Pattern Review - Zakka Sewing Tape Measure Cozy

I've been meaning to make this for some time!  I bought a couple square Clover tape measures last year for the project, and have finally gotten around to making it happen.

I did not use the pattern provided in the project (photocopy and enlarge, ugh).  But fortunately the plastic part of the packaging on the tape measure served as a perfectly sized template to make a pattern.  I also did not add the circle charms and so made one continuous side panel for the cover.  I did make an applique for the "button" on the tape measure, which is not included in the instructions.

This was an easy enough project, definitely good practice for your ladder/invisible seam hand stitching!  It's also very easy to adapt the pattern and just use the idea for your own tape measure cozy if you can't source any of the square Clover ones (they are available on Amazon, btw).

One of these will be for one of my sewing kits, the other will be sent to my mom as one of her birthday gifts next month.

Pattern Review - Zakka Sewing Bunko-Bon Cover

I made this quick book cover for my husband (just in time for Father's Day, this post is a bit late!).  The pattern is from Zakka Sewing, which is a collection of Zakka projects from Japanese designers.  I've found most Zakka books printed in English are from designers based in the United States, and feel something gets a little lost in translation.  "Zakka Sewing" is one of the few such crafting books where I want to make a handful of the projects, or adapt them for my own uses.

One of the projects is a "bunko-bon" book cover, for paperback/softcover books.  In Japan there is a standardized size for their paperbacks, and so one cover can be used for many books.  Thankfully the designer included instructions on adapting the book cover to fit other-sized books!  My husband has picked up a new book series and wanted to keep the book covers/binding neat and clean.  So I made a cover for him using the instructions in Zakka Sewing.

One thing to note is that the instructions seem to miss the applique application.  I've searched for them several times in the instructions and must be missing them by a lot, or they are just not there.  Because I made the cover larger anyway, I folded both the cover and the applique in half to find the middle and then eyeballed how far up it should be.  I also scaled the applique up proportionally.  I embroidered his initials on the applique after I applied it.

I used grey Essex yarn-dyed linen and a cute Japanese quilting cotton.  I used a wide (1 inch) Petersham ribbon for the book mark.

He was very happy with the book cover and I'm planning on making at least one for myself to use when traveling, since all the travel guides are about the same size (albeit different widths! I'll guess I'll have to make a couple!).