Japanese Craft Books: Cutting

This is the next installment of my, how to sew from Japanese craft books, series. You can read about tracing here and see an example of a traced pattern here. Today I'm going to talk about cutting pattern pieces out.

I've already washed and dried my new fabric several times just in case of shrinkage. I've ironed it and now it's ready to be cut. I find this step to be the simplest, rarely any translation is needed. But here are some words from the pattern I'm working on:

前 : front

後ろ : back

袖 : sleeve

カフス : cuff

ョーク : yoke

リボン : belt (literally ribbon)

前見返し : front facing

後ろ見返し : back facing

わ : fold

If you cannot see the characters, here is a picture.

So, let's look at the diagram. All seven of my pattern pieces are here. There are also several pieces that are not. I've highlighted them in yellow. Those are the pieces that did not come on the pattern paper. But not to worry, the dimensions are listed on the diagram.

So for example, the 3 highlighted pieces on the left are bias strips at 3.5 cm wide. And the highlighted piece on the right says 12 and 104/106/109/111. Those correspond to size 7, 9, 11, 13.


Now how to lay out the fabric for cutting. To figure that out, look at the areas I've marked in blue. That shows the grainline and how to fold your fabric. Pay close attention to where the fold is because there are pieces that are cut on the fold (the back piece and the belt).

The pieces on the left are folded parallel to the grainline. It's only folded down enough for that back piece. That leaves more fabric for the bias strips which are cut on a single layer of fabric.

And the pieces on the right are folded perpendicular to the grainline so I'll end up with two of all the pieces on that side. The exception is the back facing. I only need one. And the diagram says that (1 some Japanese character).

Once I know how everything is supposed to be cut, I copy any markings such as darts or notches onto my fabric. I then lay my interfacing on the pieces that need it so I only need to cut once. Then I use items to hold down my pattern pieces and cut.


See, simple. :) The next post will be on sewing.