Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas from Cheeky Leopard!

Thanks to everyone for their support over the past year. It's been quite a year! Here's to a happy and healthy year ahead. 

Menagerie

 Cheeky Leopard has amassed quite a collection of animal designs over the past few months. They include dogs, cats, zebras and giraffes and come in a variety of colour combinations. You can buy any of these designs by the yard at Spoonflower either on a fabric of your choice or as a wallpaper print.

Christmas face masks

Face masks are sadly still a part of our lives at the mo so why not celebrate the festive season with these Scandi-inspired face masks. Each one comes in a traditional red and and white colour palette and is a more subtle take on the Christmas theme.

Each one is reversible and has a red and white polka dot fabric on the other side, so if you're not feeling in the Christmas mood you can just flip it over to the other side.

Robins, holly, reindeer and hearts sit on a textured cream background. The masks are made from two layers of 100% cotton.

I love the vibrant red ground of this prancing reindeer mask.

If you're looking for something a bit more novelty, this happy snowman mask should do the trick.

He would make a perfect accompaniment to the Christmas day celebrations. Combine it with your favourite Christmas jumper for extra festive fun.

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London Lover

I'm a London lass and although I've lived abroad for many years, I love London town. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make the most of it during these strange times and I can't wait to get back to going to galleries and visiting museums. In the meantime I'm celebrating London through my Cheeky leopard products! My London face masks have been very popular and I now have a matching London travel card case to go with it. This case is softly padded and can also be used as a credit card case or business card case.

Christmas gift bags

Cheeky Leopard is now selling a selection of Christmas items in store which include these sweet little fabric gift bags. They come in a set of three and each one is made from a different Christmas fabric and comes in a different size. They have a drawstring closure using a festive ribbon and are a wonderful way of wrapping gifts. Not only are they sustainable, but they make a lovely gift in themselves and are something to keep or reuse.

Japan House

Last week I ventured out to my first exhibition in months! Japan House, based on Kensington High Street was housing a capsule collection of kimonos created by Takahashi Hiroko. She is an artist and expert in traditional Japanese crafts, seen below using the 'Nioudachi' pose, a pose that two deities would use to protect the dharma and often seen at the entrance of temples.

In this exhibition she was using the traditional idea of handing kimonos down to the younger generation. where the parent's old kimonos would be re-dyed and re-tailored to fit children and grandchildren

She has taken old kimonos and unstitched them, de-colourized them and then re-dyed them with dots before reconstructing the kimonos.

There was only a small number of kimonos, each in a monochrome colour palette with a touch of gold.

Sometimes the gold element was just shown in the obijime - the 'belt' that goes over the obi.

I loved the use of bold geometrics where patterns clash but the colour palette holds them together.

Japan House also has a wonderful shop to browse around. I tend to home in on the bright colours, such as these wonderful washi wrapping papers.

Items are beautifully displayed and a simple wooden bento box becomes a work of art in itself.

Fans take on a modern feel in this geometric print.

Enamel spoons artfully placed on a simple wooden tray.

Tenegui fabrics in many shades, colours and prints.

Tenegui are thin lengths of cloth that are have a number of uses including hand towel, head band or wrapping fabric. They are usually hand printed and come in amazing prints and colours.

These stunning wooden pieces use a technique where the wood is carved by hand and fitted together without the use of nails. It would originally have been used as a window covering.

Hand printed stationery using bold design and vibrant colours.

The kimono exhibition finishes today but it's still worth a visit to the shop if you fancy a little taster into Japanese design.

Japanese face masks

Whilst living in Japan, I amassed a wealth of fabrics and I have quite a hearty collection. Many of the fabrics I bought were beautiful kimono fabrics that I made into clutch bags and purses. But I also gravitated towards the wonderful array of cotton fabrics on offer. There were so many choices and there is even an area in Tokyo called Fabric Town which is in Nippori, north of the city. The best shop was called Tomato, a fabric haven that spread over 5 floors, but along the same street there were a selection of smaller stores which often had hidden gems in them. Along my way, I picked up these two fabulous fabrics - a sumo wrestler fabric and a Mount Fuji fabric which I have now made into washable, reusable cotton face masks.

I love the sweet sketchy feel of these jostling sumo on a fab mustard yellow ground.

Each mask is double sided so that you can use either side depending on your mood. The back of the mask has a contrasting dark grey crosshatch fabric and there are two black elastic loops.

I love the fresh blue of the Mount Fuji fabric and its simple design.

This mask has two white elastic loops to put around the ears.

For the back of this mask I chose a red and white spotty fabric to match the red of the sun in the Mount Fuji fabric.

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Cotton face masks

It's been a while since I've added anything new to my blog and the main reason for that is that I've been a tad busy! To fill my time during lockdown I decided to try my hand at making face masks and selling them in my shop and they seem to have taken off! They've been selling like hot cakes and I've been sewing like a mad woman to keep up with all the orders. Here's a little selection of the most popular items so far. Each one has a co-ordinating fabric on the back which makes it reversible.

Many of the fabrics I've used are Japanese or have been inspired by Japanese design, and blue and white is a lovely colour combination. The mask above is made from a blue and white cotton parasol fabric. The mask below is made from a blue and white floral fabric inspired by Japanese kimonos.

I couldn't not make a leopard print mask and this one comes in black and white.

Sausage dogs are always popular and this beige and black sausage dog mask has been flying out! It matches several items in my store such as cosmetic bag, glasses case and tissue holder.

Another popular Japanese image is this stork print that I designed a while ago. 

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Japanese-inspired artwork

Over the past few months I've been working on ideas for digital downloads for my store. These are not physical items that are sent out, but are instant downloads which means that, once purchased the customer can download the file and print it at home. It could also be taken to a high street printer or printed via an online print company. These bright, fresh prints were inspired by the kimonos I have in my collection and would make a great addition to any room in the home.

Japanese blossom design

Japanese blossom design

Japanese maple design

Japanese maple design

Japanese floral design

Japanese floral design