I'm activated!
I made a dress and a top out of one pattern from my friend's shop.
a Balloon dress
One of my dearest friends, Miho, has recently launched her online shop for sewing patterns. She is a good hobby seamstress who is filled with knowledge, good ideas, and happy thoughts. She has been always telling me that there are few resources (brands/shops) which sell the patterns for what she'd love to wear, though there are so many other patterns around. It's true for me too, as it is practically hard for us living in Japan to access the patterns from your major companies (eg. vogue, simplicity, McCall, Burda etc.) unless they provide their patterns in digital (PDF) format. Otherwise we have to hustle ourselves to make international orders with much cost and longer shipping time. Yes, we have some domestic companies selling sewing patterns, too. But the number of choices is quite limited before our selections anyway.
She has looked for shops that are accessible and that offer the patterns with which she can sew her new, nice, and stylish clothes which suit her everyday life. But it was a hard task in the end. So she changed her plan. She started to ask a very talented professional to draw patterns for her wish. In other words, she decided to design garments for herself and to share her patterns through her online shop. Of course I was the one of the first customers!
I used the pattern called "Balloon" which is the one among three patterns she has at the moment.
This dress is made of very soft and milky white viscose/polyamide blend. I love the result! The dress has raglan sleeves with puffy ends, and a very cute neckline from both front and back. The pattern contains the ribbon for a waist belt, but I used my gray belt instead. My bust measurement is about 36 inches, and I used size JPN11 for the pattern, FYI.
a Balloon top
Then I was curious to see how the pattern would turn out in jersey fabric. I made this top by chopping off its skirt, and added a folded band at the bottom hem. I used shiny gray (obviously my favorite color at this moment) silk jersey for making this plain top a bit more elegant. I know I have an oh-so-poor vocabulary, but I say it again, I love the result! I think the photo didn't bring the justice. Believe me, it looks very pretty and swings beautifully when I move around. Very autumn, that's what I love.
Her patterns can be purchased internationally, as they are PDF file downloads. Though the instructions are written in Japanese, they are well illustrated (well, she's been a professional illustrator from the beginning) and it makes things easier to follow. She's going to add two patterns in 2 weeks and more to come before long. If you are interested, drop by
TAMANEGI-KOBO.
Happy sewing!
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I've made a picture for Not-so-hoody's measurement.
I hope you'll like it, BebeMini!
for not-so-hoody top
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love the shirt!
ReplyDeletethe neckline(esp back) is beautiful!! can you wear it backwards too? maybe??
I second that. Hooray for fall!
ReplyDeleteThe dress fabric sounds so interesting. I really like the balloon top.
love both pieces! the neckline and sleeves got me. now to figure out if these patterns come in my size :)
ReplyDeleteHi Yoshimi!
ReplyDeleteI'll be visiting Tokyo in October. Do you have any fabric shops that you would recommend? I really liked all the jersey materials that you have used. Are these available at Nippori Textile Town?
Thanks!
Brenda from Singapore
I really like the dress version!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all your comments, girls!
ReplyDelete>Brenda, I think the answer is yes&no, because Nippori has quite a lot of fabrics and you can find almost anything there, although the fabrics I used for my garments in this site so far were bought at other shops because I live in hours far from Tokyo. I assume we can find something similar in Nippori. Maybe, with smaller budget? My favorite store for jersey materials is 'パキラ(=Pachira)'. They have some stores along the street, so look for the one of Pachiras that sells jersey materials. Take a street map which is available everywhere in Nippori, so that you can find your way easily. Have fun with staying in Japan and good luck with your fabric shopping!
Beautiful dress and I agree with lunatepetal, that neckline is stellar. I am drooling over those grey boots too!
ReplyDeletethanks for posting this beautiful pattern! I've been looking for a raglan sleeve dress to make for a few weeks. Have just purchase the pattern :) Good luck to your friend Miho
ReplyDeleteIs this Miho you're speaking of a member of burdastyle? If so, I really like her sewing and sense of style so much that I follow her blog. However, the blog was shut down with no address referral. I'm so happy to hear that she opens her own pattern shop. Thank you for the link. Hopefully it's a solution for me too because I had to petite alter Burda Magazine patterns. And it's difficult.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I use size JPN9 when sewing from Japanese pattern books. I'm sure I'm bigger than you, Yoshimi-san, and you make JPN11? Bikurishitadesu! This sizing matters really confuses me. I wonder if I'd ever graduate from novice level.
Hi Stefani Sarah, thank you for your comment! Yes, it's her, miho555 at BurdaStyle. She of course continues sewing, but also started something new to her sewing. I hope you'll enjoy her patterns too!
ReplyDeleteRegarding my size, I think photography disguised my figure in a good way. I'm 166cm high and probably I weigh average on a slightly smaller side at the moment. I imagine that you are smaller than I am, as you said you need to alter Burda patterns smaller (I usually use Burda36-38 with small adjustment, but never altered patterns smaller). JP9 is considered to size38 (note that it is different from Burda38), and you can have a look at the shop's size chart here too.
http://tamanegikobo.ocnk.net/page/1
I'd recommend you to refer the chart and look for your measurements in it. PDF patterns are so convenient that we can just print out sheets again and again for making garments in different sizes to try. Good luck and Happy sewing to you!!
Beautiful dress...thanks for the link to the shop :)
ReplyDeleteI've just found your blog via the Selfish Seamstress and I loved your version of the balloon dress and top so much I just ordered my first pattern. It's also my first time ordering from a Japanese website! Thanks for the inspiration :)
ReplyDeleteHi Robyn, I'm thrilled to hear that you've ordered it! I hope you'll enjoy your balloon dress very much. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWill I be able to figure the pattern if I cannot read Japanese?
ReplyDelete>momentary lapse,
ReplyDeleteIf you are familiar with garment sewing, I think the answer is YES. The instructions are very well illustrated, so you'll clearly know what to do next. Said that, if you are quite a beginner for garment sewing, you may feel difficult to follow the pictures, even with having a basic sewing book by your side, in my opinion. I think I may ask her to upload a sample instruction or something on her shop to show everybody how they look, so that we can guess how we can cope with.