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List Price: $27.95
Best Price: $16.45 (new), $9.95 (used)
Availability: New (32), Used (12)
Author: Kumiko Sudo
ISBN: 1933308044
Number of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 2005-10-28
Publisher: Breckling Press
Customer Review
Another lovely fabric feast from Sudo
by Customer A18OLZIT0DGVJR at November 05th, 2005
Kumiko Sudo repeats her flair with fabric and fabulous books.
This book, like all her others (and I have most of them!), is such a treat to read and gaze at, even if you do not actually make any of the items. Similar in substance to her earlier book "Omiyage", this text offers many diminutive wonders, but adds the new elements of felt, beads, craft beans, and batting to the projects.
Projects include: tiny jewelry caches, an eyeglass or cellphone cozy, accessories to be worn on the wrist, a CD caddy (holds one), Japan-chic fashion pins (to put on hats, sandals, books), several sewing accessories (kits, thimbles, a pin-cushion, and a needle booklet), temari and juggling balls, tiny kimonos and hula dresses, and several caches or pouches in animal shapes (fish, cicada, dragonfly) and flower shapes (camelia, bird of paradise, posy, wisteria).
If you are a cookie-cutter fabricist and like to crank out volumes of strip-pieced projects, this book will definitely convert you to a hand-sewer of one-of-a-kind treasures. There are almost 30 projects here, with Sudo's signature style that includes useful techniques and her etherial commentary on what motivates her as an artist.
However, take note that like all her other books, odd written English errors appear here and there, and her instructions really require you to do some careful extra thinking beyond what she provides. And don't think that "miniature" is synonymous with "fast"; it took me 2 whole days to complete a project from her Omiyage book (the project was the Conpaito bag which when finished is the size of a hand ball). The instructions can be truly cryptic and the illustrations are not always, well, illustrative. For instance, if a project has 6 steps, she provides only 2 or 3 illustrations. I don't know about you, but I could really use an illustration, maybe several, for each of her steps. But please do not let this deter you; her books are a wonder to behold and I am happy to accept all of Sudo's contributions as they are.
Also note, if you do make any of her projects (and trust me, you will want to), she suggests you can use any 100% cotton quilting fabrics with Eastern themes. I discovered, unfortunately, after working on that Conpaito bag for 2 days using cotton from my fabric stash, that the finished bag did not have the same weighty and lustrous appearance as her example. So, I would strongly recommend that you start collecting true Japanese fabrics such as silk and chiremen crepe and use these to make the projects. As good as cotton quilt fabric is these days, it just can't compare to real Asian textiles, and Sudo's projects definitely deserve the very best materials. As she says in Kokoro No Te, you will not need large amounts of fabrics to complete these projects, often using less than an eighth of a yard.
Of the title "Kokoro No Te", Sudo says "when a gift is made by hand, and given with the heart, good wishes and good fortune are extended from one person to another in loving harmony". When I discovered this book on the shelf at the bookstore, my heart literally skipped a beat, and I gladly and quickly accepted Sudo's gift from her heart. I felt the love! And the harmony!! Kumiko Sudo is a master of fabric and text, and this book is one more dialog in what will hopefully be a very long conversation from this rare but accessible artist.
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