I made an appointment with myself

Today I made an appointment with myself to do nothing but make flowers for the entire day. It worked!  I'll do this more often, scheduling time to create flowers gave me focus and determination to make it a productive day.  Here's what I did...

This fabric is oriental brocade and is the most beautiful purple...delicious.

This little one is a beautiful red cotton with cream cherry blossom flowers. It's nearly cherry blossom season in Japan so a perfect time to showcase this fabric.

This blue and green cotton fabric is from a vintage, casual summer kimono called a yukata.

This fabric is from a child's kimono and features butterflies and flower clusters.  It sure makes a statement!

 

This bright yellow fabric is vintage Vietnamese cheongsam.  The poor quality of the photo doesn't do it justice, it's a cheery sunny yellow with delicate silver highlights.

This beautiful cream vintage kimono fabric is quite thick and I only had enough to make three flowers...broke two needles in the process!

And here's all of them...I did say it was a busy day!

Kanzashi flower necklaces

Yesterday I was on a roll and made all these flowers out of Japanese cotton. 

After the petals were carefully folded I then glued on a satin covered button, which I make myself, as the flower centre.  Then I turned the flower over and glued, using a paintbrush, a circle of the same fabric to the back as well as a loop of matching ribbon for the necklace to be inserted into. 

Here's the finished product.

Oh, and BIG NEWS - I'm going to Japan and am SO EXCITED!  I'm going with a good friend, who used to live there so she knows exactly where to go and what to do, and we'll both be buying fabric for our businesses.  It was a snap decision made in a few hours thanks to Jetstar having a 2 for 1 airfare sale.  I'm looking forward to finding some exquisite vintage Kimono and not to mention the food, oh the food!

Fabric rings

This week I've been making fabric rings using vintage Kimono and Japanese cotton.
I think the white and pink one below on the left looks like a snail!

On the right hand side of the picture below you can just see the back of the ring which is silver and adjustable to fit any finger.  

I wear a ring most days and often get nice comments from people which puts a big smile on my face.

I love what I do!

Red Floral Kimono

Here's a Kimono I bought a few days ago.  Even though it's vintage and could be anywhere from 10 to 40 years old it's in perfect condition.   The silk is quite textured, almost bumpy to touch.  It's going to have an incredible reincarnation.  Not just yet though - I need to love it a bit first.

Vintage Wedding Kimono

I was fortunate (to say the least) to find this lovely vintage wedding Kimono online and was in awe of its beauty.  But the photo that prompted me to buy this Kimono certainly didn't do it justice.  Before it arrived I had all intentions to upcycle it but once I saw just how amazing it is I'm now reconsidering.

Here's the front....it's so long I had to stand on a stool.  I'm 160cms, the stool is 30cms and it's still dragging on the floor!

And here's the back in all its glory - wow - wow - wow!

The hem of the Kimono is stuffed with wadding and the cranes are all beautifully embroidered.  It's made from textured silk in red, gold, orange, yellow, black and white.  When I opened the package and saw the colours the first thing I thought of was 'I love a sunburnt country'.  It's so Japanese but so Australian in colour.  It would look a.m.a.z.i.n.g, hanging on someone's wall as a decorative piece of art.  If you're interested in purchasing this let me know.

Chinese Brocade

The Christmas and new year holiday period has been so nice this year.  Instead of torrential rain or hot and steamy weather it's been just perfect....but a heat wave is supposed to hit early next week.  Lucky I'm then back at my day job with the air conditioning on!  Having the past two and a half weeks away from my usual day job meant I was able to devote entire days to making flowers.  I've also been spoiling myself by going shopping and to the beautician....today's head massage was bliss and I'll be treating myself more often.

Here are my newest creations which I know will be so popular so I made plenty (there's more made than just what's in the photo!)  These Kanzashi flowers are made from Chinese brocade featuring cherry blossom flowers.  Aren't they just gorgeous?!  I love the sheen of the fabric and as per usual will be keeping one of these for me.  As you can imagine I have quite a little collection.

Rich and luscious

This gorgeous piece of vintage Kimono is so spectacular - my amateur photography skills don't do it justice.  The piece is a rich, luscious purple and I can only dream of what the entire Kimono looked like.

The person who owned this must have felt so beautiful and fortunate when wearing it.  

After about a week of it hanging in my studio I took a deep breath then did what I'm destined to do.  Below are the creations....makes me go aaahhhh with a big smile on my face.

 

I think I'll have to keep one of these for myself.  I just love how each flower is different and beautiful in its own right. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering I keep a small square of each Kimono that I've upcycled so I have a record of each and every piece.  One day they'll be made into a quilt that I can treasure forever.