Crabs!

Ever since I found this fabric in Nippori fabric district, I had been dying to use it. But sometimes life gets in your way..finally last week I had some spare time to make some new stuff!

Inspiration is from Miu Mui collection, where they used cat prints and bird prints for their clothing.. I'm sure you've seen the photos of their collection somewhere, since it is all over the net!

At first, I was searching for cat print, but could not find anything that's stylish, and not too too quirky. Then I came across these little crabs and took the fabric roll right to the cutting board of the store.

I thought using this fabric all over the dress might be too much, so I used navy blue fabric for the skirt part.

Crabs and Polkadot Dress

Crabs Cut Out Dress

Rainy season

Now it's officially a rainy season in the east part of Japan - although, I always feel like it does not rain as much as I expect, thankfully. I love seeing hydrangea flowers on people's gardens and streets in the rainy season. It's called Ajisai in Japanese, and you know they change colors? Some hydrangea turns from blue to purple to pink! Here is a new addition to my shop, and I used the fabric that has Ajisai flower all over - They are super soft lycra!

Ajisai skirt

New dress and skirt

Here are some things that I sewed over last week and am planning to bring to the Artist Market in Yokohama. I must have a thing for sailor related items, helm prints, ships, etc. I love this print and was so happy to find it at Tomato in Nippori the other day.

Since the print of the fabric is unique, I made the shapes of the clothes rather simple.
As the artist market is coming up in less than 2 weeks, I still have a lot to sew!

By the way, congrats to Kayo, who is having a booth with me at the market for being a Burdastyle featured member! You can read her interview here.

Happy Father's day!

Happy Father's day!
Isn't this cake cute? I gave my father this along with a bigger cake, in a shape of a "daikoku bashira", which means bread winner in Japanese.. :p

Sorry for the lack of update in my blog and shop, it had been a hectic week with some sad news in the family. Should be back on sewing more stuff this upcoming week. Have a great rest of the weekend!

xx

Inspiration: Display at craft fair

images via NaomiLingerie

As the Yokohama artist market is coming up in less than three weeks, I'm thinking about how to display my clothes. I love how Naomi displayed her lovely lingerie at the artist market - pretty hangers, flowers and business card case!

In my wish list

Music note buttons by minetteheartsyou

Vintage 70s Sea Shell Playsuit by Tealey Vintage

Angel fish pattern jumpsuit by Snow Jane Vintage

70s long blue gown by Bad Cholla Vintage

Elsie Bikini by curlywurly

Happy Friday! xx

Meet Novita, Kayo and me in Yokohama!

Hello everyone! Novita from very purple person, Kayo from crochetie and I are having a booth at an artist market in Aka renga souko, Yokohama from July 2 (fri) to 4 (sun)! If you have some time, please stop by and say hello:)

We are all bringing out handmade clothes for sale. I'm bringing some new clothes that I haven't shown here for special price, and some new headbands and accessories as well.
I won't be there on the 4th (Novita and Kayo will be though), but will be there all day on the 2nd and 3rd.

Here is the map:)

All images are from here

Ruffle romper, lace zipper and Steig Larsson

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had not been feeling all that well since I came back from my vacation - I had a terrible rash all last week, got a sty, and cold. I'm not sure what Bali did to me:(

For those who asked about where you can buy a lace zipper, someone told me that you can buy them on etsy! I found this seller, taeco, and she sells the lace zipper in cream, black, pink, brown etc.

I finished this romper last week and posted on etsy. I love rompers in the summer! It is such a no-brainer piece, and comfortable.

I recently started reading "the girl with dragon tattoo" by Steig Larsson. I saw this book all over the place when I was in the States, and was curious. I'm on about page 130 now, and I really like it..don't tell me what happens in the end..i'm not there yer:p

Already used it, couldnt' wait.

If you know my character, you might know how impatient I am.. I always like things to happen NOW, and RIGHT HERE!. Same goes when it comes to sewing. The day after I got the lace zipper from Asakusa-Bashi, I sat in front of sewing machine and started sewing because I was dying to try my new zipper.

My impatience works both good and bad when it comes to sewing. Good, because I get on it quick, and am able to pump out good number of stuff in short time. Bad, because I know that I would end up making better stuff if I sit down, calm down and sketch the design before I touch the sewing machine.

I am okay with the result of this dress. I used gray and white stripes fabric, but in retrospect, I should have used black to make a contrast with white lace zipper, so the zipper pops out. Maybe next time.

The pattern I used is Mila, which is available for free on BurdaStyle. I like this pattern a lot, and used it to make this, this and this. For some reasons, it was only available in "Print at shop" version when it first came out. As impatient as I was, I took the pattern to a copy shop the next day it came out, and print it out. However, the person at Kinko's shrunk the pattern to fit the page, and it was shrunk for about 15 %. So the dress is pretty small, but fits me well.

Oh do you see the thread holder in behind? My husband made it for me! It's not quite straight, and the sticks that's sticking out are too thick to hold regular thread and only hold serger threads, but oh well, he tried:) <3

I happened to find this lace that matches the zipper perfectly in my sewing box. I probably had gotten in a while ago at 100 yen shop or something.

Asakusa-Bashi

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial day weekend! I had a day off too (since I work in American schedule), and got to go out with two crafty friends/blogger/etsy seller, Kayo and Novita yesterday. We went to Asakusa-Bashi, which is a wholesale district for craft goods, including beads, zippers, lace, etc. They did not have much fabric selection, unfortunately, and I just wish Asakusa-Bashi is closer to Nippori, the fabric district in Tokyo, so I can do all the shopping at the same time!

This was the first time I shopped in Asakusa-Bashi, and Kayo showed us around. One of the shops we went is called Marbees. Here is the map and some reviews of the shop, here (it's in Japanese). I got some zippers in good wholesale price.

From left, Kayo, Novita and me:)

Aren't these zippers adorable? I've never seen this kind of zipper any where else. I love them!
I wrote about my favorite Indonesian dish, Soto Ayam in my last post. Sweet Novita saw it and gave me the instant powder for Soto Ayam. I'm so excited to make it myself!

We grabbed lunch at Indian restaurant. It was delicious!

Check out Kayo's crochet, accessories and clothes shop here, and Novita's shop full of clothes made by Indonesian batik here.