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Book Review – nani IRO patterns for adults and children

March 11, 2013


It’s nani IRO month, so here’s a nani IRO book review!

The title of the book is
nani IRO の服の本 (book about clothes) 大人服と子供服 (adults and children clothes) 絵と色の布でつくる (made of pictures and color fabrics)

Sizes include S,M,L for adults and 90,100,110 for kids. There are 26 projects in all, including tops, bottoms, dresses, skirts, even aprons and some accessories like bags and pouches. I’m just going to show you a couple of my favorites here.

Most of the projects have very simple and clean silhouettes, a perfect complement to the fabrics which are like works of art.

Matching tunic tees for adult and child.

Poncho style smock

I love this pair of matching dresses. Did you notice the wrist and neck accessories were made out from parts of the fabric?

Simple flare skirt with ribbon tie detail.

I can’t decide if I love the fabric or the dress more! I have to make this one. I don’t know if I will be able to hunt this 2008 fabric down though.

V-neck straight cut dress

Flare dress. Very simple cutting but so cute on a little girl. Only problem is, this pattern uses a lot of fabric! 😛

Very interesting sleeveless dress. The front is an extra layer sewn on. This is a great pattern for crinkly fabric 🙂

Some interesting projects you can do with nani IRO fabrics.

There are also some projects featuring the knits and quilted fabrics.

All the projects in this book were made using the 2008 range. I’m not even sure if it’s possible to buy them anymore, but I’m sure the patterns will still look just as good with the latest range of fabrics!

Size chart for the projects in the book. The table on the left is for kids, and the right table is for adults. The measurements are – height/bust/waist/hip in the left columns.

There are no step by step photos, but a combination of text instructions and diagrams. But as most of the projects are pretty simple, it shouldn’t be difficult to follow.

Example of diagrams. Most of the steps are indicated in the order of make on the main diagram.

Closeup of diagrams.

Pattern paper included

Title : nani IRO の服の本 大人服と子供服  絵と色の布でつくる
Author : Naomi Ito
ISBN : 978-4-579-11183-1

E-to Iro-no Nuno-de Tsukuru nani IRO-no Fuku-no Hon Otona Fuku-to Kodomo Fuku / Itou Naomi (Book)
(click here to buy from cdjapan)

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10 Comments

  • Reply Ute March 12, 2013 at 12:26 am

    Hi, I am very new to sewing but instanly fell in love with japanese dress books and nani IRO fabric! I would be very happy if you could possibly translate this pattern from her free pattern page sometime
    http://naniiro.jp/textile/pdf/2011/no16.pdf
    It looks a bit like the red V-neck straight cut dress from the pattern book.
    Thank you for your wonderful page!

  • Reply Alice Heil March 12, 2013 at 2:27 am

    Hi! I think it may be possible to find some of these fabrics on etsy.com .. This is a great review, are you going to make something for yourself from the book? I love Nani Iro fabrics especially the more delicately colored florals. Some of the patterns look like they would be better made smaller/more fitted but the shapes are nice.
    I noticed on Amazon yesterday that the rest of the Stylish Dress Book series will be available soon in English, and also one of my faves, Feminine Wardrobe will be out in English in May. Apparently when they release the English versions they put in a couple of larger sizes too.
    Thanks for all your hard work!!

    • Reply Japanese Sewing Books March 12, 2013 at 8:38 am

      Hi Alice, Yes I am! Going to make the dress and skirt for my girls first. I’ve heard raves about feminine wardrobe but I don’t have that book yet. I should check it out!

      • Reply Alice Heil March 12, 2013 at 9:40 am

        Hi! here’s the amazon link so you can look at the “look inside” preview.. http://amzn.com/1780671245
        I have seen that dress on the cover done a few times on the french japancoutureaddict blog but never very well..the bust is too high on the pattern I guess and needs to be lowered so the bow goes in the right place. I just love that dress 🙂
        I have “Dress made of my favorite cloth” and tried to make the simple shift dress from it, had the same problem with bust: darts are too high.. have you noticed that with Japanese patterns?

  • Reply Sarah WJ March 12, 2013 at 5:16 am

    Please, please, PLEASE will you do a translation of the instructions for the dress/tunic option on the cover?! I’ve had this book for YEARS and went crazy trying to find the pattern only to realize that the pattern isn’t in there it is all drafting instructions that I can’t read! Ahhhhh… I would be SO VERY GRATEFUL!
    SO happy to have found your blog!! Yahooo….

    • Reply Japanese Sewing Books March 12, 2013 at 8:42 am

      Hi Sarah, I think the dress on the front is pattern J – v-neck dress. The pattern is included in the pattern sheet. If that’s the pattern you are talking about I can do a translation for that (pg 62/63 in the book).

      • Reply Sarah WJ May 15, 2013 at 2:14 am

        (so sorry for the delay in response- life got a bit crazy!) YES! I would love love love for you to do the translation for this pattern J… ooooh! so so SO excited! Thank you!!!!

  • Reply Gaye March 12, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    The simple design is a great way to wear a beautiful fabric!
    Thanks for this book review. for a few years, I have been wondering if I should get the book. 🙂

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