Donja - sleeping coat

Even Japanese traditional shoes, tabi, were made with scraps of fabric.

This rare piece is in fact female underwear. Women, often ashamed of keeping such an intimate item  for too long, often disposed of them instead of passing them down to the next generation. The top part of the underwear is made from very simple and plain fabric. Women tried to save the most beautiful piece of fabric for the bottom part, because it would be seen under their kimonos.

More sexy underwear!

These cute quilted pieces are diapers. Unlike the underwear, they would have been used for many babies Would you like to wash diapers by hand in cold water?!

 Guests were treated with great respect and the hosts spared the most beautiful donja for their guests.

Children's boro

People visiting the exhibition were allowed to touch the clothes. I took a close-up shot of this pair of trousers. Look at those stitches! Don't they remind you of something?


Exactly! The prick stitch and the catch stitch! Japanese women knew something of couture sewing!

The older generation in Japan often say "Mottainai!" which means "Too good (to be thrown away)." After I left the exhibition, I thought about how many things which were still good to use I have thrown away; how many useless things I have bought, and how many scraps of fabric have I wasted?

What's the most innovative recycled garment you've seen?

This Bra Kit for Pin-Up girls and pattern from ELingeriA had been sitting on my shelf more then a year but I had not touched it until yesterday. When it first arrived, I was afraid - what if I fail?

Since then, many bloggers have shared their success with this pattern, but the one who motivated me most of all was verypurpleperson. Reading about every new lingerie set she made gave me faith that I could do it too. And I did!!!

Fabric: Lycra mix (not sure what proportions) 
Time spent: 6 hours 
Size: 34A
Cost: €40.34 = €21 the kit (now it's €25!!) + €11.34 the pattern  (now €13.50)+ €8 shipping fee
Modification: none



The size was not a big surprise for me: depending on the brand, I usually wear either 32B or 34A. Before I cut the fabric, I made two muslins. The 32B muslin was a bit big at the sides but the 34A fit perfectly. For this particular model, you can choose to use the underwires or not; I went for the second option. For my first attempt, I am pretty satisfied with the results. There are only a few tiny details that I would've done differently, and the next opportunity will present itself very soon. I feel so motivated to make more lingerie!

What I did not like about the bra is the absence of cups and the picot lace. Usually, my bras are fairly simple; no bells and whistles (no lace, no trim), but I especially don't like it when my nipples show. If they do, I'd rather not wear any bra at all. Too prudish? But as part of my feminine fashion challenge, I'll buy more lace and make a couple more "feminine" lingerie sets. What do you think?

My overall experience of using this pattern and bra kit was amazing! If a dummy like me could understand the instructions then anybody can! For sewing this fabric, I used a regular polyester thread and a universal needle 80/11.

I also found this web page with a list of bra-making online shops and supplies. Don't hesitate for so long like me! Order a pattern and some fabric and make your bra!

Random picture from the local flower shop

Last week, I started working on the Starlet Jacket from Gertie's Craftsy online course as practice for the jackets I will be making in my patternmaking lessons in September. The biggest challenge I face at ESMOD is to follow the class in Japanese. Quite often I don't know the words or expressions to ask questions or to even have a decent conversation with the teacher. So when I saw this course on Craftsy, I immediately purchased it thinking that the information from the course would help me to tackle the jacket challenge in the classroom

The first problem occurred when I was cutting the pattern; it did not look right. Leaving the pattern on the floor, I rushed to check what others were saying about the pattern online. And indeed, at least two of them (K-line & SewWell) reported that some of the pattern pieces had been mismatched! Luckily, the scraps from the pattern were lying on the floor and I re-attached the pieces #2 & #15 and cut them again.

According to the sizing, I should be a 4. But what you see below is at least one size bigger. Gertie was overly generous with the sizing.


The next muslin I made in size 2 (sorry, no photo) - this time the jacket fits but needs some tweaking at the armscye. To be continued.