During the last couple of months I added some Japanese sewing books to my collection. I love the clean designs of the dress styles and home accessories depicted therein. Although the instructions are often accompanied by detailed drawings that allow one to follow along without having to read the actual descriptions of the steps, I’ve decided that in order to make something like the dress above, I’d like to have a better idea of what I’m supposed to do. Luckily some very generous people have posted translations of Japanese sewing and knitting terms.

Sewing

Moving Hands has an initial collection of terms and also refers those of you who read French to Japan Couture Addict’s. This blog documents its members’ Japanese sewing adventures. In the sidebar you can find an additional collection of links to sewing terms (including Batty Chan’s excellent collection of Japanese terms translated into English), as well as book and fabric sources. For those of you interested in making softies, My Little Mochi has a list of related terms.

Knitting

A comprehensive guide to Japanese knitting terms and charts is available at www.tata-tatao.to. This site covers Japanese needle sizes, yarn related terms, and includes a Japanese-English knitting dictionary. Ravelry maintains a Japanese knitting and crochet group where you can discuss your knitting experiences. Rhonda of Japanese Knitting Patterns chronicles her experiences with Japanese knitting patterns and provides links to further resources. Finally, the Needle Arts Book Shop offers a free 8-page pdf brochure with detailed steps on how to decipher a Japanese knitting pattern.

Crochet

I wasn’t able to find a collection of crochet abbreviations. Does anyone know of a resource?

Finding Patterns

Crafting Japanese is a good place to start to look at some crafting books. This blog lists pattern books by ISBN number together with pictures of completed projects. You can browse for and purchase books in the hobby/lifestyle/home arts section of YesAsia an Asian online bookstore. Ebay also turns out to be a good resource. Many vendors display several pages of the books for sale giving you a better idea of the kind of patterns you might find. If you are in an enterprising mood, you can also search Amazon.co.jp with the help of Google’s web page translator. Just type in the URL of the page you wish to translate in the “Translate a web page” box and select the appropriate language.

Finally there is Flickr; in addition to the pictures, the Japanese Sewing group has good resources in the discussion section. The Crafting in Japanese group shares a variety of different crafts and again provides good information in the discussion section.

I stumbled across some great software and I just had to share! Wild Ginger Software is custom apparel pattern drafting software that allows you to enter the measurements that you desire, and then adjusts the pattern to fit your measurements. You can then print it off, along with instructions, and sew away! The Wild Ginger PatternMaster consists of six programs that allow you to design and print patterns for your entire family, while Click&Sew patterns are digital patterns that offer limited designs, just like a commercial pattern but you can customize to your size and measurements.

I was happy to see a free program on their site, WildThings! Accessories. It was a super fast download, and there are a variety of different patterns included, from wraps and aprons to slippers and sandals The program is really easy to use, and I was able to print off a pattern for an apron adjusted to what I wanted in under 5 minutes.

I would definitely recommend trying the WildThings Accessories if you are interested in sewing different bags and items, and it also gives you a feel at customizing patterns

I had bought a few really cute prints that I wanted to use as outers on fitted diapers, but I had no idea if they were cotton or polyester or a mixture of the two. A quick internet search led me to this great page, and I was able to identify my fabric contents in no time at all!

How to determine fabric content by using the burn test.

Snip a piece of fabric equivalent to 1″ square. Using a butane lighter and holding the fabric with a pair of tweezers ignite the fabric over a non-flammable surface in a well ventilated area.Examine the quality and color of the flame, the odor produced, and the quality of the resulting ash or cinder. Use this table to help determine your fabric’s content.

FABRIC	FLAME QUALITY	ODOR	ASH QUALITY	COMMENTS
WOOL	orange color sputtery	burning hair or feathers	blackish turns to powder when crushed	flame will self extinguish if flame source is removed no smoke
SILK	burns slowly	burning hair or feathers	grayish turns to powder when crushed	burns more easily than wool but will self extinguish is flame source removed
COTTON	yellow to orange color steady flame	burning paper or leaves	grayish, fluffy	slow burning ember
LINEN	yellow to orange color steady flame	burning paper or leaves	similar to cotton	takes longer to ignite than cotton but otherwise very similar
RAYON	fast orange flame	burning paper or leaves	almost no ash	ember will continue to glow after flame source removed
POLYESTER	orange flame, sputtery	sweet or fruity smell	hard shiny black bead	black smoke
ACETATE	burns and melts,sizzly	acidic or vinegary	hard black bead	will continue to burn after flame source removed
NYLON	burns slowly and melts, bluse base and orange tip, no smoke	burning celery	hard grayish or brownish bead	self extinguish if flame source removed
ACRYLIC	burns and melts, white-orange tip, no smoke	acrid	black hard crust	will continue to burn after flame source removed

A couple other sites I read noted that if you have a blend of fabrics (ie 50/50 cotton polyester) then you will see a combination of both types of flames / burning properties. While this wont tell you the exact percentage, at least then you know that it is a blend.

I thought this was a great resource, and I hope it can help someone else identify their unknown fabrics!

This program will generate charts for needlepoint, cross stitch, crochet and knitting. A great way to make a special personalized gift and expand your techniques!