Hide My Heart Ⅲ

This is the last post about my "Hide My Heart" bag series. The last bag is slightly larger than the other two. The hidden heart on this bag is filled with vines, leaves and tiny flowers on wool fabric. I used fine embroidery wool thread, sequins and beads in the design.

This is it!! I had fun working on three different embroidery designs. These were all sort of improvisations. They are certainly one of a kind. I love to wear one as a cross body bag. It is functional and also stylish. I think these bags would be flattering for all ages. Sorry I don't have any photos of a person wearing them. I will update the photos when I have a chance to shoot someone (or myself) wearing one!

Kiss lock frame purses feel retro but also are reviving in fashion now. My first memory of a kiss lock purse was a coin purse my grandma had. I believe the purse was beads crocheted. It was made with shiny iridescent beads. She gave us, her grandchildren pocket money from the coin purse to buy some candies or something. We only could visit our grandparents once in years and they have passed away when I was still very young so a few things I remember about them are valuable for me. Somehow the shine of the beads are remaining very clearly in my mind.

We are in a huge snow storm today and maybe though Monday. The snow is very deep but the wind is not that bad as it has been predicted (so far!). I don't hate to have a couple of deep snow days in a year. It is so beautiful outside. What is your weekend like? I hope you have a beautiful Sunday. Thank you for reading.

Hide My Heart Ⅱ

There are two more purses in my "Hide My Heart" series. This is the second one I am going to share today. I had this cool woven "Cross" pattern upholstery fabric. I played a bit with the pattern with some cross stitching. This is the same technique as chicken scratch. Using one of the colors in the base fabric pattern for stitching, and cross out over the other colors to make the hidden hearts appear. I used dark brown floss to cross stitch over lighter colored crosses. Do you see my hidden hearts on the purse now?

I lined three small hearts on the back of the purse.

Added some crystals to embellish the hearts.

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From here this is a brand new project I am working on right now. I am drawing roses with needle and thread!! I want to make it look like a fine pen drawing. So I use only one strand of #25 embroidery floss. I have tried two strands and other stitches and I didn't like them. Finally I found the right way. It is a time consuming project but also fun to make it as I hope by trial and error (only when it doesn't have deadline, I guess :p).

It has been three weeks after schools resumed. The Spring semester of Nina's ballet class just started yesterday and the school play practice will be starting on Friday (Nina got a lead role in the play!! We are so excited!)...... Looks like our life has finally come back to the routine. There are some new things going on in our house as well. We started remodeling the master bath a couple of weeks ago. I cannot wait to finish this project and take a wonderful soaking bath (it will be Japanese style!) in the beautiful room. I am afraid that will be a few month away from now.......

Thank you for reading. I hope you all started a good week. Happy embroidering!!

Hide My Heart Ⅰ

I finished three purses for Valentine's day.  The theme is "Hidden Heart". This purse is one of them. Well, in this one the hearts are not really well hidden (;p), though. The long chain handle allows you to use this as a shoulder bag or a cross-body purse. I combined felt applique, beads and wool stitches together on a wool fabric which has some gold sparkles in it.

This bag is available to purchase this month at the local vintage boutique Junk Evolution in East Bank, South Bend.
Thank you for visiting. Please have a nice weekend. Happy bag making!!

Made Gifts

Since Thanksgiving day was very close to the end of November and I was helping the costume sewing for the Nutcracker production of Nina's ballet school, it was so hard to manege the time for making Holiday gifts for the teachers and friends. We barely finished the gifts for Nina's ballet teachers by the last lessons. I also wanted to give some hand bags for my friends who have been really helpful for years. I couldn't make it by Christmas but I finished it just a couple of days ago and finally gave the bags to the friends.

For this one below, I used some remnants of Kimono fabrics from the bags I made for December consignment. This friend, the recipient of this gift told me she liked the fabric when she saw that. I made it with a kiss lock frame and a chain handle. Kimono silks are good enough for formal occasions.

The main fabric for the next one is a felted old Nordic sweater. Felting a sweater (it has to be made of  100% wool) is pretty simple. I wash a sweater with hot water and laundry detergent in my washing machine then dry in my dryer. I used a pair of leather handles and a aluminum tubular spring frame. The felted thick fabric and leather handles made this bag durable. It opens wide and has a large bottom gusset so this bag can hold a lot of things.

These women live sustainable lives enjoyably. They are very good at giving new lives to old things. The way how they live is a good example for people including myself who want to live greener without any pressure. Reusing old Kimono and sweaters is a perfect gift theme for them.

From here I am going to show the items Nina and I made together for her teachers. These two cosmetic pouches below are the gifts for Nina's ballet teachers. Nina did cross stitched their initials for the first time! I think they look great for the first time.

This one is for Nina's music teacher. She has a beautiful black cat so we made a tree ornament of a cute black kitten. Nina designed the face and I embroidered it on a piece of felt.

We are so glad that all the recipients were very happy!! Did you make handmade Holiday gifts? Thank you for reading. Please have a great Sunday!!

Kimono textile totes

Hello folks! Like I wrote in the last post, today I am going to share the photos of two Tote bags made with Japanese antique and vintage Kimono textiles. I patched several Kimono remnants together and embellished them with Sashiko and beads. I hope that gave some interesting elements to these bags.


The tote #1, I used three different Kimono silks. I picked red and green Japanese medium weight cottons to combine with those beautiful Kimono silks. Because there are red and green in the design of the silks. But just now, I found that's a Christmas color combination!! Which I have never meant it.

One side. I love this beautiful flower pattern. Chrysanthemums and Japanese apricot flowers are symbols of happiness and longevity. The leather handles are firmly attached with hand stitches.

The other side. I added simple Sashiko stripes on the cotton. This side looks very different from the other side. It is like you have two different bags in this one tote.

The Tote #2 (below). This is made with cottons and linens. It is not as fancy as silk fabrics but I like the natural, artless feeling of the woven (Kasuri) patterns.

This is the other side (below). I stitched tiny beads along the stripes. The cotton for the lining is not an antique or vintage. But it has a Japanese traditional arrow motif called "Ya-gashuri". I also added two strings on the sides. By tying the strings you can make the bag compact. The shape of the bag transforms into a cube(ish). Both totes have magnetic closures.

I love to play with patchwork. Especially when I pick out fabrics to put together. When I only have limited amount of materials, sometimes I find very interesting fabric combinations that I have never thought of . Since my collection of antique/vintage Kimono textile is not so big. But I like it. It is like solving a subtle puzzle.

I will write about some jewelries I made recently next time. It is shocking to me that Thanksgiving comes in only two days. It seems my time flies faster than others'!! I hope you all in the US have a safe, happy Thanksgiving. Folks in other places in the world, please have a beautiful week.

Many items are ready for local Holiday gift shoppers!!

Hello there!! How have you been?

I cannot believe it is still before Thanks Giving. Because we have this much of snow(!!) since last Thursday. It is unusual. We all feel like it's already Christmas time. Many schools in Michigan close to the state border were closed yesterday. (Our schools in South Bend IN weren't.)

It has been super cold BUT I am not hibernating yet!! (Sorry for being so quiet for long time.) I have been working so so hard to produce many items for consignment. They are now all on sale at our fabulous local vintage boutique JUNK EVOLUTION. I am the artist of the month and they prepared this beautiful large table for me. I set up all the stuff I brought in yesterday and it looks fantastic!

I will introduce you my new bags and jewelries in consecutive three posts. Today I am going to share the photos of my embroidered mini totes. Those embroideries may look familiar to you from my posts in the past. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Next I will share other bags which are featuring Japanese Kimono textile. Stay tuned.

FGGS Bag Handles Tutorial

Hello folks! I hope you had a great start of the week.

Some people asked me about how I crocheted the Flower Garden Granny Square Bag handles. So I write a quick tutorial today.

Hook : 4mm (Japanese size7) for 5" square.
Yarn : 4 ply worsted weight cotton yarn ( Sugar'n Cream from Lily).

Row1 : ch 71, sc in the second ch from the end. sc in each ch to the end (70 sc total).

Row2&3 : ch1, sc in each sc from previous row to the end.

 My handle measures 50cm (about 20"). Make two handles and sew them on your FGGS bag body.

Thank you for your interest in my Flower Garden Granny Square pattern. Please do not forget to upload the pictures of your finished FGGS Bag to FGGS Flickr group! You can share any items made with the FGGS pattern.  I am looking forward to seeing them!!

That is it for now, but I am going to make another post today for telling you a sewing tip. Thank you for reading. Happy crocheting!