Patchwork Quilted Bags for Women - Stylish Tote Bags, Crossbody Purses & Fashion Accessories | Perfect for Travel, Shopping & Everyday Use

Patchwork Quilted Bags has 19 sweet and unusual projects. Reiko Washizawa adds sophisticated flair to keep the "Totes, Purses, & Accessories" from being too cutesy. Bags and bag-like items - such as a baby bottle case - predominate. The accessories are also really just another form of a bag: pouches, clutches, and zippered storage case.So, basically bags. But, oh, what lovely ones. The Card Case With Accordion Pockets presents a fun new way to store your credit cards. When you first see her Strawberry Pouch, you'd swear it's just another potholder. Yet it, too, hides a zippered compartment, making it as secretive as fake books in which you store your treasures.A wide variety of shapes are used: squares, diamonds, pentagons, hexagons, yo-yos, rhombuses, and Lemoyne Stars, curiously referred to as "Lemon Stars". In all but one bag, The Yo-Yo Bag, you will make your own handles and straps. That Yo-Yo Bag requires purchasing a metal coin purse handle frame.Difficulty level? Definitely up there. While a few bags are relatively easy, such as reusable shopping totes, most require more skilled techniques. Drafting (including a compass in some cases), experience with zippers, Y-seams, trapunto, and deft hand-stitching are required.But what makes this book most difficult, but also most charming, is its non-western organization. You'll need to be very good at visualizing construction. Drawings are used more than words to convery instructions, and that can get tricky. And as with many Japanese and Chinese craft books, pictures of each project are in the front of the book. Then each picture refers to a set of text and drawn instructions in the latter part of the book. And then you must find and/or draft the associated templates which are located in an envelope attached to the inside of the back cover.Most endearing is how the author lets us get to know her through her own journey with fabric and quilting. She shares her comments and opinions with each project. She also shows photos of "My Top 5 Favorite Quilts". This is the sort of book you'll want to read cover to cover in order to know Reiko Washizawa as a person and an artist.Highly recommended for those willing to make an extra effort, both through concentration and also rediscovering the organic tactile beauty of hand-stitching.