Book Review – Easy wearing Clean-cut Ladies clothes

The title of today’s book review is ゆったりだけどすっきりシルエットの大人服 This was a tricky one. The direct translation on Google translate said “Loose but Clear Silhouette Adults Clothes”.  I take it as Loose = Easy fitting/easy to wear, Clear Silhouette = Well defined lines (despite it being loose?), Adult clothes (says adult, but there are only women’s patterns in here). So apparently readers may think loose = ill-fitting, therefore the emphasis on clear silhouette? 😉

This is another Pochee special from the Heart Warming Life Series, published by Nihon Vogue. There are 39 projects in all, with everything from outerwear to tops, dresses, skirts, leggings and even bags. Enough to sew up an entire wardrobe!

Here are some of the tops. As you can see, they are all loose fitting and easy to wear. 

Learnt a new term with this top. This top (above) is called the ドルマンスリーブのブラウス (Doruman suribu no burawusu)
Literally, Dolman sleeve blouse. So what is a Dolman sleeve?
Wikipedia says – A dolman sleeve is a sleeve set into a very low armscye; in fact, the armscye may extend to the waistline, in which case there will be no underarm seam in the blouse. Dolman sleeves were very popular in ladies clothing during the Civil War. They had the effect of making the shoulders look sloped therefore minimizing the appearance of the waist. Dolman sleeves are created by making the fabric near the shoulder a wider cut than toward the wrist.

Another variation of the same pattern, this time in a knit, with added lace collars. I like the variation in patterns using different materials.
Helps you envision the possibilities of one single pattern.

Similarly, pattern B comes in two different length variations

This is really sweet. Butterfly sleeve blouse.

In a tunic version, but with a lacy border print fabric for the butterfly sleeves.

Rain Poncho! Super cute!

I think this would be nicer without the jeans? What do you think?

I have been looking for a shirt dress pattern. But the long sleeves will mean that I will hardly get to wear them,
given that the weather here is hot all year round. so maybe I’ll convert this to a short sleeve shirt dress.

This is the short sleeve version of the same shirt dress above. With a different collar. I love it when different projects use the same pattern pieces. Less tracing for me ;P

サロペットパンツ (Saropetto pantsu)
Another new term! Salopette apparently means overalls, or from Wiki – Salopettes are trousers which go up above the waistline and have attached suspenders.

There are a couple of pants patterns, with different variations in lengths, hems and waist finishes. Looks unimportant, but most likely to be a very useful pattern.
Everyone needs co-ordinating bottoms.

A dressier top (right) , add on a skirt and longer sleeves and it becomes a dress (left)

There is a also section on making warmer clothing for winter, like this super comfy cute looking bolero
(which is actually made using the same butterfly sleeve blouse pattern from above)

This is also a variation of one of the dress patterns above, but using a wool material instead, and it becomes a coat.

A variation of the rain poncho pattern, but in a knit material.

Leggings in different materials and hem finishes. The first is using denim (it’s called jeggings, leggings that look like jeans), the second is a pants style leggings. The third is a simple knit material leggings, and the last has ruched sides which makes it a dressy pair of leggings.

A fur tippet. 🙂

A long shirt dress.

Yes, this book includes 4 bag patterns too!

I thought this was a blouse, but no, it’s actually a frill bag. It’s pretty but I would have chosen a different fabric or material.

This is cool, it teaches you how to co-ordinate the pieces you just made with other simple pieces that might already be in your wardrobe.

Now we move on the technicalities. The how-to-make section starts of with some basic sewing notes. Note the size chart for the projects under point no. 1.
S,M and L sizes only. The columns on the top row are for “bust, waist, hip and height”

Interspersed between the projects, are special lessons for the more complicated patterns. There are 4 lessons in all.
1. Butterfly sleeve blouse
2. Shirt dress
3. Standard color dress
4. Frill bag

This image above shows you the standard how-to-make page for every project. Everything is in diagrams, so just follow the numbers for the steps to take.

A close up of the diagrams. Should be pretty easy to follow.

The book comes with two sheets of patterns.

Back cover

Title : ゆったりだけどすっきりシルエットの大人服
ISBN : 978-4-529-05073-9
Publisher : Nihon Vogue
Number of pages :  95

Have a good weekend ahead! I am looking forward to my new serger/overlocker which will be delivered tomorrow. 🙂