Kimono fabric scraps

 I have a wide selection of fabric scraps for sale in my Etsy shop. I've divided them up into colour stories and this one comes in shades of pink, purple and cream. Each one is a vintage kimono fabric piece, some are florals, some are geometric and some are plain. They are perfect for using sewing projects such as quilting or patchwork.

This burgundy kimono fabric has an ikat stripe running through it.

Two pretty floral kimono fabrics in complimentary colours.

A stunning rose motif using the kasuri weaving technique where the threads are dyed before they are woven.

Stunning geometric kimono fabric in a deep pink and white colour palette.

Anni Albers

As a textile designer and someone who is drawn to all things textile-related, I couldn't wait to go to the Anni Albers exhibition at Tate Modern recently. She was an artist who is said to have "combined the ancient craft of hand-weaving with the language of modern art".

Born in Berlin in 1899, Anni started her studies at the Bauhaus art school and, being a woman of the 1920s, was discouraged from joining the painting classes and steered towards the weaving workshop.

She used the workshop, however to begin her creations in textiles which became her key form of expression and led to what she called her "pictorial" weavings, much of which was inspired by the work of Paul Klee. Her art is very abstract and that's what I loved about it.

With most of her works you have to look up close to appreciate the gorgeous nubs and textures. But standing further away creates a whole different feel.

The enormous exhibiton has over 350 objects from small-scale pictorial weavings to large wall-hangings and mass produced textiles.

The exhibition also had painted versions of Anni's creations and the workings out of each piece. I loved the vibrant colours of the two works above.

Albers made many of her pictorial weavings on a handloom that was exhibited in the exhibition. Alongside that was a film showing the loom in action. It demonstrated the painstaking time it takes to thread up the loom, but also the rhythmic action that weaving uses. It was extremely therapeutic to watch!

Looming Marvelous!

Yesterday I had my first ever weaving class! It was held in Seibu department store in Ikebukero, on a floor devoted almost entirely to crafty things of everything you can imagine. My friend Chikage had organised the class and we trotted along at 10.30 to learn the gentle art of weaving. The teacher was lovely, but couldn't speak English, so Chikage kindly interpreted and once we'd been shown the ropes, as it were, we were off, weaving away to the piped muzak of the department store, vaguely aware of the shoppers pootling around us.The loom was very compact and I felt like a giant as I sat hunched over it - in fact I think I have cultivated my hunch a little more since doing the class!
We had an amazing choice of yarns and were allowed to use whatever we wanted. First of all the yarn is loaded onto a bobbin and this would become the weft.
The bobbin is then slotted into the shuttle, and the shuttle is passed through the warp threads that are pulled tight and attached to the loom. It all sounds rather complicated and there was definitely some heavy concentration going on, mainly because you had to use your feet as well as your hands to alternate the warp threads. The hand/foot co-rdintaion took some time to master, but it was very therapeutic once a rhythm was established.
There were some wonderful coloured wools to choose from, but I went for the more subdued tones.


I'm rather pleased with the finished result!