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Free Japanese Sewing Patterns – Macaroon Pouch

September 17, 2012

Have you seen the uber cute macaroon pouches? They are cute and tiny  and you can customize them using embroidery, fabrics, even crochet. All you need are some scrap fabrics, a zip and some large covered buttons. Here are some free (with great photo instructions) patterns on how to make them. I found these online a few months back, but wasn’t sure if it was easy to find the materials needed, because all the Japanese sites seem to point to these macaroon pouch kits that include all the materials. It was not till recently that I realized the plastic piece you need for the backing is actually just a large cover button. I haven’t seen those in such large sizes though, so I’m not sure if they are easy to find. Anyway, it looks like a fun project if you can get your hands on the large cover buttons. And a really great gift as well.

  1. Andy’s Room – http://andy3.blog46.fc2.com/blog-entry-439.html
  2. neige+ 手作りのある暮らし-  http://yunyuns.exblog.jp/16763791/
  3. + Le tiRoir+ http://snow44.blog82.fc2.com/blog-entry-457.html
There is also a youtube video for making a bear macaroon pouch. Super cute!
If you like more inspiration, there are books dedicated to macaroon pouches too 🙂

 

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Bags or Zakka Sewing Patterns Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Books

Book Review – Kurai Muki’s Basic Bag Making

July 21, 2012

This post was due yesterday but I was caught up with a little project. Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have seen a youtube bag making video that I posted a few days ago. That project is from this book, and after watching the video I was inspired to actually get started on it!

This book is called Kurai Muki’s Basic Bag Making. I bought this book while on holiday in Japan from the fabric shop Kanariya. It was sitting on the Top 10 Ranking table at the craft book section. I love Kurai Muki’s books. She has written many books on sewing, including clothes for adults and children. You can see the whole list of books written by her on her website. (The website is in frames so you need to click on the third link on the left hand navigation bar.) I have also reviewed one of her books on girls dresses called Simple+One here.

Let’s have a look at what’s covered in this book.  Continue Reading

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Book Reviews Japanese Sewing Books Kids Sewing Patterns

Book Review – Cucito Summer 2012

June 22, 2012

Cucito is a kids sewing magazine published by Boutique-sha. The same people who publish Lady’s Boutique and Cotton Friend. They also publish a lot of other craft books and magazines. This is one of the magazines that I will buy regularly because not only is it cheaper than a normal sewing book but also for the projects using new fabric lines, so it keeps me “aware” of the latest fabrics of the season 🙂

This is the latest Cucito for Summer 2012. Perfect for the hot weather here!

Cucito magazine is a “kids boutique” magazine, so naturally, there are patterns for both boys and girls. A plus for those of you who have little boys!

Some of the projects featuring both boys and girls.

 Some of the featured projects include step by step photographs for instructions, and they look like this…

Other than kids patterns, there are also quite a number of patterns that feature matching Mama and kid sets. Nautical is in again this summer (again? ;P)
Hence the stripes and anchors you are about to see.

Even the bags and accessories are matching!

Summer yukatas! Super cute on kids. My kids got to wear them at the onsen, and they are super comfy.

 This book includes projects for babies as well!

Baby boys and girls both included.

Summer yukatas in baby size too. Even cuter! Boys pattern on the back of this page, I forgot to snap a picture of it 😉

I might be wrong about this but somehow projects for girls still outnumber the ones available for boys. There were 4 or 5 additional dress patterns just for girls.

And check this one out. Its a Yukata dress which is actually composed of a top and a skirt (which can be worn on it’s own).

Looks complicated to make, but luckily this pattern has 4 whole pages of step by step photograph instructions.

For the rest of the projects that do not have step by step photographs, it is the usual how-to-make pattern with instructions in point form and diagrams such as the one above. Pretty clear and concise pictures so it shouldn’t be a problem understanding them.

And now we move on to hats! 4 whole pages on hats, and 2 more on crochet hats.

This is what the instructions for crochet hats look like. I only know how to crochet using written instructions, not sure if this diagram is in “universal crochet language”.

Some extra craft ideas. This is a macaroon shaped case which is really cute!

 You also get to see the latest books available from the same publisher. KIV for future book shopping! 🙂

Title : Kodomo Boutique CUCITO 2012 July Issue
Publisher : http://www.boutique-sha.co.jp/
No ISBN number but there is a JAN (Japanese Article Number) code : JAN4939459402072

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