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Frill sleeve blouse from Dresses and Coordinates Lesson

May 12, 2017

Remember the book review I wrote a couple of weeks ago? I made one of the tops and wanted to show you the results.
dressesandcoordinates

The book I am talking about is this one. This book is all about dresses and coordinates that can make you look slim. I wanted to test it out ;P

a3ande_frillsleeveblouse

I made this top A3, but instead of using eyelet/lace fabric for the frills, I used the same fabric throughout. I also sized down as I was going to make it out of knit fabric.


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This was the actual top. I made size M when the size chart said I should make L, that’s because when making tops out of knit fabric, expect a lot more ease due to the stretching of the fabric. However, I still found it too baggy for my liking. In the photo from the book, the lady wears it tucked into pants, so the waistline is defined by the waistband, and therefore it doesn’t look so waistless. I will bear that in mind when coordinating with bottoms. Although tucking in shirts is not really my thing.

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Here’s a back view of the sleeves. Can you tell that there is no separate sleeve piece? There is some bagginess in the underarm area because of that, but also because I think this size is too large for me. However, it is really comfortable to wear and allows for lots of movement, something that I really need in daily wear because of my super wriggly toddler.flaredsleevesblouse

To demonstrate how it would look better with a more defined waistline, I clipped up the back of the top, and I think it looks so much better! What I can do is to take in the sides a little bit more, since it was such a quick and easy sew using my serger. I do think that this pattern is a winner if I size it down for the next top. I did a rough muslin with some wovens using the same size and true enough, it was a little hard getting it on and off. It was not tight once worn, but I needed to add some slits in the waist line and probably add a zip

Book Flip Through Videos Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Books Ladies Sewing Patterns

Book Review – Dresses and Coordinates Lesson

April 7, 2017

Today’s book review is about a book that was published in October last year. Not exactly new but I’ve been sitting on it for a while since I got distracted by other projects. I bought this book almost as soon as I saw it listed online. I just fell in love with the title and the dress on the home page!
dressesandcoordinates

I hope I got the title right though, because of the way the hiragana is written. Google translate gives me two different answers for the first line – “Clothes to wear or Clothes that make you lose weight!”. I think the second option is more likely, since it ends with an exclamation mark, and the sizes included in the book are from S all the way to 3L. So I shall assume that the patterns are designed to help us look slim.

I’m sorry about the yellowish color in the photos. I tried my best to adjust the color without affecting the original garment photos too much, but as I could only take the photos at night and the lighting was really bad, this will have to do for now. I need to find a way to take photos in the day without my 2 yr old trampling over my books 🙁

contents1

A quick glance at the contents shows that there are 4 basic patterns for dresses/tops. Using this 4 basic patterns, there are at least 4 variations per pattern.
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There is also a Gaucho pants pattern E which is shown on some of the pages.

Let’s look at pattern A for example to see what kind of variations there are for each basic pattern.

a1dolmansleevedress

A1 is a basic dolman sleeve dress. Simple, classy, dress-up or dress down, anytime dress don’t you think?

a2frenchsleevetunic

A2 is a tunic length, V-shape neckline, and it suddenly looks like a totally different outfit but it is actually made from the same basic pattern as A.

a3ande_frillsleeveblouse

A3 is a blouse with frill sleeves.

A7waisteddress

A7 looks even more different from A1 with cap sleeves and an additional waist sash.

b

Each pattern starts with a basic description with the design points. Garment B’s special design feature is the pleat at the shoulder seam.

b3waistbeltdress

B3 is B transformed to a dress with a waist belt, with long sleeves and contrast piping detail along the cuffs and belt.

c1bicolordress

C is a waist yoke dress in color block dress

d2sleevelessdress

D2 is a sleeveless dress with slanted darts.

d3gilet

Use the same pattern for a Gilet (a light sleeveless padded jacket)

d5bolerojacket

Wait, is it the same pattern? Yup, same pattern transformed into a bolero style jacket.

coordinates

There is a whole section devoted to coordinating the garments for different looks.

sampleinstructions

There are 2 detailed lessons for A-1 Dolman sleeve dress and B-1  Shoulder tuck blouse.

The sizing table is as follows :

sizetable

The above is based on your body measurements and not completed garment size.

c1dress

An example of a typical how-to-make page. Note that there is an extra table on the top right hand corner. This is for the completed garment dimensions.

patterns

2 sheets of double sided printed patterns.

backcover

and here’s the book flip through video.

Kiyasesuru! One-piece & Coordinate Lesson Blouse, Ghilet, Cordigan ni Tenkai Dekiru Maho no Pattern / Mayuko Izumi

Buy yours now at cdJapan (affiliate link)

Title : Clothes that make you look slim! Dresses & Coordinates Lesson
Author : Izumi Koko
ISBN : 978-4579115853

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Making adjustments to your Ladies Qipao / Cheongsam / Chinese Dress Free Pattern

November 10, 2016

This is part 2 of the series on Making a Ladies Qipao / Cheongsam / Chinese Dress. In the first part, I have included free pattern downloads in standard sizes S,M and L. But as I mentioned yesterday, it is hard to achieve a perfect fit unless you are lucky enough to fall within the standard size dimensions. This article should help those of you who are slightly off the standard sizes, or straddling between sizes and don’t know which to choose. This may not work so well if you have very drastically different measurements for bust/waist and hip. (for example Barbie ;P) In which case you will need a custom pattern which will accommodate a fuller bust.

Two scenarios.

No alteration of patterns
If you are only 1-2cm off for each measurement, it is still good enough as you can make adjustments to the darts to achieve perfect fit without having to alter the pattern. Pick the size which is best for your bust area and make adjustments to the waist darts. If the hips are too loose after making your toile, use a larger seam allowance till it fits you the way you want it too. That is why making a toile is important.

Altering the standard size patterns
However, if you are straddling between sizes (like me), here is a quick and dirty way of making adjustments to the pattern. I will suggest first of all, choosing the pattern based on the bust size that fits you best. This is because the upper bodice includes waist and bust darts, both of which are already positioned to shape the bust properly. It will not be as easy to modify the darts on the bodice as this requires a lot more shifting of points and it will also affect the neckline which in turn affects the collar. As I mentioned earlier in the first paragraph, this method will not work if you are say like Barbie. Super skinny (therefore small neck and shoulders) but big bustline, because the necklines and bust for larger sizes increase proportionately. So if you choose a XL bust but your neck is small, then the collar will not wrap your neck nicely.

So to repeat myself, this method works if your measurements are not more than 1 or 2 sizes apart. For example, my personal measurements fall within M and L, so I will use the M bodice size and make waist and hip adjustments accordingly. This is how I do it. We will make adjustments to the skirt pattern piece (original pattern without seam allowances) first. Lines in pink indicate new measurements and new lines. Use the original patterns on a larger piece of drafting paper to trace out the new pattern pieces.

You will need the following measurements – your waist (w) and hip circumference (h).  All measurements in my diagrams and calculations are in cm.

I am using Size S pattern as an example, where the original waist size is 64cm. I will change this to 67cm.
The hip size will be changed from 88cm to 92cm.

Now do your math
New waist line -> w/4 + 2.5  = 67/4 + 2.5 = 19.25cm
New hip line -> h/4 = 92/4 = 23cm

  1. Working on pattern piece E for the skirt only. Place your original pattern piece on a larger piece of drafting paper. From the centre line, draw a perpendicular line along the waist line, to the length of 19.25cm and mark this new point on your drafting paper.
  2. Do the same for the new hip line – mark at 23cm. pattern_qipao_makingadjustments1
  3. From the hip line, extend a perpendicular line to the hem. You can make adjustments to the length. Just measure the desired dress length from your hips to wherever you want it to end.
  4. From the centre line, extend a perpendicular line towards the line you drew in step 3.
  5. Where lines 3 and 4 meet, draw a 1cm square inside the intersection.
  6. pattern_qipao_makingadjustments2 pattern_qipao_makingadjustments3Draw a curve down joining the new waist line to the new hip line
  7. Draw a slight curve joining the new hip line to the top left corner of the square you drew in step 5.
  8. Draw a slight curve for the hem from the centre line to the top left corner of the square.
    Make sure that the curves you draw for 6 and 7 flow from one point to another in a gentle curve, otherwise you will get an odd shape along the side seam. 
    pattern_qipao_makingadjustments4
  9. Now cut out the new skirt pattern and join it to the back bodice pattern. Draw a line down the armhole to the new waist line. You can draw a slight curve too that joins to the waist line.
    pattern_qipao_makingadjustments5
  10. Now use the new skirt piece and attach it to the front bodice. Draw a new line down the armhole below the bust dart to the new waist line.
  11. Repeat for the other side.

Note that for the upper bodice pieces, there is only a slight amendment which is to widen the waist line. You don’t have to retrace the entire bodice on drafting paper. You can just make the adjustment on fabric if you wish.

And that’s it! Quite simple actually, let me know how it works out! Show me some pictures by hashtagging #MadeMyOwnQipao on Facebook/Instagram!

Next part of the series, I will talk about some variations and embellishment ideas for the Qipao. This will probably be up only next week as I need to get sewing too!

Japanese Sewing Books Ladies Sewing Patterns

Book Review – Couturier Sewing Class 2

October 12, 2016

These photos have been sitting in my phone for at least a month, waiting to be uploaded. Now that the exams are over, I finally have time to write up my book review!

20160913_110646

Today I will be reviewing the second book from Couturier Sewing Class – titled Good Clothes for Adults (translated literally 😛 ) Those of you who have read my previous review of the first book will know that I’m a big fan of this book, for the easy, quick sewing and very wearable pieces. Great for busy mums like me. I made 3 tops out of the previous book, and I’ve already made 1 from this one!

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A quick glance at the contents page, showing you all the projects available in this book. There are tops, bottoms, dresses, even a bag pattern.

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Here are some of my favourites

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A two-tone pullover, matched with a gathered yoke pants

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A raglan sleeve dress, I love the use of the eyelets on the puff sleeve.

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All-in-one. That was the title given to this outfit, but it’s more like a jumpsuit? Made in knit material.

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A classic but probably very useful pattern to have – a simple slip.

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This was the one I made. V-neck pullover. Love the simple styling and it was a very quick sew.

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A longer variation of the same pattern – A V-neck dress.

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A simple pullover (again, this was the name given to this top in the book) I prefer to call it a boat-neck top? One of my favourite necklines and I think I will make this next.

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A couple of simple tote bags with frill details all around. Simple but cute!

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Bottle-Neck Coat. I can’t find this particular style using English search terms, but in Japanese, it turns up a lot of results for bottle neck coats on sale. It seems to describe a coat style which is collarless, with the top flaps overlapping and buttoned down, well, like the one above.

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One Tuck Skirt. While it looks like a wrap skirt, it really is just a tuck in the front. Oh, and one more at the back as well. So does that make it a two-tuck skirt instead? ;P

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This is a top variation of the raglan sleeve dress you saw earlier. And here you can see the gathered shoulders and how puffy the sleeves really are.

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There are two sewing lessons with step by step photographs. One is for the gathered yoke pants,

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The other is for the two-tone pullover/dress variation.

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Sizes for this book range from S-LL, please refer to the size chart above. These are actual body measurements and not finished garment sizes. The words in the table on the left column are : Height, Bust, Waist and Hip. It may also help to know that the model in the book is 170cm tall, useful if you need to make amendments to the length.

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The standard how-to-make section,

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Followed by the actual size pattern pieces.

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and I end this book review with a book flip-through video, so that you can see the rest of the book. Follow me on instagram as that is where I post all my book flip-through videos first!

Title : Couturier Sewing Class – Good Clothes for Adults
Japanese title : Couturier Sewing Class 大人にいい服
ISBN No. : 9784529055666
Sizes : S,M,L,LL
28 projects

Otona ni Iifuku / Yukari Nakano
Buy now from CDJapan (affiliate link)

Japanese Sewing Books Ladies Sewing Patterns

Book Review – May Me Style Home Sewing Basics

March 12, 2016

Moving down the list of books waiting to be reviewed, here is another book I bought during my last holiday in Japan. It was released November 2015 and it is by quite a familiar name in the Japanese Sewing Books category. The author is Michiyo Ito, designer of May Me Style. The last May Me Style book I reviewed was this one in Chinese.

maymehomesewingbasics1

If you are familiar with May Me Style books, they usually feature simple but sweet designs, using cotton and linen fabrics for a natural look. This book is not just a sewing pattern book though, it is in fact, a textbook and sewing pattern book combined. The title is Home Sewing Basics Book, and I think it’s great for all home sewing enthusiasts, whether you are a beginner or an advanced sewer . It is a rather thick book, 111 pages and is full of useful patterns and essential sewing techniques.

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The index page is all in Japanese, no pictures, so it might throw some of you off,  but to summarize the contents, the book starts off with some basic steps of sewing, followed by 16 projects of varying difficulties and techniques.

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Before we begin, here is the size chart for the patterns included with this book.

maymehomesewingbasics4

As mentioned earlier, the book starts off with the basics. From tools you need,

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to selection of materials…

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to threading of your machine….

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tracing and laying out your patterns,

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to cutting out your fabric. Everything is detailed in step by step photographs. The descriptions are in Japanese though, but I think the photographs are quite self-explanatory.

The second section of book introduces 16 different projects that you can make. For each project, you will get to learn a different technique (see the red dotted box below the description). The projects will progress to more difficult techniques and by the time you finish the book, you should be quite an accomplished sewist!

Please forgive the slightly crooked pictures as I took these pictures while the baby was sleeping on me in the sling. 😛

maymehomesewingbasics9

Item 1 – A-Line Dress.
Techniques to be learned – Darts, Attaching Bias tape

Notice that for each item, there is also a table below with some sizing info. This is the completed garment dimensions. So it gives you an idea of the fit and allows you to select the correct size to make.

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As mentioned above, this book is like a sewing textbook of sorts. For every single project, there is a sewing lesson with detailed photos of the techniques. A sample of the step by step photos for item 1 is shown above.

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Item 2 – Browsing Dress
Technique – Making a fabric drawstring and casing

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Item 3 – Off Shoulder Tunic
Technique – Finishing necklines with facing.

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Item 4 is a variation of item 3. You see the words “Arrange” above the title? In Japanese sewing books this usually means a different “arrangement” of the same pattern, or what we call a pattern variation. In this variation, you learn to make a Slash opening to the front of the tunic.

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Item 5 is a Peplum blouse, where you learn the technique of making Gathers

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Item 6 is a variation of Item 5 – Tuck Peplum Blouse. Instead of making gathers, you learn to make Tucks.

featured

Item 7 is a Pin Tuck Dress where obviously, you will learn to make pin-tucks.

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Item 8 is a Pullover.
Techniques to be learnt – Back slit opening, Making button loops.
The description in the box actually says Piping for the second technique, but I think it is an error because I looked through the instructions and could not find any piping used. The neckline and sleeve openings are finished using bias tape as well.

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Item 9 is a variation of item 8 – a Back opening pullover.
In this project, you will learn a different method of making a back opening using a row of buttons. you will also learn how to make button holes.

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Item 10 – Knit Cut and Sew.
Techniques – Sewing with knits, Matching prints on fabrics (how to cut fabrics so that the prints on the side are joined properly)
I have come across this term “Cut and Sew” many times while shopping at Uniqlo, and never really knew what it means. I wondered if it was a real sewing term and apparently it is! It is well explained in this article here.

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Item 11 – Collar band blouse
Techniques – Attaching a collar, making a sleeve placket, attaching buttons

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Item 12- Gathered Skirt
Technique – Attaching hidden side pockets to a skirt

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Item – 13 Flared Skirt
Techniques – Attaching a concealed (invisible) fastener (zipper), finishing the hems of a flared shape.

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Item 14 – Wide Pants
Technique – Attaching pants pockets

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Item 15 – Slim Pants
Technique – attaching side pockets

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Item 16 – Leggings
Techniques – Making simple adjustments to pattern, sewing with knits

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2 large actual size pattern sheets, double sided printing, which makes a total of 4 pattern sheets.

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A picture of the author, and links to her website http://www.mayme-style.com where you can find more of her works and books.

This book is definitely a keeper for me, as there are so many techniques in here that I have yet to try, for example the sleeve placket and the different types of side pockets. The clear picture references are really useful as it means I don’t have to keep checking the terms or whip out a dictionary to understand the steps completely. On top of that, there are also useful tips and notes for certain projects. For example, there are pictorial comparisons of how your choice of fabric makes a difference in the draping and fullness when making a flare skirt, or how the degree of gathers makes a difference to the look of a peplum top. I will certainly recommend this book if you are a beginner as well, as it starts off with the very basics.  The thickness of the book also makes the book really worth it for the price! 🙂

Nuinagara Oboerareru Home Sewing No Kiso BOOK May Me Style / Ito Michiyo / Cho

Buy now from cdjapan (affiliate link)

Title : May Me Style – Home Sewing Basics Book
Author : Michiyo Ito
ISBN No: 978-4-529-05500-0