Ikat cosmetic bag

I love an ikat design. Ikat is the weaving process where the pattern is dyed onto the threads before they are woven which creates a blurred effect to the finished design. This zipper purse is made from a cotton fabric that has been printed with an ikat-style design on it. It has been printed in a way that it looks 'weathered' in places. I love the simple colour combo and the strong, geometric design of the print.

Look up close and you can see the weathered effect of the print.

This zipper pouch is the perfect size for a handbag organiser or travel bag. It's a safe place to keep all your valuables and is easy to locate in your bag.

This zipper pouch is fully lined in a dark pink cotton lining and has a zipper closure to keep everything safe. It's also machine washable so any marks can easily be washed away.

This zipper pouch is also the perfect size for a cosmetic bag. It's lightly padded to protect its contents.

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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.

Scarlet threesome

My lovely aunty Judith in Australia recently ordered some Cheeky Leopard clutch bags to be sent over to her as gifts for family and friends. They were obviously well received as she has ordered three more! One was a re-make of a clutch she already had, but she also wanted two more, so I decided to make some up especially for her. All of them are in tones of red and they make a fabulous scarlet threesome!

The bag below is a remake of the bag Judith bought a few months ago.

It's made from a vintage kimono fabric depicting ikat-weave chrysanthemums.

The bag below is made from a beautifully soft vintage blossom kimono fabric.

I love the vibrancy of the red and the classic Japanese blossom motif.

The bag below is made from a modern cotton fabric depicting stylised chrysanthemum flowers in white and black with a stunning gold accent.

Indonesian inspiration

A few weeks ago I wrote about the luscious fabrics I picked up on my trip to Bali, which you can see here. 

Since then I have been a busy bee, playing with different combinations of fabrics and trims. In my stash of kimono fabrics I found some gorgeous, vibrant turquoise and pink kimonos and realised how beautifully they matched with the ikat fabrics I'd bought in Bali. This is the outcome and I'm really happy with them! With each one, I chose a vibrant complimentary lining, and also added a pretty ribbon trim as an accent. The ribbons are from France, the silk is from Japan and the ikat fabric is from Indonesia, so a truly global mix.

You can see these, and other clutch bags here.

Bali buys

Well, needless to say, we had a fab time in Bali - a wonderful combination of relaxing in our lovely villa/hotel, as well as getting out and seeing the beautiful island of Bali. You can read more about our travels here.

As a lover of textiles, I was in heaven and the choice of ikat weavings, batik fabrics as well as the rather brash gold printed pieces that are often used to 'wrap' figures in the temples, was overwhelming. I could have gone crazy with the shopping, but hubby kept me at bay and I only came back with a 'small' number of fabric pieces as well as a wood carving.....

I'm really looking forward to making some clutch bags out of these gorgeous finds and am even wondering how they will combine with the kimono fabrics I already have. Watch this space....

Ikat weaving is a process where the design of the weave is dyed onto the threads before they are woven. I can't even begin to imagine how they work that out, but the effect is gorgeous.

Batik is a process where the design is 'drawn' out using wax that creates a resist. The design is then coloured in and the wax is removed using boiling water. There are many more complicated ways of doing this, where layers of colour and pattern are added over time.

A gold design is printed onto bright coloured cottons. It is quite brash, but I love its vibrancy.

Madeline Weinrib

I love the fabrics, cushions and rugs produced by Madeline Weinrib. She is a painter and designer living in New York and is the grand daughter of ABC Carpet and Home founder Max Weinrib. ABC is a beautifully opulent shop and Madeline carries on the family tradition, creating a collection that uses traditional forms of production but with a fresh eye on colour. She uses lush colour palettes and opulent pattern inspired by her travels to produce a juicy collection of ikat fabrics, brightly coloured rugs, and even beautifully covered chairs and sofas. I love the blue and white ikat collection (see my Pinterest page for more) as well as the vibrantly pink rugs - not sure if I could carry it off in my home though....

She also offers a bespoke service where one can create their own tailor-made piece using the amazing array of colours on offer.

Ikat Inspiration

I came across these gorgeous rugs recently in a copy of Elle Decor. They were produced by Charlotte Moss for Stark, a rug and carpet company. The idea came about after a visit to Istanbul where Charlotte was shown endless rich ikat silk fabrics. She loved the design and colour of the fabrics and decided to take that inspiration, mute the colours a bit and scale the designs up to make some gorgeous carpets. The collection is called Passport and she is hoping that this will be the first of a long line of carpets inspired by great cities.