Book Reviews Girls Sewing Patterns Japanese Sewing Books

Book Review – FU-KO basics

April 9, 2014


Have you been waiting for me to review this book since you saw me post its arrival on Instagram? Ever since I started blogging about monthly new releases, I have been increasingly drawn to shopping directly from amazon.co.jp. (I’m not an affiliate to amazon.co.jp by the way, in case you were wondering) But I use it a lot to look out for new books. Sometimes you can find new books listed on amazon.co.jp that are not even listed on the book publishers own website.

Out of the many new releases from the recent months, I picked 4, and hoped they were good, since being new releases they usually don’t have the “Look inside” feature so I have to rely on descriptions. Judging a book by its cover is quite a difficult thing! 😛 But I played safe with two of my choices – Cucito and Pochee are may sewing magazine staples, and they take months to get to my local bookstores, so I bought them online. I will be reviewing all of them over the next few weeks, starting with this one.

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作ってあげたい、女の子のお洋服
Clothes for girls that I want to make

Lots of easy wearing clothes for active young ladies. I love how some of the styles and even fabric choices are quite adult looking, but so adorable on the little girls.   The book is divided into 3 main sections

1. One piece/dresses
2. Co-ordinates – tops & bottoms
3. All season wear (with fur accessories)

Sizes from 90-130cm. There are also 3 projects that include size 80cm. The yoke dress (on the cover), back button dress and long bloomer pants (I have highlighted them below)

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size 80cm included for this dress pattern

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I love this fabric, but it kinds of hides the main feature of the dress – there is a front button placket, can you see it?

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I love these little dresses, very simple and comfortable. It’s called the Relax dress.

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relaxdress

ETA (May 2017) I made one in Art gallery knit!

Section 2 features co-ordinating tops and bottoms

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size 80cm included for this pants pattern

The title of the third section is about “all season fur goods”. It’s not all about fur though, what it actually includes, are patterns that you can use for both Spring and Winter, simply by changing the materials/accessories but using the same pattern.

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Light coat for spring time.

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Layer up and add a faux poodle fur tippet for a cozy look

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Perfect for spring!

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Layer up and add on a thick cozy scarf made out of knitted fabric. What is knitted fabric? The book source pointed to a physical store and a manufacturer (Naka CO Pte Ltd) but I couldn’t find it listed there, so I googled for knit fabrics and found this picture on Selvage Blog which actually credits the Japanese fabric to Miss Matatabi’s store. The knit pattern on the fabric above looks different of course, but I am guessing it is a similar type of fabric, where the fabric actually looks like it was knitted. That would be an awesome shortcut to knitting!

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Size chart for this book
The first column on the left indicates – height, bust, waist, hip.

There is only one project that has a detailed, full color, step by step sewing lesson. That’s for the dress on the cover of the book.

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For the rest of the projects, this is the standard layout for the how-to-make section. Every step is explained using a diagram.

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Close up of one of the diagrams.

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2 sheets of actual size pattern paper attached.

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Title : 作ってあげたい、女の子の洋服
ISBN No : 978-4-529-05296-2
Author : 美濃羽まゆみ Minohane Mayumi
Publisher : Nihon-Vogue

This book is serious full of stuff I want to make. I think I am going to start with the relax dress. How about you?

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16 Comments

  • Reply Christine April 10, 2014 at 5:22 am

    That book looks absolutely fantastic! Lovely shapes and the coordinating pieces section is just smart. Sigh.

  • Reply Sue April 10, 2014 at 6:20 am

    What an amazing book! I want every outfit for myself. Do you recommend a book with similar designs for women?

    • Reply Japanese Sewing Books April 10, 2014 at 10:22 am

      Hi Sue, You may be interested to know that in the latest Spring edition of Sewing Pochee (which I will review next week), two of the patterns in this book – relax dress and the white blouse with pleats will be offered in Adult sizes!

  • Reply Eunice April 10, 2014 at 10:25 am

    The book looks real good and I’m also for the Relax dress! But my 9 yr old is at 130, going to 140 so I’m now stuck. Most books don’t go beyond 130 or 140 so if you happen to chance upon those that go up to 160, do shout out here! Thanks for the good review.

  • Reply patty April 10, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    Hello, do you think that relax dress is made out of knits or cotton? I think with a light cotton you can get away with it, otherwise it would look fantastic on a knit too!!
    Thank you for the review I can not wait to have it in my hands!!!

    • Reply Japanese Sewing Books April 14, 2014 at 9:25 am

      Hi Patty, the relax dress in the book is made of knit fabric (from Check & Stripe), but as the cutting is loose fitting with a elastic waist and a slit opening at the back there should be no problem making this out of a light cotton, best in a double gauze. I have some lovely nani IROs that will be awesome for it if I can bear to cut it up… argghhh

  • Reply Magazine review – Sewing Pochee Spring 2014 » Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics April 15, 2014 at 10:17 am

    […] the book review on Fuko Basics I did last week? I know many of you are in love with that book and the designs. There are adult […]

  • Reply Jen May 15, 2014 at 4:28 am

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful book, Mine arrived in the Uk from cd japan on Monday, Well worth 2 week wait. Cant wait to make my little girl the dresses. Thank you so much for your wonderful website without which I would never have seen this book.

  • Reply Die Spinne July 12, 2014 at 2:27 am

    Hello, I made the relax dress from this book with a knit fabric. Thanks for your review!
    http://spinnwebe.info/2014/07/10/kleid-fur-enkelin/

  • Reply New Releases – April 2015 » Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics April 12, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    […] start off, we have another book from FU-KO basics series this time for the adults. (See the review for the girls clothes here) The book is by 美濃羽まゆみ of Fu-Ko Handmade  and it’s […]

  • Reply Ines May 3, 2016 at 2:20 pm

    Hello, thank you! Actually I have this book and I would like to know where to find the fabric of the dress with the front button placket (the blue and white one). Could you help me, please? And don’t know its name neither. I already tried to find it but nothing… Thank you a lot!!

  • Reply More New Releases for March 2017 | Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics March 6, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    […] last FU-KO Basics book I reviewed was so lovely and the cover for this new book just made me want to order it immediately. […]

  • Reply Translation Request – Tiered skirt / Pettiskirt from Fu-ko basics | Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics June 3, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    […] skirt is from the book that I reviewed 3 yrs ago. There is a new book out by the same author and I will be reviewing it […]

  • Reply 6th Birthday Giveaway | Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics December 13, 2017 at 10:01 am

    […] For those of you who are not following me on IG, this is what I made with this super soft knit from Koizumi fabrics. This dress is the relax dress from the book by Fu-ko basics (book review here) […]

  • Leave a Reply to Jen Cancel Reply