Japanese craft books

Hillary over at wee wonderfuls posted some valuable info for all us Japanese craft book addicts, and at her suggestion I'm sharing a few of the books that I have. I hope that anyone interested in one of these books will be able to find it through its isbn number, but if not just ask me for more info.

Here is the Japanese book that started it all for me. I bought this in Kyoto about 12 years ago. I could kick myself now for not buying more! This one is called "Easy Mascot Dolls to Make with Felt Fabrics n°380", it looks like the isbn # for this one is 4939 459603806. I remember making a special trip back to the department store where I saw all these craft books,
and that it was hard just picking one. Here is a little pinguin I made for my daughter from a pattern in this book. It was a little present for her first day of pre-school.

"Mini Quilts with Japanese Fabric" is a book I bought at Brentano's in Paris, where they have a pretty good selection of Japanese books (among other things). I really love this one because it has everything from mini quilts to mini sumos, and there's also a pull out pattern section that a lot of these books don't have. ISBN4-529-02734-1. I also bought this "Wafumomen Patchwork Bags" book at the same place, and it has pull out patterns too. ISBN4-529-02445-8. I like the shapes of these bags, but not all the patchwork piecing involved- I suppose they could be simplified though, to suit your taste. There are some smaller coin purse type bags here too.

This one here with the big "3OO" on the cover is very "Dear Jane" like but I have no idea what it's called in English or in Japanese. It has photos and line drawings of over (you guessed it) 300 miniature quilt blocks, each one 4 x 4 inches big. They run from cute to complicated, and quite honestly a lot of them would give Dear Jane a splitting headache! Fortunately the cute blocks are easier, needless to say, and it's also interesting to see all the Japanese fabrics the author used. ISBN4-529-03549-2.

I bought this last book here from Megumi on eBay. She sells a lot of craft books now along with all the beautiful kimono fabric she usually sells, and girl talk about good service! I think the book is called "Handmade Accesories from Chirimen". No pull out patterns in this little 7"x7" book though, and I'd say that it's not for the novice because the instructions are a little harder to understand than in your average Japanese craft book. However there are some really nice things to make in here, even if you don't use chirimen silk as suggested. I especially like this little basket bag! Isn't this cute? ISBN4-8347-6318-8.

Comments

[Maitreya]

Hi, mind if I post your little penguin on Crafting Japanese?

[Susan Moore]

Good morning, I'm with a yahoo group WIProducers when the subject came up of Chuck Nohara's "300 block book" Someone found the link to this on your site. I've been waiting unsuccessfully for Amazon Japan to send me a copy of this book, for a few months now. Do you know where it can be obtained? I tried a number of different sources before I was told to try Amazon Japan, who do list it. Look forward to your suggestions.

Susan Moore
Manjimup, Western Australia

[kathie]

I would love to buy a copy of the 300 block book too...any chance you can show me where I can purchase it?
thank you so much
Kathie in Nj