Book Review – Handmade Bag Basics

I picked up this book from the Kinokuniya sale over the National Day weekend. It is a book about the basics of handmade bags and it’s great for beginners!

This book is split up into 3 main sections. The first section is more like a textbook, and goes through all the basics you need to know for bag making.

There’s everything you need to know here. From selection of tools like needles, thread types, fabric selections, patterns, preparing your fabrics, sewing around curves, finishing of raw edges etc.

The second section provides 11 different sewing lessons from the most basic tote bag, to the boston bag (complete with zips and leather handles). The lessons are ordered in increasing order of difficulty, so you can work your way through the projects. By the end of the book, you will be an expert at bag-making! 🙂

Here are some of the bags you will learn to make in this book.

Petanko tote bag. What’s Petanko? I have no idea and there doesn’t seem to be a direct translation, but it seems to refer to flat tote bags.

For each of the sewing lessons, the instructions are presented in large, clear graphics like the ones above.

This bag looks like the previous tote, but it is made using laminated fabric. Anyone who has made bags using laminated fabrics will know that these fabrics are not easy to sew with. This lesson will show you how to work with laminated fabrics.

Mini Tote bag

Simple Pochette

Classic Canvas Tote bag

Eco Bag

Messenger Bag

Boston Bag

The third section is a chellenge for first time sewing Mamas! Make a set of school accessories for your child!

The standard 3 piece set – Lesson bag, Drawstring bag, Shoe bag

There are no pattern sheets included, since all the bags are constructed using simple rectangles and easily constructed shapes.

However, as a bonus, there is a little booklet at the back that you can detach for reference.  It is a handy handmade dictionary for frequently used sewing terms and techniques.

An excerpt from the handmade dictionary

Title : Basics of Handmade Bags
手作りバッグのきほん
ISBN No.: 978-4-405-07182-7

This book is great not only for beginners who have never sewn a bag in their life, but also for people like me. I’ve made many many bags before but there are certain steps where I just wing it, mostly due to shortage of precise instructions. This book breaks down the process to the smallest detail, so I believe that by following it I will finally learn how to create the perfect bag!