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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Book Flip Through Videos

Book Review and Flip Through Video – Easy Masks to Make

November 11, 2020

Need more ideas for Masks? Here’s a new book all about Easy Masks to Sew!

This book was originally published in Japanese by Boutique-sha, and now translated into English by Zakka Workshop. You can find patterns for simple masks, pleated masks, contour masks for sizes ranging from kids to adults. There are also super cute bonus patterns that will make mask wearing a little more fun and bearable for the little ones. Let’s have a look!

Disclaimer : This book was gifted to me by Zakka Workshop in exchange for a review, but opinions are my own.

The book starts off with the simplest type of masks. Perfect for beginners and upcycling since it only requires a small rectangular piece of fabric. You can hand stitch it easily even if you don’t have a machine.

The pleated masks are more similar to the typical surgical masks, the pleats allow you to adjust for best fit, and you can even insert an optional nose wire inside!

If you are a beginner and worried about not being able to make these, don’t worry because there are very detailed step by step photos included. I love that the measurements are provided in both imperial and metric systems because I can skip the conversions :P.

I find the pleated masks comfortable as it fits easily and allows me to speak without it sliding off. The are also very quick to sew up and easy to mass produce. I made two with Liberty fabric contrast binding.

Next up are the contour masks. These are great for fit as well and you can see on the right side of the photo, finished sizes are provided to help you gauge which size to make.

There is even a section for fabric ties since prolonged wearing of masks with elastic bands is rather uncomfortable. Use your tiniest scraps to make these for a no waste sewing project!

If your kids hate wearing masks, especially the younger ones who don’t really understand why they have to keep it on, then maybe these cute masks will help! The puppy, cat and bear masks are based on the simple mask templates.

While the panda and duck masks feature a roundish rectangular base, which I’m sure creative mummies out there can use this as a starting point to make other cute creatures as well!

If you have difficulty finding elastic bands, the book even comes with free elastic bands enough for 3 masks! There is about 2yds in total.

This book is a wonderful resource for both beginner and advanced sewists alike, and true to the book title, these are all easy projects to make, but stylish at the same time.

And now for the book flip-through video

Book title : Easy Masks to Sew
Author : Boutique-sha
Translated and published by: Zakka Workshop
ISBN No: 978-0985374747

You can buy this book on Amazon.com (affilate link)

Or try your luck at winning it in our giveaway! This giveaway is kindly sponsored by Zakka Workshop and is being held on my Instagram. Head on over to take part now! Click here to go to Giveaway post.

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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Free Patterns Sewing Tutorials Sewing Videos

Free Pattern – The Marupochi Crossbody bag!

May 24, 2019

Those of you who follow me on IG may have seen me post about these circle bags recently. I promised a tutorial so here it is! You can watch it on both my IGTV channel or Youtube channel. Here is a picture of the finished bag and I also gave it a name to make it easy to remember. Maru means round/circle in Japanese and Pochi is pouch! This started out as a pouch pattern but I added side tabs with D-rings to make it a cross body bag. The usual way of finishing a circle pouch (or as I have learned it from Japanese books) is to finish the insides with bias tape. Alternative, the lining is hand stitched on completely. My way of attaching the lining is a bit unorthodox but it makes for less hand sewing so I hope it won’t seem so outrageous to you! 😛

If you make one and post it on social media, please tag me @japanesesewingbooks or hashtag #marupochibag so that we can all see it! Looking forward to your creations!

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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Book Flip Through Videos Japanese Sewing Books

Book Flip Through Review – Pouch Making Classroom

January 11, 2019

Happy 2019! A little late into the year but I must confess I have been taking a nice relaxing time off. I took 2 weeks off in December, and when I came back everything was a mess at home and there was so much laundry to catch up. It is also a few weeks more the Chinese New Year which means more frantic sewing trying to get everyone’s new clothes ready. Anyway, I really wanted to review this book because I think this is one of the more useful Pouch making books I have bought so far. I realize the cover is not that attractive, and maybe many of you might skip it while browsing through online shops. But I saw the sneak preview and one of the set of instructions on the different ways to deal with zip ends caught my attention. So I just had to buy it to take a look. And then there was a pouch with 3 compartments that I’ve always wanted to know how to make, and it’s in there too!

You know a book is really useful if the first thing you do when you buy it is not to make 1, but 2 pouches using the patterns 😛 This book is published by Nihon-Vogue and there are 35 different projects you can make. The lessons include how to install zippers (adjusting length / end of zips / sewing), attaching lining to your pouches, attaching different types of interfacing, sewing with special materials, and how to attach metal purse frames. With this book you can literally make any pouch you want!

This was the first one – a little cosmetic case with elastic pockets inside for small items like eyeshadows or tweezers..

and the second pouch I made was this – This is actually a twin pouch sewn together, and the section in between the two pouches makes a 3rd compartment. It’s really useful for sorting things out and even my daughter has asked for one for her school devices!

And here’s the book flip-through video, you can find lots of other pouch designs in the video.

The lessons are very clear and easy to follow, so I would really recommend this book even though the cover looks rather plain! I hope you like it and make lots of useful pouches out of it!

Title :ポーチの教室 (Pouch Making Classroom)
Publisher : Nihon Vogue
ISBN No. :978-4529058438

(affiliate link)

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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Japanese Fabrics

See Design for Kokka Fabrics

August 8, 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about Japanese fabrics, There are many new collections to introduce so I’ll do it one by one! I’ll need time to sew them up as well you see…

Today’s post is about a fabric from Kokka fabrics, from See Design by Donna Gorman.

I’m usually not really a pink person so I didn’t think very much about it. But when I actually saw the fabric real life, I was immediately struck by how Marimekko it looked! I’ve always been a big fan of Marimekko designs. Especially the geometric prints. In my younger days I used to buy their bags and even bought some fabric for my stash. The fabric was soooo expensive that I can’t bear to cut it up.

And then recently, this popped up in my Facebook feed. About a free pattern project using the latest See Design fabric on Kokka’s English blog. The project is a balloon bag and you can find this and more free patterns from Kokka’s English website here http://kokka-fabric.com/en/craft-sewing/balloon-bag/. But what really caught my attention…..

The featured project is a puffy bag in the shape of a balloon made with the seedesign series by designer Donna Gorman. Gorman, who worked at Marimekko for 24 years and is now active as a freelance textile designer, expresses her vision and contemporary design through the seedesign series with a variety of products.

So when I know that new fabric is coming in, I suddenly feel more daring about sewing up my existing stash. I even deliberately wanted to make it look more Marimekko like so I surfed around for Marimekko bag designs and found one in my Japanese sewing book. So here it is!

Presenting the tulip bag with two convenient outer pockets. A simple golden magnetic clasp enclosure. The original design didn’t come with any zips/closures but I wanted one to stop things from falling out 😂

As I wanted the bag to stand up on it’s own, I used byAnnie’s Soft and Stable foam interfacing (it’s a sew-in and not fusible). The lining is from Cotton+Steel Basics range – Counting Stars.

The pattern is called a tulip bag and it’s from this book (aff link to cdJapan)

I hope you like what I made and I’ve got lots more yummy fabrics to show you soon! Till next time!

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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Japanese Sewing Books

Book Review and Flip through Video – Everyday Rucksacks

August 21, 2017

Based on the last poll on books you would like me to read, this book came out second! The title of the book is Everyday Ruck(sacks). The characters “リュック” is literally translated to Ruck instead of the full word rucksack, but the Japanese have shortened it to Ruck and it’s understood that it means a rucksack / backpack.

Featured on the cover is the popular backpack style with the wire frame opening, which allows it to open fully and stay open while you dig through your backpack for stuff. Let’s take look at the different rucksacks / backpack sewing patterns you can make with this book.

The first pattern is the wire frame rucksack / backpack sewing pattern as featured on the front cover. See in the bottom right picture how it opens up big and wide which makes it easy to find your stuff.

This is a cute Tote style backpack with a simple zip opening on the top.

The standard backpack sewing pattern. This is available in kids size as well as adult size versions. The kids size version is 32cm(H) x 23cm(W) x 12cm (D) while the adult size is 40cm(H) x 28cm(W) x 1cm(D). This pattern comes with a detailed sewing lesson.

Who said backpacks have to look sporty or rugged, here’s a cute kisslock purse frame bag.

This is a convertible backpack / messenger bag, made using digitally printed basket weave fabric. I’m not a big fan of these digitally printed textures but it does look like a basket weave bag from far doesn’t it?

I really like this idea! and I learned a new phrase while looking this up. This back is called the レジかご　リュック。 The first term レジかご (rejikago) actually means checkout while the second term means rucksack. So this is a bag designed to fit into a shopping basket, and you can carry your groceries in it after payment. There are lots of such bags available for sale online but mostly in tote bag style. This is one that converts to a rucksack/backpack that allows you to carry it on your shoulders.

Another interesting convertible bag. This converts from shoulder bag that can be carried messenger/crossbody style, or backpack style. The unique feature of this bag is how the backpack straps are zipped together to form one wider strap for the shoulder bag. Seems like a great idea for a travel or diaper bag.

This is not a rucksack / backpack sewing pattern, but rather a in-bag organizer for you to sort out all the small items that tend to disappear in the depths of your backpack. It will help to keep things upright as well!

There is a full, step by step photo tutorial for the making of the basic rucksack / backpack sewing pattern.

Here is an example for the other bag patterns’ instructions. I did feel that the instructions were a little brief for certain steps, and when it comes to bag making, so many of the parts look similar (for example rectangular pieces) and it takes a while to decipher the instructions. You may also need to translate some of the text to tell which part of the bag you are making too.

A close up of the diagrams.

Pattern sheets attached

In summary, if you want to learn how to make a standard rucksack / backpack from scratch, the detailed sewing lesson will be a great resource. However, for the rest of the patterns, they are not that simple to sew so it may not be ideal for a beginner sewist. However, if you are quite adept at sewing bags, you will love this book because I found many new creative ideas for convertible bags in here.

For the rest of the bag patterns not shown above, here’s my book flip-through review! Happy browsing!