Good morning! I’m starting the week off a little differently with something sewn for me. As I mentioned last week, Tuttle Publishing sent me some books to review and this one is another goodie which I’m excited to talk about.

This is the popular Happy Homemade Sew Chic book in English. I don’t have the Japanese version of this book, so it was a fresh experience to sew from this collection of lovely patterns. As you can see, there are 20 patterns and if you click on the link above, you’ll be able to see the contents of the book.

I chose pattern J, which is a simple jacket with no closures and front flaps that create a cascading effect. I don’t wear a lot of blazers or jackets, but I do have an affinity for cardigans and this felt like a cross between a casual blazer and cardigan. With the flowy silhouette, patch pockets and 3/4-length sleeves, it’s a bit playful, and the ends of the ties in the back are intentionally left raw, giving it a smidgen of edginess.

I love it!! I used some of the dark mossy green linen blend from my stash (I made K a pair of pants from this fabric ages ago), and it has that perfect relaxed fit that doesn’t feel too dowdy. Mine isn’t quite as slouchy as the one modeled in the book, and that may be due to the thicker fabric I used since the beautiful navy linen in the book looks quite thin.

The pattern construction is easy-peasy since I didn’t have to fiddle with zippers or buttons or snaps. Tracing and cutting took the bulk of time since the patterns pieces are quite large and on different sides of the pattern sheets like the kids’ book I reviewed last week, but once I got into the sewing phase, it came together in less than 90 minutes. As for sizing, although my measurements corresponded closer to size 12 on the chart in the book, I eyeballed the pattern pieces and decided to make the size 10. It fits great, so I’ll keep in mind that these patterns seem to run large.

The instructions were straightforward, though again, I found a minor error (the right side of the fabric was labeled wrong side in one of the illustrated instructions sections), so I’m starting to get the sense that you may encounter some misinformation here and there.

Overall, I’m extremely happy with my jacket and wore it to a friend’s birthday party yesterday. Comfy and stylish! Alas, as much as I’m tempted to offer up this book as I love to do giveaways, there are too many patterns I want to try out so this one will remain on my bookshelf. I highly, highly recommend it so far!