Here are a few upcoming events I’m working on right now: 10/5 South Bay Sashiko Workshop – Campbell/San Jose, CA 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm The address is private and not listed on Meetup, so email me if you need details. 10/7 Piecemakers Quilt Guild Lecture and Trunk Show – Newark, CA, 6:40 pm – 9:00 pm…
Category: sashiko
Sashiko sewing machine – what’s your impression?
I’m a big fan of hand stitching, but I do own 7 or 8 sewing machines, most of them 50-100 years old and not capable of more than a straight stitch. I do frequently meet people who are happy with their sashiko machines but I’ve never used a sashiko machine myself. I can tell you…
I’m in Stitch Magazine again – The Unofficial Downton Abbey Sews
This is a very yummy issue if you’re into historical and costume dramas in general and Downton Abbey in particular, which the editors at Stitch Magazine certainly are! This very special issue includes instructions to make my tsumugi silk sashiko pillow. I do carry all the supplies needed, including the fabric, but not all supplies…
Baseball and Sashiko
I’m teaching a few sashiko classes this fall, so I’ve been working on demonstration pieces to share with the students. I was working on one of them last night while Thomas and I listened to a baseball game on the radio. We cut off our cable TV a few months back to save money and…
New tutorial video and an upcoming show
The latest in my sashiko tutorial video series is longer than the first episode… mainly because Thomas wasn’t here to hurry me along and keep things brief so I rambled a bit. Hope you don’t mind, or at the very least find the ramblings useful. I talk more about thimbles and how to use them,…
New in the Kimonomomo shop: a rainbow of vintage yukata bolts
Summertime is yukata season, and in the Kimonomomo studio that means getting the dozens of yukata bolts I’ve had hiding on the shelf (some for years) out into the sunshine where I can photograph them in the best light. Here are a few of my favorites, old and new. Click on the images to view…
Our first video!
We did it! Thomas and I cleared off the cutting table and put together a simple starting project for learning sashiko. Okay, so all I did was demonstrate how to backstitch and use a thimble, but that’s exactly what I teach my customers over and over at every show so I figured there might be…
Product Review: KARISMA Air Fade Pen and Fujix Soie et Silk Thread
It’s a product review two-for-one! I’ve been experimenting with the KARISMA Air Fade Ink pens on silk lately and I’m quite pleased with the results. I have heard that some brands of air fade ink pens will come back if the fabric is laundered, so I decided to use them on fabrics I wasn’t planning to…
Tulip Sewing Needles a’plenty
Tulip, a sewing needle manufacturer in Hiroshima, Japan, recently celebrated its 65th anniversary. Founded in 1948 to make fishing needles, the company switched to more crafty consumers in the 1950s when they began exporting crochet hooks and knitting needles. Now well-known for their quilting needles and beading tools, Tulip has refined their product for a…
Kimonomomo Shop Updates for late May 2014
In case you missed it on Facebook or Twitter earlier, here some upcoming events I’ll be hosting in the San Francisco, CA Bay Area: Saturday, May 31: Mini Kimono Workshop – Kimonomomo Studio in Alameda Sunday, June 1: Bay Area Sashiko Workshop – South Bay/San Jose/Campbell area And an Etsy Craft Party on Friday, June 6! The…
Mother’s Day Coupon Code!
There are so many new fabrics in the shop to play with, and I’m a mother, so… coupons codes for you! Use the code MOTHERSDAY14 at checkout for 15% off your purchase at my Kimonomomo Etsy shop from now until midnight on Mother’s Day, which is May 11, 2014 in the USA. Share the code,…
This week in the Kimonomomo design studio…
Today I had a visitor to the studio this weekend who asked me to show her how I do my sashiko. Helen was a lovely guest (who bought some of my favorite fabrics) and we chatted for a few hours while I stitched away. She likes to plan out her sewing projects, “obsessing” about them…
A love for both the common fiber and the extraordinary textile @KimonoMomo 