The first book review for handmade zakka is this cute little book by Komihinata-san called Komihinata-san’s Small Handmade. The author of the book is 杉野未央子 (Sugino Mioko) is the author of several handmade zakka books and she makes the most amazingly cute pouches and bags. Many of them are in mini sizes which makes them extra adorable!
I bought this particular book in Japan last year. The cover is so pretty it just caught my eye.
A quick glance at the projects included in the book.
Mobile phone cases.
Card holders
Granny bag
Long purse
Digital camera cover
Card case
Key cover
One shoulder rucksack.
There is one detailed sewing lesson, and that is for this project – a vanity case.
Detailed step by step photos.
Embroidery stitch patterns for you to copy, or just for inspiration to create your own!
There are a number of pages of useful tips, such as this one where she offers some suggestions for fabric co-ordination.
A visual guide on basic stitching and technical terms used in the book.
For most of the projects, the how-to-make section looks like this. What is good is that all the diagrams are in full color in the corresponding fabric prints, so it is really easy to tell which fabric is which, and the wrong and right sides of the fabrics are easily identified in the diagrams.
A close up of the diagrams.
As most of the projects are made up of rectangles, there are no paper patterns attached. Dimensions for the pattern pieces are given in the how-to-make page of each project. There are times when curved parts of the patterns (like rounded corners of bags and purses) are required to construct the pattern, and these are included within the how-to-make pages for each project so they can be easily found and traced off the book.
If you like this book, do check out the komihinata blog for her current projects for more inspiration!
Book title : Komihinata-san’s Small Handmade (komihinata さんの 小さなハンドメイド )
Author : 杉野未央子 (Sugino Mioko)
ISBN : 978-4-07-276682-8
Publisher : Shufunotomo Co Ltd 主婦の友社
