Which came first?

A while ago I designed a group of fabric prints for Makower UK, called Chicken and Egg. 

My mum has just given me a lovely present, made from some of that fabric. It uses the blue chicken design and is beautifully edged with some of the striped fabric from the same group. It's designed to be used to line a bread basket, which is exactly what we will be doing with it tonight. It will be keeping the pitta bread warm that will accompany our Middle Eastern-inspired meal. Thanks mum!

You can see the full range of Chicken and Egg designs on my portfolio website here.

Blue and white

I'm off on my summer hols tomorrow (woo hoo!) and beautiful Bali is our destination. I am SO excited about it and have been perusing the choices of summer clothes on offer. I was obviously in a blue and white mood and found some lovely summery items that I wouldn't mind having. I then realised that they would go perfectly with my blue tenegui clutch bag. I may have to quickly run one up on the machine to take away with me......

PS Please note that I will be away until 22nd July. Any orders placed through my Etsy store before that date, will be sent out on 23rd July by Express Mail. See you soon!

J. Crew skirt

Melissa Odabash

Etro dress

Preen t-shirt

Cheeky Leopard clutch bag

New Summer Clutch Combo

I have just added these clutch bag/coin purse combos to my Etsy store. Each piece is made from a selection of Japanese cottons called tenegui. Tenegui are used for everything from napkins, to present wrapping and are hand printed onto soft, natural cottons, often using traditional Japanese motifs.

I have coveted these fabrics ever since I first moved to Tokyo three years ago and love using them to make clutch bags with. I thought this selection had a lovely summery feel and added colourful ribbons to each. I decided to make little coin purses to match the clutch bags and you can find them as a set at my Etsy store here.

Simple black and white

After focusing on the vibrancy of the obi fabrics for a while, I have decided to return to the more subdued colours of the tengui fabrics that I love.

Tenegui fabrics are something I discovered soon after moving here and was intrigued by. They are lengths of fabric that are sold throughout the year, but become more popular in the summer when they are used as head bands, napkins, or as gift wrapping for a present. There are hundreds of variations on design and colour, many of them depicting typical Japanese scenes or foliage. I love the fact that each of these pieces is also hand printed in the traditional technique. 

Needless to say, I have a rather large selection and am looking forward to making more clutch bags like these. The bottom one combines tenegui with a gorgeously simple coral pink and grey striped obi. You can see them here.

Ahoy there!

I've just added these nautical naughties to my Etsy store. 

I've had the bobble clasps for a while now and loved them, but wasn't sure what fabric to use with them. The bright stripes of the bobbles lent themselves very nicely to the nautical theme, so I matched them with corresponding blue and red anchor prints, with a contrasting polka dot lining. It's going to be very hard to part with them!

Candid camera

Earlier today I added this rather quirky item to my Etsy store. I've had the fabric for ages but couldn't find the right lining to go with it. When I came across a fab mustard cotton, I knew it would make a perfect partner to the retro camera image and I'm very happy with the outcome! You can see it here.