Browsing Category

New Releases

New Releases

New Releases – August 2015

August 17, 2015

More new books for the month of August! Not many clothes sewing books this month. Click on the images for more details. Wherever possible, I try to link it to official book websites or Amazon listings where you can search for details such as the ISBN number.

swanybagmaking

It’s been barely half a year since the last book (that I just reviewed!) and here we have another from Kamakura Swany. Click on the image to see more details from their official website. According to the description, this book contains 30 years of bag making techniques and know-how, all in one book. Oh I can never resist descriptions like this. Should I? Should I?

ninadoll

It’s Nina’s tenth anniversary and there is a new book published by her creators Hobbyra Hobbyre ( a fabric and craft shop chain in Japan). This book contains the pattern for the Nina doll as well as clothes and small accessories, total of 80 projects in all! For those of you less inclined to sew, you can purchase the ready made dolls and clothes from their website too.

nhkhandmade

The title of it is すてきにハンドメイド. The second word is Handmade and the first word as translated by Google is Wonderfully. So together it makes “Wonderfully Handmade!” Lovely title for a magazine. Anyway, I have seen this magazine many times while browsing on amazon, but never felt compelled to check it out. Today I did and boy am I glad I did! This magazine is published by NHK which is a television station but has its own publishing branch. They published a really good sewing book for ladies which I reviewed about previously. So I was drawn to this cover and noticed that they have sewing patterns for a tunic, dress style apron, a two way bag, amongst many other projects. Sounds interesting already!

cottontimesept2015

Cotton Time magazine is listed as the #1 Best seller in Handicraft Magazines on amazon.co.jp. It’s not hard to understand why. This issue includes patterns for Halloween. Free fabric sample, bag patterns, and lots of other projects inspired by the colors of the fall season.

cottonfriendaug2015

Yup, seasons are changing even though it’s hard to feel it here. But I keep up with seasons changing with the rest of the world by following magazine publications 😛 The latest Autumn Edition of Cotton Friend – featuring End of Summer clothes and Best of Autumn clothes.

 

New Releases

New Releases – July 2015

July 20, 2015

Half the year has gone by and we are now more than halfway into the month of July. Sorry for not posting last week as there was just too much going on at home to get anything done. The good news is that I have already taken photos for the books I bought recently and they should be ready for review soon! In the meantime, here are the recent releases spotted online for your shopping pleasure 🙂

check&stripe

The first book is by Check & Stripe and is a collection of designs for clothes and small accessories by 7 different designers. You can see the full list of designers and detailed lessons by each of them, as well as the sizing information for the projects from the Check & Stripe website. (images from Check & Stripe)

divider

beginnerlesson

The second book is a sewing book for beginners, with lessons for 20 projects ranging from clothes to personal accessories and even home decor! You can see some of the projects from the contents page above. See the book details on Amazon.co.jp

divider


yukiarakiselect

A new book by Yuki Araki, author of Sew Sweet Handmade Clothes for Girls. This book is a compilation of selected pieces from her previous books. Great for those of you who do not own any of her books yet but wish to have selection of her more popular designs. For sizes 90-130cm.

divider

handmadeskirts

I love the cover of this book! As you can see from the cover, this is a hand sewing book for 5 types of hand-sewing skirt.  There are no patterns included but there are instructions for customizing the patterns to your own size. See more details here

divider

usako

A few years ago when I was blogging for free Japanese sewing patterns online I came across this website http://yousai.net/ There are lots of free downloadable patterns, especially (but not limited to) cosplay costumes. There is even a youtube channel  with lots of helpful instructional videos. You can check out some of her videos on basic sewing techniques. This book is titled Usako’s Handmade Steampunk and Classical Dress. For more book details click here.

divider

Now for the periodicals


cottontimejul15

Cotton Time July 2015 – includes 67 projects. Main highlights – Summer handmade items you can make in a short time. Included in the magazine – a free piece of the patchwork fabric as seen on the bag on the cover. Note that the fabric is usually quite a small piece, just a sample size and slightly smaller than the magazine. There will be projects showing you how to use this free fabric.


ladyboutiqueaug15

Lady boutique Aug 2015
Main headline – Weekend Sewing

That’s all for this month’s new releases. Will run along to work on those book reviews now. I will also be posting a poll soon on both the blog as well as Facebook, to get some feedback on the types of Japanese sewing books you want to see being translated. So do watch out for that too, as you will get a chance to be heard by some very important decision making persons who may make your wish come true!

New Releases

New Releases – June 2015

June 19, 2015

I don’t have much time to sew nowadays, but I still can shop can’t I? 🙂 Here are some of the new releases spotted online… allseasonsmens

Men’s clothes for all seasons for sizes S,M,L,LL,3L
Another Men’s pattern book at last, unfortunately there are no previews yet. The title sounds promising though.

divider

basickidsclothes

Basic Kids Clothes Pants and Dresses. 5 Classic patterns for sizes 100-160cm
I’m glad there is another choice for patterns past the size of 130cm. This book looks like a basic pattern book with ideas on how to make variations.

divider

cottononkids

Cotton friend Kids Summer 2015
The Summer edition of Cotton Friend Kids, for sizes 100-150cm

divider

easyhandmadekidsclothes

Easy Handmade Clothes for Kids
Cute Summer Dresses, 1-day sewing projects, Making items with 50cm/1m pieces of fabric… and more!

divider

girlshandmadeclothes

Handmade Girls Clothes for 130-150cm
Another book by the publishers of Cotton Friend (Boutique-sha) for sizes 130-150cm, but I spy a familiar pattern on the cover, which was previously featured on Cotton Friend. This may be a compilation of previous patterns that were published separately in different editions, but for this specific age group only.

divider

1mfabric

Kids clothes made with 1m fabric
In my early days of buying fabric, I used to buy and hoard fabric without knowing what I was going to do with it, so I have a lot of 1m fabrics lying around. This book will show you how to make clothes using just 1m of fabric. The only limitation is that there are only two sizes featured. 100 and 110cm.

divider

kidscostume

Handmade Costumes for Kids
If you need to make a costume for that special event, be it a recital or halloween, this book has got it all! The only strange thing is, on the cover it states that only the pattern for 110cm is included. An excerpt from the how-to-make section indicates only 1 set of materials measurements as well. From the preface, it looks like it is meant to be more of a guide on making costumes rather than a pattern book. But the costumes do look pretty awesome.

divider

adultstraightline

Cute Everyday Clothes for Ladies
Straight line patterns sewing book. No tracing of patterns required!

divider

theclutches

The Clutches
I love the dramatic title of this book! lol…  but these are some really pretty clutches.

divider

handsewbabies

Hand sewing book for Babies Clothes and Stuff

The last book is a hand sewing book, with patterns from newborn to 18 months old babies.

New Releases

New Releases – May 2015

May 18, 2015

I can’t believe how quickly the months have flown by. Can you believe it is May already? May in Singapore is also known as the dreaded exams month for school kids. So last week I was missing in action because I was busy revising with my oldest for her exams. And yesterday, being the weekend, I attempted to start a new sewing project (more about that in a few weeks time), but had to stop because my needles were blunt and I ran out of new needles!

Anyway, the exams are finally over and I can get back to compiling this month’s new releases.

yoshiko-tsukiori

Yoshiko Tsukiori’s new book – Comfortable and Stylish Clothes
Unfortunately I could not find any preview of this book. Everyone loves Yoshiko Tsukiori right? 🙂

sewingbasics

 Sewing Foundation and Basics
No preview available yet but I think this is more like a sewing techniques book. But on the cover it says there are 8 small items, 10 ladies (S-LL), 1 Mens (S-LL) and 6 kids (100-120cm) projects.

girls

Girls Going Out Clothes – the one piece for a special occasion
for 90-120cm sizes

cottontimebagbook

Cotton Time Special Edition – Useful Bags and Accessories
Granny bags, tote bags, pouch and small accessories, 60 projects altogether.

and the usual periodicals….

cottontimemay

Cotton Time May 2015

mrsstylebook

Mrs Stylebook 2015 May edition

ladyboutique

Lady Boutique May 2015

sewingandcrochet

Sewing and Crochet vol. 4

The last book on the list was released in March but I didn’t see it earlier, so here it is…

girlsdresses

Girls dresses I want to make
for 100-130cm sizes, the dresses include Party dresses, formal dresses, sweet dress, princess dress, panier and drawers. From the contents page it also looks like there are 2 detailed lessons for 2 of the dresses.

Personally, I’m not so tempted to buy anything this month but that is a good thing, since I still have about 5-6 new books to review. I’m quite curious about the Yoshiko Tsukiori book though, as her designs are usually nice. If I do find a preview anywhere I will be sure to share it.

New Releases

New Releases – April 2015

April 12, 2015

This week’s post is a couple of days late, because I am busy customizing a new theme for the blog! It started with me wanting to re-organize the navigation as I find that many of the older articles are buried within the archives. One thing led to another and it evolved into a full site re-design project!  I’m still testing the new template out and trying to get everything right, and I expect to launch it next week, which means the site will have to go down for a little while.

I was so caught up with re-doing the site template that I was wondering if I could get by without posting this week. However, for the past few weeks I’ve been bombarded by so many new book announcements, I really felt like I had to share the new upcoming releases. Spring really is the season for new sewing books! 🙂
fukobasics

To 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 called 毎日着たい、手づくり服 (roughly translated as Handmade clothes to wear everyday)

simplegirlsclothes

女の子のシンプルでかわいい服  Girls’ Simple Clothes
This book looks promising. For girls sizes 100-150cm.

tomorrowsclothes

明日着る服 Clothes to wear tomorrow

hayamasunday

好きな布で自分だけの服作り Make clothes for yourself using your favourite fabrics

kodaaoispringsummer

香田あおいのパターンレッスン 春夏の服 (Sizes 5-15)
Spring Summer Wear

textileandsewing

テキスタイル&ソーイング Textiles and Sewing

libertybags

リバティプリントのアレンジバッグ Bags made with Liberty Print

echino

echinoの布で作るバッグと小物 Bags and Small goods made with echino fabric

 

machikokayaki

茅木真知子ホームクチュールセレクション Machiko Kayaki’s Home Couture Selection

 

tomeshinohara

ザ・ワンピース 篠原ともえのソーイングBOOK
The Dress – Tomoe Shinohara Sewing Book

I’m so tempted by so many of the books that have been released this month or are going to be released soon. In particular, I’m quite convinced I want to get the Girls’ Simple Clothes because it covers up to size 150cm. There is no preview of the book as yet so I’m really guessing that it will be good because books by a sunny spot are always good! The Liberty Print Bags Book also looks really tempting, and I’m in love with the echino fabric on the cover of the bags in echino fabric book. Oh… and don’t you just love the styling of the last book by Tomoe Shinohara? The dresses all look so cute! It’s not really my style but I really do love the structured dresses so I am tempted to get it just to have a look.

Which one will you get?