Elizabeth Jane

Flutter Sleeve Jersey Top from Casual Sweet Clothes


AKA The Everyday Caped Crusader Tshirt!

This book was reviewed on a few blogs recently – I was interested but not committed. Then I went to Sydney for Frocktails, visited the most amazing bookshop called Kinokuniya (thanks to the sweet & ever-enabling Susan from Measure Twice Cut Once and my lovely friend Busy Lizzie in Brizzy – had such a nice day with these girls mwah. Loved seeing and meeting all the Frocktails girls!). Flipped through this book and I had to have it. I could have bought all the Japanese sewing books but I do try to exercise some restraint… sometimes…

Totally unplanned picture – but seemed too perfect! A Superman Koala on our Town Green (which comes with bonus river frontage). All credit to Miss 9: Posing Supercoach

I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese arts & crafts – the design, quality and workmanship is exceptional. My first love was via patchwork and quilting. Sewing clothes has opened up a new world of Japanese indulgence for me.

Warning: loads of pictures in this post as I’ve decided to review the book as I have now sewn from it (It’s my book, purchased with my own funds. I just found the adventure interesting and decided to share it with you).

Earlier this year I went on a Drape Drape binge with some rather unusual pieces (here, here, here, here and here) – the pattern pieces and construction fascinated me. I am keen to make some more.

Now I am equally fascinated by the stylistic simplicity of the ‘other sort’ of Japanese pattern books. Sweet Casual Clothes seems to fall into what I’m starting to consider the Japanese ‘everyday’ clothing aesthetic.

Casual Sweet Clothes

While I love a good complicated sewing project and my work wardrobe is quite structured, I love to wear very simple casual clothes with clean lines. Fortunately for me, I fall into the Japanese size range, I’m a medium tall and Japanese size small in terms of body it seems.

I’ve decided to share images of the clothes that you can make from this book and show you the sizing chart (I get asked this frequently about Drape Drape books and it’s a very valid question if you are thinking about buying a Japanese sewing book).

I do find buying patterns books online un-nerving as they can be an unknown quantity, you rarely see all of the makes. I did purchased Basic Black: 26 Edgy Essentials and was a little disappointed with it – mainly because all the makes are black and it is harder to see details which is frustrating for my inner line-art junkie (the garments are shown somewhat in the instructions but not as well as I like. Naturally I am now determined to make these patterns in a manner that appeals to me – I’m contrary like that.). So I’m hoping some of what I share might be helpful to you if you have hovered on the brink of indecision with this book.

The sizing chart (I love the ‘without clothing’ reference):-

Casual Sweet Clothes: Size Chart

And most of the projects (I’ve omitted a simple lace trimmed cami and some shorts – sorry). I’ve snapped these book images on my iPhone and used a photo composite app to create these images to give you a rough overview.

A casual jacket, tiered skirt, lace skirt and long-line jacket

Love this braided edge denim jacket, a bolero with a flounced edge and a sweet short, flared coat (I want to make all these jackets!

A lace trimmed shirt, a very simple sacklike black dress (but I love that lace trimmed sleeve) and a plain white top with tied shoulders

Casual ribbon trimmed pants, a simple shift and a flutter sleeve jersey top

A flutter sleeve shift, a simple colour-block shift and a jersey flutter sleeve top.

Instructions?
They are quite Burda-like. They are brief but accompanied by instructions. Beginners may find the brevity a little daunting – however when you begin you don’t know what you are missing so perhaps not! I tackled a Burda project early in my sewing days and managed just fine!

Casual Sweet Clothes: a snapshot of what you can expect instruction-wise

The Patterns?
You need to add seam allowances – they recommend 1cm, however if you prefer a different seam allowance you can easily use your own. You can see on the pattern layout that it indicates when you should vary the allowance – generally for hems. (LOL I’ve just noticed that it doesn’t indicate any seam allowance on the armholes of this top… I added them but it doesn’t seem to matter on the finished make.

I do find these pattern sheets much easier to trace then Burda – they are not so cluttered and there are less sizes. In some cases the XS-S are combined and so on. I also use lightweight white plastic ‘party table cloth’ to trace my patterns which is very easy to see through. A tip I picked up from Handmade by Carolyn.

My Make

I chose to make up the jersey top in small. It reminded me of the Sewaholic Pendrell which I have made before and liked. This top has more aeroplane-worthy wings!

The stash spat out some ribbed white/lemon knit for this make. I have never, ever worn yellow before. Seriously. I am surprised that I quite like this soft shade on me (a lifetime of avoidance for no apparently reason it would seem). The fabric was the devil itself. The rib texture made hemming it impossible. Yes, I used fusible hem tape and it is still a mess and all ‘fluted’. The shirt itself is loose and I can live with it.

To be honest I thought this might be too feminine and theatrical on me. I’ve never been a fan of fuss however I was surprised when I put it on. I really do like this top. I’m also pretty happy with the sun protection factor it offers!

Side view – without the floppiness

The instructions to attach the neckline and armhole bindings seem unnecessarily fussy to me. I did attach the neckline in the manner instructed (attach one long edge and then fold the other raw edge to the inside, tucking over the seam allowance and slip stitching it in place on the inside – I’ll admit it does give a nice finish – fiddly though!). I choose to attach the armholes bindings in more of the Sewaholic Renfrew manner – fold the strips in half wrong side together and attach them to the right side of the armhole and then press the seam to the inside (does that make any sense??).

the guts…

the insides – hard to photograph neatly as you need to keep the wings kept in and they rather dislike the coathanger!

the top on…

Preparing for take off – side view in the coastal breeze. The hem is hideous. I love this fabric but it was a b*&ch to sew – stretched out beyond belief. I had to use the twin needle on my Bernina to hem it as the coverstitch just gobbled it up!

I also decided to roll hem the ‘wings’ – which was an excellent decision after the hemming disaster of the lower hem! I decided that a hem would add weight and change the fall of the fabric – so I omitted the 1.5cm seam allowance indicated on the layout and just finished the edge with a rolled hem (if you are wondering how to do this, I blogged about it here… it’s very easy!)

side/back view

Front view. The sleeves in no way impinge on your arm movements – you can wave your arms as much as you like (important feature for me!).

VERDICT?

So all in all – if you like this simple feminine style and you are in the size range or awesome at resizing patterns, this book could hold some appeal for you and be a good investment. I do find Japanese patterns to be very generous – or perhaps not as body conscious as our usual style of fit. For the $20 – $30 it might cost you, you get quite a lot of patterns.

I’m surprised and happy with this make. I made it because I was curious about such a style on me – and discovered that while I might have walked past it in a store, I do like it on me. Yay for sewing and experimenting. I did try it on with my navy Hollyburn and my husband promptly told me I looked Amish. While the Hollyburn gave it a ‘waist’ it also dramatically shortened my frame visually. I think the volume of the top works better on me with skinny jeans and makes it look modern rather than blousy and old-fashioned.

Next up on the blog will be a top from a Japanese sewing book – which hasn’t been translated!

WHAT’S WITH THE KOALAS?

What’s with the koalas? It’s the Hello Koalas Sculpture Project. We currently have 50 of them scattered about the region, the majority of them located in Port Macquarie’s town centre. We took the kids on a koala spotting adventure on the weekend. They adored it. You can see all the koalas here. Yes, it is a pretty nice place I live in…

Loved this little guy… in fact they are all quite fabulous in their own way!

BOOK: Casual Sweet Clothes (English version)
FABRIC: cotton rib knit (purchased from Spotlight ages ago… from the bargain table for about $3 a metre. I used under 2m).



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