A ray of sunshine

My last post mentioned the beautiful Spring/Summer '16 collection of Paul Smith. I loved the use of yellow in some of his outfits, but realised I have my own ray of sunshine in my Cheeky Leopard collection. It's in the form of a beautiful yellow and cream ikat fabric clutch bag that has a fab complimentary bright green lining.

I bought the fabric on a recent trip to Istanbul and fell in love with the happy colour. Ikat fabrics are painstakingly fiddly to make as they require the pattern of the fabric to be dyed onto the yarns before they are woven. This creates the characteristic 'blurred' effect. I bought many more beautifully bright ikat fabrics while I was in Istanbul and they will slowly be added to my store over the next few weeks.

You can find this wondrous yellow creation in my store here.

Irresistible little gems

I really enjoy making my little clutch bags, they are small and sweet and just the right size for a night on the town, out for a posh meal, or as a gift for someone special. Each of these clutches is made from obi fabrics that I collected from antique markets in Tokyo recently. I always home in on the bright colours and you can't get much brighter than these. Note the hot pink lining in most of them! My favourite is the magenta pink clutch with the bright yellow lining. I matched the yellow to the yellow in the motif on the outside of the bag. These clutches are half the size of the large clutch bags and just over half the price. Each one is quite a gem!

You can find them in my store here.

This small clutch uses the same fabric I used for the large clutch bag.

I love the magenta pink of this clutch bag and matched the lining to the yellow motif on the outside.

The green on this clutch bag is so vibrant! The hot pink lining just had to be done.

This obi fabric on this clutch bag is stunning. I love the big red stylised poppy motif.

A green gem

This fabric has proven to be a popular one and you can see why, with that brilliant green and strong geometric design. It's made out of two Japanese obi fabrics that I pieced together. This time it comes with a silver clasp and silver detachable chain handle, so that the bag can be used as a handbag or a clutch. The piece de resistance is the flash of hot pink lining when the bag is opened. I love it!

You can find it in my Etsy store here.

Three little gems

A lovely customer recently came to visit me at my studio as she wanted to commission three handbags as gifts for three of her friends. Each friend has a favourite colour and she wanted to find the right match for each friend. We spent a lovely afternoon sifting through my rather extensive fabric stash, looking for the perfect colour combination, as well as discovering items I'd forgotten I even had.

This is the result and I love them all! The great thing about doing custom work is that you often end up with combinations you never would have thought of. I'm so happy with them and love the fact that they are going off to good homes.

This includes chakra colours and we used a deep blue kimono fabric as the lining.

 This is made from a vibrant green obi fabric trimmed with a green ribbon. I love that hot pink lining!

This is made from a vintage kimono and has a stunningly bright yellow lining.

Sexy Specs

I just added this juicy pair to my Etsy store - I love the vibrant colours and have added a shot of colour to the linings too. You can find them here.