them sturdy). I then pleated the piece, held on with pins and sewed on it to hold the pleats in place
At this point, everything major was done, I just had to sew all the pieces together. I joined the front and back pieces, the sleeves and the pleat detail to the left side of the dress from the waist down
The Final Look
...And that's how I made and rocked my Nigerian wedding asoebi.
Thanks for reading!
Well done, this calls for a !BEER
Thank you 😁
So beautiful you should consider opening your own fashion line 😃
Thanks Mac. I've considered it so many times but I keep discouraging myself. Few hours ago I was like, to hell with my fear, I'm doing this. Working on pieces for sale this week
Go for it baby
Oh yeah
You could offer pdf patterns on etsy, too. Many people sew, but lack the nerve to create original designs. They would buy your designs.
Thats a great idea. I could try that.
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Wow..this is amazing
I love the dress.
You know some tailors just bear the name and can't even see a simple style and it's always annoying.
But what I'm seeing here is dope gurl... more grace
Thanks babe
What a nice fabric and the design. Nice work!
Thank you!
A great dress! I love the sleeves and the "ruffles" at the side :) It looks like you had fun!
And it's an interesting tradition - and if you look at the costs of a wedding celebration or that of a big birthday, it's only OK that you get the cloth at a prize that's a bit higher if you look at all the work and costs you have with organizing it.
Have a !BEER
Oh that's the word, 'ruffles'! 😁
Parties are really expensive here not sure the extra cash from the cloth sales even makes up half of what was spent
Oh my god! The dress is amazing and you look so beautiful in it. I find it very special as it plays with contradictions: on the one hand it is gute hugging and on the other it has ruffles and playful details. On the one hand it is modest with long sleeves and knee length, but on the other hand it looks sexy with the off-the-shoulder design. YOu are so skilled in sewing. Wow.
And it was interesting to read about the asoebi tradition. I never new that there is such. Thank you for this wonderful post.
Thank you so much for this lovely comment. I'm happy you like my dress.
This is really really nice... I learnt this trade for 3 good years..heheh cant wait to get on a machine and sow
Wow...three years. You must be good now.
Please try to sew in your spare time, I hear it's good business over there
Yeah it is quite lucrative.....Will get on it
Incredible, my dear. How interesting the concept of asoebi, I had never heard of it. Thanks for sharing it and for show us your awesome dress. ❤️
Thanks Laura
Te ves muy hermosa con ese vestido, te quedó espectacular.
muchas gracias
Beautiful use of pleats in your design. And lovely colorful fabric!
Thank you!
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