Fave fabric Friday

It appears that a few Fridays have slipped past since I last did this! 

This Friday's fave fabric is a beautiful vintage cotton kimono piece. In my last post I mentioned about a customer coming to my studio to choose some fabrics for her friends' bags. We had a great time choosing, but it was also a good chance for me to remember what I have. Things were unearthed that I didn't even know were there!

One of them was this beautiful cotton kimono piece. I love the layout of the design and the use of soft blues and pinks with the vibrant red, made even lovelier by the fact that the cotton is so fine. I'm thinking of making it into a clutch bag and using a mustard yellow cotton as the lining fabric. It would make a pretty summer clutch.

Fave fabric Friday

 It's that time of week again and this Friday I've decided to highlight a Japanese obi fabric that has been in my collection for a while. I am so scared to cut it up, but I know that it would make a stunning clutch bag or two. It is a dramatic piece in red and black with a stylised image of flying storks on it - an iconic Japanese image. I'm thinking of making it into an envelope clutch with a stunning red lining.

Watch this space!

Fave Fabric Friday

I always gravitate towards the kimono fabrics and this week's favourite fabric is a beautiful red silk kimono piece that I have had for a while but am loathe to cut up. I bought it at Gallery Kawano, one of my favourite kimono shops in Tokyo, tucked down the backstreets of Omotesando. The pieces are good quality and displayed in colour sections. It was always a pleasure to go there and forage for a while, serenaded by the jazz music they play in the background. This was often followed by a trip to Omotesando Koffee, the best coffee in Tokyo, served up in a 60 year old Japanese house.

This kimono piece combines classic Japanese images of flying storks and blossom sprigs, two delicate motifs on a vibrant red ground. I love the fact that negative space plays just as an important role as the design itself in Japanese art, and this has been used to great effect here. Instead of cutting it up, I may use it as inspiration for a new fabric design group I am in the process of creating.