Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Japanese Pattern Book - Cute Clothes for Good Girls

About 18 months ago, before even getting a decent sewing machine to replace my thread-tangler, I bought my first Japanese pattern book - I think the title means "Cute Clothes for Good Girls" (ISBN 457911194x / ISBN 978457911194). 

The plan was to get back into the swing of sewing - without spending a fortune - by making some small cute clothes for my small daughter. I'd had a bad experience with Vogue children's patterns (rather voluminous) and loads of websites were raving about these pattern books from Japan.

My then sewing machine was not really functioning, but here are a couple of the things I made from this book:

Dress A, in a striped Japanese seersucker, bias binding on edges. This dress has a single fold in the front, and buttons down the back. I added a single patch pocket (very messily sewn!) and left off the sleeve ruffles. This is a great dress for a hot summer.

Dress front
Pocket detail

Buttoned back of dress (actually folded to show pocket too)
Dress A again, same details and changes, this time made up in a red patterned Japanese seersucker.

 

This dress is also good for layering with a skivvy and leggings in winter:


Skirt H, in a Japanese linen/cotton I think - I love this frog print :-). I didn't use the lace suggested in the pattern - just a regular elasticated waistband. And a feature zip, patch pocket and cute buttons - but the photos don't show these well so I'll try to locate the skirt and get a better picture.

 

Matching purse (no pattern)
A work in progress pic
Tunic Q, made in a delicious cotton voile (pockets omitted).




Tunic Q turned into a cotton dress after lots of modifications - pockets omitted, bodice changed, ric-rac added, button back from dress A used, plus leggings P made extra long to be like the big girls.





These clothes were made over a bit more than a year, so don't assume I'm a fast sewer!

If you'd like to see more sewing from Japanese pattern books, check out this collective blog. It's in French but easy to follow: click on the picture of the book in the left hand column you're interested in, and you'll be able to see images and short descriptions people have posted of the things they've made from that book. And FYI the top-most books are for women's clothes; the books for babies and children (Modèles enfants/bébés) start about half way down the page. 

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