Korean Patchwork Quilting: 37 Modern Bojagi Style Projects

Choi, an embroidery teacher and artist, introduces the Korean art of bojagi in this beautiful and practical volume. The style began, she explains, as a way to recycle bits of fabric into cloth in which food or valuables could be wrapped. Since its 15th-century introduction, bojagi has developed into a textile art whose completed pieces suggest an oil painting or stained-glass window transferred to silk or gauze. Choi turns these lightweight fabrics into patchwork with a distinctive window pane look, while stressing bojagi’s cultural associations with good fortune and historical significance as a traditional craft of Korean women. Readers will find the designs pleasing, but the detailed instructions (which include intricate diagrams) and final products will likely come across as more intimidating than Choi, who says the projects are for novices as well as experts, might realize. Among the projects are home decorations such as café curtains; coverings for “foodstuffs and furniture”; place mats and runners for tables; and wraps, including a sewing case. She also adds special projects in the nubi style, the “Korean equivalent of quilting,” and machine-stitched designs, in addition to the traditional hand-stitched bojagi designs. Crafters up for a new challenge will find this hits the spot. (Nov.)