Hello Everyone!
Today I'm posting the first in a series of in depth book reviews on the books in the shop. I hope that you enjoy it, and if you have any questions or comments on the patterns or the book, feel free to leave them in the comments so that others can address them. It would be wonderful to get a dialog going on some of these, and help everyone along.
Cheers,
Laura
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女の子の服、てづくりの服。
By: Yoshiko Tsukiori + H.H (2005)
This was the first craft book I ever purchased, so its only fitting that I choose it first to review. Long, long before I knew that anyone but me found them beautiful; and long before my own little girl came to me, I came upon this book and was amazed to find nice modern patterns for kid's clothes, without being over the top. It is still one of my favorites craftbooks, and I am very glad to have the opportunity to put it to use.
"I thought to myself; 'Someday, if a little girl comes into my life, I want to make her simple but high quality clothing' "(pg 1).*
Yoshiko Tsukiori wanted to design clothes that would let the natural sweetness of little girls shine, by using fine fabrics and simple lines. She wanted mothers to be able to give the gift of handmade clothes to their children. The result of that effort is this book, a collaboration with Hobby-ra Hobby-re. Based upon the success of this book, they later went on to do Baby's Clothes, Handmade Clothes for younger children.
The clothes are sweet, simple and varied. Dresses, pants, smocks, shirts and hats, each made from gorgeous fabrics (Liberty prints!) and beautifully photographed in that quintessential craft book style, with 31 patterns in all. You could definitely construct an entire little girl's wardrobe from this book.
The patterns are suitable for an adventerous beginning or intermediate sewer, and the sizes
run from 90-110 cm (35.5-43 inches), fitting ages 2-5 years old.
As with many Japanese craft books, the patterns are all stacked upon one another on
one large sheet of paper, and so need to be recopied before use. But this is great
if you plan to reuse a pattern for different sizes.
Both of the patterns that I 'tested' were as simple as promised. The first was a little summer halter top, and the second was a child's tote for adventuring. Both were very easy, I followed the diagrammed instructions without any difficulty and finished each in about 2 hours.
A couple of notes based on my experience: Pay close attention to the pattern layouts. As is often the case with Japanese craft books, seam allowances are not included into the patterns themselves, but the layout diagrams clearly show where and how much to add. Also for projects like hats, the layout may show details about the placing of interfacing, and repeating pieces not shown in the rest of the pattern. The patterns also assume that you know how to do basic techniques like make bias tape and finish hems, but they do show more complex ones such as smocking.
With its beautiful layout, and its variety of simple elegant designs, "Girl's Clothes, Handmade Clothes", is a fantastic resource for girl's clothing. If you have a little girl, or know someone who does, I encourage you to add this book to your collection; you won't regret it. The efforts are minimal and the results are simply gorgeous.
"Someday, if a little girl comes to me, I will surely give her this gift.…this is my dream".*
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*These are my translations, and are probably not perfect :-)