Summer casual bolero lesson 1

Hi everyone! I've completed making my bolero pattern! I'm going to teach you how to make this bolero in three lessons.

 

I designed this bolero to be easy to make because I wanted to be able to easily change it's appearance by adding different brooches that I made.  I made three brooches, so I'll introduce them to you in the last part of bolero lesson.






I used four balls of Eco-cotton yarn for the bolero.

For the first, I'm going to tell you about this bolero's structure.
Bolero is composed of three parts: body, sleeve and edge (neckline). I just created two parts, body and neckline, in my pattern. 

How to make

★Make foundation chains for the body.
You need to measure the length from your left arm pit, behind your neck then to your right arm pit.

Mine was 21"(XS in US size). I added 2 1/2" on both sides for the sleeves. The total length was 26". I made 100 chains for 26". I used textured single crochet stitch for body, so I needed to add 3 more chains.

★Determine the width of body part.
You need to measure the length of your arm around arm pit. To make room in sleeves, I recommend that you measure the length while wearing clothes.

Mine was less than 11", so I worked 50 rows of textured single crochet stitches.

I'm going to explain about textured single crochet stitch here.
You need to work 2 single crochet in a stitch, and skip the next stitch, work 2 single crochet in the next stitch. You need to repeat that.
Row 1: 1 sc in third ch from hook, *skip 1 ch, 2 sc into next ch, rep from * to last 2ch, skip 1 ch, 1 sc into last ch, turn.
Row 2: Ch 1 (counts as first sc), 1 sc in first sc, *skip 1 sc, 2 sc into next sc, rep from * to last 2 sts, skip 1sc in top of the turining ch, turn.
Rep row 2 for your width!


In the second lesson, I'll teach you how to sew to make sleeves and how to add the neckline to the body part.
See you next time! :)

Summer event with Yukata 2011

Do your countries have any events in the summer? In Japan, there are many summer festivals. Young Japanese girls like to wear traditional summer costume called Yukata at the festivals. Yukata is more casual than Kimono, and it's easier to wear than Kimono.

I love Yukata, so I brought my Yukata to the U.S, but I haven't have an opportunity to wear it.

You know that I'm trying to use Japanese culture in my crochet projects as I mentioned before. I'm going to try that with Youkata this time!!

Here's my Yukata style of this year.

I made three different lengths of trim, and sewed one inside neckline, placed one on the bow of the Obi (belt) when I tied the Obi, and made a flower with the last one as a decoration for the Obi. 

Now a days, Japanese Kimono companies are presenting a new Yukata style. I'm glad about their new tries. I hope foreign country people become interested in Yukata. :)

To join the event, please visit Etsy Japan team page or Facebook page.

You may attach links or comments to this article as well. Feel free to join the event! :)

 P.S. I'm going to receive only three custom orders of my crochet Yukata item. It's composed of a neckline trim, a belt trim and a flower decoration. I sell this item for only Etsy Japan team members and my blog followers. Eleven colors, white, cream, beige, peach, pink, violet, burgundy, red, yellow, light blue, and blue are available. The price is $20. Shipping cost depends on destination.
If you are interested in the item, please let me know which color and when you will need it by in the “contact” section at my shop. After I complete making yours, I'll list it as your custom order at my shop.