Product Description

"Kokoro no Te", translated into English as 'handmade from the heart', is the philosophy behind this enchanting collection of small, high-fashion craft projects that have a distinctive Japanese flair. Featuring purses, pins, sewing accoutrements, and the author's amazing temari balls, the 30 original hand-sewn designs combine surprisingly simple techniques with exquisite colours and fabrics, allowing sewers to create lavish objets d'art easily and inexpensively. A delightful and original array of fashion pins, brooches, purses, and keepsake pouches creatively combine silks, cottons, and soft felts with delicate beading and embroidery. A pattern for a doll-sized kimono is included along with designs for pin cushions, thimbles, and a needle cache. The sensational colour photographs and line drawings show multiple points of view for each project and show precisely how each artful, stylish, and charming piece comes together.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217053 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
KUMIKO SUDO is a world-class fibre artist whose previous books include Flower Origami, Folded Flowers, Omiyage, Fabled Flowers, Circles of the East, and East Quilts West.

Customer Reviews

Impractical pleasures to treasure
The contents of this book start off with Purses Totes and Keepsakes - but you won't be putting your shopping into any of these. All of the designs in the book are shown full size at the back -the book is about 8 inches square and nothing is bigger than your handspread.
Kumiko Sudo is one of my very favourite fabric artists - her delightful gifts are so beautiful and original,none can be truly reproduced as they appear in the book simply because you use your own choice of fabrics, this means your own work becomes truly original and unique.
The methods she uses actually work, her instructions are easy to follow and involve simple hand stitches,and make it such a joy to sit by a fire in a comfy chair on a cold wintry day making a beautiful item for a friend - Kokoro no Te means handmade treasures from the heart and there are certainly some beauties in here.
Some of my favourites are - Cherry booklet - this is a leaf shaped booklet with fabric covers, it's decorated with a colourful bunch of beaded cherries and meant to be used as a needle case, a Kara Lily caddy is a wonderful circular pocket decorated with lily flower heads and just the right size to hold a CD gift (maybe one with family photos on) to turn this into a real keepsake. The Bird of Paradise purse (large purse, or small clutch bag) is another favourite but its not one into which you can stuff just anything - it's pretty flat so has limited uses, but so lovely I keep one in my regular bag to hold my comb, mirror and credit card. Finally I love the Dragonfly Cache - ideal for making a wonderful holder for a lavender bag to be hung from a door handle or coat hanger, or even to decorate a home made tote - one of the big ones we're more familiar with! Kumiko Sudo's books are superbly presented, full of clear colour plates and wonderful words - treasures in themselves. This book with 30 projects is no less delightful than her other treasures. I love it.

time consuming but lovely
This is a book full to the brim of beautiful things, few of which would be particularly practical or useful in everyday life. The projects are for people that sew for the joy of it, delight in gorgeous colourful fabrics and threads, and who are happy to spend a long time crafting small, exceptionally well-finished pieces. The finished products are for anyone that loves to enjoy luxurious one-of-a-kind things made especially for them, whether they have function or not. The projects would not look good speedily finished or rushed. I cannot imagine any of the intricate and ornamented purses withstanding ordinary use (their parts would catch on everything else in a handbag or pocket), but they would make very nice pomanders etc. The brooches and embellishments are more practical. The toys, ornaments and sewing accessories would make the best gifts. However, it may be irrelevant to assess the 'treasures' themselves: I wonder if anyone would actually have the courage to use anything as detailed and lovely as these. I suspect that the 'treasures' would be jealously guarded and stashed away to be enjoyed by the recipients alone. I'm not sure if I will make many, or any, of the pieces but I will certainly contemplate them from time to time and it is a very nice book to browse through.

Handmade treasures from the heart
Very picturesque with lots of useful ideas. Nice clear instructions and good value for money. A good have in reserve and dip into for interesting little projects!