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Book Review – Neat and Lovely Girls’ Dresses 100-160cm

November 11, 2013


I made a last ditch effort to dig around the archives for this book review, I was so sure that I had reviewed it, partly because I remember being really excited about its release and I bought it as soon as it was available (that was some time in May or June). But I could not find any pictures or drafts related to it, so it must have been my imagination. So here it is finally, the book by Yuki Araki – きちんと可愛い女の子服 or Neat and Lovely Girls’ Dresses, for sizes 100-160cm.

There are 21 patterns for sizes 100-140cm and 9 patterns for sizes 150-160cm.

 Patterns were attached to the front of the book this time. 2 large pattern sheets.

 An overview of the garments included in this book. The ones in the image above are for 100-140cm.

The 9 patterns below the divider are for 150-160cm. Out of the 9 patterns for 150-160cm, M, K, N and O are only available in 150,160cm sizes. The rest (marked with a star) are available in 100-160cm sizes.

Let’s have a look at some of the garments.

Frill Cami-Blouse

Dress with large collar.

 Cami-Dress with Leggings (both dress and leggings’ patterns included)

 Blouse with back ribbon tie. So pretty!

 Ribbon tie on the back of the blouse.

 Ribbon pants with the ribbon detail on the back. It took me a while to figure out why this was called ribbon pants 😛

 Deep collar dress (I am literally translating the titles here ;P) It actually means a low neckline with a collar.

Dress with Raglan sleeves (this is the dress on the cover) made with a scalloped border fabric. I can’t seem to find any scalloped edge fabrics here. Do you know of any online sources?

 Ribbon dress with ribbon details on the shoulders. Both the dress and ribbon are made of satin material which explains the nice sheen to it. Lovely isn’t it?

 3-tier blouse + Ribbon skirt. There are two huge ribbon ties on the side of the skirt which you may not be able to see from the picture as it is a white lacy fabric.

Flap Blouse and Below-the-knee pants (literally!) I really like this blouse. It has a very interesting overlap effect on the sleeves, making them look puffy and somehow really stylish and cool! The pattern for the blouse is only for 100-140cm though. The patterns for the pants go up to 160cm.

 2 layer blouse + Frill skirt.

 Modified collar knit (blouse) and Fishing pants?

Jacket + Side box pants (literal translation.The “box” in the title actually refers to the box pleats on the side seams) Very interesting use of pleats.

 Long Cardigan (matching with the adult pattern in last week’s Sewing Pochee review)

Coat. Yup, it’s just listed as コート (Coat) Love the contrast trim details!

 There are 2 sewing lessons with full color photographs. One is for the Side box(pleat) pants and the second is for the Ribbon dress (the one with satin bows on the shoulders)

 A close up of the step by step photographs.

 Size chart (Left coloum – Height / Bust / Waist / Hip)

 The rest of the patterns are included in the back in the usual format. Materials, Cutting layout, Order of make and an overall diagram with the order of steps. Most of the steps other than the obviously simple ones like sewing side seams or shoulder seams, are illustrated in diagrams (see below).

 A close up of the diagrams.

I highly recommend this book, firstly because there are not many sewing books out there that cover this awkward range in-between tween-going-on-teenage years. I can think of a few reasons. Firstly the girls may not want to wear clothes made by Mum anymore, cuz it’s just not cool 🙁 Secondly, they want to choose their own outfits, particularly those that their friends are wearing. You know, those mass market brands 🙁 . But I like how Yuki Araki makes the effort to make the clothes look stylish and unique. In fact some of them look really cool and with the right choice of fabrics, they can look rather designer as well.

Those of you who still have little girls can also get a lot of mileage out of this book since it includes patterns from 100cm (which is suitable for a 3/4 yr old? I forget how tall my daughter was at 3) all the way till 160cm. So it is really a must have in your collection if you have little girls to sew for. You can also check out the other book that I reviewed previously by the same author for the 90-130cm range.

Title : きちん可愛い女の子服 Neat and Lovely Girls’ Dresses
ISBN : 978-4-529-05189-7
Author : 荒木由紀
Publisher :Nihon-vogue

Kichin to kawaii onnanokofuku / Yuki Araki

buy now from cdjapan

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15 Comments

  • Reply Trine November 11, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    Wow – this looks awesome. Just added to my wishlist 🙂

  • Reply Christina November 12, 2013 at 5:10 am

    Awesome! My daughter has almost sized out of most of my Japanese kids books and you’re absolutely right that there isn’t much out there beyond 130-140cm. I was beginning to despair.
    Thank you for bringing this book to my attention!

  • Reply Clare Maree November 12, 2013 at 6:37 am

    Thank you for reviewing this book (again?). I do wish they had modelled some of the 150-160cm outfits on slightly older girls so I could get a better image of what they might look on my daughter, but overall, it looks like it might be worth the investment.

  • Reply Norah Ho November 12, 2013 at 10:53 am

    Thank you for the lovely review, the book is really great. Yuki Araki is my favourite author, too. I guess you also have this book of hers, don’t you?http://book.nihonvogue.co.jp/book/bookDetail.do?screenType=3&productId=28112
    If you don’t, I think this is also a must-have. Really stylish and effortlessly cute! 🙂

    • Reply Japanese Sewing Books November 13, 2013 at 10:37 am

      Hi Norah, Guess what. I don’t have that book you linked to (I think), but I have the rest of the books under the related products list at the bottom of the page 😛

  • Reply Lightning McStitch November 12, 2013 at 6:56 pm

    Gosh, all of these patterns look great. thanks for the review, it’s so nice to see more than just one or two pictures when buying off the internet.

  • Reply Meili November 13, 2013 at 12:21 am

    My eldest daughter is 9 and I am already finding it difficult to find clothes in the shops that matches her age. I’ll definitely get a copy of this book. 🙂 I do not understand Japanese, are the pictures easy enough to understand?

  • Reply Serena @ Sewgiving November 13, 2013 at 7:38 am

    Excellent review – thank you very much 🙂

  • Reply Eunice November 13, 2013 at 10:30 am

    Hi
    I’ve got this book too. 荒木由紀 is one of my favourite author. Bought it when I was in Hokkaido in Apr this year. Really love the styling and photos. Love your blog. Do keep up the book reviews as I always look forward to them : )

  • Reply EmSewCrazy November 13, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    Ooh another great review! Love the coat and that frill skirt. Some really cute pieces in here!

  • Reply Leona November 18, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Hi, I was in Singapore Chinatown fabric market last weekend and saw some scalloped edged white cotton. Sorry I don’t have the shop’s name, but you might like to ask around the shops if you’re there.
    Thanks for the detailed review!

  • Reply Mailbox surprise series : Japanse sewing books | Compagnie-M March 18, 2014 at 5:34 am

    […] comfy, and the flowers reminded me of Spring. The first piece I made is this Frill Cami Blouse from the book – きちんと可愛い女の子服 or Neat and Lovely Girls’ Clothes. The lightweight fabric was perfect for the frilled sleeves and the buttons and ribbon were a […]

  • Reply Book Review – Sew Sweet Handmade Clothes for Girls – Now in English! » Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics October 24, 2014 at 9:07 am

    […] some of her Japanese sewing books in the past like this one Fashionable clothes for Girls and Lovely Girls’ Dresses for girls up to 160cm. I have also done a translation request and blogged about something I made […]

  • Reply Tracy July 2, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    In another post I’d asked about a book of patterns that would cover tweens — I hadn’t seen this beautiful and thorough review yet! It does cover quite a range of sizes. Thank you for this–it was very helpful. I’ll look at more Araki–hopefully I’ll find English. 🙂 Otherwise, I guess I’m learning to use Japanese patterns with your helpful tools! Thanks much!

  • Reply lopka April 20, 2018 at 8:30 am

    I agree with you, many useful good patterns here (even now, how many years later?…) that may look even more modern with different kind of fabrics.
    For instance, I’ve seen the fabric of the skirt for the ‘deep collar dress’. It’s an absolute funky design and I personally would not pair it with a dark brown top for it completely dies out, imo.

    Anyway, thanks for reviewing this. It’s an overall great book.

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