Today’s book review is a Cotton Friend Special Edition – Nanatone’s Fashion Book – Sewing Variations. (In Japanese – NANATONE のおしゃれBOOK ソーイングバリエーション)
I first mentioned NANATONE by Megumi Aoki in the Cotton Friend Spring 2013 Edition review. NANATONE is the brainchild of Megumi Aoki, who started selling her own handmade goods in 2000 under the name nana-cotton. In 2005, she started NANATONE, an online shop selling clothes and handmade goods. She has been featured in many sewing books and magazines and even authored a couple of her own books. You can check out her online shop and her blog to see her works. She even models her own creations!
Back to the book. This book contains 10 basic patterns for sizes S,M,L,LL.
The 10 basic patterns form the basis for all the styles featured in the book. Each pattern comes with either 2 or 3 variations. To showcase the different possibilities of each pattern, the book is divided into the following sections.
1. Border (meaning horizontal stripes)
2. Gingham check
3. Solids
4. Floral Prints
5. Polka dotted prints
6. Blue
Other than that, there are also lots of pictures and interesting snippets of her daily life, as well as other craft related columns. It’s all in Japanese but we can still ogle at the pretty pictures 🙂
For each themed section, different patterns are used in combination with the fabric type featured…
and she then models the clothes to show you how to co-ordinate the different pieces.
This is such a cute shirt, in gingham check seersucker.
Shirt dress, great for layering
The name of this pattern is かっぽう着ワンピース which according to Google Translate – it’s a Cook’s apron dress.
Tiered dress
This is a variation of the shirt dress, with added buttons and ribbon tie.
There are also a couple of tops included, like this one – a Dolman sleeve blouse.
A short blouse version of the square neck dress.
A peek at one of the columns in the book – don’t you love her sewing room?
And now for the important part – the how-to-make section.
The sizes included for this book are listed above. This size chart is a lot more detailed than most books.
For your reference, the measurements listed in the top row of the table are
(Bust/Waist/Hip/Back nape to waist/Sleeve length/Body Rise/Crutch Depth Line to floor/Height)
Some of you might be scratching your heads with the two terms – Body rise and Crutch Depth Line to Floor :P. I used the terms from my pattern making textbook by Winifred Aldrich but even if these are the official technical terms, I don’t hear them used often so I shall try to explain what they actually mean. Basically the Crutch Depth Line is at the base of your butt curves. Body rise is from the base of butt up to the waist, and Crutch Depth Line to floor is from base of butt to the floor. This is based on body measurements but I have also seen diagrams such as Jean sizing diagrams, where 股下/Crutch Depth Line to floor is indicated as the inseam of the jeans/pants. In any case, it is not that important in this book since there are no pants patterns included!
The how-to-make section introduction includes a few colored pages of basic sewing techniques.
The how-to-make section groups the patterns by pattern type, and lists the different variations within the same page. So on the same page you will find different list of materials and cutting layouts. Make sure you refer to the correct material list and cutting layout for the garment you are making!
As for the sewing instructions, there are no step by step photographs, but there are sewing diagrams, like the example above.
There are 2 large color pattern sheets attached for a total of 4 sides of patterns. The pattern variations are grouped by pattern type and indicated with different colored lines which makes it easy to search and trace.
Title : Nanatone’s Fashion Book – Sewing Variations.
NANATONE のおしゃれBOOK ソーイングバリエーション
Author : Megumi Aoki
ISBN : 978-4-8347-3296-2
Publisher : Boutique-sha
Buy now from cdjapan (affiliate link)
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