Tag Archives: Shape Shape

lurid green skirt

A delightful morning tea with Sue and Megan this morning seemed like a good opportunity to crack out my new skirt for its maiden voyage.  And we were meeting in Kings Park which is one of Perth’s most beautiful parks, so naturally I snuck along early avec camera et tripod to have a quicksticks photo session in a blissfully empty park, prior to our morning tea! haha, doesn’t everyone do weird stuff like that?!  hmmm, don’t answer that!
This is skirt “d” from the Japanese pattern book shape shape, originally called Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  To be honest, I’m a little bit sad the book was renamed to be something cool and catchy in English.  I liked its first title; I thought it quite charming and I expect it was also likely a more accurate portrayal of the original Japanese title’s intention.  Much in the same way that I prefer the title “she has a mannish style” over the new English title “she wears the pants” and speaking of that I have a bit of a grumble about that very misleading new title since there are VERY FEW pants patterns in that book! and almost all of those gorgeous pants pictured are NOT available as patterns!! but more on that another day…  I’m still quite glad I bought that book while it still had that original title too!
Back to my skirt, ahem.
I’ve made this pattern once before in silver grey, here.  Oooh, I loved that skirt, and have been wanting to replace it in my wardrobe for years now.  Now I have! although the colour is a little less, um, shall we say easy on the eye, haha!

This skirt is such a very simple and yet quite unique and clever design, cut in one piece with part on the straight grain and part on the bias.  I think it can be seen from the different angles how the drape of the skirt changes quite distinctively around the skirt from the seam around to the seam again.
The bias dropped a bit before hemming, as it is wont to do, and I really liked how that looked, so hemmed the skirt without evening it off. 

I like wearing it with the buttons situated just slightly asymmetrically to the left like here, putting the bias drape to the left/back, although the skirt can be swivelled around to wear it with the bias to the back or the right, or even the front although the longer length at the front looks a wee bit odd.  You can wear it any way you like, in fact.  Thus the original title of the book!
Please excuse the multiple pictures, but I think the skirt looks at its absolute very best when in motion, the bias part really comes to glorious, rippling, swishy life.  Really, there’s few feelings more lovely that that of soft slithery fabric swirling around and against your legs as you walk.  Bliss.

All my materials; fabric, lining and buttons, are from Fabulous Fabrics.  My fabric is a rather eye-searingly intense chartreuse poly crepe, the same fabric I used for the armbands on my second Sea Change top, here, so the two should go nicely together.  A two piece set-tacular!  It’s a little nippy for that top here today, so I hauled out a warmer thing.  Winter’s coming, yay.  Please note the use of extreme sarcasm font there.  We get very mild winters here, but I’m still that wuss that barely tolerates the slightest hint of cold in the air.

The crepe is on the sheer side so it needed a layer underneath, either a lining or a petticoat.  I decided to line, and bought some poly knit of some sort or another, chosen merely for its excellent colour match.  It’s quite stable stuff, so I merely cut it nice straight and even line at the bottom edge and left the lining unhemmed, it sits nice and flat and smooth and doesn’t show on the outside at all.  I attached the lining to the skirt at the lower edge of the waist facing, and it does its job fine.  However, the knit seems a little heavy, and I’m worried it actually drags the skirt down just a touch.  I’m toying with the idea of detaching it, adding some elastic to the top edge and wearing it as a completely separate petticoat.  Or maybe not, depends whether I can be bothered.  We’ll see how it goes.  Probably I’ll plan to alter, while wearing the skirt to the end of its natural life, unaltered.  Story of my life, pretty much!

Details:
Skirt; skirt “d”, from Shape Shape by Natsuno Hiraiwa, chartreuse poly crepe, lined with knit
Shirt; Burda 8497 with added cuffs, white cotton, details here
Sandals; Zomp, from Zomp shoe boutique

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Bruised blue top thingie

Hello  ðŸ™‚
I have made this once before… this is top “p” from Shape Shape, (previously referred to on my blog as Unique Clothes Any Way You Like) by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  It’s a clever little design, like a cross between a little blouse and a draped wrap.
I really liked my first version, in a particularly delectable shade of creamy milk chocolate.  I had hammered snaps on for the front closure, which turned out to be a ginormously dumb choice since sometime last year I ripped a hole in the front placket when pulling the snaps apart…. (moment of stunned disbelief at own stupidity) Note to self: strong metal snaps plus delicate fabrics, equals a bad idea!

Version number two has much more sensible buttonholes and shell buttons, and is made in a lightweight drape-y silk with a suede-y, rather grabby texture to it, bought from the Fabric Store in Melbourne during my girly trip away with Mum and Cassie last year.  All the seams are flat-felled and the bias hemline swaps over from folding one way to folding the other way halfway along each top/bottom.  This is probably the only thing you have to think about making this otherwise very simple thing.  Oh, and the fact that the fabric you choose has to look the same both sides.

It’s not the kind of top you would wear every day, just an unusual and arty little thing to pop on over a plain ensemble to jazz it up.  Well that’s what I’m hoping, anyway!

Details:
Top; top “p” from shape shape by Natsuno Hiraiwa, dk blue silk
Skirt and two Tshirts; all self-drafted, skirt heregrey long-sleeved here, beige half-sleeved unblogged? I think?
Tights; self-drafted, of denim-look knit, details here
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

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Shape shape, by Natsuno Hiraiwa; a review

above; top “b” and skirt “d”

I was very flattered to receive some requests (well, two, hehe  🙂  ) for my thoughts on the Japanese pattern book Shape Shape (formerly known as Unique Clothes Any Way You Like) by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  I have only used six out of the nineteen patterns in the book, and made a total of eight garments.  So I haven’t made everything in the book yet.  But two ladies alerted me to the fact that there were negative reviews of the book on Amazon, and I popped over to have a look and was pretty amazed to see that some of the most negative reviews were from people who hadn’t yet attempted anything at all from the book!  Which made me realise that maybe I did have something concrete and useful to offer after all  ðŸ™‚  
I was equally amazed and equally flattered to see that someone had written something very nice indeed about my blog in a review of the book, which totally made my day!!!!  
A big thank you to Nancy Bowron and jenniferp for asking for my opinion, and to A. Badus for those kind words on Amazon!

above; top “a” and skirt “m”

So:
Description:
Shape Shape (formerly known as Unique Clothes Any Way You Like) by Natsuno Hiraiwa, is a book containing nineteen patterns for some tops, skirts, wraps, scarves, one pair of loose trousers and one bag.
Sizes:
The patterns are for two sizes, medium and large, with the Medium being very roughly equivalent to a European 36, and the Large to a European 38.  Now these sizes might seem too restrictive to the average Western body type, but nearly all the garments are very loose-fitting and flowy in that easy comfortable Japanese style that is much admired by Westerners, me included.  They could very easily be adapted to larger sizes, particularly if you have sewing experience.  Very few of the designs are close-fitting or body hugging, or would require a lot of fitting.  I use the Large  ðŸ™‚
The Patterns:
The patterns are printed on one large loose sheet of paper within the book, just exactly like how Burdastyle magazine supplies its patterns.  The user traces the patterns of interest, keeping the master sheet intact for use of the other patterns.  If you are familiar with Burdastyle magazine then you know how it works!
Some of the most extreme negativity of the reviews on Amazon were directed at the pattern sheet, and how difficult the reviewers found the tracing.  Personally I did not find it tricky at all.  A twelve year old could do it, easily.
Once upon a time I wrote a post on my method for tracing patterns and used this book in my pictures, here
Sewing Instructions:
I own the Japanese language version of the book; so my copy has literally not an English word in the entire publication, save for the author’s name.  So I cannot comment on the written content, since I am sadly very ignorant in Japanese  ðŸ™‚  However; I do not feel that has been a hindrance in this excellently illustrated book.  I have found the drawings and diagrams for constructing the clothes are excellent; very good, very clear and helpful and very easy to decipher which step follows which.   The book does assume some basic sewing skills, so is probably not suitable for an absolute first-timer.  There is no hand holding, like you would get with a conventional pattern from say Simplicity or McCalls, but if you have been sewing for a few years and know already about interfacing, clipping curves, how to sew buttonholes, how to finish hems and edges; generally how to construct clothing: then I think you would cope just fine. 

above; “top “p”

The Designs:
I would describe them as simple and minimalist, with a twist.  The designs are in my opinion, unique and cool.  Natsuno Hiraiwa has take some organic shapes and turned them into interesting patterns for comfortable clothes.  I love them, and some of the designs have been the most versatile garments in my wardrobe.  Skirt “d” has half the skirt on the straight grain, half on the bias, so hangs differently depending which way you wear it.  I wore my version styled in 6 different ways here.   The design of skirt “m” is also stunning in its simplicity, but is an insanely unique garment that looks nothing like any other skirt pattern I’ve ever seen.  I wore my version of this skirt styled in 6 different ways here.  Complaints on Amazon about not enough pictures showing off the versatility show a sad lack of imagination on the part of the complainers, and are not the fault of the designer, in my opinion!   My view is, make something and have a bit of a play and experiment with it yourself, you may be surprised and learn a few things about manipulating your wardrobe yourself!
Skill Level:
I would rate this book overall to be a bit more difficult that your standard average big 4 pattern… I am basing that rating solely on the level of autonomy required in sewing up the garments, and the fact that there are no entry-level instructions to help the beginner in the basics.  However, some of the projects, such as the wraps “f” and “j”, and say, the scarf “o” are uncomplicated and are well within the scope of a beginner.  These would make good projects to start with, to get a feel for tracing the patterns and nutting out the gist of the instructions.  Then one could move on to some of the more complex projects.
Do I recommend this book to others:
of course!!  In fact, just flicking through the book again to write this review whetted my appetite to try out some other of the designs, as well as to re-visit my favourites too  ðŸ™‚

below; wrap “f”
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The Pattern Pyramid, and shape shape…

I was thrilled to find in the post box a package sent over to me by TJ of the perfect nose; thank you so much TJ!

The Pattern Pyramid is a terrific idea dreamed up by the clever and gorgeous Karen, with the aim of tying us all together as one big happy global sewing family and spreading the sewing bloggy love by sharing a bunch of patterns and all making something out of a common pattern pool… cool idea, no?  I just love group challenges… so of course I jumped on the bandwagon immediamente…
Karen had the plan that we would select a pattern from the pool to keep, and TJ had the additional brilliant idea to send on all the patterns in her batch, which I agree is a very nice improvisation so I shall be doing the same…. plus I chose my pattern from the Burda magazine and I would feel like a right selfish meanie if I kept that magazine with all its fantabulous selection of patterns all for my very own  ðŸ˜€

you even get a cute label  ðŸ™‚

I can promise you, my own choice is an interesting one… and results will appear here in due course… stay tuned!
In the meantime and as stipulated in the rules I am offering up the above batch of patterns to another interested seamster, so if you want to join in the worldwide, bloggy, sewing, love-fest of fun then please leave a comment on this post.  I’ll draw a winner at random in a week’s time, and announce it here next Wednesday, 29th August.
That should give me enough time to trace out all just one or two more of the Burda patterns, mwahaha…

In other news, it’s come to my attention (thank you Pattern Review) that the Japanese pattern book by Natsuno Hiraiwa is now available in English and is known as “shape shape”.  Joy!  Long term readers of my blog will know that I have had the Japanese language version of this book for a few years now and have made a whole heap of things using it, and it is a firm favourite of mine.  At the time that I received it from my friend J, its English translated title on the net was “Unique Clothes Any Way You Like”.  Yes I agree, not quite so catchy.  But I accepted its rather unwieldy moniker and dutifully applied it to all my makes from this book.
So:  I am pleased that the book now has a nice simple little easy-to-roll-off-the-tongue-as-well-as-type-on-the-keyboard title, because this will make one of my favourite pattern books a heap more popular in the sewing world too.  However; the abbreviated new title now renders all my posts on the book hopelessly out-of-date.  Yay.
But moving with the times and all that….  consequently the other night I went back and amended all my Unique Clothes etc posts to be labeled “shape shape”… but I didn’t rewrite any content of the posts themselves so my descriptions within all those old posts still refer to the book by its original translated name of Unique Clothes Any Way You Like.  But from now on; I shall refer to the book as “shape shape” too.
Clear as mud?  I thought so  ðŸ˜€  Not to worry… but the long and short is that my past projects from this book can be located by searching for shape shape in the label’s bar below  ðŸ™‚

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Dusky pink ‘bustle” skirt; 6 different ways

This dusky pink skirt of a very simple and yet at the same time very unusual shape has been one of my favourites since I made it and it has appeared multiple times here on the blog already.  It is made using the pattern for skirt “m” from the Japanese pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like (also sometimes referred to variously as Clever Co-Ordinates to Wear, Shape shape, and also Sewing Clothing Patterns to Wear Multiple Ways) by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  The lack of structure and form in the design has been the key to its versatility, enabling the wearer to flip the skirt around any which way on the body without being limited to the one-way-only nature of most conventional western-style skirt designs; and its style embraces both the minimalist and the heavily draped, depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
I made it from a lovely linen/cotton mix from Tessuti’s in Melbourne, and it is lined with a soft, thin almost fluffy beige cotton from Fabulous Fabrics.  The outer fabric is a greyish pink that is so subtle as to be almost a neutral.  So accordingly, I tend to wear it mostly with some sort of little white shirt, to show off that pretty colour to its best, or with a blue chambray shirt.  Otherwise, I do like it best mixed up with quietly subtle beige or ivory neutrals which do not overpower that soft soft colour.

When I first made it, I wore it mostly like it is pictured at the left, with that modernist bustle situated over the hip.  Probably because this how it was styled for the book.  And obviously, you can wear it over either hip, take your pick…  and colourwise, I must say I do like the pink and turquoise together, too…  🙂
Then at right; I discovered one day that you could push the bustle in on itself, creating a kind of big pocket at the side of the skirt.  This is also became a favourite “way” for a while for me! Incidentally, the little necklace I am wearing here is a souvenir from our trip to Japan, a miniature leather-bound book on a leather thong.  It is pretty cute, no…?

pink1

Then I tried wearing it with the whole bustle swivelled to the back, and this might be my currently preferred way of wearing it now…  although I do still tend to flip it around any which way on random whim….  staves off boredom y’know.
At left; worn with a longer shirt belted over the top, the bustle is covered up and it looks pretty much like a conventional Aline skirt; and at right, paired with more winter-y accessories; long boots and a dip-dyed stole that is short enough to put that bustle on display at the back.  Incidentally, this asymmetric stole is also from the same book, posted here.

pink2

Below; at left; a cool and chic-ly featureless front is presented when worn with a summery little beige sleeveless top tucked in, and with black summer sandals to provide a foil to those pretty colours.
And at right; well I’m always partial to the flattering longline layers of a little dress worn over a longer skirt, as in this last ensemble.  And these sugared almond colours are particularly nice I think, too!

pink3

Which of these “looks” here do you like the best?
And would you like to know which one am I wearing today?  well, it is still pretty warm around these parts so I am wearing the summeriest of these outfits just above, with the little sleeveless top the colour of milky latte.  I just love these soft coffee and pink shades together!

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White, with a navy grid

I’ve made a new little top….   well, just a summer version of a T-shirt really, from scraps, the leftovers from this shirt.  Constructively finishing off another small wad of fabric from my stash.  Smug self back-patting ensues.
This stuff is pretty good top/blouse/shirt fabric.  It is uncrushable and beautifully light.  Sam has been wearing his shirt stacks.  And luckily has no neuroses about his mother having a garment in the same fabric, although for both our sakes I have undertaken to only wear it if he’s not wearing his.
We do have some pride.  ðŸ™‚
I had dreamed that this top would be cut on the bias, with those gridlines laying diagonally across the design, and to have little kimono/cap sleeves, like my preliminary sketch below.  I thought it would look pretty cool like that, and had been thinking about it long enough that my heart was virtually set on it.  But cutting on the bias is such a fabric hog, demanding way more than I actually had and so my plans were sadly not to be….  Visiting the fabric store to purchase just a leeettle bit more to indulge myself was pretty tempting as the fabric was not price-y, and still plentifully stocked.  But I had to admit that doing so would utterly defeat any aspirations to green-dom.  sigh
So …
I used the pattern for top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, a very simple design that really does use a very tiny amount of fabric.  In its simplest pared-back form this is a fab basic little top pattern.  I grudgingly economically cut the pieces out on the straight…. which might not look as cool as my original idea, but is very effective for stash busting  ðŸ™‚  And it is a good useful and casz little summer top.
The seams are all French seams.  It doesn’t have any closure but can just be pulled on over my head.  I left off the stipulated bias finish to the armholes and neckline, and instead made three sort of tubes or funnels to finish the apertures off.  The sleeve tubes are just single fabric width, and sewn into the armholes and finished with a little hem, and the neckline tube is doubled over, and slipstitched invisibly down on the inside. 

Details:
Top; modified top “a” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, in navy and white check stuff.  I have made this pattern up twice before, here and here….
Skirt; Vogue 1248, white cotton voile, details and my review of this pattern here
Thongs; Mountain Design

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Unique Clothes, top “p”

A new top; this one is top “p” from the Japanese pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa.  I was intrigued by and loved the look of this little thing from the first, and always knew I would get around to making one up.  I love how when you see it from the front you are just like… oh, an ordinary little top, it’s OK but not breaking any ground here; but from the back, wooo, what is happening with that top?  Is it a wrap, is it a shawl or is it a top?  As is usual with the delightfully unpredictable nature of Japanese designs, one isn’t quite sure.
I finally got brave enough to use some of the fabric I bought from Tessuti’s in Melbourne nearly a year ago (!), a piece of milk-chocolate coloured heavy-ish silk that has a quietly textured matte surface, and blessedly no right side, making it ideal for this project.  It is completely divine against the skin; soft, slippery and drape-y, so naturally a real *&%# to work with.    Out of the three pieces I bought in Tessuti’s this is the first to be made up.  So if you hadn’t worked it out, I have to confess right here to being pretty overwhelmed by those fabrics; I know that is pretty silly and illogical, but you know when you’ve bought something really special the likelihood making a big ugly expensive mistake looms a heck of a lot more menacingly…   Well, it’s not like I can just pop back to the store to get a bit more now, is it?  Hmmm, whole different kettle of fish when you’re two thousand miles away, right?  And fabric from Tessuti’s is not cheap even to start with… I think you can grasp at the foundations behind my trepidation here now.  But I think my new top is a success.
The design is a simple concept once you’ve seen it laid out flat like below; the back when worn has one twist in it, and the two fronts are attached one positioned up the other the down, and the back piece has the armholes; one up and one down.  So clever, no?
The top is not difficult to make, the only proviso is that care must be taken with the finishing.  Since the hemlines are sometimes inside sometimes outside the finishes are visible and so have to be done well.  Hence, the side and shoulder seams are flat felled, and the lower/upper hems are finished with a self bias strip and hand-stitched down to the other side.  So the bias strip ends up half on the inside and half on the outside and switches from one to the other halfway along the hemline.  Hmmm, if you’re not understanding well it’s kinda hard to explain.  But nowhere near as hard as it was getting those silk bias strips stitched down neatly in an even width hemline… whew.  This fabric is soft and drapey, but it has quite a springy robust nature and was not the slightest bit obedient.
I need get out some nice easy cotton or linen next I think…

Details:
Top; top “p” from the Japanese pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, made of brown silk
Shirt; my own design, a mix of patterns, black cotton, details here
Jeans; Burda 7863, khaki stretch gabardine, details and my review of this pattern here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough (now renamed Boutique Eco)

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Dip-dyed wrap “f”

While I had the dye-pot filled with blue dye, I took the opportunity to do another little dyeing experiment I’ve been dying to try out  (hehe, little play on words there, see, see?)
I made this wrap top “f” from the Japanese pattern book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hiraiwa, using the piece of creamy coloured knit stuff leftover from after I had made this top.  This is a very very easy pattern btw, simply a flat asymmetrical half ellipse, with two armholes cut out in the middle.  I edged the armholes with bias strips of the same fabric as recommended, for strength and some extra stability in the armholes, but didn’t hem as this fabric doesn’t fray.  Also it is quite thick and substantial, and I thought a hem would have been too bulky and spoilt the smooth ripply effect of the fall of cloth.
Couldn’t be easier!

Now for the dyeing bit of it….
Now the most significant part of the dyeing phase is the first few seconds, when you first immerse your fabric.  That is why whenever I’ve read about people’s dyeing experiments on the internet and they pause to take a few photos of their fabric partway dunked into the dye bath, you just know they are going to end up with a blotchy dye job…  The best way to get an nice evenly distributed colour is to have your fabric thoroughly soaked through, and then dunk it in the dye bath firmly and decisively in one quick movement, then to swirl and whoosh it (technical terms there) around as thoroughly as possible for the first minute or so.  This is when the majority of the dye will take.  So, since I had dyed my skirt in this for the requisite thirty minutes already, I knew the dye wouldn’t have much oomph left in it (another highly technical term there).  But I was OK with a lighter blue outcome.  For a bit of a smudgy colour (yet more techno-jargon) I decided to add a bit of coffee to the colour mix.  No, not coffee-coloured dye, but some actual genuine coffee.  Although my husband doesn’t view this as real coffee at all, but let’s not get into that debate!… I added half a jar of this instant coffee to the dye bath, and away we went.

Fully soaked fabric,

into the dye bath.

I stood holding it half dunked in like this, slowly moving it further down into the pot over a few minutes time, and trying to separate and move the folds about, both as thoroughly as I dared and as gently as I could to get the fabric reasonably evenly immersed and not to allow any folded bits to stay stuck together.  Then I moved the whole shebang (‘nother technical term, hehe, I’m going all out today!) over to the table where I had set up this arrangement.  I took this photo later after everything was washed and cleaned up; I had other stuff to do and forgot to take a photo during, but this is just how it looked…)

After a good thirty minutes like this I rinsed it out and hung it flat as I could out on the line to air dry.
Now, obviously this dye pot with its small surface area presentation is not the ideal way to dip-dye, or this fabric has particularly good capillary qualities, because in the two areas where the fabric was bunched and folded in front of the armholes you can just see where the blue dye crept up up and up by itself separately from the brown coffee component while it was sitting half in the dye bath.  You might not be able to see it very well it is quite subtle… BUT it is there.
That, my friends, is known as capillary action, and is the basis of chromatography.  Little science lesson for you there… I used to work with different chromatography systems every day when I was an analytical chemist.  Ancient history now, hehe.  
So there it is.  I’m happy, and love the smudgy subtle colour I got here.  I’m extremely pleased with the graduation of colour from dark to light, it is way better than I could have hoped for!  The little bit of chromatography up in front of the armholes is slightly disappointing, but I can live with it as it is pretty unobtrusive, and is covered up with the folded collar when I’m wearing it.
(Later edit: I tossed the wrap in the washing machine, and the “chromatography” effect has disappeared!  My wrap is now just as I wanted! SCORE!!)

Details:
Wrap; “f” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like by Natsuno Hiraiwa, cream coloured knit stuff, dip-dyed in iDye Poly in Blue and coffee
Top; Ezibuy
Skirt; skirt “d” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, but Natsuno Hiraiwa, details here, and to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough

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