Blouse, Skirt & Pants Style Book

In Mid-April, we took a trip to a place in California where, conveniently, one of the few Kinokuniya stores is located in the U.S. Because it is a Japanese bookstore, it sells Japanese pattern books and magazines, and lots of other tempting items like every eraser shape imaginable.

I bought 5 erasers packages (one for each kid) and 2 books and 2 magazines for myself. The prices were much better than I can find online. And way cheaper than flying to Japan.

The "pattern book" section was so tightly packed with hundreds of pattern books, it was hard to pry books from the shelf. Plenty of crocheting, felting, beading, origami, crafting, etc. books had their shelf space, too.

Here's an overview of one of the books. I'll show you the rest in other posts.

Blouse, Skirt & Pants Style book (ISBN 9784579113439) is my favorite of the bunch. It features 12 basic patterns: 6 for tops and 6 for bottoms, with 4 variations on each style.

The pull-out pattern sheet includes the basic patterns, and the diagrams show how to change the basic pattern to achieve the different styles.

4 sizes are included:
S (79, 60, 86) in cm or (31, 23.5, 34) in inches
M (83, 64, 90) in cm or (32.5, 25, 35.5) in inches
ML (87, 68, 94) in cm or (34.25, 27, 37) in inches
L (91, 72, 98) in cm or (36, 28.5, 38.5) in inches

For each pair of styles, several fabric swatch options are shown.

And then those garments are shown made up in those "fabrics".

Above, you can see the diagrams showing what to alter from the basic pattern to get each style variation.

A separate section gives the fabric layout guide and stitching instructions. The sewing steps are numbered on the illustration in case you don't read Japanese.

I've traced two items from the book so far, the sleeveless vest and slim pants above. Unfortunately, "I traced" does not mean the same thing as "I sewed".

The poncho blouse looks really interesting, as do the wide pants. The blouse would be nice in lawn.

Unitards

My oldest girl really needed a new leotard for gymnastics (they stretch vertically, but only so much). Since they're fairly quick to make, I made unitards for the other girls, too. Knowing you'll inherit your older sister's old leotards is not exactly the same as picking fabric for a brand new one.

Molly chose this animal print with hearts because it matched her idol's (older sister's) new suit. Just think of the trouble you can get into if you idolize a 6 year old.

Molly's suit is in a straight size G (toddler 3) because she hasn't slimmed down (yet?) like the other two. She's apparently getting plenty of nourishment despite her generalized refusal to eat meals. After comparing their measurements to Jalie's chart, I did slim the older girls' suits by two sizes.

The neckline is lower in the back than in the front. I made Sara's black suit first and didn't realize this, so my binding seam is in the front. Oops!

Do you like the black and baby blue zebra print? It used to be black and white, but came out of the washer black and blue, ha ha.

I think the fit is pretty good. The shoulder straps seems to sit a little wide, especially on Sara, and that's her widest part. The fit on Sara's two suits (the black and the zebra print) is quite different because the fabrics are so different. The zebra print is soft and flexible and the black is very thick and taut. So, Sara felt the black suit was a little snug in the upper thighs. Because of this, I added width to the legs in Molly's suit, which seems to have been a good idea.

One of my hopes was to make a leotard or unitard which would require as little readjustment during class as possible. You know, instead of run, front handspring, landing, tug tug tug, run, front handspring, tug tug tug, landing you just have run, front handspring, landing.

So I observed all the girls' in their class to see which kind of suits required the least adjustment. (Oh, the things sewists are willing to do - in public, no less!) Both tank suits and unitards required semi-frequent adjustments. One girl whose unitard was gigantic on her never adjusted her suit. Tank suits with bike shorts over them seemed to need the least adjustment. I think if the legs were a little looser on these unitards, they wouldn't ride up quite as must.

I like the construction on these because they seemed to whip up pretty fast without the need for any elastic.
I serged the binding strips to the right sides, folded them over the edge, and coverstiched.

The crotch piece is a rectangle sewn to the insides of the legs.

Here you can see the crotch lining piece (which is identical to the crotch piece). After serging the crotch piece to the suit pieces, I serged one side of the lining, right sides together, to the seam. Then I folded under the seam allowance of the other side, pinned it on the inside as well as I could, reached inside and pulled the not-yet-sewn-seam out, and serged it, thus enclosing the seam.

The pattern I used is Jalie 3138. It includes both a tank leotard and a unitard.

Previously, I've used Jalie 2443 for gymnastics leotards, which is also very nice. It has a tank leotard with several different views, including one with sleeves. That's out of print, but available for download for cheaper than a new Jalie pattern from here.

Ten

My number 2 boy turned 10 (last month). I think you can tell from his expression that he's a pretty funny guy. I think he might find a career as noise effects guy if that job description doesn't die out completely in this digital age.

So I made the expected birthday shirt. I tried to do something interesting by using letters this time. Of course he asked me, "Why didn't you use Roman Numerals?"

This pattern is from Ottobre 3-2011-24 and is intended to be slim-fitting. It is certainly slim-fitting! I normally slim his shirts by two sizes, but this one I traced as is. Good thing I didn't alter it.

I think it fits really well and the sleeve and neck bindings are a nice step up from standard t-shirt hems.

Back to our Regular Programming

No, our vacation didn't last a month. (If only!) But it's taken me a few weeks to get back into the groove of normal life. I'll be posting my backlog of sewing in the next few weeks.

You probably don't want to see ALL 1400 photos from our trip, so I've uploaded just a few highlights.

But first, the trip statistics. You know I love statistics, but my husband may love them even more.

We took 12 days to drive from Minnesota to California and back again, driving different routes to and from.

Total miles driven: 4800

Average miles per gallon: 19.17 (fully loaded van, driving through the mountains = not fuel efficient)

Total fuel stops: 24

Average price of gas: $3.89/gallon

Lowest gas price: $3.529 in Wyoming (our local gas prices are $0.10 - $0.15 higher)

Highest gas price: $4.699 in California

States visited: 10

Public restroom visits: 70 (including an outhouse at a state park which was a terrifying experience for the youngest two)

New bird species identified: about 35

We made a short stay at two different resorts: one in Newport Beach, California and one in Phoenix, Arizona and tried to stop at as many state and national parks as possible.

Our first two stops were the Lewis and Clark National Monument in Council Bluffs, Iowa and The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Petrified Forest National Park may have been my favorite stop. Molly's an aspiring paleontologist in the visitor center.

Through binoculars (and camera zoom in this case) we got a nice look at a good number of petroglyphs (rock writing) dating from 1000-1350 A.D.

The old Route 66 used to run through the Petrified National Forest. This old car part is from Route 66's glory days, but it's not petrified yet.

The desert landscape is strewn with petrified logs and fragments.

I love this photo of Sara doing what she does best: reading. Here we were packing up the car in the morning after stopping over at a hotel on our way to the Grand Canyon.

Brown pelicans flying in formation on the Pacific coast.

A great shot of an Allen's hummingbird. My husband spent a lot of time getting shots of these birds and managed to get a video of a parent feeding a young one.

The whole family at Crystal Cove State Park right on the beach. The state park is an ideal way to see the beach and its flora and fauna.


As we entered the Mojave desert, heading toward California, our air conditioner's blower fan went out. At the dealership, we discovered it'd be good to replace the leaking water pump and radiator, too. The good news is the dealership was just down the road from Kinokuniya, the Japanese bookstore. The kids got some cute erasers and I got some pattern books.

Leaving California, we stopped at Joshua Tree National Park on the way to Phoenix, Arizona.

The girls are sporting their handmade Ottobre suits.

Saguaro cactus.
It was crazy driving through desert and a blizzard in the mountains in the same day. Here we're in the Colorado Rockies, where we stopped to do a bit of hiking at Genessee Park.

On our last leg of the trip, we stopped by Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in the Badlands. Phew! It was a great trip.

Hooded Paisley and 1977

I've been doing loads of cooking, utility sewing, and planning all in preparation for our trip. Regular blog participation will resume post-trip. But I did make something frivolous to just squeeze into PR's Vintage Pattern Contest deadline.

It has a hood. It's paisley. And the pattern hails from 1977. 1977 was a big year for me - learning to walk, talk, grasp small objects between my thumb and forefinger, things like that.

Despite studying (and drooling over) the pattern envelope so much, I was caught totally unawares that this "dress" is more of "poncho" style. Hello side view!!!

Actually, the pattern includes optional gussets, but the bodice was still gapey enough to require a shirt underneath, so I decided to leave them off altogether.

Funny, though, the gussets are meant to attach with snaps, making them truly optional. Keep them in your purse, and if you're chilled by a "gusset" of wind, pull out your gussets and snap them in place!

The side seams are stitched to just below the waist, and the waist ties cinch the dress shut. I really could stitch the dress up further -to mid-bodice - and it wouldn't be too tight. (Yeah, you can see some of the white bias tape seam finish sticking out.)

I love the dress except for the back view. Maybe that part would be improved by stitching up the side seams further?

I do like the end result. It'll be fun for summer. But needing to wear a shirt underneath makes it not quite the sundress I had envisioned.

My evil Morgana look.

I think this is the first envelope pattern I've made myself, not counting the sweatshirt I made in 7th grade in school. (That was so long ago, I have NO memories of making it! Or maybe I'm selectively blocking memories from that era, I don't know.)

Because of the shape (or shapelessness) I felt comfortable making it straight out of the envelope, even cutting into my lovely paisley lawn. I did a slight square shoulder adjustment in the seam allowances, which was unnecessary, it appears.

I interlined the whole thing with a poly/cotton batiste. I think I'll stay away from cheap poly/blend batiste in the future. Let's just say it doesn't have the same melting point as cotton lawn!

1977 Simplicity 7927.

Basics vs. Fun Items

Vacation is looming, so I really need to get cracking on some stitching. Otherwise I'll need to search the stores at the last minute for exactly what I want at just the right price, which gets harder to do the longer I sew.

So, I made a list of the absolute essentials and am relieved it's not long. The boys thought they had nothing to wear, but when I organized their drawers and helped them recover garments that had been stashed in odd places, it was revealed they have plenty of clothes to get them through a road trip.

All the kids need summer pjs; the girls need swimsuits, and girl #2 needed t-shirts. Now I can check the t-shirts off the list.

I'm always torn between sewing fun and interesting things and sewing basics. I like to make the basics, such as t-shirts and pjs. They cost me less. They save me the shopping effort. They fit better. The kids can get exactly what they want. And then there's the satisfaction of seeing the kids wear what I make everyday because, after all, they're basics.

But, as with housework, there's never a point where you're finished. You just have to decide to leave it for a while and do something different, or you never will.

Grace needed t-shirts and had a strong interest in a certain ruffly sleeve style. Ah, I have just the pattern! So she went shopping digging in my stash for fabric (and I added a solid white for good measure).
I really like this sleeve. It's hemmed, then shirred with elastic thread. The sleeve cap is gathered, too. So it's a little more time-consuming than a regular t-shirt. But oh-so-much-more-interesting, too.

Sources:

Random knits. Some from Hobby Lobby and possibly Chez Ami.

Rosalind T-shirt (Ottobre 3-2009-29).

Also shown:

Jersey Shorts (Ottobre 3-2010-10).

Neat Beat Pants (Ottobre 6-2009-17).

In the pipeline: tweaks of my t-shirt slopers, swimsuits for the girls, summer pjs....and then something fun, probably summer dresses.

This week I've been trialing an Ottobre camisole and undies pattern for a swimsuit for myself. We'll see if that pans out. It looks promising.