Monday, February 02, 2009

Made It Myself Monday: Japanese Linen Shirt Redux

Once upon a time there was a semi savvy seamstress who thought she was clever enough to do just about any old thing. She bought fancy linen fabric. She bought an exotic Japanese craft book.



She was baffled that the patterns weren't in the craft book but since she reads and speaks no Japanese what-so-ever, it takes several days for her to realize it does include instructions to draw up the pattern yourself. The blouse in the picture was lovely.




There were diagrams. The fancy pleating looked straight forward enough. She thought she could handle it. She cut right into the fancy linen.

The blouse was a disaster. There were no photos.



Her confidence blown, she shelved the whole mess for 4 long months.

A New Year came... and with it, the Annual Cleaning of the Closet. The Unfortunate Blouse came out of the closet and on to "The Pile That Must Be Finished". The crafty woman, using a technique both simple and forgiving, finally completed the project.

(you know the drill: click on photo to enlarge)

Not too bad.



Clever, once again.

(thanks to KnitSonya for the photos in the park!)

14 comments:

Mary Beth Magee said...

Wow. I'm impressed. I would love to be able to do that, but I know I couldn't wrap my brain around it. My brain just wouldn't even let me try. I love the simple, natural japanese fashions.

Lyndsey said...

Beautiful, hon! It's nice to see the recovery from a disaster! God knows how many projects I've started and just given up on!

Anonymous said...

I keep thinking about buying japanese craft/pattern books, but I'm fraid of the drafting/tracing and that everything would be much much too small for my 5'9" frame.

I think the shirt turned out great in the end - love the color!

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed. Like Ms.Cleaver Chronicles, I want to buy those books but worry. I'm not only tall but, uh, wider than those patterns seem to allow for. Especially in the shoulders. Anyhow, yours turned out FABU! LOVE IT. :D

My Little Family: said...

Nice save.

Anonymous said...

Love it! How did you smock it?
Val

(I don't have a user name so I just click anonymous)

Rydermann said...

Good save Hun.

Anonymous said...

You are too funny! Not to mention clever. I love the way you will tackle anything.

Jodz said...

You clever clogs, you :)

futuregirl said...

Good save! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Angelina said...

I LOVE your new shirt! So cute!

sulu-design said...

Leave it to you to figure it all out (even if it took four months). The top is adorable. I wish I could have been in the park to see you two during the photo shoot, although I imagine your community is used to them by now!

Anonymous said...

you are my hero. :)

sauvageblue said...

smile... and I have a fascination with Japanese craft books and have yet to cut into one of my favorite fabric's. I admire you...

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