Girls Sewing Patterns

Today’s book review is on making summer clothes for girls. Easy, quick, 1 day sewing.

I picked up this book just based on the cover photo. I didn’t even look through it. By the way, in case you are wondering, the Kinokuniya here likes to shrink wrap all their books to prevent browsing. I think it’s a great idea because the books are always in mint condition, but you’ll have to carry them to the counter to browse through the book. So sometimes when I have lots of time I will do that, otherwise I just buy based on the cover pic! 😉

There are 39 different garments to be made from this book. Some of them are variations of the same pattern, but with different lengths and details. For example, the two tops on the front cover are actually variations of the same pattern but one has a longer bodice section and frills on the bottom edge.

I love these two tops/dresses, my girl likes these dresses too because she can wear tights with them.

Pretty 3 tiered skirts.

Rompers! The book calls them all-in-ones. But it’s sweet and great for outdoor play.

You can wear shorts and still look girly 🙂

This book does not have step by step photographs, but I thought these diagrams were quite useful. They illustrate the meanings of the terms, like バストon the first diagram on the left shows the bust line of the blouse.

Another useful diagram is this, where it shows you the terms and the corresponding area of the body it refers to, so you can match the terms and take the measurements accordingly to find the right size to make!

Note that this book only caters to 90,100,110cm sizes. Each of the pattern will begin with these two tables. The one on the left indicates materials needed based on the size you are making. And the one on the right indicates the completed garment size.

As mentioned before, there are no photographs, but at least the steps are showin in diagrams. I think this is quite a good book as the projects are simple and can be done quickly, and the diagrams are clear and do not require much translation.

 Book title : 1 day ソーイング　今着せたい女の子の夏服
Author :  加藤容子
ISBN :  978-4-8347-3227-6

This week’s book review is about pure eye candy 🙂

The book title is 女の子のおしゃれ服, by 荒木由紀。Google tells me it means Fashionable clothes for girls.

I love the pictures in this book. The little girl is so cute!

When I flip through books to decide if I will buy it, it almost always depends on whether there are dresses in there that will catch my eye and make me want to make it, or something I know my girls will wear. This one is a different style from the usual dresses I make, but I know my girls will like it. It’s so smart looking. They’ll probably prefer tights with it though 🙂

And this dress is the reason why I bought this book. Ever since my daughter read the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (my fave books!), she’s been wanting a brown poplin dress just like Laura’s. I bought the perfect brown with white polka dots fabric (supposedly Japanese fabric) from Spotlight a few months ago, but never knew which pattern to use. This looks perfect!

Not just dresses, there are blouses, pants, and  even a nice padded long jacket for the colder months.(Doesn’t apply here in Singapore so I guess I won’t be using this) But it’s cute!

So the reason why I said this book is eye candy is because it has not much instructional photos. Not like the previous ones I’ve reviewed. However, for the dress on the cover, there are a two pages of photos showing you how to attach the floral fabric to the shirt collar.

The rest of the how-to-make’s are shown like this below. Instead of numbers pointing to one diagram, there are actually separate diagrams for different steps which is pretty easy to understand. I guess that makes up for the lack of photos.

Altogether, the book covers 6 tops, 5 dresses, 3 skirts, 4 pants, 2 coats, 1 bag, 1 hat, 1 corsage, and as an added bonus, 2 mama sized matching garments (1 dress and 1 blouse)

Book Title : 女の子のおしゃれ服
Author : 荒木由紀
ISBN : 978-4-529-04526-1

This must be one of my most used books. At first glance it looks a bit dated, probably due to the style of the photograph on the cover. It was published in 2006, and the author is Mizuno Yoshiko (水野佳子).

So why is it my most used book? Simply because, there are 5 basic design patterns, with 23 different variations in all!

The first photo above shows a close up of the basic dress shape, followed by the different variations below. Most dresses are basically constructed of a bodice and an attached skirt. So by varying the way the skirt is attached, or adding sleeves and other details, you can make a whole lot of garments with just one pattern. I’ve also re-used the bodice patterns many times to create my own designs just by attaching a different skirt, for example a three tiered gathered skirt with a standard bodice.

This book is meant for sizes 90-130cm. The size chart is shown below.

By now you should be proficient in reading this (if you have referred to this) If not, the first column on the left simply means Pattern A/B/C/D/E, and the two measurements are Bust (バスト) and Length (着丈)  respectively. So pick the correct size to make!

The book includes photographs of all the basic versions as well as the variation, but I can’t post all of them here, so here’s an example of a variation of an easy one piece shift dress (pattern “A”) that is great for playtime!

A variation of it using heavier material and adding lace to the collar line.

This next basic pattern “B” is my favourite of all time. I’ve used it over and over again. It’s just a simple bodice with a gathered skirt. I’ve changed the skirt, or added ruffled sleeves, even a wide satin ribbon across the waist. This pattern alone makes the book worth it!

An a variation of the same pattern using a pleated skirt and adding a thin ribbon across the bodice for additional details. Frankly I’m not fond of the fabric 😉 But imagine it in your own choice of fabrics. Imagine it in a red with tiny white polka dots, and a white ribbon across. Cute? I find that alot of times photographs sell the book, but i’ve bought too many books with pretty photographs that I love, but I’ve not made a single garment out of it, simply because it was either not weather appropriate, or too loose fitting for my liking. Some people will make a dress from a pattern simply because the photo looks good, but you have to imagine the dress on your own child/or your ownself. If it’s a style she won’t wear or doesn’t look good in, then it’s really pointless to make it? Whereas for this, you may think the styles look old fashioned, but I think it’s just that the photographs and fabric choices are a bit dated. If you use your own fabrics and jazz it up, it can really look different.

Just two more examples of the dresses you can make from the book. One is a long sleeve dress pictured in a casual jersey style.

This is also a very versatile pattern. I’ve used this but replaced the ribbons with wide lace (the non scratchy type  of course), and I’ve also made another using frills for the sleeves instead.

And finally, the real reason why this book was one of my favourites. This is the book that taught me how to make a proper lined bodice with step by step photographs, using plain fabric with contrasting thread so that you can see every step clearly.

Book Title : おんなの子のワンピース
Author : 水野佳子
ISBN : 4-7762-0321-9