Book Review and Giveaway – Linen, Wool, Cotton Kids – Now in English

If you have been following my site faithfully for the past few years, you may remember the balloon dress sew-along from this book two years ago? I know many of you purchased the Japanese version upon my recommendation and created beautiful balloon dresses (the one shown on the cover) and made other dresses from it as well. Those of you who hesitated because of the language barrier, you have no excuse now because the book has finally been translated into English!

The book is named Linen, Wool, Cotton Kids – 21 Patterns for Simple Separates and Comfortable Layers, and published by Roost Books.

The book opens up to reveal one actual size pattern sheet attached to the inner cover, the other sheet attached to the back cover. Slightly different from the Japanese version where they attached both at the back of the book. The patterns are for sizes 4-7 (which corresponds to 100-130cm according to the Japanese version)

For those of you who have not seen the book in Japanese, here is a photo summary of the 21 patterns you will be getting in this book.

The patterns are divided into two broad categories : Spring & Summer, Autumn & Winter. All the patterns you need all year round!

In the above photo, you can see how the Spring and Summer pieces are all light and comfy, suitable for layering in the cooler months of Spring and also wearable on their own as single pieces in Summer. The photos are taken in such a way to show you not just the individual pieces, but how you can mix and match the co-ordinates to create different looking outfits.

Here’s one of my favorite dresses. The Dual Yoke Dress. I made two of these for my girls and it is super comfortable for playing in. (See my version below in gingham check)

more photos of this dress on my other blog

Jodhpur-Style Pants uses a drawstring waist for easy wearing, but with a lovely button cuff detail that makes it look more like a pair of going out pants that just casual lounge pants.

Ribbon-Back Tunic and Sleeveless Blouse

Some more light and airy tops great for layering on. I love the soft look created by these sheer fabrics. The description says its a cotton linen fabric. But I can never find such nice fabrics here. The cotton linens we have here are rather thick and hardly sheer, more like linen with a cotton blended in than these nice sheer ones.

You may think these tops look pretty plain, but turn to the back and see the pretty ribbon tie detail (below)

Ribbon Embellished Dress

Next up, a very simple dress with a ribbon embellished yoke. You can’t really tell from the picture because of the color of the fabric, but there are two pockets on the front of the dress.

A very cute casual Stand-Collar Shirt with gathers details where the sleeve meets the shoulder seam, as well as top stitch details down the two centre front panels.

To go with the stand collar shirt, or to dress up a plain t-shirt, add on a Collared Vest, complete with an adjustable buckle on the back as well as welt pockets (unfortunately there are no details on how to attach the welt pockets?!! But this is not the fault of the translation, the original book in Japanese did not go into details about how to make welt pockets as well. I suppose you have to figure this out on your own or refer to online tutorials)

Let’s move on to the Autumn & Winter section.

I love these Hooded Ponchos! I am imagining one in red 🙂 Or even in cotton laminates for a rain poncho!

A pretty Yoke Panel Skirt which you can layer on over warm leggings for Winter or make it in linen/lawn for Spring & Summer seasons.

This picture features the Fleece Hat + Coat Dress . The Coat Dress can be worn as a dress or a coat. This one is made in linen but I guess you can make a nice heavy coat using this pattern with wool as well.

Knickerbocker Puffed Pants

I just adore the pants in this book, they are all designed for ease of movement, but unlike the usual baggy pants, most of the pants designs include pretty girly details such as gathers, yoke panel and cuffs.

Pullover Dress

A Shirt dress with a front yoke and pleats, play with the color of the contrasting panel to make it your own!

An Elbow Patch Jacket

This warm jacket is made out of linen/wool and features cute contrasting elbow patches behind the elbows.  I know you can’t see it from this picture but I really wanted to show you the front instead because it looks so cute and grown-upsy

A Sailor Collar Pullover

Stay nice and toasty in this Hooded Scarf. A Scarf and Hood all in one piece!

Now for the technical details. The size chart for this book.

Note that everything is in inches only. There are no cm equivalents.

The how-to-make section starts off with 2 pages of basic sewing techniques, like Making Bias Tape, Hemming, Making String Ties, Gathers, Patch Pockets and Attaching Sleeves.

The how-to-make for each project follows the same standard formula. Note that other than the size chart, you should also refer to the Finished Measurements for the garment which is the first thing mentioned for each set of pattern instructions.

Note that the measurements are only in inches (See cutting layout diagram above)

Close up of the diagrams.

The other pattern piece that is attached to the back cover.

The very generous folks over at Roost Books are offering the readers of JapaneseSewingBooks.com a chance to win a copy of this awesome book.

To win this, simply leave a comment below and tell us which of the above garments you would love to sew! 

Extra chances will be given for the following :
1. Like Roost Books on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/roostbooks
2. Like Japanese Sewing Books on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/JapaneseSewingBooks

This Giveaway is now over, Thank you for participating!

For those of you who can’t wait any longer for the giveaway to get your hands on your own copy, you can always purchase your own copy (click on book cover image below) as it is already available on Amazon.

Available now on Amazon

Title : Linen, Wool, Cotton Kids
Author : Akiko Mano
ISBN : 978-1-61180-158-3