Quick Bites – News for June, 2018

Here is a list of our upcoming events: Kimonomomo Open House Event – Saturday, June 23 in Alameda, CA. 10am-2pm. Click here for location map.  Pajaro Quilt Guild Textile Lecture and Trunk Show – Monday, July 9 in Aptos, CA. Click here for more information Sashiko Class – Monday, August 13 in San Jose, CA….

Pardon the long absence, it’s been a busy year

Hello, dear readers. It’s been a while. In January & February I traveled Japan. More about that coming soon In March we launched our wholesale import business and showed at the San Francisco Quilt Guild Show In April I wrote a bunch, then stopped because there was so much more work to do with the…

Quick Sashiko Tips and Quilt Show News for October, 2016

Summer has wrapped up and we are heading into autumn. For me this means a LOT of work, including sewing and getting ready for quilt shows. BIG quilt shows. I’ve been a vendor at the Houston International Quilt Festival in Texas for a few years now, but this year I finally made it off the…

Schedule for March 2015

Busy busy! Local local! No airplanes for me this month. Here’s where you can find Kimonomomo this March: March 1 – Bay Area Sashiko Workshop in San Jose/Campbell. Details on Meetup.com or contact Carol if you need information/directions. The address is never posted online so you do need to contact me or Leilani if you’ll…

Learn Sashiko with Upcycle Alameda!

I’ll be teaching a six-week course with sashiko and other hand sewing skills using upcycled fabrics at the Recrafting Co. in beautiful Alameda, CA. You can join in on Upcycle Alameda’s Meetup event page and/or contact Joan at 510-913-2732 for more information and to sign up. There are a limited number of seats available and we would love…

Preparing costumes for Dickens Fair 2014

I’m a little bit of a costuming nerd. Maybe an intermediate nerd. What started with historically accurate Halloween costumes in grade school turned into working at Renaissance Faire in high school, and Victorian costuming for Dickens Christmas Fair soon after that. Having a mother who could plan and sew a costume with a bit of…

Shop News for May, 2013

Things are about to get very quiet for the KimonoMomo Etsy shop, and very busy here at The Ardent Thread blog. I’m going to Japan with Shibori Girl! On Monday, May 13 I’ll be saying goodbye to the dogs, my kids, my fiancee, and the garden to head out across the Pacific Ocean. I haven’t…

Another tabletop Singer? Of course I’ll take it.

Rambling around the Alameda Point Antiques Faire this winter, I found this lovely Singer standing front and center of an antiques booth. She was a bit raggedy, but the dealer insisted that she would run just fine. I took a gamble that he was an honest man, especially after I noticed the throat plate was…

A Danish textile, and updates for spring

February was a busy month, and between four different conferences (only two of which had anything to do with textiles), I didn’t get around to posting. To make up for the time I took off, I will be posting more frequently about the amazing textiles I viewed last month, and trying out my skills at…

Overdyed patchwork Oriental rugs

When I first heard of overdyed patchwork rugs, my reaction was… less than enthusiastic. The concept is to take pieces of rugs too old and worn out to be used as-is, overdye the pieces, and stitch them together to make a new rug. Simple enough, and certainly not new, but recently this type of rug…

Sashiko & Shibori Sari

Here is another textile from Tansu Design; a fabulous 19th or early 20th century stitched and dyed sari from India. I wish I’d had more time to ask questions and a better camera on me when I was in the gallery, but this was the best I could do with my iPhone before running out the…

Sashiko Furoshiki

Wandering around the San Francisco Design District last week, I found this gorgeous HUGE furoshiki at Tansu Design. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my tape measure on me so I couldn’t tell you the exact measurements, but yes, that is a sofa it is draped across. I’d estimate the size to be roughly 4 feet in…