The covers of Cotton Time magazines never fail to brighten up my day. Look at this pretty and super colorful mix of bags, zakka, accessories…. Yes, all these projects and more are included in this month’s edition.
Fabric freebie! A 40x26cm wide piece from Sweet Charms fabric design range by Cosmo-tex. It’s the same fabric used on the bag on the cover. There are patterns for making the round bag on the cover, or a shell shaped zipper pouch, or a metal frame purse. There is probably only enough fabric to make one project of course, so choose wisely!
The next section is all about using the “House” as a motif for all kinds of zakka goods, starting with this sweets pouch. The photo shows the pouch being used to literally carry sweets, but at 10.5cm x 7cm x 5cm it will be perfect as a little pouch for carrying keys,tissue paper, or just a little bag for your child.
House shaped Pin Cushion
Stationery organizer
Mini Felt Cases for holding jewellery and small knick knacks.
It’s Summer, and it’s time for picnics! The next section covers a whole bunch of projects for making your own co-ordinated picnic accessories! There are two different themes. The Lovely theme,
Or the Sporty theme. Patterns included – Bottle case, Cup case, Dish case, Leisure mat and Lunch bag.
Next up, a very popular and often revisited theme in Japanese sewing books, the Granny bag pattern.
Other than the basic version, there are 5 other suggest variations of the granny bag that you can try. Here’s one example – where tucks are added to the opening. The other arrangements include – sizing down for kids, using different types of materials for the handles, and adding detachable long handles.
There are always lots of bag patterns in Cotton Time. I can’t show them all here so here are just a few that I really like – Canvas tote with round base.
A colorful patchwork tote designed by quilt artist Akiko Endo.
A really useful pattern to have – A vanity bag that is designed to slip over the handles of your suitcase.
Other than bags, there are lots of little accessories and useful objects to make.
Like these hair accessories,
Hair band decorations, necklaces
Cute Cord rolls in the shpae of macarons, and bears! – for neatening your cables and electrical cords, and beautifying your desk too!
Get ready for summer with these summer hats!
Matching flower hats for mother and daughter
Step by step instructions for making the hats.
I just wanted to cover one last section. This is a little late for mother’s day, since I only received this magazine after mother’s day, but nevertheless a cute matching set of accessories you can still make for Mum (or even yourself!)
Father’s day is coming in a few weeks time, so you can still make this in time! There are a couple of projects, all centred around the use of leather. Like this key holder,
Small accessories tray, and even a book cover.
One large sheet of actual size patterns included. You can see that there are large number of patterns included based on the list below.
I know that many of you are big fans of the Cotton Time magazine, and many of you have asked me where to buy this from. Those of you who prefer a English shopping experience can buy it from cdjapan (or click on the image above). Those of you who already know what you want and want to buy other Japanese sewing books as well (that are not found on cdjapan) can opt for amazon.co.jp. The descriptions are in Japanese but the checkout process is very much like the English site. Both of these websites ship internationally to most destinations. You may want to compare the shipping rates and see which is better. I hope this will help you find your copy of Cotton time and other sewing magazines. Good luck and happy sewing!
