Customer Reviews

Happy Gloves: Charming Softy Friends Made from Colorful Gloves

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ordered this book after seeing the publisher on Martha Stewart's show where they demonstrated one of the little animals and I thought these would be something my little granddaughter would like as she is beginning to talk and say animal names. Before my book arrived I began stocking up on the one size fits all gloves that you can usually purchase for about $1 a pair. I made one little animal each night while sitting in front of the TV and they were very easy and turned out so cute. Unfortunately I had to get them packed up and shipping out before I remembered to take pictures of them.
If you have basic sewing skills it should be no problem making these little guys. I do suggest sewing up your seams before cutting and I used 3 strands of 6 six strand embroidery floss for all stitching. If you are giving these to a small child I would not use buttons and just use stitching for eyes and noses.

Miyako Kanamori is an artist with socks and gloves. Her books are also works of how-to book art, perfectly crafted. Happy Gloves is a little more complex than her first, Sock and Glove, but well worth the extra effort.
The books have a picture book story format, the characters are the dolls you can make.

Slight text, sweet expressions in clear photographs, and plenty of diagrams, either with dotted lines and cutout instructions, or sequential photographs to help the inexperienced maker. I particularly liked how the idea of the book is to create a doll between a parent and child, as an activity. How wonderful for a child to see a doll materialize out of a humble pair of gloves. And maybe a friend or two. Kanamori supplies examples of kinds of faces to simply embroider, so the look is right.

The book shows you how to make all different kinds of animals and a few random things: a little girl, lion, tiger, polar bear, elephant, donkey, penguin, duck, frog, teapot and tea cup, bunny, donut, banana, sunflower, muffin, slice of bread, and a car. Most animals take two gloves to make except for the frog, duck, and squirrel.

Most of the animals are very easy and cheap to make. The directions are straight forward. Once you learn how to make one, you can pretty much make them all since the patterns are very similiar. The only thing I had difficulty with was making the animals with the yarn hair, but I think I just need practice. Another nice thing is much of the sewing can be done by machine, which makes creating these glove critters super fast!

The only problem I had with the book was the lack of variety with the patterns. I would've liked to see more one glove patterns. I also think there are many patterns in the book that could be used to make other critters, but the author doesn't ever go into that. For example, the squirrel pattern could easily be turned into a skunk- just make it out of black gloves and put a piece of white felt on the tail and on the belly. I also think the pattern with the girl could also be turned into a monkey (remove the dress and add a tail). The donkey could also be turned into a horse or a unicorn.

It is a really charming book, and I highly recommend it to people of all ages.

This book has such cute pattern ideas. And who would have thought you could do So much with a pair of gloves? This author is a genius! Everyone that I have made these for simply loves them and cannot believe they were made with a pair of gloves. The instructions are easy to follow, and all you reall need are simple sewing skills, and your imagination.

I loved both the books by this author. I made several for christmas gifts and raffle items for a pet rat club. I just modified the design to make them mice. (-; They really helped me channel my creativity and I just went on from there.

Ordered this for my mom for an art project, came fast and in perfect condition. Cute book, reccomended.

The book is in excellent condition and just has discribed and the book itself is amazing i will be making my niece alot of little animals

This book and her other book, Sock and Glove, are Outstanding! They have wonderful pictures, easy to follow patterns and also tell a delightful story! So much fun to read, so many full color pictures to feast your eyes on, as well as all the patterns to make your own fun glove critters.

These books are 2 of my all time favorites, and the best all the way around. My children enjoy them as much as I do! I highly recommend these 2 books. Very well worth the money!

I bought this book because I saw it on Martha Stewart's show and wanted to use it for craft time with my niece and nephew. It was simple enough for them to do it on their own and get a little bit of sewing skill.

This Book is absolutely adorable, great way to recycle those gloves & socks. Makes great toys for little children. Pets to..I recommend this book highly to mother's & Pet owners. Find New socks on Sale & make them to re-sale at craft shows to...