I love sewing my own clothes. It means I can often wear something unique in colours that suit me (rather than what’s in the shops right now: usually black).

Even if you have limited sewing ability or don’t have a sewing machine you should be able to make this dress. The pattern comes from the Japanese pattern book “I Am Cute Dresses” which you can probably buy at Books Kinokuniya or Tessuti in Sydney. In fact this dress is made from several different sized rectangles so all you have to do is cut out the rectangles and follow the instructions in the book which are very straight-forward (and yes they’re in English).

The fabric I used for this dress is a Japanese-inspired city scene produced by Liberty of London. If you’re a more experienced sewer I recommend their fabrics because they are so comfortable to wear. Shaukat is the cheapest supplier I’ve found online, they sell Liberty prints for less than $20/metre.

Have you ever sewn something from a Japanese pattern before? How did it go?