We’re sick. 

While normally our supply of hankies is more than enough to get us through a week, once this cold set in I realized I was going to have to be washing the whole lot of them every day to keep up with our noses. I decided to make more.
 
I cut a whole bunch of squares out of every pretty cotton I came across in my stash. I think I’ve sewn up about half of them (I keep having to stop and nap). I threw them all in the washer when I was done sewing so they are nice and soft (and will get softer with every wash). Somehow being sick is slightly more fun when you have a stack of pretty hankies to see you through.
 
There are a few more waiting for me to make them up. Maybe I’ll get to some of them today (ironing with steam is remarkably pleasant when your sinuses are congested).

This is the result of my drafting out that Japanese pattern last week. I asked Rob to sound out the name of it for me and it turned out to be “linen blouse” - just replace all the L’s with R’s and put a little emphasis on the E at the end of blouse - that’s pretty close to how it sounds. Mine is actually made from some cotton batiste left over from this summer’s Regency costuming.
 
I decided, based on the other diagrams with the pattern and some guessing that my Sashiko book was originally printed in Japanese (same sorts of diagrams and the English text is really squished), that seam allowances were probably not included in the pattern. It is intended to be loose anyway so I didn’t think an inch or so would really make much difference. I cut out the pieces (front, black, sleeves and bias binding) on Sunday afternoon and I got to try it on at about nine o’clock. I like quick patterns.
 
The 1 cm seam allowance was very nice to work with, especially on such lightweight fabric. To finish the seams I just ran a zig-zag stitch next to the seam and trimmed off the excess fabric. I took some extra space on the armhole seams to make sure they wouldn’t be too tight.
 

 
This shirt is very comfy. I might put a longer elastic in the neck band; right now it pulls the underarm fabric kind of strangely. It’s got a bit of a pear shape to it when you wear it (the bottom is very full) so it might not be a good style if you’re concerned about your hips. I don’t really mind so long as I’m cozy. I think it might be cute with slightly puffier sleeves too. The weather is a bit cool for this now but it is going to be wonderful next summer. I might even make a second one, with a few alterations, or one of the other patterns - maybe with a cute print from the nani IRO line at Purl Soho.
 
 
Zeke was “helping” me out again yesterday. Since I couldn’t finish my seam I got out the camera instead. He’s a very obliging model.

 

 

I was very excited about an entry on the Purl Bee last week. They had just received an order of nani IRO fabric from Kokka in Japan in the store and wanted to let everyone know. The fabrics certainly are beautiful - lightweight cottons in delicate, water colour prints - but the best part of the post from my point of view was the link they provided ... the free patterns section of Kokka’s web-site.
 
I should probably explain that I have been seeing Japanese craft books on all sorts of blogs since I started reading them last year and have been building a list of all the ones I think are pretty (my only real criterion).  One of the neat things with Japanese pattern books is that everything is explained with diagrams - think of origami - so you don’t really need to read Japanese to make the project. They are also full of beautiful pictures and inspiration. Sadly I have not been able to get my hands on any of these lovely books as yet.
 
When I saw the free patterns I was quite excited and happily spent most of my morning looking through them all and trying to decide which one to print off and try first. I eventually picked a simple short-sleeved blouse with gathers at all the hems. I drafted it out onto freezer paper and cut out the pattern pieces on Sunday night. Now I just need to figure out whether or not the seam allowances are included.