Gorgeous green clutch bag

This gorgeous green clutch bag is made from a Chinese satin fabric, with decorative Chinese motifs. It's the perfect accessory for a night out and makes quite a statement.

The clutch bag is lightly padded and fully lined in a bright pink cotton fabric for a shot of colour when the bag is opened.

It also has a matching pink tassel on the zipper pull.

Look up close and you can see the detail of the motifs on the bag, fantastical birds mix with daring dragons in a red and blue colour palette with lashings of metallic gold.

This clutch bag makes a great gift for someone special. Each item is carefully gift wrapped in pink tissue paper and can be sent straight to its recipient with an optional gift message included.

A little gem

I've just added another little gem to my store. This one is a small clutch bag made from a stunning vintage obi fabric. The obi is the 'belt' that goes around the kimono and the fabric is often woven in a brightly coloured design that holds its shape very well. This would make the perfect party clutch and you can find this little cutie in my store.

The design on one side of the bag is a decorative medallion motif made from shades of red, orange, purple and green with a glittering metallic gold highlight. 

The other side is a geometric design in vivid green and metallic gold.

I decided to give this bag a bright red lining to match the red on the outside of the bag.

 This would make the perfect party clutch and you can find this little cutie in my store here.

Fabric Friday

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a fabric Friday! A lot has happened in the past few weeks, including a few shows, a trip to Marseille and of course, my wonderful trip to Tokyo.

Whilst I was in Tokyo, I made good use of the time, shopping for new fabrics and stocking up on good quality clasps. Buying the fabric is naturally my favourite part of the bag-making process, but a close second is the choosing and cutting of the fabrics and finding the right lining to match the outside design. I take a long time finding the right colour, but it feels so good when the perfect one fits. Here's a little taster of what I have been working on.

The fabric on the left is an obi fabric in beautifully subtle shades of dark brown and turquoise and depicts a stylised peacock feather. I've decided to pick out the turquoise in the feather and give it a bright turquoise lining.

The fabric on the right is a combination of obi fabric in the centre and Indian embroidered silk on either side. The two fabrics work so nicely together and this bag will have a magenta pink lining for a contrasting pop of colour!

 These are two obi fabrics. The one on the right is a soft grey and quite a different colour to what I usually choose. It has a hint of terracotta in the flowers, so I decided to mirror that and use a terracotta cotton for the lining.

 These colours are such lovely jewel tones! The one on the right has a bright green flower on it and I decided to use that colour as the lining colour - a beautiful green satin.

I love the big magenta flower on the fabric on the right! It makes such a statement against the silver behind it. I had to give this one a magenta lining.

A new family member!

 A new member has recently been added to the Cheeky Leopard family! 

I have been meaning to try out an envelope clutch for a while and I've finally done it! I'm really pleased with the result, which is made from a Japanese obi fabric. The front of the obi has been used as the outer fabric of the bag (a stunning turquoise, orange and metallic gold hexagon design), and the back of the obi (a deep orange silk) has been used for the lining. The bag is held closed with invisible magnet snaps and folds over to create an envelope clutch. It can also be left unfolded, to carry larger items such as iPads.

You can find it in my store here.

Magenta magic

I recently added these juicy magenta beauties to my Etsy store. One is made from Japanese obi fabric and one is made from a stunning pink satin I bought in Vietnam. Both of them have purple kimono fabric as lining.

You can find them on my store here.