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Video:: My Juki Industrial Sewing Machine

April 23, 2014 By Chie

I wrote a review on my industrial sewing machine (Juki DDL-9000ss)about a year ago, but I thought it might be nice to show the machine in action! I hope this will be helpful for whoever trying to decide whether to buy the machine – I know I was searching for a review all other the internet when I was deciding on the machine. This video is a little over four minutes. If you have any questions or comments about the machine, please feel free to leave the comment or write to me at chie@vivatveritas.com 🙂

以前、私の工業用ミシン（ジューキDDL9000SS）について詳しいレビューをこちらに書いたのですが（英語のみ）、今日はビデオを作ってみました♪　こちらも英語ですが、ミシンを実際に使っているのが見れるようになっています。Enjoy!

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Photos from the Leap Trigger Fashion Show

April 17, 2014 By Chie

Some of you kindly asked how the Fashion Show went. It went well! It was a fun experience. I did not post about it right away since I only had some few photos taken by iPhone in low light. As you can see, it was really dark! I actually did not get to see the runway show since I was working as a fitter in the back, helping the models to change. The event host, Leap Trigger will be putting together a web magazine of the event, so I will have more to show here soon.

There were seven other designers who contributed to the show. As I worked in the backstage, I had the chance to ~~inspect~~ take a look at the other designers’ work. They were beautiful…The execution was very well done and I could see that there was a lot of thought going into designing the pieces. Whether or not that the clothes are actually wearable is another question, but I was impressed by the quality of the hand work. I tend to design clothes based on what I want to wear, now, rather than working on the inspiration and expressing it through the clothes. How do you design clothes?

{find me elsewhere: shop, facebook, etsy, twitter, pinterest, instagram}

Made:: Floral Spring Coat for a Toddler

April 14, 2014 By Chie

The first year I lived in Philadelphia, I was surprised that the Summer came right after the Winter. There were multiple days of 40 degrees and all of the sudden, the temperature rose up to 80s and everyone starts wearing t-shirt and flipflops. As I love hot weather, I did not mind having Summer and skipping Spring. However in Japan, we have a rather prolonged Spring, where the temperature goes back and forth which makes me wonder every morning what in the world I should wear. I’ve learned to have multiple layers for Spring season in Japan, so I can take off one layer when I am dying of heat and humidity in a train, and put it back on for chilly night.

Be that as it may, I thought perhaps Kiko could benefit from light weight Spring coat. I was very pleased by the winter coat I made for her, I decided to make another one with the same pattern. I made a few adjustments this time –

♡ Added in seam pockets on the side, however, the pocket openings were too small for her hands!
♡ I did not add the round collar like the coat, and instead, left as no-collar coat.
♡ No lining.

I completely forgot that the seam allowances were not included in the pattern. As with many Japanese patterns, you have to add your own seam allowances when you cut out the patterns. One reader commented in the past that she does not add seam allowances to the paper pattern, but to add it while cutting the pieces out of the fabric. I tried that for her coat and it was very easy to do. I completely forgot to add the seam allowances on the go this time though. So the coat ended up a size smaller than the last one, but it worked out alright since the fabric is not bulky and there is no lining.

I did not make her many clothes at all when she was a baby since we were lucky to have people giving us clothes as gifts or hand-me-downs. Also as a baby, Kiko could not care less what she wore. Now that she talks, it is more fun (or frustrating at times) to see her reaction to the clothes I make for her. Last time was a big success since she is into pink, but this time, she was not so crazy about it. It was a good opportunity to teach her to appreciate the gifts she is given even if she does not like it.

ピンクのコートと同じ型紙を使って、娘にスプリングコートを作りました。
今回は丸襟はつけず、ノーカラーコートにして。
花柄に丸襟はくどいかな、と思ったのもあったので。
あとはサイドにポケットを付け、裏地はなしにしました。

前はスナップボタン仕上げにしたので、自分でもぱちん、ぱちん、て着れます。