Japanese Craft Books: Tracing

Today I'm continuing my, how to sew from Japanese craft books, series. You can read the last post, on supplies and sizing, here.

Ok. So you know what size you are. And you have your supplies for your project. Now it's time to tackle the pattern pieces. All you need are a few basic items: paper, pencil, and a ruler. Oh I almost forgot, and tape. That's all I had when I first started, nothing fancy. I used what I had on hand, like this roll of paper:


It's not see through but I can make out the patterns underneath. It's nice and wide but if I'm short somewhere I need to tape some pieces together. And my preferred ruler is a see through quilting ruler and I use a sewing gauge as well. See, basic stuff.

But if you want to get some helpful tools, I would recommend this, a seam tracer:

I got one recently. IT IS AWESOME! It makes tracing faster and easier.

Another tool, I got recently, a curved ruler for armholes and necklines. Yay!

And finally, Kwik Trace Cloth or Swedish Tracing Paper so you can actually see what you're tracing. I've never used this before but it sounds divine, being able to clearly see what you're tracing.

Finding Pattern Pieces

Now to finding the pattern pieces. With my book there are two pattern sheets, printed on both sides. I don't need to open them both up though. I just need to look through the little pattern lists, like this, and find pattern 07. Once I have that, I know which page has all my pieces on it.

The first time you open one of these sheets it can be a little overwhelming. It's a big jumbly mess. Numbers are everywhere and pointing at all sorts of lines! And pieces are laid one on top of the other. It's just CRAZY!! I've shaded in two different pieces for my pattern in green and blue to show the crazy.

It does look insane but it all makes sense. All the different numbers and lines correspond to the different sizes or the number of the pattern. For example, if you look at this little bit:



Starting at the top the "07, 19, 24" are for pattern 07, 19, and 24. And there are 4 lines for the 4 different sizes. And that "06"? It's for pattern 06. And then it's "07, 19 見返し". You can actually match those characters to the characters in the drawing on the direction page. "後ろ見返し" which translates to "back facing". See? No big deal when it's broken down. Not that you were hyperventilating, right? :)

Seam Allowances

Ok. Now that you understand how a pattern is laid out, you need to think about seam allowances. Japanese patterns DO NOT usually include the seam allowance. You just need to look at the drawing on the direction page to verify this. Like for mine. The 1.5 is the 1.5cm I need to add for the seam allowances. The 3s are for the hem. Figure it all out before you start to trace or you may end up with a big old mess (which is exactly what happened to me yesterday).

Sometimes there are tricky areas. One of my pattern pieces is split and has a 6cm seam allowance in between the split, a 2.5cm on one side, and 1.5cm on the other. Tricky, tricky, tricky.

Tracing

Once I know how much seam allowance to add, I tape my paper onto my pattern so it doesn't move. I use regular scotch tape. But I make it less tacky by sticking it on myself a little first. Then I meticulously trace everything from the pattern.

This is how I would add the seam allowances without a seam tracer or a curved ruler. If it's a straight line, it's easy to draw the seam allowance with my quilt ruler. In curved areas I mark dots for the seam allowance with a sewing gauge.


I use dots because my freehand lines are always too wavy for me. Remember? I'm anal like that.

Now, if you're using a seam tracer, remember, you'll be sewing with a 5/8" seam allowance. For the hems I usually just double the 5/8" and have a hem of 1 1/4". You won't be following the exact pattern anymore so make sure you note that on the paper you're tracing to.

And yay!! Perfectly traced pattern with seam allowances added.

Ok. I think that'll be it for today. Cutting will be the next installment.