Monthly Archives

April 2012

Free Japanese Sewing Patterns Links Free Patterns

Free Japanese Sewing Pattern – UneUneGoroGoro

April 30, 2012

What a cute name!  Today’s blog is called UneUne GoroGoro うねうねごろごろ ( 日々をうねうね 日々をごろごろ)

Google translate tells me it means Winding Purring (Winding everyday, Purring everyday). I don’t understand winding is but I am guessing this lady likes cats? 🙂 It doesn’t matter because she makes the cutest things!

I was drawn to this site because my little one likes cats. So when I saw the little cat pouch above, I had to make one for her 🙂 The little bear is cute too, I can put in some beads and make it into a paperweight!

First of all, her website link is here http://cyocorune.cocolog-nifty.com/unegoro/ where you can see all the beautiful things she has made. She has also provided a page with links to her free patterns here – http://cyocorune.cocolog-nifty.com/unegoro/cat21754769/index.html . Some of them require you to download a PDF template. Just look out for the file extension .pdf and click on it. (See below)

The others that do not require templates are like simple bags and pouches, which are basically constructed from rectangles, so just click on the blog post and the detailed instructions will be there. I used Google translate on the how-to-make page and it gave me this. Comparing to the original Japanese Instructions :

頭用の布 7×7cm 5枚    (Cloth for head – 7x7cm 5 pieces)
耳用の布 3.5×4~5cm 2枚
ボディ用の布 7×7cm 5枚  (Cloth for body – 7x7cm 5 pieces)
3mm紐 8cm 4本 (3mm cord, 8cm long, 4pcs)
ウッドビーズ 2個(上記紐が通る物)
目鼻用ボタン(刺繍でも可)
フェルト 2.5×1.5cm 1枚

Google translate messed up the body, head and cord translations by trying to translate them into sentences and rearranging the numbers, so sometimes it might be better to use a combination of both, just to decipher the part (i.e. head/ear/body in this case) you are making, but use the dimensions from the Japanese version to avoid confusion.

The rest of the pattern is quite easy, because she has  step by step photographs for some of them.

And scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will find more archived free pattern links.

Happy Sewing!

Giveaways

Winner of Mother’s Day Book Giveaway

April 26, 2012

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the giveaway. The winner of the first book giveaway is Sumi! Sumi, I will be contacting you via email soon 🙂 For those of you who didn’t win, there will be more giveaways throughout the year so remember to check the site often.

I will now try to answer some of your questions.

Sew along /Tutorial
Yes I do think a sew along will be up next. The big question is, should I do an adult pattern or kid’s pattern? Should I use one of the free patterns or use one from a book? If I use one from a book will it be useful to those who do not have the same book? I am thinking that I should stick to a book since the detailed process of deciphering the Japanese sewing pattern is the whole point of this website, but will it help you if you don’t have the exact same book/pattern? What do you think?

Flickr  account
I just started a Flickr group called Japanese sewing books and have been trying to take photos of the books that I have as well as the completed projects. You can see some of the photos on the sidebar. Some of the dresses have already been grown out of, or forgotten 😉 So I have to dig through and identify the book/pattern it came from. It’s a public group, so feel free to add on your own book collection or completed projects there.

My own completed projects
I have another blog called Cotton Candy where I post all of my completed work for my kids. But it includes other projects made from other books/patterns/tutorials and sometimes just out of my head 😉 I do try to post pictures of the projects together with the book reviews, they are included in some of the blog posts. 🙂

Book suggestions
Sewing books for older girls – There are books for older kids, except that I have not started buying them yet because my oldest is still <130cm. But I will definitely be exploring it soon.

Sewing books for boys – If I come across any, I will definitely post links to them, one of the magazines I buy frequently is the Cucito magazine which is published quarterly and includes patterns for both boys and girls as well. The graphics are very clear and there are some step by step photographs for certain techniques. I think it’s due for a review soon!

Sewing books for winter coat patterns – There are some winter coat patterns in magazines like Cotton Friend or Cucito as these are published based on the four seasons. So if you get the Winter edition there will be padded coats for winter. There are also books that teach you how to make coats and jackets but may not be waterproof or thick enough for winter. So it depends on how cold winter is for you, and if you have to deal with snow, you may have to make certain modifications. For example, using a standard pants pattern from a Japanese book, I actually made my own snow pants with ripstop nylon exterior and fleece interior, and the kids played in the snow for hours wearing that.

 I’ll be looking forward to hearing your suggestions for a sew-along! As soon as we decide on a pattern, we can get started! 🙂

Free Japanese Sewing Patterns Links Free Patterns

Free Japanese Sewing Patterns – Nuimonotictac

April 23, 2012

I’ve seen a couple of requests for boy patterns. Sorry to say that because I have two girls, the only boy patterns I have are from books that have a combination of patterns for kids. I don’t have any books specially for boys! But today’s free pattern link will be useful to those of you with little boys. 🙂

Today’s free pattern comes from a website called Nuimonotictac, Nuimono means sewing, and tic tac I suppose just means tic tac.. lol 🙂

The website is well organized, the links to the instructions are accessible from the thumbnails. There are clothes for babies, boys, girls, mama and even one for papa. There are also some cute accessories and school accessories.

What I like most about this site is how clear the photographs and diagrams are. Even the patterns look like they are fit to be sold and not free downloads! Look at the examples below.

 

Other than sewing, if you access her website from the main page – http://nuimonotictac.mameshibori.net/ you will see links to an introduction to her site where she lists some basic instructions for printing as well as her terms of use of her free patterns.

She also provides information on stenciling on clothes using fabric stamps/paint, as well as some handmade toys like making trains out of old milk cartons.

I hope this will make mummies of little boys very happy 🙂 I for one, love that little rugby shirt! I think I might make one for my girls if I can find some nice jersey material.

Happy Sewing!

Giveaways

Mother’s Day Book Giveaway

April 20, 2012

So I’ve been thinking about a book giveaway for a while now. Seeing that it may not always be easy to buy a Japanese sewing book you’ve seen online, especially if you are not near a bookstore that stocks a large selection of hobby and craft books in a foreign language 😉

I’ve been seeing a lot of new friends liking my Facebook page as well as new friends visiting the site, so I would like to welcome everyone and hope that you guys can keep leaving me comments so that I can improve on the content and make this site a more useful one for all of us.

For my first giveaway, I have a brand new copy of Pochée Kids Special that I reviewed a few months ago. This book is great for Mums because there are step by step photographs for some of the projects (great for beginners), plus there are patterns for BOTH girls and boys!

 

So here’s what you have to do….

  1. Like my Facebook page …if you haven’t already 🙂
  2. Leave me a comment below this post and if you have any suggestions, let me know what new features you would like to see on the site.
  3. If you have twitter, follow me and spread the word with the hashtag #jpsewingbks
Edited to add: I will be picking a winner from the list of people who have commented below, and not from facebook and twitter, so you have to sign up for the book giveaway here!

That’s it! The giveaway ends 25th April (Wednesday) at 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time. I will announce the winner here on 26th April. So check back then to see if you are the lucky one 🙂

Good luck!

 

Book Reviews Girls Sewing Patterns Japanese Sewing Books Ladies Sewing Patterns

Book Review – Handmade Summer Clothes for Mama and Girls

April 19, 2012

Mother’s Day is coming…So it’s time to review a book for Mum’s and girls!

Today’s book features matching summer clothes for Mums and their daughters. Knowing how busy Mummies are, it is better to get started on your summer sewing since it will probably take a couple of months to complete ;P

I like the girl’s top. Mum’s dress looks good as a maternity dress 😉 I would rather shorten it and have it the same style as the girl’s. Quite easily done, just adjust the length and position of the casing.

I like this! Especially the fabric. Looks like a textured linen/cotton?

More linen dresses, linen has a nice drape and is really easy to wear during the hot summer months.

Co-ordinate your hair accessories with your tops by using left over scraps.

Make matching sling bags, interesting lace feature on Mum’s bag…

Matching tops and hats!

Short and Long sleeve Jackets for mum and daughter. I think this will be a useful pattern to modify into a long sleeve formal looking jacket for the little girl. My only gripe about the mum’s pattern is that it’s rather shapeless. Some darts around the bust area should help in giving it more definition!

Size Information and how to measure. For Women’s sizes S, M and L. The main measurements are in cm as follows :
S : Bust – 78, Waist – 62, Hip – 88
M – Bust – 82, Waist – 66, Hip 90
L  – Bust – 88, Waist – 70, Hip 94

For kids sizes 90,100,110,120cm by height.

Example of how-to-do page.

Unfortunately there are no step by step photos. But as you can see most of the patterns are quite simple and the diagrams in the how-to-do pages are quite detailed and clear. So I don’t think there will be any problems with understanding the patterns. As always, if you have this book too and need some help deciphering the instructions, feel free to ask me 🙂

I’m thinking of doing a book giveaway for Mother’s day. What say you?

Title : Handmade summer clothes for Mama and Girls ママと女の子手作りの夏服
ISBN : 978-4-8347-2856-9