We recently had a student use Girls Style Book by: Yoshiko Tsukiori in class and thought we’d offer up a review.
Amazon says of it:
Sew cute and original clothes for your little girl with this stylish sewing book.
Popular Japanese author and designer Yoshiko Tsukiori brings unique new designs and style to the do-it-yourself sewist that make it easy to create the kind of clothes little girls adore. Japanese Sewing book Girls Style Book (in English) offers 24 full-sized patterns in five sizes for some of the cutest dresses, tops, outfits and accessories for girls from ages 4-10. Already loved by aficionados of Japanese fashion, this book has something for every girl’s taste: relaxed, comfortable clothes that are as fun to wear as they are to look at. Projects include a wide variety of DIY-sewing dresses, tops and pants.
- Balloon-skirted dress with matching mini-bag
- Classic pinafore jumper with matching bolero jacket
- Pretty A-line tunic with matching pants
- Straight and simple sundress
- Summery camisole top with matching pants and hat
The patterns can be adjusted to suit your little girl’s shape and size. Clear, concise diagrams and instructions make these children’s clothes so easy to sew, the hardest part will be deciding what to make first! There’s nothing quite like dressing your little girl in clothes she adores—made with love, made by you.
And this is definitely spot on. The patterns are clean, simple, and easy to understand. The student working on it was a beginner, without any sewing experience whatsoever, and the only real hurdle we had was that the actual smocking layout instructions can be hard to get your head around iff you have never done it before.
If you are looking for a clean, simple, modern version of some old-fashioned kids clothes and want to get into some basic handwork, this is the book for you.
You should work out the smocking first on a piece of scrap or muslin is the only warning we’d give. The directions themselves are fine and clear, but if you have not done it before it gets confusing.
You can read about Duree’s first project here.