japanese sewing books – Page 7 – Japanese Sewing, Pattern, Craft Books and Fabrics

Guides Translations and Help with Patterns

Understanding a typical Japanese sewing pattern

January 17, 2012

After posting the dictionary of sewing terms, I shall now go through an example of a typical pattern you can find in the sewing books. Most pattern books follow a similar structure such as this one.

You will usually find something like the above, with the size information as well as the list of materials and procedure, as well as two diagrams. One for cutting of the fabrics and one for the procedure. Let’s break it down into 4 parts to get a clearer picture.

First, determine the size you need. Then locate then pattern (G in this case) and prepare the materials.

Special notes to take care of when cutting, preparation details, and then order of making. (refer to diagram below)

For most books, unless specified, the seam allowance is usually 1cm. The seam allowances are usually denoted by a number and a line/arrow to the seam.

Hope this will help! I didn’t translate most of the section of “order of making” since it is specific to this garment and will not make much sense to another project, but understanding what the individual sections are about and the diagram conventions, as well as referring to the dictionary of terms, it should help you get started.

Just leave a comment if you have any questions.

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Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Books Ladies Sewing Patterns

Book Review – Pochée

January 10, 2012

Pochée magazine is a sewing magazine mainly for women, and I would never have discovered it if not for this.

I found this under the sewing books section while browsing in a bookstore in Japan, I couldn’t believe I have never seen this magazine before, since our local Kinokuniya does stock up a good variety of magazines. The name did sound familiar though, so I did a google and realized it is a magazine mainly for women, but there are a few kids patterns in each issue, although the cover always features a grown up. Which explains why I’ve never seen it because I’m more into sewing kids stuff.

This is a special edition with kids stuff only, and it has alot of stuff! From clothes (for both boys and girls), bags, even yukatas (casual summer kimonos)

There are also fantastic step by step photographs showing you how to do the more difficult projects or new and important techniques to learn. No translations necessary here 🙂

There are also book recommendations, mainly books published by the same publisher as Pochée. There will be a free pattern contribution by the author of the new book, as well as the picture of the new book and it’s details.

One of my favourite sections – sewing spaces and a look into the homes of creative mums and the cool stuff they made for their kids. I love seeing their sewing rooms and how they organize their fabric, tools and notions.

And here, the real reason for buying this book 😉 I wanted to make a new backpack for school. This is what I made. You can read more about it and see more pictures at my other blog.

There is also an interesting section on how to make use of your kid’s drawings on interesting displays, fabric and even rainboots!

Information about the resources, fabrics and notions used in the projects. I love discovering new fabrics and online resources for buying more Japanese fabric and cute notions!

If you live near a Japanese bookstore, try looking under the craft books section if you can’t find it under the magazines, as this is a special edition and not a regular publication.

Title : Kids Sewing Pochee
ISBN No: 9784529049610

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Free Japanese Sewing Patterns Links Free Patterns

Free Japanese sewing patterns

January 9, 2012

I was in Japan for a holiday just a few weeks ago, and stumbled upon a shop in Otaru that sold fabrics and notions. The best thing about Japanese fabric shops are that they usually have samples of finished products hanging near the fabrics and it gives you a good feel of the weight and suitability of the fabric for say a bag or a garment.

I fell in love with one of the bags and bought the fabrics needed, and I initially thought that I would have to go home and figure out the pattern myself. On a whim I decided to ask the lady serving me, if she had the pattern for the bag, and she said yes! She whipped out a clear folder, and there it was, photostated copies of the bag I wanted to make! She even followed the list of materials and helped me cut out exactly what I needed, even double checked the grain of the fabric to make sure she was getting it right before cutting 🙂

The pattern basically gave instructions and a diagram of how to draw out the pattern yourself, needs a little bit of estimation around the curves unless you have a curved rule, but otherwise pretty easy to understand.

So when I got home, I decided to search for more free patterns on Japanese search engines, and I am going to post my new discoveries here every monday. I’m also setting up a schedule for myself to post more regularly so hopefully I can stick to this new routine.

First up is a free pattern site from Nani Iro. I first came across this designer in a 5-storey fabric store in Shinjuku called Odakaya 2 years ago. Her fabrics were gorgeous! Natural cotton/linen palette with watercolor random patterns/polka dots. I bought some but till today I have no guts to cut it up 😛

There are patterns for babies, kids clothes/bags, adult clothes and bags, and even one for a kimono! Amazing. Instructions are in japanese but with hand drawn diagrams, for simple garments it is quite easy to understand. I am tempted to try out the patterns here and if I do, I will post my translated version.

Visit the site for more patterns. http://naniiro.jp/textile/pattern-making The site is in Japanese but as the patterns are organized by fabric collections, so just click on the thumbnails to see the projects available for each collection.

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Guides Translations and Help with Patterns

How to Make – 作り方

December 28, 2011

A typical Japanese sewing or pattern book usually starts with gorgeous pictures of cute models in the finished projects, sometimes followed by a summary of all the projects available in the book.

At the end of the pretty pictures, before you dive into the patterns+instructions per se, there is usually a page indicating size information and other general guidelines on how to use the patterns. The page is usually titled ” 作り方”, sometimes in English “How to Make”

The rest of the text above the size chart are general pointers that are relevant to all the projects in the book. In this particular book it is giving information about the sizes that are provided for in the pattern sheet, and special notes for making the individual garments such as blouses/skirts/hats.

Because this content differs from book to book, I will not delve into the actual details of this particular passage. It is more important to know the terms for the body parts mentioned in the size chart so that you can at least know what measurements to take and what size to make. Also, from the size chart you can see that this book covers patterns for heights from 100-140, in 10 cm increments which means for each pattern there are 5 different sizes.

Important point to note, that the Japanese books use centimetres and meters (i.e. the metric system).

The pattern books are usually published for a range of sizes, usually in cm for children based on their height, and S,M,L for adults. For children, they sometimes give an estimate of the ages of the child and the corresponding size to make, but do take note that these are Japanese averages, so it is probably better to measure your child’s height/chest measurements and use the corresponding size on the table rather than depending on the age value.

I will be posting a list of frequently used terms in Japanese sewing + pattern books, check back soon!

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Guides Translations and Help with Patterns

Getting started with Japanese sewing books + patterns – choose the right one!

December 13, 2011

It goes without saying that even if you are shopping for a sewing book in your own preferred language, you should get one that is suited for your proficiency level. Similarly, for Japanese sewing books, there are books suited for different levels. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to tell by the cover, and it doesn’t help that all the covers look so interesting, you want to BUY every single one of them!

If you are lucky enough to be able to browse through the books before buying, look for one with lots of photographs. One of my personal favourites is this book

I love the list of projects page, where you can see all the finished products and even variations of each item of clothing.

Clear and concise step by step photographs

Step by step photos showing how the dress is constructed. When I first started, the first pattern I bought was from Spotlight, one of those brands that come in a little envelope and a few illustrated pictures of the few variations of the completed garment. The pattern was very thin tissue like, and it was hard to use, and the instructions were mind boggling! It was not till I got this book that I actually finally got the hang of making a basic dress bodice (with lining), and learned how to make a proper (and neat) facing with buttons.

This book is excellent for beginners because most of the dresses are simple, and are variations of a few basic styles, so by referring to the corresponding style but changing the sleeves/skirt, you can make quite a few garments out of this book.

I’ve also found a few other books that provide excellent step by step pictures. I will be posting reviews of the books I have, so do check back at my site regularly for new recommendations!

On the other hand, there are books that just show a diagram like this

The diagrams on the right have arrows pointing to them and are labelled with numbers. The numbers represent the order of sewing. Which is simple enough if you are experienced at sewing, and the steps are simple. Sometimes for a complicated garment like a jacket or a coat, it can get very confusing.

I will be listing various books in my blog with photos of the inside of the book, to give you an idea of the difficulty level of the book. Hope that will help you in choosing the right book to start with.

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