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This is a two-piece set with sleeveless top and a pleated skirt. The pattern is from a Japanese pattern book Simple Chic Dress Up Dress Down by Machiko Kayaki. The fabric is a cotton fabric that I bought in Japan several years ago, which I brought back to the U.S. which I then brought with me to the U.K.

I have made a kimono style short robe for summer using a pattern first purchased and used in 1979.  The main fabric is a cotton poplin from The Ministry of Craft with a plain band & contrasting piping.

Yukata Kimono

The fabric was bought on eBay, approximately 5 years ago. It’s an authentic Japanese kimono bolt measuring approx 14 inches wide by 12 yards long.

The Folkwear pattern was simple to follow. Lots of long, straight seams, but it needed quite a bit of hand sewing to catch all the turnings down. I usually avoid hand sewing if I can but this needed it to finish it properly and I’m pleased I took the time.

The last thing to do was the obi, and I was lucky to find I had a suitable fabric in my stash for that. The fabric was a bit floppy on its own, so I lined it with some cotton to give it a bit more body.

Dear Members,

The Sewing Place has been up and running for almost 6 months now and I thought you might like a lil update as to where we are.

We currently, as of this post, have 372 members and 92 Subscribers; I am just waiting for that 100th Subscriber to sign up so I can let down some virtual balloons from The Sewing Places' virtual ceiling.

The Sewing Place is nicely in the black due to our subscriber's kind support, so much so, that we have decided to give us all a lil treat in the form of our very own, custom made The Sewing Place badge!



These beautiful badges are available for purchase from our shop for just £7.50 with all profit going back into The Sewing Places' coffers. This price includes 1st class postage to the UK with an optional upgrade to recorded delivery for the extra cost of £1.10.

These badges are available to all our members wherever you are ... just PM Iminei or email and she will calculate the extra cost of postage to your location and arrange a payment method.

Naturally if you happen to be visiting the FoQ this year and want to own a badge, Iminei can arrange to bring one along and you can meet up.

As well as the Proud Member Badges, we have also taken delivery of The Sewing Place Prize Winner badges



which has been funded through a donation and will be be dispatched to all our Sewalong and Competition winners past, present and future ...

Please come along and vote: http://thesewingplace.org.uk/index.php/board,63.0.html

"Shirt blouse made from McCalls 6035 from fabric bought from the bring and buy table at a lace/craft day in April.  I think it’s probably polyester or a polyester/viscose mix with a small geometric pattern woven into it.

I’ve made the pattern up before but not with these sleeves which are cut in two pieces with extra wide (¾”) seam allowances in the centre to allow room to stitch casings in which to thread the ties which are just bias binding folded in half and stitched along the length.  All the other seams are mock fell seams = overlocked and then top stitched to look like felled seams on the outside.

The buttonholes are the first ‘proper’ ones made with my ‘new’ buttonholer for the Singer 201 and I spent ages finding buttons which didn’t look yellow against the very white fabric."