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Magazine review – Sewing Pochee vol. 15 Spring 2013

April 16, 2013

Time for another Spring magazine! Today’s review is on Sewing Pochee volume 15.

Sewing Pochee is one of my favourite books/magazine. But I realized I haven’t done a review on it for a while now (last one was done a year ago).

Spring wear is mainly about layering pieces, so these can be worn individually or layered on. This is a long shirt dress which can be worn like a coat as well.

A similar shirt but in a shorter version with a peter pan collar and ribbon tie in the front.

And it comes with step by step photos!

Close up of the process.

A side slit tunic which you can leave untied (on the left model) or tied up (on right model)

V-neck tunic in khaki linen.

V-neck blouse with frill sleeves and ribbon tie detail at the back

Butterfly sleeve tunic.

My favourite section in this book! Do you remember this book that I reviewed – Everyday Clothes for Girls ? Well, they have reproduced the same patterns in adult sizes! Which means…

I can now make a matching smock blouse for myself to match the ones I made for my girls 🙂

This is a the dress version of the smock blouse, without the buttons in front.

Another adult version from the book – border print (stripes) coat.

Then there are Mama and Girl matching sets,

Mama and Boy matching sets, and wait there’s more!

Papa and Boy matching sets! For far too long the fathers have been left out of the handmade love. Now you can make matching outfits for father and son. Start working on this now for Father’s Day?

Close up of Papa’s shirt

There is also a two-color pants pattern but in boy sizes only.

Simple projects for lazy sewing days 🙂 Sewing without patterns!

Very pretty tulle skirt.

As with all sewing magazines, there are usually sections devoted to crafters, bloggers and a peek into their sewing room for some sewing room envy. Her fabric storage cabinet is made from recycled vintage kindergarten cubby holes!

Vintage drawers for storing patterns, tools and notions.

Other than clothes, there are also patterns for bags and accessories.

An insulated lunch bag

Jazz up your measuring tape with these cute covers.

Dress up your soap (yes! soap) with some decoupage.

Now for the how-to-make section. There are some basic techniques that will be used throughout the projects. Everything is in diagram form which makes it easy to understand. You can also cross reference the techniques by matching the names when you come across it in the how-to-make.

Most of the how-to-make pages look like the one below.

There are very few text instructions which in a way is good because not much translation is necessary. Follow the order of make using the numbers on the main diagram.

A closeup of the diagrams.

The sizes included for this book are :
Adult (ladies) : S,M,L,LL
Kids : 100,110,120,130

Sewing Pochee vol.15(2013spring) / Nihon Vogue

Title : Sewing Pochee vol.15(2013spring) (Heart Warming Life Series)
Click on link to buy (affiliate link)
ISBN : 978-4-529-05178-1
Publisher : Nihon Vogue
Next week I will go through the latest Cucito Spring 2013, and maybe a giveaway is coming up 😉 so be sure to check back often!

Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Magazines Ladies Sewing Patterns

Cotton Friend Spring 2013

April 8, 2013

As promised, today’s review is about Cotton Friend Spring 2013 edition.

A quick peek at the projects included in this editon. Tops, bottoms, dresses, Outerwear, Accessories, bags etc. All for the price of one magazine!

I love this dress on the little girl. The dress looks nice on the “Mum” too but I’m not sure if I could pull this school-girly look off myself 🙂 Would love to make this dress for my girls.

A variation of the first dress but a ribbon instead of buttons on the front and without the puff sleeves.

The how-to-make pages are convenient located right after the photos, and they are mostly in colored diagrams like the one above. The shading helps with identifying the right and wrong side of fabrics, which I think is pretty helpful in visualizing the process.

The Spring Sewing Special is separated into 5 main sections.

The first section is projects designed by NANATONE. Have you heard of NANATONE? The designer – Ms Megumi Aoki (who models the outfits herself by the way) designs comfortable clothes for sale in her own online shop. She has also published her own pattern book that I will be reviewing later on. Very simple, casual pieces.

The next section is all about projects made using European style printed fabrics from Tilda.

Step by step photos!

Section 3 is about knits. With patterns for matching Mother+Daughter tops.

Step by step photos again, with clear pictures on how to use not just an overlocker, but a cover stitch machine as well. I don’t know many people who have cover stitch machines though. But the rest of the step by step photos are very useful if you are a beginner for knits because it really shows you in great detail how to sew up a long sleeve top using an overlocker.

Section 4 is about simple sewing for adults. Like the dress above with a pleated neckline. The pattern comes with different variations for a long sleeve version of the dress as well as shorter versions to be worn as tops.

More simple sewing for adults – gather tunic and its variations.

Section 5 – All about skirt and pants with tucks. Each basic pattern comes with 3 variations.

The next section is really interesting. It’s about garments made from straight line patterns. I love this because it means no tracing of patterns!

Simply follow the cutting diagram dimensions, and make openings as directed in the instructions.

The short cardigan on the right (picture above) looks really simple and the best part is, no hemming is required 🙂

Do you remember my book review on Handmade wallets? The wallets above are actually pretty similar, and come with diagrams that look similar to those in the book. You get this pattern together with this book. The diagrams show you how to construct a proper wallet with dividers and a zipper coin compartment.

There are lots more patterns for bags, pouches and accessories in the magazine that I haven’t been able to cover here. I love magazines, such value for money! 😛

That’s all for today. Next week I will show you what’s in the Spring edition of Sewing Pochee! See you then!




Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Magazines Ladies Sewing Patterns

Spring is here!

April 1, 2013

We’ve been having searing hot weather coupled with thunderstorms over here in Singapore. It’s hot and wet all year around and seems especially hot for this time of the year. If not for the Hanami pictures I’ve been seeing on instagram, it hardly feels like Spring over here!

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Magazine Review – Cucito Winter/Early Spring 2013

January 22, 2013

Finally got my hands on the current issue of Cucito.

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Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Magazines Ladies Sewing Patterns

Japanese Sewing Magazine Review – Female Autumn 2012

October 26, 2012

It’s never a good idea to walk into a bookshop when feeling depressed.  I wasn’t intending to buy this because I was supposedly on a book ban and anyway I flipped through it once before and thought there was nothing much I wanted to make from it. Somehow the second time I flipped through it I found a number of items I wanted to make, so there goes the book ban. 😛

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