 |
| I think magnolias go with this top |
and also on me:
 |
| gee I hate getting my photo taken - even by myself! |
this top is from the below Japanese pattern book for women.
I made the top in a size "LL" - according to the book's sizing chart I should definitely have made a smaller size, but I decided I would prefer this top quite loose. The top was an absolute delight to sew - due to lovely fabric (beautiful cotton from Tessuti Fabrics in York St, Sydney) and a straightforward pattern that goes together nicely. I rather enjoy the freestyle form of sewing where you either don't have any instructions or can't read them, but when I was up to the attaching sleeves stage I was kind of relieved to come across this step-by-step tutorial, which confirmed the top was going together correctly (phew).
Although I made C2, the pattern I was really keen on was C3 - I didn't quite have enough fabric, even for a C3 top, so I'll have to make it another time - but have a look at this and this for great C3 examples. It's the dress that's on the cover of the book - basically a longer version of the C2, with different sleeves and a big bow stretched across the front bodice.
PS this looks like a useful site for translating the commonly used kenji characters for sewing - and also this one spells out the basics of using a Japanese sewing pattern. And this blog has several posts on the topic of Japanese crafting/sewing by guest blogger Kuky.
