The Cat Lover’s Craft Book: Cute and Easy Accessories for Kitty’s Best Friend

Cuteness abounds in this compendium of feline-themed pillows, purses, and pins with a distinctive Japanese pop culture sensibility. The author is actually a collective of Japanese crafters who own (or admire) cats, and their feline muses are depicted on a delightful author credit page. Cat silhouettes bordering the pages add to the book’s pleasing design. From catryoshka pouches—an imaginative take on Russian nesting dolls—in graduated sizes to knitted umbrella handles resembling cats’ tails, this collection proves that almost anything can bear a feline motif. Projects require appliqué, embroidery, knitting, sewing, and/or crocheting, so it helps to have multiple skills, as well as a shelf’s worth of such craft supplies as seam sealant and really sharp scissors. The project sizes are small, which makes them less taxing but also demands accuracy. The guideline noting that metric measurements are exact and their translation into U.S. standard inches is approximate might cause some to work more slowly or with magnification on projects where the scale requires one-eighth–inch precision. Beginners beware: the lessons here are cute, definitely. Easy, not so much. Cat fanciers who also have a number of needlework and fabric art skills will most enjoy these quirky projects. (Sept.)