2011 Trip to Japan #1 Material Shopping

Hello everyone! I was back from my long Summer vacation a week ago! It was one month trip to North Carolina and Japan. I missed you girls and writing here so bad. But I was not able to have chances to sit in front of my PC on the trip as usual! So sorry for letting you to wait that long. As you assume, I have tons of things to tell you about my trip. I am going to start with my crafty material shopping in Tokyo. I guess many of you are interested in what you can get over there in Tokyo. It is a paradise of quality fabrics and materials! My schedule was so tight and the time I could spend for shopping was limited. I wish I could introduce many more stores and market places, but this time I spent time shopping online a lot. There are only several stores I could shop. Today I am going to write about a big craft department store Yuzawaya Shinjuku brunch. The Shinjuku brunch is not the biggest one of their stores. So the selection is also not the biggest. But you will still need hours to look around there for shopping. I hope you'll enjoy this post.

 The things which caught my eye first were those super cute needle felted animals and dolls. It seems needle felting is very popular in Japan right now. There are so many small packs of candy color wool roving and also needle felting kits. You can get materials and instructions to make those cute things like in the picture above all in one package. You don't even need to look for appropriate materials individually and get more than you need. I assume the reason of that kits are so popular in Japan is it is very convenient for beginners, weekend crafters, and someone who only wants to make a thing for a gift.

 Beading craft is very popular too. Not only making jewelry. These are tiny beads animal key chains. Japanese crafters really like "Kawaii (Cute)" style.

More kits. Those are all beading kits. I wonder how come we don't see many kits at the craft store in the US. I see purse making kits, embroidery kits and knitting kits. But it is nothing to be compared with it in Japan. If you have any opinions about this, I would love to hear it. Just leave a comment on this post.

 Japanese crochet lace threads.

 Sashiko threads.

 Buttons.

 Threads for hand sewing.

You might already know, I love Japanese linen cotton print. Its colors, texture, and designs are fabulous. Of course I purchased some. I cannot wait to create something fun with those fabrics I got.

This shelf will be the envy of Echino fans in the US.

Double gauze fabrics.

Japanese Kawaii prints for babies.

I wish I had much more time and budget for my material shopping in Japan! I could spend a whole couple days shopping materials around in Tokyo! Honestly! If you got a chance to be in Tokyo and had time for shopping, make sure that you ask me where to go!

I purchased some fabrics and some other stuff on that shopping day. I will post about what I got in the next post. By the way, after shopping, I had an awesome Japanese cuisine for lunch with my four best friends!

The food was great and it is always so nice to see and talk with old good friends. We spent about four hours talking about what has been going on our life. I had so much fun shopping but spending time with my girls was really priceless. I am fortunate to have such wonderful lifetime friends.

Yum!

Dessert! I already miss Japanese food!

Thank you for visiting here again! I hope you have a beautiful week!

Perfect attendant for my vacation / One day trip bag

I have been on a long vacation so I couldn't update this blog for a while. How have you been everyone? I hope all of you are having a great Summer (or Winter). We spent a week in North Carolina with my family in laws. We had great days by the ocean. Then, as soon as we came back home, my daughter and I left for Japan to spend about a month with my family and friends. We've been a week in Japan and we are having fun with my family so far. I have tons of things and photos to show and tell you here. But before that, I would like to show a bag I made for myself right before I left for this long vacation. I named it One day trip bag.

I have been wanting to make a travel bag which I can take when I fly to Japan or other countries. I wanted something capacious which is also able to be carried on a plane. I made this bag wider than general totes and the height is shorter. The gusset is also wide so I can store a lot of stuff Nina will need (like snacks, drawing supplies and a set of changing clothes just in case!). The shape is designed especially to fit in under an airplane seat (of course I mean an economy seat) and easy to pull out when I need it. Also I thought of making it open wide to find things inside at a glance.

I added a zipper closure for the opening. So I don't need to worry that stuff will come off when the bag goes through the X ray machine. I made the straps longer for hanging from shoulders. The Yo-yoes on the pull tab and a handle are nice accents.

There is a pocket for my cell phone on the back. This kind of wide and sewn-on handles hold the body firmly.

The exterior fabric is sand beige medium heavy cotton canvas. The interior is cheerful  printed cotton canvas.

There is a couple of simple pockets inside. I wanted some more customized pockets but I didn't have enough time for them. I use some small pouches and a small tote for dividing contents in the bag.

I have been using this bag all the time through this trip. Now I know that it is very functional, durable and appropriate for its use. I like this bag very much. I think this will be good for people need to carry lots of things to work or school everyday. I am thinking to make some more for my Etsy shop for this Fall and Winter. (My shop is currently on vacation mode.)

I am going to post about my trip in Japan. My schedule is pretty much tight so I am not sure how much time I can make for writing. I would like to write about hunting good materials in Japan. (I already got some jewelry making supplies.)

I hope you are having a good week and I will be so glad if I could hear from you sometime. Thank you for reading!

The white dress

Eventually I had time to take some pictures of the white dress for Nina. The pattern is based on the dress in this Japanese sewing book. The author of this book is Yoshiko Tsukiori. She is one of the popular sewing book authors in Japan. I like her design because those are very cute and simple enough to arrange to put some originality in it.

This morning I asked Nina to be a model for this photo shooting. I think you can tell that she is by way of being a super model.

Look at her left shin. That was a shame she got an owie yesterday. (Well, I don't think she even remembers she has a Band-Aid though.)  I made this dress following Nina's drawing (her design) as much as I can. She had two big favors about this dress. One was double ruffles on the skirt. Another one was some pretty flowers around the neck. The pattern I used didn't have both. So I had to adjust it a bit and add big fat double ruffles and pretty lace flowers.

She is so excited that she got these new "High-Heel" sandals for attending the wedding. We purchased these about a month ago. And she has been wearing them in the house. This is the first time she wore them outside! (My house has "No Shoes" policy. You can only wear clean shoes which have never been worn outside!)

Some more posing as a super model. It is hard to see but I sewed lace tapes on the waist line and right above the ruffles just for a little more perfection.

I am sorry that you cannot see flowers very well in this picture. I made these with gathered cotton lace tapes and some pearl beads. I hope you can see the detail in the progress photo below.

We are leaving to North Carolina for attending my brother in law's wedding. We'll stay there about a week then leave to Japan right after. I will keep posting about my trip here and on Facebook. I am going to bring good materials, books, new ideas, stories and more and more from Japan! Please look forward to seeing it, and I hope you all have a good summer vacation too!

☆My Etsy shop is now on vacation mode. It will be reopen sometime in September. There will be coming some changes and many new items so please check it out when I am back!

Summer

I cannot believe it is July already! It's been two weeks since my last post? OK, I know that the time flies like a jet especially after the last day of school. To be honest, I don't feel I achieved much in these weeks. Well, I collected some pictures of activities which has been going around here. Let's see where my time flew away. Maybe I will find something meaningful I have accomplished : )

Field day at school.

The kindergarten graduation.

Nina's 6 years old Birthday party.

We traced Nina's whole body on a big paper.

This is the real size Nina portrait!

We did Tie-dye. The bigger one is made for Nina's best friend and the best baby sitter Wilhe!

The small one is for Nina herself.

We got a kit of making a sun catcher. Nina picked out this "Sun and Moon" design. The color scheme is her own. She didn't want to follow the original color scheme.

And this one, you wouldn't believe this, but it was made about 40 years ago by Nina's Dad! It is still here and in a very good condition!

I did some yard sale shopping. These are some of things I found. A wooden bucket and a set of two Fire King mixing bowls.

I made a crocheted dog for Nina. It took only one hour to finish.

The pattern is from this book. There are many cute dog patterns in it. And those are all quick projects.

We are going to attend my brother in law's wedding soon. Nina is going to be a flower girl. She is required to wear a white dress. So I am making it. Actually it is finished a couple days ago. I just can't have a chance for photo shooting. The weather is pretty nasty here now. These flowers are already sewn on the dress. It is designed by Nina. she is a pretty strict designer for me (I am her seamstress). I will show you the dress when I got some good pictures. I promise.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a good holiday!

Not "Animals". It's Stuffed ........ "Teachers!"

My daughter Nina graduated from Kindergarten last week. I can't believe it has already been one year since the first day when she got on the big yellow school bus. She was so excited and so was I. At the same time I was a little worried like many Moms might have felt on that day. But once her school life started my anxiety was blown off. She loved her classmates,  learning new things, and riding her bus every day. The school she goes is trying to cooperate with parents as much. Many parents get involved classes, lunch time, and school events. The principal and Teachers are very enthusiastic and very good friends of students. My husband and I are so glad that it seems we chose a right school for our daughter.

Nina and I wanted to express our thanks to her teachers. We considered and decided to make these stuffed dolls which look like her teachers. We call them "Stuffed Teachers".

Actually a project of making stuffed animals collaborating with Nina has done a couple month ago. We made this dog in April and we enjoyed the process pretty much.

I asked Nina to draw an animal on a unbleached linen look cotton with fabric markers. ( This time it wasn't an animal. It was "teachers".) I think Nina captured her teachers' character pretty well. I like her drawing because it is very honest and there is no waver.  I simply sewed front and back fabrics right sides together along a bit out of outline of her drawing.

I made a inch of slash on the back to turn it over. Filled it with synthetic stuffing then closed the slash with fine hand stitches. The backs of dolls were drawn after this step.

I wrapped these adorable stuffed teachers and thank you notes in cello bags. For the bows I used left over fabric as ribbons.

We loved you so much Mrs. B and Mrs. S. Thank you so much for your help. We will miss you and hope to see you in school next year too.With Love, Nina and Mom.

I like to make animals with my kid in this method. It is simple but very creative way to play with your little ones. Sewing part has to be Moms' job. Kids can fill stuffing and they will love it. If you like to sew and need something entertain your kids (especially in this time of the year ) this will be a fun project. We certainly will make some more animals (or people) in this Summer. I hope you try and enjoy it! Happy crafting with Kids!

Silk Ribbon Embroidered Frame Purse / Chrysanthemum

 I sold some items at Circa Arts Gallery in Down Town. So I made this frame purse to restock my table in the gallery. The technique I used is silk ribbon embroidery. The chemistry between ribbon embroidery and crazy quilt is very good. So this bag has some elements of Victorian style crazy patchwork quilt. The flower I embroidered with ribbon is a Japanese chrysanthemum.

The exterior of this bag is 100% silk. I used three different colors of silk Dupioni for the base of silk ribbon embroidery. Each patchwork pieces are trimmed with several different stitches which look like lace edgings.

I made the handle long enough for hanging from shoulders. The oblong shape of the body makes the bag pretty roomy so it is big enough to carry your wallet, cellphone, a little cosmetic pouch, a pair of glasses, a pocket book and maybe some more.The body is reinforced with fleece. It makes it sturdy and protects contents in the bag.

On the back I simply patched strips of silk and added some lacy stitches.

The liner is cotton canvas geometric print and there is one pocket inside.

The finished bag looks very chic and modern even though I used a kind of an old-fashioned technique.

 

I would love to have this bag as my personal belonging if there is nobody wants to buy it. Well, I should hope it to be sold for my business though ;-p I will try to make some more purses to sell before we go to Japan (Oh, didn't I tell you? We will make it again this Summer, yeah! ). 

Hope you all have a happy weekend and thanks for reading!