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- Needles. Long, stiff, big-eyed. A darning needle pack starts you tonight; a Tulip or Olympus sashiko assortment is the upgrade your hands will thank you for.
- Thread. Matte, tightly twisted cotton, used single-strand. Perle No. 8 is the everywhere-available substitute; Olympus or Daruma skeins are the real thing.
- Fabric. Medium-weight navy cotton or linen — or the jeans at the back of the wardrobe, which cost nothing and take stitches beautifully.
- Palm thimble (yubinuki). The secret to stitching for an hour without sore fingers — worn at the base of the middle finger, plate to the palm.
- Marking tools. White Chaco liner for dark cloth, heat-erase pen for light — and always, always test on a corner first.
- Nice-to-haves. A quilter's grid ruler (you'll want its 60° markings for kagome), thread snips, beeswax — and a needle book, or make one yourself: it's Project 5.
New to all of this?
The book teaches every tool's technique from the first stitch.