Sashiko Project part III – it works!

It’s true, I’m a complete novice at this. It’s often said that you can learn through teaching, and I find that sometimes the only way I can learn something is when I’m asked to teach someone else. Here is the shippou design I was working on: And from the other side… not so bad! I’ve…

Fall Sale update

I’m digging through my stock and finding all sort of fabrics that haven’t been listed in a long while, marking them down and adding them to the Etsy shop. It looks like I may be listing some vintage kimono silks on eBay again as well, since I’m trying to move out of my house and…

Sale starts today through October 3

It’s autumn and time to clear out some of my old fabric stock so I can bring in new fabrics and generally freshen up the shop. If you are on my mailing list, you should be getting a postcard mentioning the sale today or this weekend. Not on the list? Drop me an email and…

Sashiko project part II – moving right along

Sorry about the delay again, but this last one looks to be something that is going to make my family’s life a little better as my daughter is now planning to join my son in home schooling. She’s been frustrated with some of her classes in high school, sleeping through a few because she’s bored,…

Three examples of indigo shibori

Due to circumstances that likely could have been avoided, I will be writing part 2 of the sashiko tutorial tomorrow instead of today. In the meantime, here are some great examples of shibori done in indigo and white. These three show just how diverse a medium shibori can be. The piece on the left is…

Sashiko project part I – getting started

Before I start, I’d like to bring something to your attention and ask for your hand in helping others. Recently the plight of the Decker family came to my attention, and they are in need of funding to deal with immense medical bills and help for Carol Decker’s recovery. After an emergency Cesarian section delivery,…

Sashiko project begins at last.

So here it is. A little sampler project for getting started in sashiko, but without the pre-printed kit. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Olympus kits are wonderful, but I’m a coloring-outside-the-lines kind of person, and maybe you are too. The kit contains four pieces of indigo yukata cotton with designs of iris, origami…

It’s my birthday.

So I’m sharing this with you. It resonates with how I’ve been feeling lately, especially the part about staying up “very very very very very very late”. “The first way Counting Crows ever sounded, it was me and Dave in bars and coffee houses playing open mics, doing this song this way. The song begins…

Velvet reels and spinning wheels

It’s always a bit of a race to score a treasury on Etsy. In the past I’d let them go by without much of a thought. Leave it to others to put together lists of interesting items that might, if they were very well put together, end up on the Etsy main page. Me? Couldn’t…

Welcome September

Kumoricon was fantastic! Thank you to all of you who came by to say hello, new friends and old. It was great to meet you, dress you, and share kimono culture with you. I hope we meet again at Sakura-Con in April 2009! Lots and lots of changes have been happening here at Chez Kimono,…