Book Review – Kurai muki no kodomofuku : Simple+one

It’s Wednesday and time for another book review 🙂

Today’s book is called Kurai Muki no Kodomofuku : Simple+one. (クライ・ムキの子供服 Simple+one)
The author is 倉井美由紀 but she is known as クライ・ムキ Kurai Muki. She has written lots of books on sewing! I first came across this book at a friend’s place and was so besotted with one of the dresses that I had to get one of my own. I’ve already made two of the same dresses and received an order for another dress. You can read about it on my other blog here.

The book covers 6 basic patterns and provides multiple variations of each style. The variations are really creative, and not just attaching pockets, ribbons or frills, but real variations. For example, the dress above that I made was from a simple bodice and dress pattern. One of the variation is the one above, and another is shown below. It is an organza party dress with a real poufy skirt!

The techniques covered in this book are pretty advanced, and assume that you know the basics, so there are no instructions for beginners. But I like it because it really allows you to utilize one basic pattern (tracing patterns is the most tedious part of sewing for me!) and make many different garments.

There are patterns for boys too!

Cargo bermudas or jeans? Up to you, all with the same pattern. Sometimes being creative doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but this book will inspire you to explore using the same pattern with different materials, different finishes, to make a completely different garment. These two pants are basically cut from the same pattern, with the length adjusted to the height of the child, but with slightly different belt loops, different hemming methods, external pockets on the left but side pockets on the right, contrast overstitching on the right but not on the left. Play around with your own ideas and make more out of one pattern.

And check this out. A full set of formal wear for both boys and girls. All with the patterns from this book. Each outfit is made with a combination of two different base patterns. So basically this one book can cover all your clothing needs. From t-shirts, shirts, blouse, pants, dresses for both casual and formal wear.

As I mentioned earlier, there are no in-depth step by step photographs as this is not a beginner book. But there is a special how-to-make for the organza party dress as it is a little more difficult and requires the use of a serger/overlocker. There are 5 pages in all with detailed photos on how to make the organza dress. I need to make 4 bridesmaid dresses for my cousin’s wedding in december… so maybe a new serger is in order??? 😉

The rest of the book covers the pattern for each design variation featured in the yummy photos from the first half of the book. Most of them have diagrams, but also note that some of the how-to-makes cross reference to other pages for certain steps. For example, the dress I made included 3 references to other pages.

 Book Title : クライ・ムキの子供服 Simple+one
Author : クライ・ムキ
ISBN : 978-4-418-05124-3