Chubby*Hobby

Almost every weekend, I would pop into Kinokuniya (Sydney) and browse the books in the Japanese Crafts section, and almost everytime I would leave empty-handed. And the one and only reason is – they are simply too expensive!!!!><

But last weekend, I bought two!!!! Why? Because I didn't get it from Kinokuniya, I found out about Hondarake (Full of Books). It's a Japanese second-hand book shop in the city. I wonder why I never knew about this place before!!!!

Ok... moving on... photos * v *

Handmade Zakka (ISBN: 4579109988)

The book was wrapped with clear plastic, so I couldn’t see what’s in the book. But I was tempted to buy it just looking at the book cover alone. And obviously I bought it

Zakka in Japanese means miscellaneous goods, so I wasn’t surprised that there are a variety of different projects in the book. I am particularly interested in this cutlery pouch – cute!

The designs in this Japanese craft book are mostly very simple. I haven’t tried any of the patterns yet, but this shoulder bag looks easy enough for beginners like me ^0^

The only complaint that I have is that the book lacks photo illustrated instructions. Hand-drawn instructions are very cute, but personally I find them harder to comprehend as well. For beginners and people that don’t really understand the Japanese language, this is probably not the book to go for. But I think it’s still a great book for inspiration.

I really like this bag on the back cover of the book, but I think it’s quite a common style, and a lot of Japanese craft books probably have it already. Overall, a good book, but I’d probably give it a miss if I had to pay the AUD RRP.

Lesson of Sewing (ISBN:978-4391622584)

The title of this book literally translates to “First time machine sewing”. Obviously it’s a sewing book for beginners (me!).

The book is divided into two parts. The first section covers sewing tools, sewing terms and basic machine sewing techniques illustrated by both photographs and cute drawings. Although I can read a bit of Japanese, it’s still way too technical for me>< But the step-by-step photo instructions really helped me to understand what's going on. If you don't know any Japanese and you're a beginner, I'd say this section is quite useless.

The second part of the book includes a variety of simple projects like tote bag, apron, bookcover, one piece… etc. This stylish little pouch is one of my favourites in the book.^^

The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I think it is a great beginner’s reference even if you cannot understand Japanese.

I got both Handmade Zakka and Lesson of Sewing for AUD$25. They are still in very good condition! I reckon I got a really good bargain^0^

I love Japanese craft books… I want more…

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