I bought this cotton fabric in IKEA, it comes ready cut, 150 cm by 3 m. The pattern is called IKEA PS batik, and it is designed by Kazuyo Nomura, a textile designer. So I actually bought a piece of Japanese designer fabric in a Swedish home products retailer in its Tokyo chainstore.
The fabric has blue waves on the borders, and I played with them to make a shirt for my husband and a shirt for Sidra. The shirts are similar, but the blue waves are in the opposite places. The patterns are for regular shirts, I changed them a bit to have stand-up collars and side-slits. As an element of surprise, I put one red button on each shirt.
Sewing a men’s shirt is kinda boring. The pieces are so big and the lines are so straight, sometimes I feel lost when sewing those seemingly endless lines. I need darts and ruffles and gathers and curves to keep me focused! I was really tempted to add more details on this shirt, but I feel that a men’s shirt shouldn’t have too many details (otherwise my husband wouldn’t wear it). It should be simple and efficient, so I guess that’s a challenge for me.
There was a matsuri (festival) today near our house, so we went there to have a look and take some pictures. My husband and Sidra wore their matching shirts, I wore my matching bloomers too but it was under my dress so (hopefully) nobody noticed. We had some cotton candy, beer, sausage, and yummy butaman (pork bun). There were dancings and taiko performance (Japanese drum). We walked home afterwards, it is always nice taking a walk in summer nights.
Actually I feel that it’s kind of tacky to be seen wearing outfits in the same fabrics together, but the idea is too cute that I just couldn’t resist the temptation. So my husband and Sidra end up having a lot of the same or matching clothes and accessories, and even matching boxer shorts. I guess it’s okay as long as they don’t always wear them together, but Sidra loves the idea of matching outfit. He doesn’t care about having matching outfit with me though. As long as he has matching outfit with Papa, Sidra is happy. It’s a guy thing, I guess.
Men’s shirt pattern is Jakob from Burdastyle
Jacket pattern is from R&D.M.Co-boys & girls
I LOVE that red button surprise. It’s inspiring.
Haha thank you! Actually I was so bored of making these shirts, so I put the red buttons to keep me interested enough to finish them 😀
I am already an IKEA fabric converted! They have gorgeous graphic stuff! I am actually going there this Saturday 😉
I always have this doubt about those IKEA fabrics, everyone seems to be using them. But they are indeed gorgeous and relatively cheap, I think I’m ready to convert too now!
By the way, congrats on the new blog!
Thanks, now, my boyfriend gets to complain even more about taking pictures for my sewing obsession 😉
I absolutely love your blog and reading about your sewing projects. However, are you aware that when one tries to get to your blog it re-directs to another site http://verypurpleperson.blogspot.com? This blog is owned by a very depressed person that posts very depressing information.
Hi there,
Thank you for the information. However I’m not so sure about the redirect thing, because you wouldn’t be able to comment here if my blog redirected you to the other blog. Maybe your browser has the other blog in its cache and tried to do the auto-complete when you start typing my site address. You can get rid of it by clearing your browser’s cache.
Oh, and by the way the other blog is also owned by me. Sometimes I have things that don’t really belong here. A personality can have more than one face.
Yes it can, and all of yours are honest and lovely.
ooo I love how these turned out :)…kok a bit like nani iro yah kainnya!
hahhahaa…bagusss
Iyaa aku juga pikir begitu waktu pertama kali liat. Ada juga yang motifnya dots besar spt nani IRO juga. Mungkin karena desainernya orang Jepang juga kali ya
Wow!! I love it!! You should make family matching outfits next time…the red button is a nice touch.
Those are so excellent!!!
Novita, you are amazing. Everything you make is beautiful and has a very distinct personality. It’s obvious that you infuse beauty and creativity into everything in your life and that is inspiring. Can’t wait to see your next creation.
xo Yumi
You’re too sweet, Yumi! I’ve been enjoying your creations and the pretty pictures too
LOVE those shirts and the fabric is awesome. I might have to take a drive in to IKEA myself. I always check their fabrics out but can never find anyone to cut any of it so I never have bought any.
love the shirts! and the square buttons are awesome!!
I personally LOVE wearing matching clothes with my daughter. I know it’s dorky,,, but hey, it’s fun and you only get to do it when they are little:)
I love seeing a mother and daughter in matching outfits, that is adorable. Yes, let’s have fun before they become teenager and realize how dorky it looks! 😛
Really nice combination. I am sure that your son must feel proud to having matching clothes with his father.
Thanks for sharing the patterns too.
*cheers*
Novita,
I bet you could make that fabric yourself with a bucket of Rit dye. Maybe move it side to side for the wave effect. I just started playing around with Rit dye and it’s actually opening new doors for me:) I bet you’d find a million things to do with it too.
That’s a great idea, Kathleen! I might want to try it, I’m pretty sloppy with fluid though, always drip or drop them everywhere, but it sounds like fun!