me vs. the metric system - battle royale!

it was a such good idea at the time...

i was in sanseido books, a not so local (to me) japanese bookstore, where they stock a number of lovely clothing pattern books and magazines...

it was all the pretty pictures and the cute colorful diagrams that lured me in... despite all the blog posts i've read to scare me off the prospect of actually making patterns and garments from these books... (the conversion of cm. to in., the variant seam allowances in one (freeekin') pattern piece, the actual drafting of pattern pieces, the language barrier, is there a zipper or isn't there? what size (width) elastic?!! etc...)

i bought two... *facepalm*

feminine wardrobe by jinko matsumoto:



and the latest issue of cucito magazine:



so, i've FINALLY gotten thru converting most of the measurements for one garment... the simplest blouse of the bunch... i have fabric... i have to hit the fabric store for some more interfacing and elastic... let's all hope i survive... with some hair intact.