Yes, already some new books! They release new publications very often around here. And since I haven’t posted here as often as I’d like, you get two of those posts very close.

“Furi ! Fuwah ! Otona fuku”

This is a book with patterns for skirts and tops with lots of frills. The tops are of the usual type for a japanese pattern book. I saw some skirt ideas quite interesting. They’re less common (I find there are a lot more tops and dresses patterns in those books). Nothing really caught my eye, seing what I like and the patterns I already have at home, but it might be interesting for others. The really good point: their use of not so common fabrics (at least in japanese books), like this skirt made of taffeta. I really liked this, first because it’s a nice change, and then because you get to see through the pictures how those fabrics look once sewn.

“Kawaii kodomo no onepiece” (“Cute child dresses”)

This book shows lots of dresses for little girls. I didn’t think of looking what ages it was for. :s But they had some really nice things! Some dresses are very casual, and others are quite dressy for more formal occasions. All in all I found it was an inspiring book. For the little girls that might appear around me in the future, but also… for Blythe dresses! Which would be a much quicker use of it. ^^ I’d love to rescale some of those for Blythe size. I’m still toying with the idea, maybe I’ll give in and get it in the future. The full size patterns are not given, but they tell you all the measurements you need to create the dresses.

“Natural taste ~ linen & cotton no nunokomono” (“Natural taste ~ small fabric objects in linen & cotton”)

As the name says, this book is all about accessories made of linen and cotton. Mainly small objects for the house: placemats, coasters, pot holder, aprons, cushion covers, small blankets… The models shown are quite nice, and you can see a number of variations for each object (colors, shapes…). I think you can find some nice decorations ideas inside, whether to use as is or to adapt to other projects. The feature I liked best: two very sweet colored pages with some very nice ideas (they had placemats and coasters and I think cushions). Sadly it’s not enough to get the book, so I hope I’ll find a scan of those pages in the future to keep in my “inspiration” folder. ^^

Lately I discovered something about Graphic-sha (the company that publishes the “One day sewing series”): they like to republish their books. I’ve had some doubts about this before, but I wasn’t sure. Now I am, since among the “new” books I saw the first japanese pattern book I bought last year. The new book has a new publising date and all. I’m quite surprised, I don’t really see why they republish them. They are still available on Amazon, so I guess even if they’re not directly available in bookshops they can still be ordered. Or maybe they do that to have more advertisement (since they do back in the top shelves of shops)? I don’t know… maybe they’ve been publishing the same few books over and over again… XD Anyway, here is the book I’m talking about.

“Natsu dakara kantan ~ Ichinichi de dekichau fuku” (“Clothes you can make in one day ~ Easy because it’s summer”), which I got last summer. A little visit to Amazon told me it’s actually the third time the book is release: the release date they display is May, 2007. As I said it was the first japanese pattern book I bought. I didn’t know a lot of their books at that time. I had started to browse the books in the shop some time before, and this one got me. Not that I’d say it’s the best ever of their series, but it’s cute and I didn’t know the other summery ones then. That said, I really like it and don’t regret buying it. I still haven’t made anything from it (I know, it’s shame -_-), but there are many projects I want to make (some for which I already have the fabric). You can see all the outfits here.

Another new release, although I can’t tell whether it’s really new or not: “Linen, coton, gauze no natural na fuku” (“Natural clothes in linen, coton and gauze”). As the name indicates, the clothes inside are pure “natural” japanese clothes: wide, quite long, with simple lines and natural fibers. That kind of clothing really has a distinctive look. And speaking of width, be careful: the patterns only come in sizes M and L! If you’re really thin and usually use size S, it might be very wide! At first I wasn’t really convinced and thought this book wouldn’t be for me. But now that I’ve looked at the clothes two or three times, I really like some of the pieces and wonder whether I should get it. My favorite piece: the n°5 pettipants (or “petticoat pants”, a.k.a. drawers). They are so cute with the lacy frills! Another piece that I like very much is this tunic (which also comes with pettipants ^^; ).

They also republished this book some time ago: “Ichi nichi de dekichau fuku tsukurou!” (“Let’s make clothes in one day!”, once again titled as “Natsu dakara kantan”). I don’t have much to say about it. There are some cute pieces, but not so much compared to other books, or I already have similar patterns that I could modify to get the same result. If you don’t have any book from the “One day sewing” series, maybe you’ll like it better. The things I like best are the n°5 tunic dress, which is very light and cute, and this striped knit tunic which looks very comfy for summer.

PS: pfew, two days (or is it three?) to finish this note! I wish I had more time…