Pretty in pink

Times are rather strange at the mo! And during strange times, sewing is a great distraction and a wonderfully therapeutic pastime. I feel very lucky to have a business where I get to play with fabrics and to sew on a regular basis. My latest sewing project and new addition to my store is this pretty pink and red scarf.

This scarf is made from a selection of vintage cotton kimono pieces from my extensive kimono collection. I chose to combine a red and white chrysanthemum fabric with a pink ikat floral fabric.

Each of my scarves are long enough to wrap once or twice around the neck and makes a great addition to any outfit. Each of my scarves is a complete original, an individual and a one-off piece.

All fabrics used in my scarf designs are vintage pieces that were bought from shrine sales and antique markets whilst living in Tokyo. I lived in Tokyo for four years and spent many happy days trawling antique markets and kimono shops for the perfect motif and colour combination.

Shop Scarves Now

Fabric Friday

Anyone who loves fabric, knows how therapeutic it can be. There is something very pleasing about choosing a selection of fabrics and piecing them together to create something new. A year ago I was going through a difficult time in my life. My parents were very supportive and I was staying their house at the time. After dinner, mum and I would sit in front of the TV (with a glass of wine of course!) and the sewing would come out. My mum was in the process of making fabric hexagon squares and so I decided to do the same, using fabric pieces I had in my stash.

Paper hexagons are cut out, and then the fabric hexagon is tacked onto the paper one, to give it shape. The hexagons are then whip-stitched together in batches of seven, to create a bigger hexagon.

From the back, it looks pretty messy! But the paper is a great way of keeping the shape of the hexagons as you sew them all together, and the paper, and tacked stitches will be taken out at the end of the process, for the grand reveal!

Once you have a good amount of larger hexagons, you can start sewing them together, which is what I am now doing.... a year later! I love the fact that sewing projects can be left for a while, but you can always come back to them and start where you left off.

The fabric selection includes, polka dots, bright solids, and a mandolin design! Now I just need to decide what to make my lovely hexagon project into. A funky clutch? Or a fun tote bag? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.