Good morning! How was your weekend? Yesterday, despite our lingering sniffles, we braved the rain and went to see the most adorable lion cubs at the zoo. The four cubs are only three months old, and I swear they purposely put the warthogs next to the lions so that Hakuna Matata would inevitably pop into our heads.
Today I present you my all-time favorite color combo: grey and mustard. I love everything about this Kokka Echino fabric - the denseness of the cotton, the over-sized polka dots, the gorgeous color. The pattern is from this delightful book, and was a very quick sew.
There’s actually a “half-leggings” pattern in this book as well, but I made the version from this book instead with the vague notion that I might add some embellishments like the one the model is wearing, but that part didn’t happen. I used an amazing dark grey knit I found in my stash, and I wish I knew where it’s from and what the content is because it feels like it might be some pricey and highly sought after stuff as far as knits go.
I made this one on Friday, and K was so excited when she saw the tunic hanging in her room first thing Saturday morning. I didn’t even have to bribe her (I mean, gently encourage her) to take pictures and she wanted to make sure we included the gigantic Valentine’s balloon from Daddy (it’s bee shaped and has a red heart with “Bee Mine” on it):
Because it was so quick to sew, and the pattern was just sitting there, I remembered that K had picked out a Kokka fabric a while ago and thought it would look darling as a tunic as well. Again, there was much squealing of happiness when she saw it hanging in her room Sunday morning.
I didn’t have quite enough fabric and debated whether to use contrasting fabric but ultimately, I nixed the pockets. She decided to wear the dress backwards, so that ended up being a wise move on my part. I didn’t even realize that the edge of her skirt was flipped up until I posted the photos just now.
This time, we had fun with some washi wall art. The artist hard at work:
I also made another pair of half leggings in a blue knit, but my discerning mini-stylist rejected them in favor of key lime green footless tights. I’m liking her vision.
That origami paper doohickey is an umbrella because those diagonal stripey bits are supposed to be rain. The abandoned half-leggings:
I’m especially pleased with this week’s creations; K usually likes what I make but these tunics, she adores fully and completely. What more could you ask for as a sewing mama?
Oh, and I am so so so excited to be part of An’s Belgian Style series! If you missed Kristin’s fabulous pastoral dress last week, it’s a must-see! And next*, the always awesome Venus of Suburbia Soup is up. My own interpretation of Belgian Style won’t be up until May, but until then I’ll be soaking up the hip and fun Belgian mini fashion via the other guest bloggers here!
*correction! Venus is up next week – can’t wait!
I love both dresses, but the polkadot one is my favorite. I LOVE that color! And I’m I the only one who instantly wants to buy every Japanese sewing book on the planet after seeing creations like these?
I can hardly wait to see your creation 
Thanks also for linking to my Belgian style series
LOVE-love-love the polka tunic! After seeing what you’ve made from this book, I regret not buying it.
Eeeek!!! I’ll be at An’s blog next week… I can’t wait for you to see it!
I can’t wait to see what you make. I know it’s going to be fabulous!
sublime, as usual! those kokka polka dots, oh man. so great. and the apples are really fun, too. she is one lucky girl!!!
Just darling! The back is so sweet.
Thanks for the sweet comments, everyone!
Love your blog
I discovered it through kcwc flicker pool and read every post back to December. You have the perfect balance of text and pictures and interesting posts. It is so interesting to read these snippets from someone whose life is so different from my own and I thank you for sharing. I have the Happy Homemade vol.2 pattern book and have not made anything from it, I am afraid to start. I haven’t copied a pattern that required seam allowance and the language barrier is formidable, but you have inspired me to give it a try- because I REALLY want some of those other delicious patterns you link to from other Japanese books and if I can succeed with HH2, I will venture on. I live in Wa. and haven’t really explored Ballard so that looks interesting. Tell me, are there some nice fabric stores in Seattle?
Thank you, Melody! So glad you’re here
My favorite fabric shops in Seattle are Drygoods, Nancy’s (in Queen Anne), Stitches (in Capitol Hill), and Pacific Fabrics (in Northgate and South Seattle). West Seattle Fabric Co. is cute too but I rarely make it out to West Seattle.
So cute, I really love the polka dots. And high five on creating two tunics K adores! I made that pattern a while back and it ended up a bit small, I take it you found it ran true to size?
Thanks, Robin! K is between 110 and 120cm so I’m finding the 120cm size to have enough ease for her to grow into without it looking enormous on her. I need to check out the version you made for C – bet it was super cute!
Fantastic outfits, love them both! Also love the washi tape art installation during the photoshoot, will need to try that sometime. Thanks for linking to my little deer dress, too!
Washi tape is the best! Whoever patented the stuff has got to be a gazillionaire by now, and I would personally love to hug that person for coming up with it.
Love the yellow dots – and the half leggings are fabulous with it! I’m really drawn to that yellow at the moment – rich and intense
Me too, Alison, me too! I am seeing this color popping up everywhere and I love it!
Love love love….as your friend Melody says, I need to muster the courage and start on my Japanese pattern books…..
Hi Pavitra – feel free to ask any questions you might have about Japanese pattern books – I’m always happy to help!
More Japanese love:) That polka dot tunic is envy-provoking – sublime fabric, great tunic shape. And I can’t believe your productivity – two tunics in a weekend! And K’s styling with the green leggings is so spot-on. Hope all this sewing means you’re feeling better!
Thank you, Lucinda – yep, feeling a whole lot better though I haven’t fully shaken it. All this sunshine we’re getting in the Pacific Northwest is helping though!
oh – beautiful! i bought some fabric in that exact same yellow today
(in the hope that my mum will make her something with it, a dress, a quilt?)
and your polka dot tunic is just great inspiration!
I think this deep intense mustard/gold yellow is having its shining moment right now! I assume that something magical will come of the fabric you purchased, Xenia – I’d love to see the result!
The mustard tunic is stunning, I’d love to have one in my size. I really like the other one too and the half leggings are really cute. It’s funny how children like to wear their clothes back to front – my eldest does it with his trousers. Looks like it works well with the tunic though.
Gorgeous! It makes me want to find this book. But then again, I don’t read Japanese, and I can barely follow English patterns.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Samantha! It’s funny, I’m so used to Japanese patterns that I actually have a harder time following patterns written in English now!
your sewing is so inspiring to me! I had a couple of Japanese books that a friend gifted to me, but only made 1 or 2 projects and they were lost when we got flooded by Sandy… (add your own expression of potty mouth! or not…) planning a trip to the city and will see if I can find one. If I don’t, do you know of a good site to order from?
I hope the sniffles are gone.
Sniffles are almost banished, thanks Elisana! I get all of my Japanese pattern books from the local Kinokuniya here in Seattle, but they also have a website: http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/
You should be able to order most of the books through Amazon as well. Next week, I’m going to do a round-up of all the pattern books I own with reviews, so stay tuned!
Also, I’m so sorry to hear about the damage caused by Sandy! I’m glad it sounds like you were safe – what a scary experience!
Thanks! I see they have a store in NYC – will check it out. Thanks for writing the reviews – they’ll certainly help!
Could you do a tutorial on how you make the most of your fabric when cutting out a pattern? Does that make sense?
Hi Emily – I’d be happy to do a tutorial on how I cut out patterns from fabric! You’ll have to give me a little bit of time, but I will get working on it!
I would love to try the Japanese patterns. With the language barrier being a major issue, are the pictures self explanatory? I love these dresses.
Hi Bonni! The illustrations are really excellent and Cherie of You and Mie just did a great series on sewing from Japanese books. Feel free to ask me any questions too!