Oooh, I hope you are ready for today’s post because it is a BIG one.  We are starting to get into the nitty gritty details of Japanese patterns – the parts that make a lot of us cringe.  But today we have Sanae of Sanae Ishida as our trusty guide and Japanese pattern sewing expert and we are SO lucky to have her!

I was recently introduced to Sanae’s blog and have been hooked since day one.  Her blog, her words, her photos, and all of her creations live in this perfectly simple space that just exude beauty and a sense of calm. I also remember reading about her and finding that we have a surprising amount of things in common.  We’re both Japanese American, we both studied Communications (among other things) as undergrads at UCLA, we both lived in Japan and taught English there for two years before going back to UCLA for graduate degrees in the education field.  She even lived in San Francisco for a bit.  Our lives look pretty different now though, the biggest factor being that she’s about ten thousand times cooler than me.

Not only is she a skilled seamstress (I think this post pretty much sums up her gorgeous style and straight up awesomeness), but she’s a true true artist.  She writes, she paints, she sketches, has her own art shows, she knits, she bakes, and takes the most beautiful photographs.  She’s the kind of person who I want to stand close to with the hopes of absorbing some of the talent and beauty that seems to ooze out of her.

And you have to check out the incredible “100 Dresses” art show that she put together with exquisite toddler dresses made by her mom (I guess we know where Sanae gets it from!).  It really is one of the most unique and amazing things I’ve seen!  Ok!  Without further ado, I’ll let Sanae take it away . . .

***

Hello, lovely You and Mie readers! I’m Sanae of the oh-so-originally named sanaeishida.com. On my blog, I prattle on about sewing and creating in general, and I’m so pleased to be part of the Japanese Sewing Book Series! I’m a huge fan of Japanese sewing books and have amassed a lot of ’em over the years and frequently use them to sew outfits for my six-year-old. This is my very first guest post so I’m doubly excited to be here! I’ve also created two outfits to accompany this post on my own blog, and I hope you’ll get a chance to check them out.

Today, I’ll be covering the basics of the text that you see in the beginning (or top section) of the pattern instructions. The pattern instructions themselves are typically located at the back of the book. See Exhibit A below. If you don’t read Japanese, it all probably looks like gobbledygook, and I hope that I’ll be able to make that portion a bit more accessible.

Exhibit A:

Pattern T from Happy Homemade v. 5 ISBN: 978-4579112951

One thing you should know about me is that I can only read at about second grade level in Japanese so I’m actually not completely literate in the language. Which means that I’m familiar with that head-scratchy feeling of, “What in the world??” and have had to figure out a lot over the years.

I will be covering the following today:

1. Anatomy of Instructions
2. References to Translated Dictionary of Sewing Terms
3. Instructions Layouts (with translations)

Lots of information coming atcha, so you might want to grab a cuppa…Without further ado, let’s jump in!

1. ANATOMY OF INSTRUCTIONS

I own fourteen Japanese sewing books, and the books all have some variations of the information listed above in the instructions section at the back of the book. I’ve color-coded sections you’ll most often see. Here are a few more details about each section:

Pattern Identifier – This is usually a letter or number and you will use this identifier to locate the correct pattern pieces on the crazy pattern sheets provided with the sewing books.

Page of Styled Photo – Every garment is beautifully styled and photographed in the front section of each sewing book and this page number references that image that makes you want to make the garment in the first place 🙂

Garment Name – These names tend to be very straightforward descriptions like “peter pan collar shirt”, “skirt with pockets”, “camisole dress”. You usually won’t find any cute or pun-ny names.

Finished Measurements – Basic finished measurements are provided and usually includes length of garment, chest circumference, sleeve length, etc.

This section may also have the available sizing which is usually 90cm to 130cm. Kristin covered this information yesterday. The sizing info is also often included in the Materials/Supplies section.

Pattern Info – This section will indicate the pattern sheet on which you will find the necessary pieces (e.g. in the image above, the pattern pieces for the skirt is on sheet 2). The books usually come with multiple pattern sheets. Some books also list the pattern pieces specifically such as “2 collar pieces, front bodice, back bodice, sleeve, facing”.

Materials/Supplies – This is where fabric and notions information will be listed. The quirky thing about Japanese sewing books is that they don’t really offer recommendations for fabric options. They list the exact fabric that was used for the garment featured. So instead of a list of fabric recommendations as you would see with American or European patterns, this section will list “Liberty Tana Lawn” or “Striped yarn-died cotton”. It’s interesting to see what they used, but I usually completely ignore the fabric section. Rather than spending time trying to painstakingly translate every part of the fabric listed, I would merely try to see if one of the common fabric types was used (I talk about links to a dictionary of sewing terms in the next section).

One other thing about the fabric section is that the amount of fabric required is also listed in Japanese standard widths (110cm usually). The numbers separated by slashes tell you how much length you need for the size you are making. So if the sizing available is 90/100/110/120/130cm and the fabric requirement section shows 45/50/55/60/60, and you’re making a size 90cm shirt for your wee tot, you’ll need 110x45cm in fabric.

Prep & Tips – Not every book has this section. The prep & tips section advises on things like adding interfacing, finishing certain seams beforehand, etc.

Instructions (text) – These are the step-by-step instructions to construct the garment. These steps correspond with the illustrated overview with the numbers that indicate construction order (see below). I should point out that not every step has a detailed illustration, except for A Sunny Spot and Happy Homemade books which omit this texts instructions section and literally has step-by-step written and illustrated instructions.

Note: Keep an eye out for any page numbers in the instructions as they are references to illustrated instructions to help you. For example, if you’re sewing a shirt with a placket and you don’t see any illustrated guide to how to create the placket but you see “p.57”, go to page 57 and you’ll find the illustration there.

These three sections will be covered on other days this week:

Pattern Layout Suggestion – Similar to American and European commercial patterns, this section provides recommendations on how to arrange your pattern pieces in the right direction/grainline and to minimize fabric waste. This section also shows you how much seam allowance to add and any square or rectangular pattern pieces or bias tape you may need to measure out (pattern pieces are usually not provided for bias tapes or for square/rectangular pattern pieces)

Visual Step-by-Step Overview – As mentioned in the text instructions section above, this is where you can see at a glance the construction order of the garment, and the numbers correspond to the steps in the text instructions section.

Illustrated Instructions – The illustrations are excellent, and I find that this is the section I really use above any others. More on this later this week!

*************************************************************************

2. TRANSLATED DICTIONARY OF SEWING TERMS

I was going to create a glossary of terms, but realized that Japanese Sewing Books has already done an excellent job, and you can find her translated dictionary of terms here. It’s a great compendium of terms with pretty much everything: fabrics, garment terms, measurements, general sewing terms, etc. etc.

There are a couple of small errors in the dictionary, though. 衿 is listed as “neck” but should actually be “collar” and 襟 is listed as “collar” but should be “lapel”.

An *updated* note on linen and linen blends (from Frances of Miss Matatabi, our resident fabric expert):

Many Japanese fabrics are 麻綿 blend and I find that 麻 is very commonly mistranslated as hemp, and a dictionary search shows that asa is hemp, linen, ramie, and so on. 麻 is just a term used to cover many textiles made from plant fibers, but the Japanese fabrics most people have access to (for example the blends from Kokka) are cotton – linen, not cotton – hemp.

*************************************************************************

3. LAYOUTS

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

So I went through all 14 of my sewing books and identified six main instructions layouts, and you can see the first one above. I also included the books that have the same layout; click on the numbers for details on the books. The other 5 layout images are below. I quickly translated these six, and chances are good that you have one of the fourteen books that I own. Or, if you don’t own any yet, these are the ones that are typically available, so this should give you a pretty good sense of how to find information on the instruction pages. They’re even color-coded!

Green=Materials/Supplies
Purple=Finished Measurements
Blue=Prep & Tips
Orange=Pattern Info
Yellow=Sewing Instructions

[1] [2]

[1]

[1] [2]

[1] [2]

[1] [2]

There you have it, whew! Did you make it through? Was this helpful? Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Sewing with Japanese patterns, though seemingly labor intensive, is incredibly rewarding. The designs are simple yet stylish and fit very, very well. I sew almost exclusively from Japanese Sewing Books and love them more and more and I hope you will too!

Thanks so much for having me Cherie!

***

Isn’t Sanae incredible!?  And she’s sewn up TWO new outfits to share with you guys over on her blog, so head over there to check them out!

And I’m betting you’ll stay awhile to browse through all of the other gorgeous things you’ll find over there.

Tomorrow, we’ll be tackling how to find the pattern pieces you need on the pattern sheets and adding seam allowance.  You won’t want to miss it!

you & mie is an Amazon affiliate.  I will earn a small commission for Amazon purchases made through links provided in this post.

It’s finally here!  It’s Day ONE of the Japanese Sewing Book Series!  I hope you’re as pumped as I am.  Today we are going to be covering some of the basics that you need to know before you even buy a book!  And my first guest is none other than the amazing Kristin of skirt as top.  Honestly, I could probably go on and on for days gushing about this girl – she really is an amazing person!

It’s hard to believe it was only a little over a year ago that she sent me that first email to congratulate me on my first guest post (how sweet is that!?) – and now, a year and literally hundreds of emails and texts later, I’m so honored to call her one of my very good friends.  She’s clearly got amazing sewing skills and impeccable taste – just check out this springtime ayashe, her washi dress (still my favorite), and her doily foldover clutch.  She is also a truly creative and original artist.  You know you’re not going to see something that’s already been done on Kristin’s blog.  For me, her sweet tartan junebug remix and sunshine dress really stood out to me as incredibly unique.

She’s always coming up with awesome new ideas and has great perspective – she’s my favorite person to brainstorm with.  Honestly, there is rarely a project that I haven’t consulted her on.  She is the co-creator and co-host of the ridiculously amazing, hilarious, and creative, not to mention, my favorite series, film petit.  I mean, if you haven’t been following film petit, I really have no clue where you’ve been – you NEED to check it out.  AND on top of all this, Kristin is really just a sweet, generous, humble and fun person.  And today she’s going to walk us through some of the super basic steps that will get us started with Japanese sewing books.  I’m honored to have her here as a guest!

***

Hi, You & Mie readers!  I am really looking forward to learning more about Japanese pattern books this week, and knowing about this series has motivated me to pull my books out again and be inspired!  I don’t speak Japanese at all (just a few phrases my husband taught me – he took it in high school and college), but I just love the aesthetic and sewing methods in Japanese pattern books SO much.  They’re simple but beautiful and I think the generally loose-fitting styles look really great on kids (this is one of my personal favorites).

I’m going to cover three topics today:

• Where to buy Japanese pattern books
• Sizing of the pattens / how to determine your child’s size
• Basic structure of the books

Where to Buy:

Amazon is also a great resource for the more common books – just search “japanese pattern books” and check out the titles.

You can also browse etsy – a seller named pomadour24 has a wide selection with good photos of the insides of each book, which is very helpful – you want to know you’ll sew at least a couple of the patterns before investing in the whole book, I think, since they tend to be a little on the pricey side, no matter where you get them.

For this post, I chose to make a project from Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa, since it’s probably the most easy to find and accessible of the Japanese pattern books.  The style, format, and construction techniques are similar to what you’ll see in most Japanese pattern books, but it’s been translated into English (and inches), so it’s a really good one to start with.  If, even after this series, you’re dying to sew a Japanese pattern but are still intimidated by the language barrier, give Carefree Clothes for Girls a try!

There are actually free PDF pattern pieces (no instructions) from Carefree Clothes for Girls here and a couple free full projects from book here if you want to see what you’ll be working with.

Sizing:

Before you buy your chosen pattern book, there’s something else you should note – and I think this probably applies more to purchasing them in person versus online, since you can see a pretty good description online – Japanese pattern books (like many other patterns) come in a limited range of sizes per book!  The size range is typically indicated on the front cover, and kid sizes are listed in centimeters (more on that later).

I bought most of my Japanese pattern books when my daughter was 2, and once I got them home I realized the sizes started at 4 (100 cm).  I tried to resize a few back then, but it’s so much easier to sew for her now that she is growing into the proper size!

So be careful of that.

Sizing is typically in centimeters, since, you know, most of the world uses the metric system.  The primary size driver is height, and 100/110/120/130 seems to be a common range.  Some books are better than others about including chest, waist, and hip measurements as well, and Happy Homemade Vol. 2 even has a cute little chart for you (English labels are mine):

I put together a chart with some conversions and included the Japanese characters to help you guide your pattern size selection based on your child’s measurements –  as with all sewing patterns, it’s best to use your child’s measurements rather than age to determine sizing, and though I noticed the chest/waist/hip measurements correlated to the same height size in all three of the books I looked at, there could be some variation.  But hopefully this gives you a general idea what to look for – you can see how the Japanese characters in the chart below match the drawing above.

(Japanese characters from the dictionary of Japanese sewing terms at this indispensable site)

If you’re curious, here are some baby sizes:

• 50 : newborn
• 60 : 3-6 months
• 70 : 6-12 months
• 80 : 12-18 months

Japanese sizing seems to run a little smaller than American sizing in general. For instance, I usually sew a size 3 for my petite almost-five-year-old daughter in most American patterns, but I sewed a 4 for this project and it fits her perfectly. She wears a 5 in store-bought clothes.

Basic Book Structure:

Every Japanese sewing book I’ve seen starts with pages of beautifully photographed outfits, with letters/numbers/names associated with each photo.  Once you’ve browsed through the eye candy at the beginning, you get to a section usually titled “how to make” which is where the size chart and instructions begin.

For the Apron in Carefree clothes for girls, the photo is on page 10 but the instructions are on page 45.  The instructions guide you to pattern B on page 1 of the pattern insert, which looks like this:

And how to make heads or tails of that spiderweb will be covered in the next few days by future guests!

Please add any stores, resources, and sizing tips you may have to the comments, and if you’d like to see the project I made from Carefree Clothes for Girls, visit skirt as top today!

Thanks, Cherie!

***

Thank YOU, Kristin!  While you’re over at skirt as top, be sure to check out all of her amazing and inspirational projects!

And stop by tomorrow for a really great post about decoding all that essential information found at the top of each instruction page.  It’s the part that usually makes me sigh and close the book before I even get started.  But not after tomorrow!

*The Miss Matatabi Giveaway winners have been announced HERE.  Are you one of the two lucky winners!?  Thank you to all who entered.*

you & mie is an Amazon affiliate.  I will earn a small commission for Amazon purchases made through links provided in this post.