Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Girly Style Wardrobe ~ view t


I made these two sweet dresses, with lace-edged pantaloons peeking out, for the girls for Easter. The Truffle was the only available model, but it was fine, as the girls insisted the dresses be exactly alike. As a home sewing mama, this grates me slightly, since exactly the same dresses are so easily purchased off-the-rack, one in each size. But, oh well. I love these girls.

The dress did come together nicely, once I stopped putting all the sleeves on backwards, ripped them back out, and turned them around. (Note to Self - Next time mark hem edge as well as front/back on pattern pieces. Space cadet sleeve is not the desired result here.) The pattern is from my favorite Japanese pattern book, but I will do this a bit differently next time. It seems there is a general distaste for zippers around here. It isn't the installation that puts me off, but as the Wonderbug remarked when she saw What I Had Done to her dress, "...but, Momma, buttons are pretty!" Yes, they are Sweetie Bug.

Next time it will be vintage pearl button plackets for all.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I love the Girly Style Dresses. What seam allowance did you use for these Japanese patterns? Thank you!

Kara said...

The seam allowance depends on the location of the seam. All seam allowances were marked in the cutting layout diagram on the construction page in the back of the book for view t. Seam allowances varied from 1 cm at the side seams to 4.5 cm at the hem.

Clare said...

Oh my, Kara, that is simply beautiful! Too, too lovely!

---Clare
www.romanceandtheroses.blogspot.com

Mrs. M said...

This might be an odd question but can you read Japanese or are the patterns easy enough to do without the extra instructions. Ive been debating getting a few of the patterns at the local fabric store but I live in Japan and don't speak Japanese, Id hate to get them and not be able to use them

Kara said...

I don't read Japanese, but when I began using the Japanese pattern books, I had sewn a few dresses and had a good idea of the process. I have other posts on sewing with these patterns that may be helpful. Check the Japanese Sewing category. Hope that helps!

Mrs. M said...

Thanks! My husband made the decision for me since he picked up a couple of Japanese pattern books and a few Japanese patterns when he was out at the store the other day. I do have basic sewing knowledge (Ive made both girls quite a few dresses) so hopefully I can figure it out.