nani IRO – Colourful Fabric Dress Book
ISBN 9784579111831
Naomi Ito is the designer behind the inspirational nani IRO fabrics line. Her fabric designs are like paintings that flow across the bolt, often in beautiful double gauze cotton or linen blends. This book not only showcases all her fabric from 2008 but many of her simple designs and patterns. Everything about this book is inspirational.
I’ve had this book for ages and can’t believe that I haven’t made anything from it yet. The cover image is probably the most popular pattern in the book. The dress is very simple, very Japanese and I’ve seen several lovely versions of it made. I’m officially putting it on my Crafty List of Things to Do. There are lots of different types of projects to try including mother/daughter clothing patterns (so cute!), bags, coin purses and a simple apron.
I’m hoping you will pitch in with your comments and thoughts about these books and patterns as I post them to the Japanese Dress Books section. If you own any of these books or have had luck or even difficulty with some of the projects, it would be great to hear from you!
I don’t think I’ve ever studied a book as much as I’ve studied the Stylish Dress Book. Every week or so, I pull it off the shelf and carefully flip though it, examining the photos and the technical drawings looking for my next project. The crazy thing is that I always find something that seems ‘new’ to me.
A couple months ago, I had tucked away a couple metres of the nani IRO fuwari fuwari double gauze cotton in purple when it had arrived. The entire bolt got snapped up within 24 hours. Within a few days both Ayalah and Melinda had whipped up cute frocks from the Stylish Dress Book, but I just couldn’t decide what to make.
The incredible thing about this particular nani IRO print is that it changes as it moves across the width of the bolt. This plays out in interesting ways depending on how you choose to lay your pattern out.
With the colder weather approaching, I’m switching to making shirts and tunics that I can wear with jeans (my cold weather uniform). I decided to change Dress ‘J’, into a shirt that could also double as a cute cardigan.
One of my favourite details in sewing in using variegated thread. I get so much pleasure from seeing the thread colour change along my stitching line. Seriously, it makes me so happy. I used it to sew my buttonholes on this shirt and I just love how they turned out. Little coloured rainbow buttonholes! This particular spool is called ‘Water Lilies’ (clearly a reference to Monet) and it changes from purple to pink to blue to green.
I’m going to Houston, Texas next Friday with Jacqueline for Quilt Market! Does anyone know anything about Houston? Is there anything I should see? I’m pretty excited to go check out all the new fabrics and maybe meet some of the designers. My two missions are ‘Japanese imports’ and ‘felt’.
Ah, Stylish Dress book you are eternally inspiring and full of simple things to make!
I realized in a panic last weekend that the Nani IRO fabric was almost gone. It would have been very wrong for me to let it all slip away without whipping up a little something cheery to wear. I turned to the Stylish Dress book and decided on style B, a loose smock top with a nice full sleeve.
Drafting out the pattern from the book always requires a lot of care, to ensure that you trace the correct pieces, mark all the correct markings and remember to ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE! The lovely thing about these patterns is that they are simple and relatively quick to make. I drafted the pattern Sunday afternoon, cut out the paper and then cut out the fabric. On Monday, I overlocked the pieces and did all the sewing in a few hours.
The neckline is gathered and so is the sleeve. The sleeve is cut into two pieces with gathering along the upper arm and then an elasticized cuff. It’s very sweet. It’s all meant to be a showcase for this fabric, which completely sold out on Tuesday when I wore the top to work. The Nani Iro fabric is a double gauze cotton which is two layers of a looser weave cotton that are lightly stitched together. I didn’t even bother to pre-wash the fabric. This top will be hand washed in Soak for the rest of it’s life. (Scent for Celebration is my favourite)
For those looking to get themselves a copy of the Stylish Dress Book or any other Japanese Craft book, I highly recommend Pomadour’s Craft Cafe on Etsy. Just beware that it will be hard to resist the lure of these cute craft books. Somehow I just ordered two more books for my collection. Oh! Make that three books.
I’ve been dying to see this nani IRO fabric in person. It’s double gauze cotton (a soft, loosely woven cotton that is double layered together) and it just arrived with a large shipment of Japanese fabrics. It’s beyond lovely.
I’m going to flip through my nani IRO pattern book for some inspiration for this fabric.
If I’m in love with a fabric, I usually have to wear it. Hence, the need for crazy 13 dress challenges.
p.s. Where the heck is dress #13???!! It’s late, my friends. I can only say that it will be worth the wait. (and it’s still too warm to wear coloured tights)
