Book Review- Crafting With Cat Hair

Crafting With Cat Hair : Cute Handicrafts to With Your Cat by Kaori Tsutaya and translated by Amy Hirschman is written by the author of a popular site, and is Japanese craft style in a very feline way. Using the soft hair you brush from your cat as well as store bought wool felt, you create projects for your home and as accessories for yourself.

Just so you know, I'm a cat lover since I was a kid. My very first pet in fact was a parakeet. I named my 'keet Pretty Kitty just to make sure my mom knew that a parakeet wasn't a cat and I still wanted a cat. People owned by cats can be a bit dotty about them. This review is for those people. The cat people who understand why we needed a book on crafting with cat hair.

The author loves cats, and gives lots of tips on proper brushing, using just the hair that sheds naturally and taking good care of your cat.

The projects are felted using the soft, fluffy undercoat that cats have in the winter and that brushes off in what seems like incredible amounts in the spring. The top hair, the hair you see and feel when you pet a cat and that seems to wind up everywhere tends to tangle and doesn't felt as well.

It starts with a cute wet felted finger puppet which is the image on the cover. Her instructions are clear on how to make the template and how to felt the puppet and she gives advice on making little collars. After that project, the rest are needle felted on a backing fabric. Wool felt is recommended. These is a great technique for lightly felted thrift store sweaters.

She gives instructions on how to sew, glue and make the projects in the book. There are adorable badges, trinket boxes, little zipper pouches that can be handsewn, pin cushions, purses and ideas for needle felting on clothing and accessories.A lot of the projects have their own little stencils you can trace from the pages. They are incredibly charming and sweet silhouette poses.

She also explains how to wash and care for your cat felted items since cat fur doesn't bond as strongly as wool does when felted.

With all the information, the projects and the love for cats that the author clearly has, this is a just a wonderful and inspiring book. Some of the projects as written repurpose things for crafty use. A lot of the rest can be done using thrifted sweaters lightly felted.

The full color photos of cats and the projects are well done. The instructions are clear, the technique is simple and the book is just charming.

You can get this book directly from Quick Books My reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.