Sew Me, Love Me: Best Stuffed Friends to Make

Kuei, Hsui-Lan. Sew Me, Love Me: Best Stuffed Friends to Make. Interweave Press, 2009. Paperback $19.95, ISBN-13 978-1-59668-182-8

What’s it about? Taiwanese costume designer and illustrator Hsui-Lan Kuei shares her love of hand-made stuffed animals out of discarded clothing in the adorable DIY crafting book Sew Me, Love Me.

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Crafts from recycled materials are eco-friendly, economical and in vogue.  Sew Me, Love Me features 12 patterns for stuffed animals (lions, frogs, beatnik bears) made from old socks, sweaters, pillows, buttons, and more. Creating these hand-sewn dolls is a fun hobby, and the dolls are great little gifts. Sew Me, Love Me contains simple patterns and doll-making basics that even novices can follow.   The specific patterns for each doll are available in the back of the book, and her instructions are clear and easy to follow. Each pattern is accompanied by full color photos of her creations in various poses, with funny asides.  Kuei does such a great job at illustrating stuffed doll-making techniques that the ideas and skills learned from this book can be adapted to make new patterns. 

 Although not specifically targeted to tweens and teens, the craft of doll-making is a hobby many share.  Moreover, this is an accessible skill.  While this is overall a very clear, fun, and engaging craft book, there are a few slight criticisms. The difficulty level in Kuei’s patterns is not too high, but it would have been nice if the patterns had been labeled somehow with indications of the difficulty. The first pattern (for Froggy Friends) and the last (for Mr. Wiggles) are the simplest, but someone new to dollmaking wouldn’t necessarily know to start out with these patterns. Also, Kuei introduces doll-making techniques in the beginning of the book, in the appendix and intersperses various techniques throughout. The subject index helps readers thumb to the techniques they need, but it may have been a better idea to keep the information on techniques together. The content is excellent, but the arrangement of the contents could be better.

Genre label: Non-fiction

Subjects: Crafts, sewing, doll-making, DIY

 Reading level/interest level: Grades 4 & up

Read-alikes:

Christine Haden’s Creepy Cute Crochet

John Murphy’s Stupid Sock Creatures

Creepy Cute Crochet!

Haden, Christen. Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! Quirk Books, 2008. Tr. $14.95 ISBN 978-1-59474-232-3

What’s it about? Creepy Cute Crochet:  Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! contains the crochet patterns needed to create 20 adorably spooky creatures. Make a Chuthlu, a fuzzy alien, a Grim Reaper, and more!

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Amigurumi (small knitted or crocheted dolls) creatures are cute, cute, cute. Haden mixes a dash of creepy into the cute before doll makers overdose on kawaii (ultra-cuteness). Patterns range in difficulty from beginner to epic, although people who have never picked up a crochet hook in their lives will need to learn the basics. Haden confesses her soft spot for zombies in her introduction “Becoming Dr. Frankenstein with a Crochet Hook and Yarn.” Her zombie dolls needed companions, so she began crocheting other creatures that go bump in the night—and worthy adversaries, such as knights and ninjas. Haden gives novice crafters plenty of great web resources to learn crochet basics, and shows step-by-step instructions on the different stitches and techniques that will be used in the patterns.   

This is a book for slightly Goth or quirky crafters—and pretty much every tween or teen who can wield a crochet hook. The book has very appealing lay-out, large, full color photos of the creatures, funny asides (for the Queen Vampire pattern, Haden cautions crafters to keep her majesty out of the sun). A small gripe I have with this book is the size—the font and the patterns should be larger; I found myself squinting at the diagrams. Aside from this flaw, this is a fun tween and teen-friendly crochet book perfect for Halloween and Day of the Dead.  

Genre: Non-fiction, Arts & Crafts

Interest level: Grades 6-adult

Read-alikes:

Rimoli’s Amigurumi Toy Box: Cute Crocheted Friends

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi

Pailloux’s Crobots: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make

http://amigurumiland.net/welcome-to-amigurumi-land/

Subjects: Arts & Crafts, Hobbies, Crochet, Amigurumi, Doll-making