Zakka Wool Applique Book Tour

Welcome to the Zakka Wool Applique book tour! This is the fourth book by Minki Kim, published with C & T Publishing, and it is a pure delight. The name "Zakka Wool Applique" speaks for itself, this book is filled with darling projects and cute felt applique motifs. What I love the most about this book is that it sparks your imagination and gives you sweet ideas that you can easily include in your own projects. This book is available in both digital and paper formats.

I have been a huge fan of Minki's work for years and when she asked me if I would like to take a part in her new book tour, I was honoured and delighted. When I received my digital copy of the book, I could not wait to go through it to pick a project to work on, but there was a small problem. I could not settle on just one project. Honestly, picking the project to showcase was the hardest part as I wanted to make all of them and kept changing my mind a few times. After much self talk and looking through the pages of the book over and over again, I decided to start with the Floral Vine design featured on page 57.

My wool felt stash is small, so I had to order some new colours and the best place to do that is My Felt Lady store. Candice has a wonderful selection of 100% merino felt that is a pleasure to work with. If you have never worked with felt before, I highly recommend spending some money and buying the top quality felt.

Once my order arrived, I started working on the Floral Vine design. If you have been around for a while, then you might know that I love working with natural linen, but instead of making a drawstring bag like Minki suggested in her book, I decided to sew a zipper pouch. I used a project on page 67 as an inspiration for this pouch. If you are scared of working with a zipper, then this particular pouch style might be the right project for you. Please note that the book does not have a pattern for the zipper pouch.

At first I wanted to combine the applique with some floral fabric for the body of the pouch, but once the Floral Vine applique was finished, I realised that it is too delicate and it would get lost in pretty florals. After many different options I settled on this polka dot linen. I love how almost every dot matches the colours of the felt I picked for the vine.

In the Basic Techniques part of the book, Minki recommends using a whipstitch for the applique. I decided to use a blanket stitch instead. I love how it adds a delicate frame to every detail. I used Gutermann 100% quilting cotton threads in matching colours for this. For the leaves and the details of the blooms I used two strands of DMC embroidery floss in matching colours.

A while ago I decided that I will try to use pretty fabrics for linings when possible and I was so happy with this choice of Liberty for this project. I also used it for the binding on the sides.

I used a piece of felt for the tab on the zipper. I simply added a row of running stitches around the tab to add a bit of character.

Once the pouch was finished, I still felt like making something else from the book. The "A Place for You" hot pot holder with a pocket idea on page 56 caught my eye. You can never have enough hot pot holders, right? I love the simplicity of the wool felt applique design in this project. It is small, but you can add a special touch to it with just a few small changes.

Instead of using a plain embroidery floss, I decided to give a silk embroidery ribbon a go and it worked beautifully with felt. The silk ribbon gives some body and more charm to the design.

To celebrate the release of the "Zakka Wool Applique" book by Minki Kim, C & T Publishing is kindly giving away one digital copy to one lucky winner. Head over to my Instagram to enter the giveaway.

If you are looking for a little inspiration or need some ideas for wool applique, I would highly recommend this book that is perfect for beginners and confident sewists.

Happy sewing! Larisa xox