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!!

Dainty and Sophisticated. Jewelry for her.

My daughter's ballet "the Nutcracker" production has opened last Saturday and it goes on until Sunday. It is the busiest time of the year for us. Especially this year is the craziest because I am volunteering much more as a seamstress than I was in any past years. Plus, I needed to finish numbers of items for consignment and also my writing deadline was yesterday. Oh my goodness, I barely accomplished the last two missions by yesterday. Though sewing hooks onto tutus, altering soldier dolls' uniforms and Arabian dancers beaded belts, etc....are still going on until tonight (hopefully!).

After all, fortunately this morning I am able to take breath and have time to finish sharing my recent work with you. I made lots of new bracelets.  This time I focused on Macrame technique using delicate strings and beads. The finished bracelets look dainty and sophisticated. I am happy with the result. I hope these will be given to precious women this Holiday season. I would love to see these on their wrists.

These tiny crocheted necklaces are not my newest line for this season. But they are still shining and perfect for wearing on the white Christmas day.

The felt flower brooches are already gone!! This year it seems my stuff are going fast. (^^)

We had lots of snow in November but there is none right now. This morning my daughter just said she wants some snow for her Nutcracker production week. I think, I can survive without having  White Christmas once in years. ;p

I hope you have a good weekend. Please stay warm. Thank you for reading.

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.

French/Asian Fusion Style @ JE!

It's March! It is March, everyone! I yell that just in case you have not realized that. ;-) Well, hearing the word "March" usually makes me feel the approach of Spring, but this year I do not have any of that feeling yet. At all. We just had about three inches of snow last night and there is thick ice remaining on our roof. I don't hate Winter. But I think we had more than enough "Winter" until now for longing to feel a hint of Spring.

In the meanwhile, many Spring themed events will be coming in town this month. I will be featured as a guest artist at Junk Evolution in March again. They change their theme every single month (that must be a lot of work for them. And that makes their shop so awesome!)  and this month's theme is "French/Asian Fusion Style". I will bring in many of my new work and also have a sewing workshop there on March 26th. If you are close by and interested in the workshop, please contact Junk Evolution asap because a number of seats are limited and it goes quickly. Their contact info is in their website and facebook page.

I am going to share some items I have been working on for selling at Junk Evolution this month. I made both "Spring" and "Japan" themed items.

There will be some cute jewelries which bring a sweet smell of early spring to you. I hope.

Very delicate crocheted necklace.

There are more of different kinds of crocheted motif necklaces.

So tiny motifs! I used very fine lace thread imported from Japan.

Say farewell to snowflakes. I made them in sugary pale colors. I also put tiny flowers, shamrocks and little hearts (beads) together.

In "Japan" theme, I did a bit of modern Sashiko embroidery stitching too. I have been introducing Japanese traditional handwork in modern style.

I stitched traditional "Juuji Hanazashi (cross and flower stitch)" and made iphone cases with them.

The case has a crocheted handle which is detachable on one side so you can attach the case on your bag handle! I often lose my phone in my bag. This function would rescue you form that issue if you have the same problem as mine!

These items will be available to purchase at Junk Evolution from First Friday on March 7th. You will see these pretty kiss lock purses (picture below) made with antique Kimono silk as well! There will be more of my stuff. They are all one of a kind. So please do not miss the chance if you are interested in them!

I hope you started your new month happily whatever kind of weather you have. There is no Winter which never ends. I am telling that to myself!! Happy making!!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry Christmas everyone! It has been really long time since the last post. I wrote about Halloween in that post! That meas I have been silent for about seven weeks! I am so sorry about that but things around here got suddenly crazy busy after then. I usually spend very busy weeks around the Holidays like many of you do, but this one was extreme. I kept thinking of updating my blog and always ran out of strength at the end of a day. There were numbers of things that has occupied me so much. One of the reasons were that I had two commissions from the publishers in two different counties. The dead lines were close together in the middle of December. I am not going to describe about that, but this is a sneak peek for you of what I had been working on.

Today, I am going to share the pictures of the things I made on consignment for Christmas sales at Junk Evolution. These are folding zipper clutch bags. This pretty red and white lace fabric was from the dress I've found at a thrift store. The dress itself looked beautiful, clean and almost unworn. I washed and took apart that very carefully then made it into these pretty bags.

These are crocheted jewelries. Some colorful earrings and pins.

My standard goods, crocheted flower brooches.

I started making these felt pins last Winter. A building and a tree series.

From here, these are Christmas gifts Nina made for her teachers. The mini heart pillow with embroidered letters. This was for her ballet teacher.

The canvas book tote made with "original textile" . Nina drew the picture with fabric crayons and markers.

This was not a gift. She built this ginger bread house almost all by herself for the first time! Now I consider her a real big girl ;D

This is the book tree I saw at the library in the town. I think it's very chic and cool. Maybe, I could make a small version of this for my house next year.

It's literally freezing here in South Bend tonight. We don't have much snow but this is a beautiful Christmas eve night. I hope you are having a merry merry Christmas with your loved ones.

( I promise the next post will be coming sooner! I have a lot to share with you!!)