Ikat clutch bags

 One of my favourite trips abroad was a long weekend in Istanbul. I went with two friends and we stayed in an apartment in the heart of the old city with a stunning view of the Blue Mosque, where we could hear the evocative should of the call to prayer drifting through the warm air. The city really left an impression on me with its strong influence of both East and West and friendly locals. I long to go back one day.

Needless to say, I loved trawling the bazaars for juicy finds and spent a lot of my time foraging for ikat fabrics, which is the iconic fabric from that area. Ikat fabric is created when the threads are dyed with the design before they are woven which then creates a blurred effect once the fabric is finished. 

These fabrics come in many different colours and styles, but I gravitated towards the brightly coloured ones. In each case, the store owner would invite us into his shop and serve us tea whilst we rifled through the endless choice of fabrics. I came home with a rather full case after that trip and am still creating gorgeous clutch bags from the fabrics I bought.

I love the blue and yellow combination of the fabric used in this bag, It's the perfect size for storing makeup in.

Each bag come with a tassel attached to the zipper pull, in a colour that compliments the fabric.

These make great summer clutch bags and are the perfect size for all the essentials.

Up close you can see the blurred effect that is caused by the weaving technique. It must be a pretty painstaking process, making sure that the threads match up in the right place to create the design.

Each bag is fully lined in a complimentary colour. This pink one has a pink cotton lining.

The tassel is detachable and can be easily removed if needed.

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!

Shades of green

Over the past few days I've been adding some stunning green clutch bags to my store. They are all made from Chinese silk fabrics that I bought in New York in the summer. Each one is a slightly different shade of green and vary from luxurious emeralds to rich olives. I've also added a suitably bright lining to each bag so that there is a flash of colour when the bag is opened.

You can find all these beauties in my Etsy store.

The fabrics remind me of some of the fabrics seen at the recent Dries Van Noten show in Paris.

I love the bamboo design of the clutch above and matched the yellow lining

to the yellow of the leaves in the design.

The clutch below has a stunning magenta pink lining, one of my favourite colours.

The clutch below is a stunning shade of emerald green and has a stylised peacock feather motif.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday to all! I'm slowly recovering after the 'Summer Shopping on the Terrace' event I did yesterday. It was a fab day and the weather behaved itself - we had beautiful sunshine!

My bags and purses looked beautiful in the sun and got a great reaction from customers.

My first customer of the day bought a blossom clutch bag to match her gorgeous new summer shoes.

Maggie Mowbray Hats

Every now and then I like to showcase a designer I adore and today I'm showcasing the beautiful designs of Maggie Mowbray, a milliner based near Edinburgh, Scotland. She designs and creates all her handmade, made-to-order pieces from her studio, following the design process through from designing, to shaping, sewing the hat and then adding any finishing touches.

All the hat and headpieces she creates are designed to enhance a woman's features: the lines, angles and shapes are all intended to work with the facial features, and custom designs can be designed to compliment a client's outfit.

In the past I've mentioned other hat designers and love the way that the hats compliment my clutch bags. You will see some of Maggie's creations below and I have matched each one to a Cheeky Leopard bag. 

This stunning red fascinator hat has an old Hollywood glamour about it.

I've matched the red hat to my red blossom kimono clutch bag.

I love a shot of purple and this cocktail hat is stunning! I love the leaf detail on the side.

It matches my purple clutch perfectly.

This beautiful rust 'percher' hat is hand formed by sculpting into shape and is finished with a felt cone and pheasant feather.

I matched this decorative rust clutch bag to the percher hat above.

This is a hat for the races and makes quite a statement! It has a hand curled peacock feather detail.

I matched the peacock hat to my emerald green handbag, made from a stunning embroidered silk from India.

Juicy threesome

I've had a little break in creating some of the large clutch bags, but now I'm back and have three juicy ones to showcase. Each one is made from a beautifully soft vintage kimono fabric, all of which I picked up on my last trip to Tokyo. I love the variety of colours and gave each one a suitably contrasting lining for a flash of colour when the bag is opened.

I love the smoky blue of the fabric on the clutch bag below, and its use of traditional Japanese motifs of maple leaves and blossom. It has a lovely contrasting mustard lining.

The fabric of the red blossom kimono clutch bag below is stunning! It has a rich brown lining and (like all the large clutch bags) a long chain that fits across the body or over the shoulder. It can also be tucked away if you'd rather not use the chain.

You can also find this fabric in one of my small clutch bags.

I do love the purple kimono fabric used on the clutch bag below! It is such a vibrant colour and the flowers have touches of gold on them. This bag has a fabulous golden yellow lining.

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.

It's countdown time!

It's only a week until the Bags and Bubbles event at my house!

The bubbles have been bought and the bags are being made. I have a fab new selection to show, many of which will not be listed on my store until after the event, so this is an exclusive viewing! Each item has a juicy 20% discount and this is the perfect chance to stock up on christmas presents, or buy a fab accessory for the upcoming party season.

The large clutch bags below are both made with a stunning purple and gold vintage Japanese obi fabric. One is pieced together with a black satin, the other is priced together with a lilac lining, and both bags have vibrant purple lining.

The padded kimono hearts are a relatively new addition to my store and are a pretty item to hang in the home. Each one comes with an inspiring handwritten word on it, and a ribbon loop.

The small clutch bags below are made from beautifully soft kimono silks and are the perfect size for an evening purse or as a cosmetic bag.

The kimono coin purses are so cute and great for storing small change or as a headphone case.

New York Fashion Week- Diane von Furstenberg

The mayhem of back-to-back fashion weeks has now begun, with New York, the queen of fashion weeks, kicking it all off. I'm not a fashionista, but I still love to dip in and see what's going on. I was pleased to see the charming collection of Diane von Furstenberg. She's famous for inventing the wrap dress (which is still going strong, 40 years on!) as well as encompassing femininity in a strong and independent way. Her collection, which is called Fortuna after the Roman goddess of luck, embraces femininity in soft, silky, flowing fabrics that are patchworked together and covered in print and colour. As a print designer it's great to see so much colour and print and I love the mix of pastels with hot pinks, and the variety of dress lengths and styles, all pulled together with the stunning colours. Check out the vibrant yellow asymmetrical yellow dress, with a nod to Grecian goddess style. It can also be worn as a more understated top mixed with white floaty printed trousers.

I've selected some Cheeky Leopard clutch bags that would match perfectly with these stunning outfits!

Pink Indian sari fabric clutch bag

 Pink and cream geometric embroidered clutch bag

Yellow floral clutch bag

Red floral clutch bag