My Creative Space

It's an obi bag production line here today. I'm actually quite eager to get these finished so that I can start playing with some new, softer kimono fabric bag designs.

Head over to Kootoyoo to check out more spaces.

Handling Butterflies

I'm continuing to work with wooden handles today. I love the look of them, but can't say I'm too fussed on the sewing them in part. The more I sew, the more apparent it becomes that it's time to invest in an industrial machine.

I'm liking these colour combos....

... raspberry and chocolate...


... and raspberry and licorice.

My Creative Space

A bag being worked on... the lining still to be inserted...

... while the little one amuses herself off to the side for a few minutes on her "Very Hungry Caterpillar" play quilt made by my mum.

Drop by Kootoyoo for more creative spaces.

Decisions

I'm not sure if other people have this problem... There are times when my heart races before cutting into a fabric. I worry that I'm unworthy to a gorgeous piece. The fabric may be one I have little of, one that I've been saving or one that I splurged on, or as in this case, all three.

I can't decide what kimono fabric to line this bag with. The embroidered design has touches of lovely earthy browns and greens, but then I think a fabulous floral blue would look really pretty too.


And then I have to choose a handle. I've since decided against the curved, it's a great repurposed one, but a little difficult to attach to this fabric.


No wonder it takes me so long to make a bag!

Feet

I'm happy to say, a couple of my latest bags now have feet. Fabulous shiny purse feet. I think they really add to the bag though next time I'll be getting them in the gold and antique finish as well so I can co-ordinate them better with each piece of fabric.


I have to say the Most Amazing Service of the Year Award definitely goes to Nikki. I purchased these feet ages ago and only got around to using them this week. I had remembered to bring the feet back in my hand luggage from Japan, but the instructions on how to use them had been packed in one of my 43 boxes. After a quick email to Nikki, she kindly emailled me not only those instructions, but another set for the structured bag bottoms, at close to midnight on a Saturday night! How amazing is that!! Thanks Nikki, you really are the best!

In other feet-related matters, I have been getting re-acquainted with my zipper foot (at least I think this is my zipper foot, we had a few struggles together). I've made a few kimono coin purses for the markets at Southbank (Brisbane) tomorrow from some of the bright coloured little pieces I had around.


Some purses in progress....

And as for those at-the-end-of-my-legs feet, I've been ordered to stay off them as much as possible. My doctor gave me strict instructions not to cook and told me that even junk food was preferable to me standing in the kitchen. I didn't have the heart to tell her that in fact I don't cook but that's not stopping me from using the excuse to have some large chain takeaway this weekend.

This is... my trade secret

What an exciting theme Amelia came up with for this week This is…! To be honest, I can't wait to go and check out what everyone's secrets are, but I thought I should share mine first.

My secret? Simple patterns but gorgeous fabrics.

I have a confession to make. I'm not great at reading patterns, or recipes for that matter. I think at the time I'm so excited about starting a new project that I get impatient with words. So, learning my way around a new pattern is quite a time investment for me. And, like I'm sure many of you can relate to, I never have as much crafting time as I'd like.

This bag is one that I made this week (yah! I'm back behind the sewing machine! Gotta love holidays). I was catching up with a friend for lunch on Saturday for her birthday. Luckily she is in the country for work at the moment as it's been years since we've celebrated a birthday together. Anyway, this little leave-it-until-the-last-minute girl, started making her present at 10 o'clock the night before. And I'm happy to say, had it finished in time.

I used Nikki’s Tote and Satchel pattern. The outer of the bag has come from two different obi (one black with a pattern woven in for the main part of the bag and an embroidered silk for the flap). The lining is kimono crepe. And for the first time I used what is now going to become a new trade secret, a Rajah Pressing Cloth. I loved this! Using vintage silks, I'm often not game enough to get the seams pressed as sharply as I'd like, but boy, did this cloth do the trick! Love it, love it, love it!

Here's a couple of bag close-ups

You can see a bit of the woven pattern in the black base of the bag. I was so happy that it matched the flap fabric that my friend had chosen last time she was here.


A sneak peek at the lining. I love the spider lilies on this.

Thanks Angela for hosting! I'm off to check out everyone else's secrets!

One More Day!

Tomorrow is a big day for a few reasons.

Firstly, it is the day we have to give our final decision as to which country we'll be living in next year, Australia or Japan. It's a big one to make, staying in Japan has a lot to offer but it also means putting off baby plans for another year. While we pretty much made up our mind a couple of weeks ago, I did tell the universe that it had until December first to send me a sign if it wished.

Tomorrow is also the day that a dear friend leaves Japan to move back to Australia, this time with her Japanese husband and three gorgeous children. She was one of the first people I met when I first arrived to Japan in 1999 and has been such a support ever since. Jodie, you'll be sadly missed!

Being December first, tomorrow is also the day I can put up the Christmas tree! Is December first the day everyone puts it up, or is that just my family? Anyway, I've been dying to do it for the last month, so I can't wait to do it tomorrow. We still have no idea what we're doing for Christmas, of course we have no family here, most of our "gaijin" friends are going back to their respective countries for the holidays and our Japanese friends will be working on Christmas Day, as it is just a normal business day here. We're thinking of it as a chance to start our own traditions.

Tomorrow is also the final day to sign up for my mailing list, and to have friends sign up for extra entries to win this bag. I'll try to draw the winner on Sunday, or Monday at the latest. I know a few people thought they had signed up, but hadn't responded to the confirmation email, so if you're not sure, check your inbox, or possibly your junk box, it may have been filtered into there.

I'm going on a date with my husband tonight. Nothing too exciting, just a spot of shopping, dinner and movie, but they're always a treat.

The Up-For-Grabs Bag

Yesterday I was finally home during sunlit hours! I always photograph my bags and fabrics under natural light, so I finally got a chance to take a couple of shots of the prize being offered for signing up to my mailing list before December first 2007.

Don't forget, for each person you refer that puts your name in the "Referred by" box, you get an extra entry into the competition. I already have a few people with multiple entries.

The bag has been lined with kimono fabric has a small pocket just right for keys and a mobile phone. The back of the bag is plain black, the original backing of this fabulous obi.

Good luck! I'll be announcing the winner December 2nd-ish.

The one that didn't quite make it

Sadly, I had an unsuccessful bag making session recently. Isn't it frustrating? To make it even more disappointing, it was a bag on order and it was one of my favourite fabrics.

Well, maybe I should be more specific, the fabrics had one of my favourite designs on it. I just love origami cranes and actually, I should live a very long and healthy life as I have folded literally thousands of them for my card business, ki creations.

This fabulously embroidered obi was on a stiff synthetic fabric, unlike anything I'd worked with before. In the bag making process, I use an iron at a rather high temperature. Of course I use an ironing cloth to protect the fabric, but sadly, it wasn't enough for this one. While the bag came out super cute (if I must say so myself), there are some shiny spots on it from the heat and the pins have ever-so-slightly pulled the weave in spots.

I really love the lining too. I recently snatched up a fabulous black haori decorated with pine needles in red, gold and white with a touch of salmon.

Luckily the customer was very understanding and chose another fabric for her bag when I emailed her with the bad news.

I have put it in my eBay store, selling it as a "seconds". Despite it's slight flaws, I was planning on keeping it, but my bag collection is starting to get a bit out of control with no where to put it.

And the second one.....

The second Kimono Reincarnate obi bag is up for auction! I'm hoping to get a webstore together in the near future to sell them on and also thinking of trying Etsy. Has anyone sold/tried to sell on Etsy before? Any advice or comments would be much appreciated.

So, for now, I'm auctioning on eBay. You can watch this one (and send it good auction vibes) here.

The First Bag For Sale - Wish Me Luck!

Well, I've been thinking, planning, playing, talking and writing about if for long enough... I've finally put my first bag up for sale!

I'm so pleased with this one and while I liked the ones I've made before this, this is definately the best one yet.

I played for a while, on other bags, getting the shape I wanted, then to get everything as neat as it should be. Then it was experimenting with the handles. Finally I started playing with the linings of the bags.

I wanted the inside of the bag to be just as fun as the outside. Lining the bags with kimono fabric just seemed right. Like a reunion of kimono and obi again, like they would be when worn in the traditional way. I want the interior of the bag to be a secret little world for its owner.

So this is the result. What do you think? You can see the auction and send it some good vibes on my eBay store here. Wish me luck!

Some sources of inspiration

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I have a new obsession that has been taking a lot of my focus away from my blogs.

I have become addicted to bag making, making bags from vintage obis that is. On this blog, I showed off my first two, since then I've made a couple of smaller, more casual totes and finally on the weekend - I made my first satchel. My husband is now the owner of a Kimono Reincarnate original obi satchel featuring a Japanese dragon. He's rather proud of it, I'm happy to say. I've designed and made some funky swing tags for them and am now looking at getting some woven tags made up.

To help with all of this, I have a new sewing machine. It's so nice, especially compared to my last machine. When I bought my first machine here, I didn't know how long I'd be staying in Japan, so I just bought a little cheap number. Boy was I shocked when I got it out of the box to discover that there was no foot pedal! There was only a button on the machine to stop it and start it. Another button further over changed the speed. The choices were either slow or fast. The slow was painfully slow, the fast, way too fast unless you were doing something long and straight. I had to have one hand operating buttons and the other guiding the fabric. On top of that it clunked. It clunked so badly that it shook everything in the room. Once I started making bags, I knew it was time for a serious upgrade.

Through all this process, I have become rather addicted to a couple of blogs that I thought I would share, because I'm sure they would interest, inspire and help others out there. The writers of both blogs are "Mompreneurs" - entrepreneurial mums.

The first one is Hello My name is Heather.

She's a fabric designer and basically a very creative spirit. It was reading her blog that got me out of my creative slump and inspired to make again. I am in complete awe of her studio and just love checking her blog for its lusciousness. She has some great free patterns and tutorials.

Heather's to-die-for studio

The other blog is U Handbag. Lisa, the writer of U Handbag is a bag designer and has a fabulous on-line store selling handbag making supplies and patterns. She also has some great, easy to follow free tutorials. I can't wait to try out her Silk Pleated and Darted Purse.

If anyone out there has some other suggestions of creative sites or blogs that they love, we'd love you to share! Just drop us a note in the comments.