Last year Brandon from Tuttle Publishing kindly sent me Sew Sweet Handmade Clothes for Girls by Yuki Araki for review. Yuki Araki is a much-loved pattern designer here in Japan so it was pretty exciting to see her work translated into English with the potential to reach many more people.

Sew Sweet has 22 sewing patterns in sizes 1-8 years for dresses, skirts, tops, pants, a hat and bag, and also includes two patterns for adult-sized tops. Mother-daughter matching outfits? Why not! The pattern sheet is neatly stored in a pocket at the back of the book. As with most Japanese sewing patterns you will need to find the pattern for your garment on the pattern sheet and trace out the size you want to make but it really makes it quick and easy being able to do this in English.

The patterns are quite classic and simple allowing you to create a good set of wardrobe basics for your girl, and I like that knit garments are represented well too. As well as photographs of each garment there are clear illustrations and sewing steps to walk you through the process. Sleeveless Dress J pattern has colour photographs and detailed instructions. Araki also includes four pages where she shares helpful sewing tips and notes.

The feature I love most about this book is an index page with photos of each garment listed by category. I see this sometimes in Japanese sewing books and magazines and I always look there to decide whether I’m going to purchase the book. It’s a great way to see the whole book at a glance.

My favourite garment in the book was Sleeveless Dress J (above) but that isn’t what I made this time. My daughter has devised a set of rules governing how she dresses each day that look a little like this – pants must be leggings, skirts can be woven but must have an elastic waist, tops must be knit. Dresses should be the Geranium Dress or, if she’s in the mood, her yet-to-be-photographed Elsa dress. She’s into comfort, familiarity, and routine and I can completely relate. We both love regular clothes as a uniform and hers is a skirt over leggings with a knit top or t-shirt. That means I have made a lot of elastic waist skirts and leggings for her over the past couple of years and I love doing that for her.

This time I made her a version of Double-layered skirt C (above). The skirt has a ruched feature which is created by sewing ribbon channels through the top layer of the skirt. I imagined that the ribbon was going to bother my daughter if it came undone and she couldn’t re-tie it herself so I created the same effect by gathering a section of the top layer.

The fabric (from my store) is Woodblock and Spirit Animal from the Mesa collection by Alexia Marcelle Abegg for Cotton + Steel.

The skirt waistband is not as wide as it should be because I wasn’t paying attention and forgot to add the seam allowance. Such a silly mistake but it’s fine.

I’m pretty smitten with the Woodblock print. It’s a big call but I think this might be my favourite out of the entire C + S 2014 fall collection.

For more information about Sew Sweet, and to see other great Japanese pattern books, head on over to Tuttle Publishing.

And if you make something from this book I would love to see it!

I received this book for review but all opinions are my own.