Tokyo - Day 4

A big reason for coming to Tokyo was to do the International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club and today is traditionally the busiest (and longest) day. I got to the club at 8am ready to set up my stall which was luckily in a new and busier place.

I'm so proud of how the stall looked and love how my bags all work together. I also got to see a lot of familiar faces, old friends, return customers, as well as new customers.

The show finished at 8pm and I was ready for some food and something cold and alcoholic to drink. I still hadn't had my sushi fix so we headed to a kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) place in Shibuya.

I loaded up on a massive selection of sushi all washed down with a cold beer. Yum!

Tokyo - Day 3

After a leisurely breakfast I headed into the Tokyo American Club to set up my stall. It's always lovely to see the friends I have made there over the years, and it makes it all so much more special.

It's also great seeing my bags on display. The colours are stunning and work so well together - like a box of jewels!

After setting up my stall, we walked to Roppongi to seek out some tonkatsu (breaded pork) at Tokyo Midtown. The pork has a lovely thick dipping sauce and comes with shredded cabbage which you can smother with sesame dressing.

After fuelling up we headed back to Omotesando to check out the mayhem of Kiddy Land and of course I couldn't pass the Oriental Bazaar without having a quick look. Needless to say, I came out with a purchase! This stunning green and gold obi.

I was pretty impressed with these samurai suits too, but won't be taking one home with me.....

After an evening of selling at the International Bazaar, we headed to Gonpachi for food.

We loved the deep fried shredded squid and yakitori chicken.

Countdown time!

I'm heading off to Tokyo this evening and it's now countdown time to the annual International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club where I will be selling my wares! If you're in the area, please pop down to say hi and check out my beautiful clutch bags.

I will be there November 9th (10am to 8pm) and 10th (10am to 2pm).

You can see a selection of bags that will be on sale below, all hot off the press and ready to be snapped up!

Each of these bags is made from a stunning vintage obi fabric. The obi is the 'belt' that goes around the kimono and the design is often woven in stunning colours.

All of the fabrics used for these bags have a lot of gold which adds a special sparked to each one and would be the perfect accessory to a christmas party dress.

I decided to add a fittingly bright lining to each bag so that there is a flash of colour when the bag is opened. I like to match it to an accent colour on the fabric of the outside of the bag.

If these bags don't sell in Tokyo, I will be listing them on my Etsy store on my return.

Watch this space!

Happy Monday

Happy Monday to all on this beautifully sunny, crisp day! My weekend was very productive, preparing for the up-coming International Bazaar at the Tokyo American Club, as well as creating three clutch bags to send to my aunt Judith in Australia.

Judith has been an amazing supporter of Cheeky Leoaprd and gives my clutch bags as presents to friends and family in Australia. The latest batch are all made from vintage Japanese obi fabrics. The obi is the 'belt' that goes around the kimono and they are often richly designed and intricately woven. They lend themselves very well to clutch bags, partly because the fabric is thick and holds its shape, but also because they are vibrantly coloured and often use gold thread.

The clutch bag below is made from a stylised chrysanthemum design that you often see in obi fabrics and kimonos. The outside has a hint of blue, so I decided to use blue for the lining.

The clutch bag below is made from a green and gold geometric obi fabric and I chose a fresh light green lining for this one.

The clutch below is made from two obi fabrics sewn together. One is a terracotta and gold, the other is all gold and makes quite a statement. This bag has a green taffeta lining.

The clutch bag below is being sent to the Tokyo American Club to be part of their display.

Vendors who sell at the International Bazaar can have one of their items displayed around the club a few weeks before the show to give customers a taster of what's on offer.

I always like to display one of my large clutch bags. This one is a stunning green and gold ribbon design and has a mustard lining.

Two little Japanese cuties

It's now countdown time until my trip to Tokyo in November and I'm busily preparing. I will be selling my bags at the Tokyo American Club, as well as enjoying a week of sightseeing and catching up with friends. I've just made these two little Japanese cuties in preparation.

This coin purse uses a cotton fabric depicting little Japanese girls in kimonos.

The lining is made form a black and white spotty scallop design.

This coin purse is made from a pretty stylised blossom fabric and has a pink and cream lining.

Both coin purses are in a stunning shade of red and you can find them in my store here.

Tokyo trip - Day five

Today I spent 12 hours manning my stall at the International Bazaar at the Tokyo Anerican club! It's been a long day but well worth it. I sold lots of bags and got to catch up with familiar faces as well as meet some new ones too. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported me! I will be there again tomorrow from 10am to 2pm. Here's to another fruitful day.

Tokyo trip - Day four

This morning I trotted off with a suitcase full of clutch bags and purses to set up my stall at the Tokyo American club. It's always great to arrive there and see the familiar faces of other vendors and volunteers, and have a catch up with them all. The International Bazaar will be held on Wednesday 4th (10am to 8pm) and Thursday 5th (10am to 2pm) and I will be selling my bags there. Please pop along and say hi if you're in the neighbourhood.

After setting up my stall, I headed to the Sen-oku Hakukokan museum to see a kimono exhibition. The kimonos are called Meisen and use a special technique where the threads are dyed before weaving and this creates a characteristic blurred effect.

In most cases the kimonos are brightly coloured and use bold designs.

These postcards give an example of some of the designs used. In some cases the designs were created in muted colours but still had a flash of red in the lining.

We weren't allowed to take photos of the kimonos in the show, but I did manage to get a photo of these lovely ladies. Apparently if you wore a kimono to the show you got a discount.

I then headed to Ginza to have a quick meet up with my friend Janine at her jewellery shop called Atetlier Shinji. She and her husband, along with his parents have created a thriving business creating beautiful jewellery. They will also be selling at the Tokyo American club.

I then met up with my friend Tatsuya and we went for an early dinner of ramen noodles. These were slightly different to normal noodles as they were served in a creamy broth with chicken. They were scrumptious!

Note the fetching bib they gave me to wear! I'm glad I wore it though as those noodles can get damn messy!

For dessert we decided to head to Omotesando and sample the sugary heaven of Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.

Everything was so enticing! I ended up with a frosted green cupcake that was so sugary it made my eyes go crossed!

After seeing an 'interesting' event at the Spiral building in Omotesando, we met up with my friend Garth and his girlfriend and headed to a bar that sells 5,000 choices of umeshu (plum wine) and  shochu (Japanese vodka).

I sampled three different types of umeshu. Yum!

International Bazaar day two

Day two of the International Bazaar is kicking off and I still have some fab items left. It finishes at 2pm today, so there's limited time to snag an original Cheeky Leopard item!

Clutch bags come in a multitude of vibrant colours.

The small kimono coin purses make a great stocking stuffer and are the perfect size for storing headphones in.

The large coin purses are mostly made from cotton tenegui fabrics and depict Japanese images such as sumo wrestlers and geisha girls.

The large clutch bags are big enough to fit everything in for a big night out and the bright colours work well with a little black dress.

I call the small clutch bags my little gems. They are the perfect size for a night out and big enough to fit an iPhone, keys and lippy!

New fabric stash

Oh my goodness, I appear to have been fabric shopping again! I told myself I would do no more after my trip to the Oedo market on Sunday, but I was in Nippori this afternoon (an area of Tokyo that is full of fabric stores) and some obi fabrics were calling my name! Look at these beauties! As you can see, I gravitate towards the bright colours. Now I just need to sell a load of bags at the International Bazaar to pay for them all....

I will be setting up my stall tomorrow, which is very exciting. Looking forward to bumping into some old friends.