Japanese Shirt Pattern plus Vertical Button/Buttonhole Placement Tutorial.

The first Japanese Sewing Week has started and I sort of cheated my way into it. But I will tell you about that later.

The series is arranged by my good and talented friend Sara from Made by Sara. You can read all about the series HERE. In that post you can also find a link party so YOU can join in on the Japanese sewing fun.

In the end of this post you will find a great giveaway with prizes such as Japanese Sewing books from Tuttle Publishing and a fabric voucher to Urban Sew.  

You know what a giant fan I am of Japanese Sewing patterns. Not only of the aesthetics but just as much because I 8 out of 10 times agree on the suggested technique - which I find remarkable since techniques can be somewhat of a subjective matter. I'm always in awe of the illustrations in the books. They are clear, precise and informative and 100% make up for the fact that I (obviously) do not understand a word of the Japanese tutorial text.

It was the great and informative Japanese Sewing Book Series on the blog You & Mie that gave me the bits of information that I needed (e.g. the japanese sign/word for CB which is always good to know, right!) to dare to try them out and I have not looked back since. I highly recommend that you start there if you have never tried sewing from them before.

Let's get to my contribution. I have dreamt of making this shirt ever since I saw Celina making it for the Shades of Me series. Find the post HERE.

It is from the book Simple Chic. I also made those two knits tunics I posted about two weeks ago from from that book. 

So how did I cheat myself into the series. Well, you know that I try to stay away from series because they come with a deadline and that does not work so well for me since my blog is a hobby. BUT when I got the invitation I had already made this shirt. It was hanging in my sewing room and was just waiting to be photographed, so that was exactly the kick I needed to get it out of there.

The reason for the procrastination was because I was not sure it turned out the way I hoped. More precise I was worried that the fabric (delicious organic cotton double gauze from Organic Cotton Plus) did not have enough drape for this type of shirt and that I looked more square than you are suppose to in styles like this.

So it was actually only when I looked at the photos that I realized that I actually really like it on me and I have used it many times since, doh!

I changed the pattern a little bit. The book both have a dress and a shirt version and I made something right in between - I guess you can call it tunic length.

It's pattern C and it only comes in one size which took me quite a while to figure out while I looked the pattern sheet over and over haha. So now you are spared that waste of time!

It is a VERY roomy style (and a fabric with lots of drape (silk, rayon etc) would work great with the original shape - just like Celina's.

So after making a muslin and knowing that I would make it with double gauze, I ended up making it quite a lot more narrow. I took 2.5 cm / 1" off the CB bodice piece and then the same from the front center piece. But I took it off on the side that is sewed together with the front side piece not at the very center where the buttons are. (I hope that makes sense?!)

So it became 10 cm / 4" less wide in total. 

If you remove from the center back piece just remember also to adjust your collar piece otherwise it will be too big. In other words you are making your neck opening smaller too.

Here is a look from the back. 
And for the 100th time did I wish I had a stylist with me when I'm taking photos that could just give that collar a hand stroke so it would lie down nicely. Yeah, I know...I'm obsessing over tiny ridiculous details!

I made the shirt version and added length to it. You could probably also choose the dress version and shorten it. (I think the collar fits both since the styles are called C-1 and 2 but I haven't actually checked).
I think I added about 15 cm / 6" to the length in total. I didn't bother to add any width at the bottom even though it would now had to cover my bum because I knew those gathered side inserts would add plenty of width.

I absolutely love those gathered side inserts and I'm almost feeling proud of myself for not color blocking them.....at least this time.

I have wanted to talk about button placement forever and well, this post is as good as any, right. Especially since it contains a garment with buttons, haha.

Buttons are not placed in the middle of a buttonhole. 

I'm going to focus on vertical buttonholes in this post and a button is placed so that the stitches used to sew the button in is holding the buttonhole in place. So you button your shirt and then you pull the side with the buttonholes down (the wearer's right side if you are a woman and left if you are a man) and at the same time pull up in the side with buttons and boom you have a shirt placket that stays in place.

And I know it looks like I totally screwed up the placement of those side pieces with gathers (another thing to think about when placing buttons: lining horizontal lines up across from each other), and I have several times gasped and grabbed my measuring tape but they ARE at the same height. It's simply because of the width of the shirt that it does not always looks like it. I'm the type that could not handle one being higher than the other....I know, I know I need help, hehe.

Okay, back to the tutorial:

SO to measure where to put your buttonholes you start by placing your top button on the garment (where it eventually will be buttoned through a buttonhole and end up being visible). The buttonhole has to start 2 millimeters above the top hole(s) in the button. Use your preferred way of marking buttonholes. I stick a pin through the top hole of the button and then I lift the button off the pin and move the pin up 2 millimeters. (I use slim pins with a tiny head all in metal in case you wondered).

Next step is deciding where you want your lowest button placed. Marking method is obviously the same.

I realize that many women have to start by determine where the button over their bust has to be placed as the very first thing (to avoid gaping over the chest) and then place buttons upwards and downwards from there but the principles are still kind of the same although the math is of course a tiny bit different.

Third step is to decide/determine how many buttons you want on your placket in total. I simply play around with the buttons and see what looks the best. You obviously do not want a too big gap between them and you do not want a too small because that means more buttonsholes to make, gah.

Now that you have determined/decided on total number of buttons, you need to measure from the start of the top buttonhole to the START of the bottom buttonhole, divide with ONE LESS than the total numbers of buttons, mark all your button holes and get started.

Let's do an example:

So if the total number of buttons are 8 like this shirt and the full measurement (from top buttonhole to top of bottom buttonhole) is 60 cm / 24". Then divide 60 cm with 7 (one less than the total number of buttons remember). That will give you the measurement from top to top of each buttonhole all the way down: 60 / 7 =  8.6 cm.

I don't know if anyone need this information or everyone is doing it this way but hey, now it is here!

I also wanted to give you my opinion about when to use vertical buttonholes versus horizontal buttonholes. 

So in my opinion as soon as there is a placket or a stitch creating a placket effect I think vertical buttonholes looks the best.

In other words the only times I use horizontal buttonholes are in blazers, vests or skirts with no stitching along the front. I have two reasons for it and the first one is pure aesthetics (and therefor subjective). The other reason is more practical but since I'm not talking about horizontal buttonholes in this post I'm going to save it for another time, sorry but this post is already long enough, ha.  

Lastly I wanted to give you an example of how to style it for another occasion.... like leaving the house and not pick up kids or go grocery shopping, hehe. I love the contrast of the cropped jacket with the long tunic under. The jacket is from my favorite Danish brand Baum und Pferdgarten and after borrowing it from my sister so many times she finally gave up and gave it to me. Yippie.

Okay, I definitely think I need to stop rambling now and you need to enter this giveaway is you haven't already!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

And please check out all the other incredible participants. They truly are an honor to post together with!

There will be links to all the posts on Sara's blog HERE.

Thank you!

Halifax Hoodie by Hey June Patterns.

I have been eyeing Hey June Patterns for awhile but I'm going to be totally honest and admit that I have become a bit more hesitant to try out new (to me) pattern makers . I can't turn off my knowledge, my critical eye and my expectations of a somewhat professional level when a product is sold for money and you just never know what you get before you open up that pattern file. I'm not saying that everyone have to make patterns to my standards but that's the type of patterns I personally prefer to work with for obvious reasons.

But I had a feeling I would not be disappointed with Hey June's patterns and luckily I was right. 

This is the Halifax Hoodie.

First of all this pattern is very generous. In other words you get A LOT for your money. A zip up hoodie, a version with the twisted side seams and high-low hem (like I'm showing you in this post) and a classic sweatshirt with normal side seams plus you have the choice of adding either a hoodie, funnel neck or regular rib neckline plus a kangaroo pocket. That is basically 3 different bodice patterns in one package plus the extra add-on details...together that gives a ton of versions...for $10. Wow!

This is my first version and when I looked through the photos the other day I realized I only (literally) had 3 photos that was not out of focus. GAH!! I must have stepped out of the focus zone without realizing and somehow I didn't notice when I quickly liked through them after finishing the photo shoot. Jeez!

I will focus (get it, haha) on the fact that one photo is actually pretty good and the other two I'm only making slightly weird facial expressions. Hallelujah.

SO this is view B from the pattern with the twisted side seams but with added length to the bodice. First of all I started with a size M because I wanted a slightly oversized look and that was the perfect choice.

I added 10 cm / 4" to the length of the bodice pieces while cutting. I was worried that the longer length would collide with my hips so I also added a bit of width (5 cm / 2" total) to the lower part of the front bodice (green knit quilt / sherpa in this post).

The original pattern has two bottom rib pieces for view B - one that fits to the big back and half front bodice and one smaller one that fits the half front bodice. I moved my rib seams to be on my side although there is no side seam to match up. This is just a matter of taste and what I preferred. No biggie and easily done. I obviously had to make my bottom rib bigger anyway since I widdened the bottom circumference for my FBA (Fat Butt Adjustment - thank you Alida for that one).

The green quilted knit is from Miss Matatabi. The green is sold out now but she usually have some sort of quilted knit in stock. I have been saving it for the perfect project and this was IT! The heathered black French Terry is from Girl Charlie. This has sold out but they now have something very similar HERE (I know because I have bought some of that too, ahem did I hear someone say French Terry addiction?!).

Okay, on the the next version. I love it so so much. Mostly because I had this vision about this faux sherpa knit and it turned out exactly as I had hoped. I was literally squealing when I tried it on. I wanted the texture from the sherpa but obviously not look like a round sheep ready for it's next hair cut, haha.

The faux sherpa knit is from Mood Fabrics and the black cotton interlock knit is from Organic Cotton Plus.

I did make one more adjustment to the pattern and that is a more general one. It regards the sleeves. On me it looked like the sleeve was a bit too wide - as in I had some extra fabric on the sides of the of the sleeve. I looked though the post with tester versions and a few others had it too but not at all everyone. It might just me my body, ha who knows! 

SO I curved the sides of the sleeve head (both front and back) more and then I also raised the sleeve head so the sleeve still fit in the armscye (plus a little bit of ease).  

Problem solved!

Okay, this is probably the most boring 'from behind' photo ever, haha. SO I want to mention how much I love my CoverPro 2000 from Janome. We started out pretty good friends and now (after some practice) we are really really good friends. I just love how all rib seams are stitched down and it still looks great after washing too - which both these have been at the time I took the photos. I simply had to wear them right away and all the time.

The pattern (view B) includes the high-low hem which I absolutely love!

Okay, that's it folks. I absolutely plan to make some of the other versions too, but this one was to me the most fashionable and fun so no doubt I had to start with that, and then I will be back with some more Halifax Hoodie Goodies (sorry, that was a bad one!)

Get your own Halifax Hoodie HERE.

Thank you!

Knit Tunic with a Front Yoke.

So this is the first installment in the trilogy called spam-with-blog-posts-containing-photos-of-me.

Today I'm showing you an altered version of a knit swing tunic from the Japanese sewing book called Simple Chic.

Maybe it's easier if you jump over to the blog Japanese Sewing Books. She made a review and is showing photos of the original tunic HERE. The pattern is H-1 - Jersey Flared Tunic. It's kind of easier to talk about alterations when you have seen the original, right.

I'll be right here waiting...... 

Okay, so now that you are up to speed on the original tunic you can see that I

 didn't do any mayor alteration but I think I did some important ones. 

The first thing I did was adding the front yoke. I didn't have enough fabric to either make it grey or blue so to make the color blocking a bit more purposeful I added the yoke so that the color from the back piece continued on the front. I'm not sure if that makes any sense besides in my head but hey, that's where it matter, right!

The second alteration I did was making it more fitted in the upper body and then have it flare out just below the waist (instead of starting to flare out under the arms like the original). It's hard to see in these photos because I ended up putting a belt on but later down in this post I'm showing you another version without the belt.

Looking at myself I do prefer it with the belt but I think I can just about swing it without too and I have totally mostly worn it without a belt.

I made the smallest size based on my bust measurement (and the fact that my fabric is quite stretchy) but I was forgetting one important detail. While my bust might be small my shoulder width and arms are more medium sized. Oops.

The sleeve was suppose to be longer but I had to cut the lower part off because it was simply too tight. And you can see at the photo above how the sleeve is crawling up my arm whenever I was moving.

It's not so bad that I felt the need to cut new sleeves but I definitely fixed it for the next one...further down in this post!

The fabric is this amazing thin, stretchy and drapey Rayon Bamboo French Terry from Fabric.com. It's a bit pricey ($15/yard) but worth every penny and comes in great colors. I cannot not recommend it enough - and no I'm not an affiliate!

Here is my second version where I fixed the sleeves. Ah, much better.

The stripe is an amazing cotton interlock (leftovers from an earlier project) and the heathered black is another thin and drapey French Terry. This time from Girl Charlee.

A style like this is just perfect for leggings, jeggings (like I'm wearing) or skinny jeans if you don't quite feel showing off your thighs that day. I honestly feel like I'm wearing pajamas but I would mean I look like I dressed that day. And the boots are just for show, I would just stick my feet in my black leather Vans and be on my way.

I'm sorry but I don't have any more photos of the last version. The rest are either similar to the above or blurred and out of focus, so this will have to do but I think you get the idea, right!

Thank you!!