Book Reviews

I’m sorry for posting later and later into the week. I have been bogged down by work earlier this week and hopefully next week will be back to normal. My list of translation requests is growing too (sorry to keep you waiting!) and I’ve been wanting to do up some sewing videos too, but just haven’t had the time or space to do it. I hope my current work project ends soon so that I can get some of my own time to do my own stuff! Anyway, here is this week’s book review.

This week’s book review is kind of an impulse buy. I was basically sold by two dresses. The one on the front cover…

and the other on the back cover.

The title of the book is ワンピースがいちばん　which means the Number One/Best (because ichiban literally means “Number 1/The First” but can also mean “The Best”) Dresses.  I prefer to call it The Best Dresses.
There are 19 patterns in all, for sizes 9,11 and 13. The author of the book is 茅木 真知子 (Kayaki Machiko), who also wrote Simple Chic, Skirt ala carte, and many more. If you have come across or own any of her books, you should know that her style is very simple but with chic (oops did I just borrow that from the title of her book?). I also like her choice of fabrics and colors, which makes me feel that I have to make them in the same fabric or else it wouldn’t work out as well. The link to the website where you can buy the fabrics is included in the book credits – www.pindot.net . Unfortunately it’s in Japanese and only ships domestic so I guess we can only browse.

Now let’s see what dresses you can make with this book!

Sleeveless dress in soft linen

Kimono style dress

Easy wearing dress with half sleeves.

Dress with gathered neckline and sleeves.

Low waist dress

Coat dress with lace embellishments

Floral print smock

Navy blue check dress

I learn something new everyday. Today I learned a little bit of French.
The Japanese title for this dress was ギンガムチェックのカシュクールドレス.
ギンガム = Gingham, チェック = Check , and ドレス = dress
But what was カシュクール (ka-shu-ku-ru?) Google translate said it mean “Cache-coeur” which is a French word, and when I looked it up it says this on Wikipedia “A Cache-cœur (French for “hide the heart”) is a top for women, composed of two finished triangular parts, each having a strap. It is closed by overlapping the two segments and tying the straps behind the back or along the side, depending on the length. The triangular shape of the sides makes the garment a type of V-neck.”

Now I know. 🙂

Cotton shirt dress

Check out the collar details below!

Hemp dress with collar

A-line Wool dress

Wool gauze dress with lace

The sizes included in this book are for sizes 9,11 and 13.

On the left hand colomn, the measurements are for Bust, Waist, Hip, Back length, Sleeve length and Height.

The how-to-make section follows the usual format, with materials, cutting layout, and sewing steps. Note that for each garment there is also a small table indicating the dimensions of the completed garment.

Close up of one of the diagrams. It’s hand drawn!

Two large pattern sheets included.

Title :  ワンピースがいちばん The Best Dresses
Author : 茅木 真知子 (Kayaki Machiko)
ISBN : 978-4-579-11484-9
Publisher : Bunka Publishing Bureau

I’m back from vacation! It was really great to get away for one whole week, not having to check my email from work was really stress relieving 🙂 and the cool temperatures of Adelaide was a welcome change from the searing hot weather we’ve been having for the past month. We stayed in a lovely seaside 2 bedroom apartment and really did nothing but hang out at the beach, BBQ, catching up on sleep and just a little bit of sight seeing. My kind of holiday!

After being separated from my blog and books and sewing machine for one week, I am really itching to sew again, and there are a couple of things on my list that I have to get done before school starts again in July. However, I was notified by my friends that Kinokuniya is having a sale (again) and of course I had to go check it out. I picked up only 2 books this time. Amazing restraint? 😛

I first spotted this book when I did the New Releases post in March earlier this year. It is one of the few book covers that I liked, and the title sounded promising. But without a “look inside” or customer images available at that time, I decided not buy it online. Luckily I spotted this book and got to browse through it at the bookstore.

Here are some pictures of what’s inside the book. Please forgive the blur images as I had to take them with my mobile phone. My camera battery is completely flat after the trip and I forgot to charge it!

There are 26 garments featured in all, for sizes S,M,L and LL. The stars below each item denotes the level of difficulty. Please note that despite featuring 26 different garments, some of them are actually slight variations of each other, either in fabric options or in terms of  length. Some of the patterns are actually used for more than 1 garment, so the total number of patterns you actually get is less than 26. For example, there are two fabric variations for the ribbon skirt, tapered pants, and kimono pullover.

Let’s look at some of my favourite projects in this book!

Flared pullover. In a lovely lace fabric, this airy breezy piece is perfect for summer!

Dress with balloon sleeves.

Key neck pullover – I love this one!

Frill collar pullover

Crew neck robe

Key neck robe  with a fabric belt. This is basically the long dress and longer sleeve version of the key neck pullover.

Tapered linen pants

Kimono sleeves pullover

Ribbon skirt in linen

All in one – the only 3 star project in this book!

Tartan tunic

Hooded coat

Long flared coat

The general look and feel of this book is once again very clean cut, simple lines and silhouettes, as in most Japanese sewing books. It also has its fair share of long baggy shapeless pieces that I am not so fond of :P, but also lots of wearable pieces like the skirts and tapered pants. I also like the pullover tops for the easy sewing and easy wearing. They will be perfect paired with jeans.

Now for the technical bits – the size chart (units in cm)

Terms indicated in the leftmost column – Height / Bust / Waist / Hip

The format for the instructions is pretty much standard – Materials, Cutting Layout, Sewing steps in point form as well as indicated in the overall graphic.

The steps are individually illustrated using graphics.

Close up of diagrams

1 large 2-sided pattern sheet included.

Title : Clean and Natural いつもの服、きれいな服
Author : 大川友美
ISBN No :  978-4-579-11483-2

I had so many ambitious sewing plans for the June holidays! Including having real sewing lessons with my daughters. So far we have only managed to make 1 shoebag, and the rest of the time seemed to have zoomed by in a flash with other activities and a birthday celebration. I didn’t even find time to sew my little one a birthday dress! 🙁  To write this post, I woke up much earlier than the rest of the house just so that I can get the pictures ready and write in total peace and quiet. So I expect this should be the only post this week. Next week I will be away on vacation for the whole week so I hope to schedule some translation posts in just to get my list of things to do a little shorter. I do hope I can get some sewing done by the end of this month. Hopefully a dress from this new book!

This book was released in May and was one of those listed in the blog post for new releases. From the cover, you really can’t tell much about what’s inside the book. So I was really glad to have spotted this book in my local Kinokuniya and got a chance to flip through it. I really loved what I saw so I had to get it.

I just included this page in the preview because I really really like the layout. Such a peaceful feeling… 🙂

Let’s have a look at the clothes you can make. There are 2 content pages, with 10 main styles (A-J) but with at least 2 variations per style.

Can  you tell that the picture above and the picture below belongs to the same style A?  The name of the basic style is called a サックドレス which literally means sack dress! Not a very flattering name for a dress, but it does look like an all occasion dress pattern depending on the type of fabric you use for it. The silhouette is a simple straight A-line but with bust darts to give it some shape.

The next style B is a french sleeve gathered dress, this dress has a zip down the back and a hidden side pocket.

Style C – A gathered neckline dress. The dress itself is more like a shift, no darts. The main design element is in the gathers around the neckline. The gathers are actually achieved with a drawstring effect of the ribbon tie.

Style D is a Frill Blouse. The front middle of the blouse is actually a button placket which buttons all the way up to the collar, you can’t really tell in the picture because she is wearing it unbuttoned and layered over a camisole. There are 3 vertical columns of frills on each side, running parallel to the button placket. A very pretty spring/summer blouse.

A longer dress variation is included for this style. Look how pretty it is in black too!

I skipped Style E which was a caftan dress, partly because I think there are too many similar patterns out there…

The next style F is for a skirt, just a simple tiered skirt with a side concealed zip enclosure. But what I liked about this particular skirt is the use of heavy wool which makes it ideal for cold weather. Looks cosy doesn’t it?

Moving on to style G –  a smock blouse with 3/4 sleeves. The ends of the sleeve are gathered, giving it a puffy sleeve look. I love the black lace fabric on this!

There is also a smock dress variation for this pattern, which is basically just a longer version of the blouse. The following picture shoes the sleeve details more clearly.

Style H is a boat neck blouse. It looks very simple but there is a special design element to it…

There is a tuck in the back. Check out the top stitch details on this one. Style H also comes in a longer dress variation.

Style I is a pattern for a pair of wide pants. A very simple pattern but by varying the length and fabric used, you can make anything from your lounge pants to linen/wool pants for going out. Play with varying the belt and pocket colors to make it your own style.

The last style J is called アメリカンスリーブドレス. Literally translated as American sleeve dress. I have never come across this naming convention, but from the diagrams it looks like the armholes are cut further in compared to the usual sleeveless patterns. Not quite halter or racerback, but cut in further with a narrower shoulder seam than the usual sleeveless tops.

Here’s a view from the back, in a more formal jacquard fabric.

You can make it in knit fabric too, here’s a picture of it in a long maxi dress length.

The size chart for the projects included in this book. Note that not all the patterns come in these sizes. Those that come in free sizes are usually the baggy fitting styles. Those that come with zip enclosures will come in individual S,M,L sizes. There are also some blouses that come in S/M and L sizes – meaning two sets of patterns only. One for S/M and one for L. And there are patterns that come in S, M/L which means one set of patterns from S and one for M/L. Sounds confusing but I guess the most important thing is to read carefully before tracing or cutting!

The how-to-make section is pretty standard, with diagrams, cutting layout, and instructions in point form.

A close up of the diagram.

2 actual size pattern sheets (for a total of 4 sides) included.

In short, I love the aesthetics and styling of the book. The styles make look a little mature for some of you, which could be due to the choice of model or fabrics. But I find that most of the patterns are pretty much wardrobe staples, so you can vary the fabrics and lengths to your liking, and basically make your own clothes in your own style.

Title : 自分スタイルの服作り
Author : 杉本伸子 designer of Hayama Sunday
ISBN : 978-4-579-11488-7