Review: Beautiful Hand-Stitched Jewelry

Here’s another great book find – one that delights my craft-hybridizing heart. Beautiful Hand-Stitched Jewelry combines a little hand sewing, a little embroidery, a little beading, and a little crochet to make really cool adornments.

There’s a metric ton of great ideas in this book, so I’ll just show you a few highlights. Like these recycled-sweater beads. (There’s also a version of this project where they’re rendered in silk.)

Emi Iwakiri is an accessories designer in Japan. You can see more of her work at her company’s website, car*g*mom.

I love Emi’s aesthetic, which embraces simplicity and uses some ingenious little construction techniques. This piece is a case in point. It’s based on elastic cord! How amazing is that?

These beads, which are crocheted in raffia, are hollow inside, so they’re very light and comfortable to wear. And the photo doesn’t show it, but the clasp is a wonderful little flower motif, which you can wear in front or back.

Love! And I can see myself making one of these beads as a simple pendant. Like, very, very soon….

(These are some of my favorite sweater-fabric flowers ever. In the book, they’re also rendered as a necklace and a wonderful scarf.)

From an instructional standpoint, the book takes a cue from many Japanese craft books. The key steps are nicely diagrammed, and backed up with clear text instructions.

The processes for most of the pieces are fairly simple, so I’d say crafters of any skill level should have no problem making them. There’s a thorough “basics” section, with all the sewing and crochet stitches.

Here’s an intriguing embroidered piece – and the book has projects for turning this motif into a necklace and key fob as well as a bracelet.

One thing I particularly love is how Emi offers suggestions on what kinds of garments each piece would pair well with. Imagining these combinations got me even more hopped up to make the projects.

There are several crocheted flower ring designs in the book, and some brooches, and the cherry design you can see on the cover up top there. This one’s rendered in pearl cotton embroidery thread. And I love the beaded center.

…And there are also several takes on crocheted chains. If I had the patience, I’d make this with tiny gauge thread.

Anyway – what a great collection of summer crafting projects! Small and fairly instant-gratification, and perfect to wear in warm weather.