Monday 25 March 2013

Dress "h" and Bag "y" for my little "A'

It's Monday here in my time zone, so why not kick off the gate-crashing of Japanese Sewing Book Series with something I made over the weekend. I'm getting in early as I want to make another dress and then get outta town for the Easter long weekend.
I've made dress "h" and bag "y" from Sassy Girl's Clothes by Yuki Araki

image from: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pomadour24
 
I was a little baffled by the pattern pieces for the dress but surprisingly I guessed correctly and it came together very well. The bag was very simple and quite fun to sew. I'm not all that fast (the Lightning moniker is a bit of a joke at my own expense) but the bag really is about one hour's work.
So, my finished outfit:
 
The dress is made of a heavy-ish navy knit which has a slightly brushed, and lovely soft, feel on each side. Hence, I had no idea which side was the right or wrong side, and stopped caring after cutting the pattern. And so, my dress has the buttons on the opposite shoulder to the instructions in the book. I could invert my images but if I start manipulating the truth only four posts into my new blog it could be a slippery slope....
 
 
The buttons are metal and perhaps a little heavy for such a little person, but I liked them. One day, no doubt, they'll have to be butterfly or flower buttons, but for now I can still impose my own style on this kid, and these seemed to suit the Japanese aesthetic.
 
 
The bag fabric is a printed cotton that I found heavily discounted at the local fabric chain store. I covered it with iron-on vinyl, which is one of those things that really ought not to be such fun, but it is. It takes me back to being in the school library and helping the librarians cover books with clear Contact. Anyway, this is a bit crinkly and a true laminate might be better if it was meant to last. The bag lining is a lightweight grey cotton.
 
 
I love the fit of the dress. I made the size 90cm with no modifications for A who is just over 2 years old and probably about 85cm tall. I'd like a dress as comfortable and easy to wear as this!
 
 
She's very happy with it, and with her new bag. Although nothing beats rummaging around in my handbag...
 
 
Finally, here's how she thinks modelling for photos really works. If her big brother does it like this, then it must be right. Right?!
 

11 comments:

  1. I love the dress...it's darling on her. The metal buttons are the perfect choice.;)

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  2. Such a gorgeous dress! I had the same problem with not knowing what was the right and wrong side recently, it's certainly one advantage of prints.

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  3. Love this dress, color is perfect on your little one:) excited to follow your blog!!!

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  4. Hello, I came via Youandmie's blog and series on Japanese books. This dress is gorgeous and your pictures could be straight from the pages of one of those books :-)
    This is one of the first Japanese books I bought and one of my favourites!

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  5. Your little daughter is such a cute model for her darling dress...I need to investigate this book...

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  6. Lightning, your dress looks great and just like the one in the book. I think it's good to be a bit creative and put the buttons on the opposite side.
    I've been thinking about making this dress too but I have wondered how much stretch, if any, the fabric needs. My Japanese isn't that flash (i.e. nonexistent) but there isn't any obvious indication that it needs to be particularly stretchy. Thoughts?
    Cheers

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    1. I think I replied at more length by email. But in brief, I think it could almost work in a woven; pinwale corduroy would be lovely. It's only the chest that may need to stretch to get on, but there seems to be plenty of room to me. My fabric was a thick-ish knit that didn't have as much stretch as a regular t-shirt knit.

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