Beach holiday and Japanese sewing books

I have just returned home from our family holiday, only to find my parcel in the post from Yesasia..Yippee ( That was super fast delivery I must say!!!)

We had a great time at the beach, I do have sunburnt knees and after much thought as to why, I realise that every time my little boy would put his sandy, wet hands on my knees, I would rub it off. alas red knees.

Longbeach in Robe - South Australia...

We had a great time and I had great intentions of taking photographs of the girls in their Rousabout beach dresses, but it was togs or nothing....so here is a picture of them on the hangers, they look gorgeous on....

Back to the sewing, I have just browsed though my new Japanese sewing books from Yesasia, and yes I should be drafting off patterns, but I got sidetracked ,looking at blogs with great info regarding the seam allowances etc.There is a great spot to get great info at Moving Hands, she has a link to a great download file about understanding the language in the patterns etc, although so far the pictures seem pretty comprehensive. I have been sewing Topkids magazine patterns for years, and the Ottobre books, honestly sometimes I think no written instructions would be easier...

Here is the first book (isbn 4529044378) which I believe is called Cute girls cute clothes? Although my invoice read -

Onnanoko no Oyoufuku Camisole Kara Kichinto Fuku Made. what a mouthful hey!!

This is my favourite page in the whole book.

Pure eye candy and inspiration........

I spent most of the morning (between washing all the beach towels and bags full of dirty holiday laundry) perusing my new books. I have been eagerly waiting for this one in particular... I have decided that tommorrow is the day, I will unclip that pattern sheet and start drafting... The ones I want to try are very basic looking so I will see how they go together.


I did just finish sewing a little 'japanese inspired blouse' out of the latest Ottobre magazine but Miss 6 decided she didnt like it....( It wasnt purple!@!), I shall try take a pic and post it soon....

Just downing a coffee, I will pop a few shots of my sewing on here...

A set for Miss6 I embellished the bought T-Shirt to match the wrap skirt, You are actually looking at the back with the bum pocket. I used Kings Road 'Belle Fleur Too' fabric and a bit of a Hamphire Gardens (the black floral). It looks great, I should make more only finding good quality T-Shirts is really hard. Any hints?????

A gored skirt I made a few years ago from whale cord, It has recieved so many comments in its time. I used no pattern, just made it up as I went.

Some little shoulder bags I made for the girls, One lined with Purple and one with Pink... that way any arguments could be quickly resolved as to just who has who's bag....The Purple for Georgia and Pink for Paige has proved such a winner system in our house, that everyone knows who owns the purple towel or the pink drink bottle.




Tommorrow I shall aim to find some spare time in amidst getting ready for back to school next week, and I will draft and sew, (hopefully lots!!!! :)
I need to work out how to add links to peoples blogs in amongst this text, I have a stack of great sites saved in my favourites and I have found most of them through other people kindly sharing them. I would love to return the favour...