What is Zakka? It’s a Japanese term meaning “various things,” and it’s come to define a popular style where one makes or finds beauty in everyday items. I’m all for functional creativity, and I’ve been to Japan, so I dove into my first Zakka book with full concentration. Zakka Style, by Rashida Coleman-Hale, explains the aesthetic and is filled with fun little patterns by different artists.
I have a group of three friends who I love dearly. We’ve known each other for eons. The best part is that we are all creative and crafty, and they put up with my crazy. We try to get together for lunch when we can. This proves difficult, as we have 7.5 small children between us and one of us lives in a different state (me). After making the Skinny Pincushion, I had a lot of leftover reptile litter, so I decided to go Zakka with it and make my friends some personalized gifts for the next time I see them (hopefully soon!).
With a set of rubber alphabet stamps that I bought in Northampton, Mass. while I was in college, a foam brush, and some black fabric paint, I stamped our monograms on squares of plain linen. I put the three letter stamps together with a rubber band to help with the spacing. For the two that use the same letter twice, I sandwiched a random letter in between and just didn't paint it. Then I centered the duplicate in the middle and eyeballed the placement. The paint easily washes off the stamps with a little soap and an old toothbrush.
Splurge Geometric Circles in mint green by Donna Wilder for Fabric Traditions.
Michael Miller Stitch Floral Square in mustard.
Bohemian Flowerlet Green by Top Drawer.
I particularly like how the Liberty Lifestyle Stile fabric in Herbert Blue goes with the Arts and Crafts-style font. The Arts and Crafts-style is rooted in Japanese print design so I thought it was a nice fit!
Project notes:
- Because I wasn’t sure how the letters would fall, I cut the linen squares larger than the pattern required so I’d have some wiggle room. I also wound up cutting the prints larger so that seam on top would fall off-center.
- As I did with the Skinny Pincushion, I used reptile litter instead of poly stuffing. To accommodate the change, I left a 1” opening at the linen end of the pincushions and used a handmade paper funnel that fit the hole to pour the litter in. I stuffed a wad of poly stuffing into the openings to firm up the pincushion and ensure that the ground walnut shells wouldn’t fall out as I blind stitched them shut.
Were my friends closer, I'd put these out on lunch plates as placecards.
If you'd like to see more examples of Zakka items, there are a ton of people participating in sew-alongs, and many photos to be inspired by on Flickr.
Cheers!
Karin
