"Pocket Guide to Sashiko and Boro Stitching" by Pepper Cory is a helpful guide for those starting to learn sashiko. The reference photos are very helpful compared to a lengthy description of each step. As a pocket guide, there is not a great deal of background or history of the practices of sashiko and boro stitching, but it is a good reference for crafting.

This book was great, I really enjoyed it. I have been hand stitching for many years and have been wanting to try Sashiko. The lessons and projects are easy to follow and understand. A fun book for anyone who wants to try Sashiko/Boro stitching. Would highly recommend this book.

If you're new to sashiko and boro stitching, then this is the book for you. It is an accessible pocket guide to how to do these forms of stitching accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions and clear images. It is best aimed at newbies rather than those who want to take this method further.

A great guide for those interested in this unique, decorative stitching. Best for someone who has background in hand stitching already.

For anyone wishing to start sashiko ans boro stitching, this is an excellent book, with lots of basic information and detailed photos and projects. Great for beginners and maybe older children, who would like to experiment with recycling clothing. and making individual boro items of clothing. .Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DR..

I have always been attracted to Sashiko stitching and this pocket guide gave me a quick and interesting overview with enough information to get started.

This had good pictures to show techniques. It was a pretty straightforward guide to the style and would be a good introduction.

Customer Review
SJRL
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book
Reviewed in Australia on 13 December 2023
A great book for a person just starting, the Pocket Guide to Sashiko and Boro Stitching covers everything you need to get started. It gives great tips and tricks to make it easy. If you have any hand sewing experience this book will be easy for you to follow and have success straight away. It also covers basic designs, which is handy.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

This book was fine to learn the basics. I would have liked to see a more comprehensive selection of stitch patterns and their meanings, but I guess this is just to get you started.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and buy it as a reference guide but sadly, it's not one I will purchase. Ultimately, I wouldn't pick up a needle and fabric and feel prepared to stitch.

First, the good - there was a lot of information about ergonomics and safety in relevant places. Reminders or new learning on how to minimise risk of needle injuries or backache were invaluable. And as an introductory guide to the subject, it's definitely a jumping-off point. There were plenty of images which added to the text and the book was laid out without being too intense.

However, I'm a visual learner and there were big descriptions of which direction to stitch in but no diagrams with arrows or similar visual aids.

One thing that really confused me was the amount of pages given to how to quilt the inside of a Sashiko panel on a denim jacket. Whilst this is useful information, it could have been signposted, as it's not so relevant in a pocket guide. Had the book been a full length reference, it would absolutely have its place. Just not here.

And the bad? The book is written by an American quilter and very much has a Westernised gaze. The background information of Sashiko and Boro was minimal and it felt 'lightweight' on that front. In addition, there was unnecessary gender mention (in the denim jacket section) and at the end, the author mentioned her 'spirit animal'. This latter can be contentious, but overall, this lack of editing made the book seem as though it was written in 2003 rather than 2023.

The book would be much improved by diagrams showing a stitching journey or signposting to resources such as a Youtube channel or blog posts by the author.

A long time ago, I mastered the art of embroidery. Doing this took years and a ton of practice. I got books, followed along the up/down of the stitches, and got to the point that mine were as good as the pro.

Reading this (and perhaps this is my “must know the details” character), there were so many questions. While there are photos, some diagrams would have come in handy to enhance the directions.

However, even with my questions, I think I could attempt this. I don’t this if there are patterns better for beginners (maybe I missed that part), but I think I can give this a go.

A nice basic guide to Sashiko and Boro stitching. It's more informational than having specific sample projects to complete. It did have lots of.good info on supplies and steps for the techniques.

This is a nice, short guide to these techniques with good basic info and a couple of projects. Since it is a pocket guide, keep in mind that it is brief. Also note that it is not an own voices book from what I can tell, as the author is an American quilter. Still a nice resource.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. This was a fascinating read! If you are into sewing, embroidery and cross stitching you might be interested in this book.
The book is packed full of information for sewing and creating designs. I think quilters would really like this book a lot. I am planning on buying this book so I can have it for a reference in any of my future sewing projects. The photos are beautifully done and directions are clear and easy to understand.

Pros: I love to learn new types of fiber art and have learned cross stitching, embroidery, and needlepoint. Sashimi and Boro stitching is a new art form to me, so I was interested to read this book and learn about it. I found the tools and techniques to be fascinating

Cons: This isn't a con of the book, but I don't think I'll be learning these techniques even though I enjoyed learning about them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

3 stitched stars
“The soothing process of stitching Sashiko has been referred to as ‘meditation with a needle.’”

Pepper Cory, an experienced quilter and teacher presents a well-organized, clear introduction to two types of traditional Japanese stitching. The language is easy to understand, and photos are helpful. She specifies how to mark fabrics with patterns and moves from simple to more complex designs. I like that she suggests stitchers don’t need to wait for authentic Japanese thread and can use readily available #8 Perl cotton.

Even though this is a pocket guide, I would have liked a few more projects than a Sashiko embroidered jean jacket and a boro (patched) scarf.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nice, simple overview of Sashiko and Boro stitching. There are a few places where it could have been edited better, but I found it very helpful with my own stitching.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not love it. Was hoping to find some nice patterns but this book had very little and no clear pattern page. Wouldn’t buy it for myself personally. It was pretty short and not very informative.

My overall thoughts on this book are that it’s a reasonable guide for beginners interested in the moyouzashi style of sashiko and boro but has a few flaws.

The Good:
The material section gave quite a good list of what you would need to start and gives a good amount of discussion on the different types of threads, thimbles etc that you could use.
The instructions for the example projects given are clear and easy to follow. You could certainly make some nice stuff following the advice in this book.

The Bad:
Like many similar sashiko instructional books, it takes sashiko out of its original context and repackages it for a western audience in a way that I feel is a little icky. For more on this I recommend checking out Japanese sashiko artist Atsushi Futatsuya who speaks frequently on this topic.
This book only gives information on moyouzashi style sashiko and doesn’t even mention hitomezashi. I found this a little strange because hitomezashi is by far the most popular style among westerners using sashiko for mending, which I assume is the target audience for this book. It could be that the author comes from more of a quilting background but still strange to not even mention the different styles