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Pattern Magic 3: The latest addition to the cult Japanese Pattern Magic series

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The companion volume to the cult Japanese Pattern Magic and Pattern Magic 2 that fans have been waiting for.

In this new addition to the Pattern Magic series, Tomoko Nakamichi brings the subject alive by showing the finished designs in three dimensions. All the measurements and scaling information you need to start pattern making is included and as throughout the series, all the patterns are based on a basic block* which supplied in the book. Easy–to–follow, step–by–step text with clear diagrams and beautiful photography will teach you how to sculpt with fabric, creating beautiful shapes, waves and accents.

You will also learn to create dynamic movement in garments, using ruffles, shirring and precise, sharply pleated lines and step–by–step instructions and diagrams will ensure that your own patterns translate beautifully to your choice of garment. Photographs of the finished garments will inspire you to create your own designs.

Learn how to bring beautiful workmanship to your patterns:

Sculpting a surface

Making Waves

Paring down and opening out

Wearing a polyhedron

Outlining a surface

Look at dynamic movement in fabrics:

Full–bodied ruffle

Wearing a bag

Elastic shirring

Serrated lines

*The dress form used as the basis for the designs in this book is the Bunka–style sloper (block) for an adult Japanese woman. All patterns are for a size M Japanese woman. The position of the cutting and opening out lines, the allowances, and other measurements may vary according to garment size. If you are using the half–scale dress form, reduce the full–sized measurements on the drawings by half when you develop the patterns.

From the author:

'For me, it's not all about pretty silhouettes. What starts me drawing a pattern is the sight of something that I find interesting or beautiful, and want to bring to life as a garment. There's an irresistible pleasure in sketching out the lines over and over, and seeking out their shape as I assemble them. Sometimes, I'll put something together that I love, only to have second thoughts a little while later and find myself back at my drawing. I guess it's the little things that happen, the things I hear and see on a daily basis, that make me work this way.

I'll go with what I have for now. Although, who knows, I could be having second thoughts again soon…'

100 pages, Paperback

First published March 8, 2016

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About the author

Tomoko Nakamichi

21 books58 followers
After serving many years as a professor at Bunka Fashion College, Ms. Nakamichi currently delivers lectures and holds courses on design making, both in Japan and overseas.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
2,004 reviews7 followers
March 18, 2025
This book shows amazing garments that have other 3-D shapes and forms sculpted into them! Very avant garde, this is not your normal book with sewing patterns in it—here you are shown how to actually draft them and then how to actually make them yourself. Photography is clear and the step-by-step directions are concise. The authors' words introducing each piece are encouraging and almost poetic. This is a book every sewist should take a look at, if not own.
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82 reviews5 followers
December 14, 2020
If you don’t know how to work with patterns, this series goes really well beyond any other pattern making class you can attend.
Profile Image for Smiley.
37 reviews
October 13, 2021
The patterns depicted here are fun, creative, innovative and exciting. I cannot wait to start making them.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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