Fabric Button Paperclips

I've found another way to use Japanese cotton and vintage kimono...aren't these paperclips with a fabric button on top just too cute?  I love bookmarks and have a stash that I choose from whenever I start a new book.  My stash now includes a few of these precious ones.

This blue and pink one is adorable and is vintage kimono. The fabric is quite textured which adds to its appeal.

This is also vintage kimono in green, orange and gold.  The squares with a dot in the middle is a popular and traditional Japanese design and is almost in every piece of Japanese fabric I have.

This gold, red and green one is also from vintage Kimono and is so vibrant.  Just like the pink and blue one above the fabric is textured and I'm pretty sure it's silk.

These ones are made with Japanese cotton.

I love turtles!!

And because I can't help myself here's another picture showing all of them.

Each giant paperclip is 10cms from the top of the button to the bottom of the paperclip and the button is 3.8cm round. Some of these are in my online store if you'd like to purchase one. 

Butterflies

Happy new year!  It's been hot hot hot here so today I stayed indoors, put a DVD on the tele and made lots of flowers.  Apart from the heat and humidity it's been a lovely day and I'm so pleased with the outcome.

I think this piece of vintage Kimono is very pretty and sweet.  I don't see much of the colour lime around so when I saw this piece for sale last year I snapped it up very quickly.  I don't know the history of this kimono, or what type of kimono it came from, but I'm guessing it belonged to a young girl who would have looked oh so beautiful wearing it.

The close up pictures below really show how gorgeous the design is.  There's lot of butterflies flying around. 
 

I love the texture in the fabric...it looks like clouds.

Now for the flowers...

 Some are pink and some are lime - this one has yellow and gold highlights...

If you look closely you can see butterfly wings hiding in the folded petals.

It's taken me a little while to cut this fabric, first I had to admire it for a few weeks before getting to work and upcycling it.  Now the flowers are waiting for someone to purchase them to give them a new life!

Enjoy your week my friends.

Vintage Indigo Kimono Flowers

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to purchase a gorgeous vintage kimono that has the most vibrant indigo colour.  I was in such a hurry to create flowers that I forgot to take a picture of the kimono before I unpicked it.  Oops.  Here's the panel from the left hand sleeve that I'm yet to upcycle...I did say it was gorgeous!

Before I show you how luscious the flower jewellery looks here are some close up pictures of the fabric.

 

Drumroll........here's the flowers I handmade ready to be worn as either a necklace, brooch or a hairclip.  As their creator I'm biased by their beauty!

I've taken these photos on my iPhone 3 - nothing fancy, no filters, just sunlight through the window.  It's the silk fabric and the vibrancy of colours that makes them pop and dance...well that's how I like to describe it!

These little lovelies will be in store soon...but if you want one of these for yourself let me know asap and I'll reserve one for you.  They'll make beautiful Christmas presents and each flower is one-of-a-kind.  Email me at hello@mindilindi.com.au if you're interested.

Have a wonderful day everyone - I am!

A wedding to remember

Recently I was asked to make coordinating necklaces for two bridesmaids to wear at their sister's wedding.  I was given a sneak peak of the dress so I could colour match, then chose several fabrics, made samples and sent them to the bride for her decision.  Here's the bride giving the necklace as a gift to one of her sisters. 

I think she likes it!

Here's the girls getting ready to walk down the aisle...

Isn't the backdrop of the ceremony breathtaking?

And some fun photos just because.

Thank you for asking me to accessorise the dresses - it was fun to do and I'm very grateful.

May your lives together be full of fun, love and happiness. 

Sweet silk butterflies

When I saw this kimono in Tokyo I fell in love with the beautiful colours.  It was folded up neatly but when I picked it up to inspect it I found that the sleeves were missing and there was a lot of black gunk on the hem.  Fortunately the gorgeous butterflies weren't damaged.

Due to the damage, and I do wonder what happened, it was very heavily reduced, and today I gave new life to the old kimono and made beautiful kanzashi flowers.

The fabric is a beautiful, thick and luscious silk with gold highlights.  The deep pink background has a cloud pattern throughout it which gives it a nice texture (more visible in the first photograph above). 

As usual I think I'll have to keep one of these for myself. 

Different types of folded flowers

Since coming back from Japan last month I've been busy unpicking kimono and making thousands, well it seems like thousands, of fabric flowers.  Every day and sometimes at night I'm tucked away in my home office having a great time with all my new fabric.

This weekend I was supposed to go away with my husband to the family farm but I've come down with the dreaded lurgy so I'm home alone as not to spread the infection plus I'm not the best patient to be around.  More time to make flowers!

In my fabric stash was some amazing bright blue oriental brocade and I made different types of fabric flowers out of it.

The top two are the standard ones I make with either five or six rounded petals.  The ones on the bottom are folded differently and the flower has a pointed petal and is much larger even though the same amount of fabric is used as the rounded petal flower.  I wore one out the other day to one of my stockists and they loved it and have ordered some.  Woohoo!

Whatever you're doing this long weekend I hope you're having fun.  Cheers.

Fabric folded into Kanzashi flowers

I've been a busy little bee since coming back from Japan three weeks ago.  I've been making Kanzashi flowers from some of the fabric I bought and they have proved very popular with lots of people buying them.  Here's a peak at what I've done.

I just knew this black fabric would look amazing once made into a flower.  I also bought this fabric in a green colourway but I'll way until Spring to release it.

This cream fabric is great for Autumn and looks stunning worn against black.

The red in this cotton fabric is really rich and the weave of the fabric shows through...maybe not in this photo but it does in real life! 

Love love love this blue flower.  The cotton is quite heavy, like linen.  There's also a pink colourway I bought but I'll wait until Spring to release it.

This owl fabric has been around for a long time but is a favourite and I managed to buy the last lot of it at a store near Shibuya in Tokyo.  There's also a turtle version of this fabric which will hatch soon!

Last but not least here's some Japanese Chirimen fabric which I fell in love with.  The flowers are just as amazing as I hoped they would be.  And I love the the feel of the knobbly, bumpy, silky fabric.

Over the past week I've been folding and cutting these little gems, and today I'll finish them off into necklaces, brooches and hairclips.