Magazine Review – Cucito Winter/Early Spring 2013

Finally got my hands on the current issue of Cucito.

The current issue is the 2013 Winter/Early Spring edition. And the headline feature “入園入學準備特集” Which means literally “Entrance into Kindergarten and Entrance into Elementary School Special”. Perfect timing!

The book starts off with a couple of School Entrance Ceremony wear. The School Entrance Ceremony is supposedly quite as important as the Graduation ceremony, so they have to dress up nicely for it!

Make some matching accessories to go with the formal wear.

Then the magazine goes on to cover back to school projects like lunch bags, lesson bags, music cases etc.

Many of the school goods projects come with step by step photos for instructions.

A standard set of bags and pouches you will need.

For the girls.

The fabric can be cut according to the diagram to get the different parts of fabric print for the different parts of the bags. Cool idea that helps you co-ordinate without actually having to buy more than 1 type of fabric or fret over how to co-ordinate the prints 🙂

Make a smock apron for art and craft, and customize it with your own appliques.

Other than school goods, there are also patterns for clothes, such as these.

These are pajamas sets with a co-ordinating carrying case, meant for kids who go to childcare. I won’t need the carrying case since my kids don’t go to childcare 🙂 but I do need that pajamas pattern for my New year sewing which needs to be completed by the first week of Feb.

Since it is the winter edition, there must be some cute winter projects for both Mama and kids.

There are patterns for outerwear, warm dresses/tunics, tippet made of furry fabric, and you can even use the excess to make this…

Woolly sheep bags… Too cute!

Love the fabric!

Stay stylish and warm at the same time.

There are also projects for babies/toddlers. Like this skirt. Looks like just a simple skirt, but…

there is an extra warm layer above the waistband that keeps the skirt snug and prevents gaps in the clothing from exposing the tummy to the chilly weather. Something like a tummy warmer?

Pattern for pants version with tummy warmer. Great for both boys and girls.

Fleece overalls.

I was going to call this a hooded cape (it comes with cute ears on the hood) but the book called it a マント (ma-n-to) which  the Japanese Wikipedia page says it is a loose cape and the word originates from the french word : manteau.

There are also the new product/fabric range sections that introduce you to the new fabrics and projects made out of them. These are the new fabrics from my favourite Puti de pome!

Many of the projects, especially the school goods section, included step by step photographs. For the rest of the projects, the patterns are listed at the back section of the magazine. The how-to-make section begins with some basic techniques. like how to trace and transfer the patterns, adding seam allowances etc.

A typical how-to-make page.

A close up view of the diagrams.

I love reading the back page, even though it’s almost always an advertisement for Clover. Check out this black dressmaking scissors from Clover. It’s apparently 60% lighter than regular scissors but very durable. I want one but I don’t think they sell this in Singapore. Guess I’ll have to wait till the next trip.

The next edition of Cucito will be the Spring issue, published date is 28th Feb. Looking forward to it since there should be more projects suitable for our weather.

Next week, will be the Free pattern+tutorial+sew-along week along the lines of back to school goods. Join me here next week to find out what I’m making!

Title : Cucito クチート　２０１３冬。早春号
Publisher : www.boutique-sha.co.jp