Kimono heaven

I received a lovely package from Japan yesterday and now I'm in kimono heaven! I ordered these two lovely kimonos from Litre, a shop on Etsy that specialises in vintage kimonos amongst tother things. These will be perfect for using to make my clutch bags and scarves that I sell in my store, although it's going to be very painful for me to cut them up!

The first kimono is a stunning multi colour floral kimono with touches of gold here and there. It's pretty short, so I'm guessing it was a child's kimono.

There are so many lovely colours in it that I can use to co-ordinate with other colours. When I make my scarves I love to mix them up with a combination of kimono fabrics.

The second kimono is red and cream and much longer, so this would have been an adult's kimono.

I love the touches of green and yellow in the design.

If you look closer, you can see the detail. There are maple leaves and blossoms that are a traditional Japanese motif, but you can also see houses and a stream nestled amongst the foliage.

The kimonos were beautifully parcelled up and came with a selection of lovely items including a hand-written note from the owners and a selection of postcards and stickers. Lucky me!

Black and gold

I recently wrote about Dries Van Noten's latest collection and have been inspired by the colour combination used. Here is a new clutch bag based on the colours from the Spring 2014 collection. The outside of the clutch is made from two different obi fabrics, with a black and gold printed diamond motif obi in the centre, and a gold damask fabric on either side. The lining uses a fabulously bright printed kimono fabric for a flash of colour.

You can find it in my Etsy store here.

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