Zakka Style: Book Review & Kindle Cover Make

I keep noticing projects that have a similar look; cute and modern yet kept natural and informal by mixing linen with print fabric and often embroidery too.  It's a style I've been drawn to and something I've tried with a few of my own projects but I never realised, until last week, that it was a style with a name: Zakka.  Japanese for 'many things' apparently, if you've not heard of it before either (I may be the last one to this particular party!)

Googling some more I kept coming across projects from a book called Zakka Style by Rasida Coleman-Hale and, of course, I had to get it.  Almost as soon as it arrived it became my new favourite sewing project book.

There are 24 projects, all fairly simple, varying in size from a quilt top to mini quilt block fridge magnets.  All of them have mixtures of linen or textured cotton with print fabric and other details like embroidery, buttons and fabric stamping.  Each project is written by a different 'Zakka' artist and includes details about them and their websites.  The instructions aren't especially detailed so may not work for a beginner but this book works equally as well as a 'style' book, hence the name perhaps.  When you see these projects put together as a collection it become clearer what Zakka style is and how to incorporate it into your own projects for that unique look.     

Flicking through it again this morning I spotted a project for a really cute pencil case made with linen and pieced strips of patterned fabric on the front and featuring a closure with a flap and elastic.  This was just the sort of thing I'd been wanting to make but as a Kindle cover.  I'd been hesitating because I couldn't decide on the closure I wanted and this seemed perfect.  So, using the picture in the book as inspiration I designed my own pattern for a Kindle cover and put it together this morning.

 

Like in the book I used a mixture of linen (available in the shop - more colours coming soon!) and some fabric scraps (one of the great things about Zakka is there's lots of opportunity for using up scraps).  I embroidered my name in a strip of white fabric by writing my name in a word document in a font called 'Quirky Girl'.  I printed it out, traced it onto the fabric and embroidered using backstitch with French Knots for the curls on the ends.  It's a little bit wonky and needs some tweaking but I'm now hooked on Zakka Style and can't wait to try out some of the projects in the book!