Going Japanese (translated)

 

I am currently a little bit ridiculously obsessed with sewing clothes for myself.  This is probably a good thing because:
1. I am breastfeeding and it hard to find nice clothes that are suitable for easy feeding
2. I'm fussy and its hard for me to find clothes that I actually like in the shops
3. Shopping with a baby in tow is the pits
4. I dig the idea of a "label free" and handmade wardrobe
5. I have vowed to wear less t-shirts and more blouse like tops with pretty prints
6. It's still decidedly hot here in Brisbane so I'm taking advantage of some lovely light cottons available at the fabric shop
7. It's kinder on the family budget and enjoyable to make my own

So I've been tracing patterns and am in the throws of making a few versions of this (the pattern cover illustrations are lousy but it does make a nice top, I'll model them for you later):

And I also ordered this book which arrived in my mailbox earlier in the week - I love a bit of parcel mail for me! (I reason that sewing my own clothes justifies the purchase of a new sewing book, or you might argue that such a thing never needs justification...)

The Stylish Dress Book - I may perhaps be a little late to come to the Japanese sewing book party, but recently a late night session of internet browsing on this topic had me itching to try some for myself. You should have a browse through the blog Make Something if you want some drop dead gorgeous inspiration.

And did you know that this particular book now comes in English?  Yes folks, last year it was released as an English translation with Western sizing from size 6 to size 16. Although I'm not afraid of trying a Japanese version, I think the translated version is a real bonus as an introduction to using these books.

Although a lot of the designs are not that breastfeeding friendly I am going to try a few things, I have my eye on shortening a particular style into a top, and I'm dreaming of what I would like to try later in the year when the weather cools down somewhat.  So today I'm tracing away from the patterns sheets (stealing husband's architectural tracing paper) and I'm going to grab some unwanted fabric and start making up a size to see how the fit is.  I kind of measure between a 12 hips and 14 bust, but the styles are very loose so I'm going to ignore the sizing table for now and "sew it and see".

Today I'm liking up over here, too.