Japanese Sewing

My friend Lola lent me a wonderful book of Japanese dressmaking. Sadly, I cannot offer any information on it, as it is all in Japanese.

From it, I made this nightie, which was a dress pattern. I like a loose cotton nightie as I get very clammy at night. The print is actually a William Morris type leaves and blue flowers, which i could not reproduce here, but gives it a rather groovy 70s feel.

While British/American/German etc sewing patterns seem to be mainly for classic or retro garments, the Japanese ones favour loose shapes with gathers or wrap-arounds and neutrally coloured, natural fabrics. These make lovely comfortable clothes, but I suspect they are more flattering on the smaller Japanese woman than on large Europeans like me.I think there are probably cultural aspects to fabric and colour choice, shape, fit, pattern and the like also. Think of kimonos as opposed to a formal dress. Anyway, a great book!