beautiful sashiko collection from sri threads

this is just one image from the sashiko abundance shared on the sri threads blog.
if you love old japanese textiles, you can often find a beautiful visual feast there!

far far away

i've added this wonderful fabric to the shop. it's from the far far away line designed by heather ross for kokka. the fabric is a cotton double gauze, which is super soft, and the images are so lovely. (i have a thing for fairy tales). thankfully, athough i may not always get quite as much sleep as i would like, unlike this princess, there is nothing under my futon that keeps me awake.
there are unicorns too! who doesn't like unicorns?
and frog(princes). cotton double gauze is great for summer, and i've also been thinking about using a little bit of this fabric for baby bib...maybe the frogs?

a little something new

i've added something new to my etsy shop, fabric from old kimonos! i love this fabric so much, it's so very japanese. it's a little bit of a new direction for the felt cafe japan shop, so i'm very interested to hear how folks like it. of course every piece will be different, and that's part of the charm. these two are from the toji market last month.

children's books illustrators

last weekend i saw this exhibit of the swiss illustrator hans fischer at the itami city art museum. i loved his books when i was little, the story of pitchi the curious kitten, and the birthday cake surprise planned by the animals. i don't know if most people have read these books, or if we just had them because of our swiss family friends.

recently i've seen some very cute pitchi stationary products here in japan, and this exhibit had all the books, including original drawings.

another all time favorite, the very hungry caterpillar has been made into a fabric print! just in time for the new japanese school year that starts in april. there are actually 2 variations of the print, this one with the dots and large images is my favorite, and it's available on a light yellow or blue background. it's sold out in my shop right now, but i will be restocking it later this week.
it's also available in the wonderful quilted fabric, which is used to make a whole slew of products required for japanese kindergartens.
i used it to make a laptop sleeve, which has has the intended effect of making me more happy to schlep around my laptop and crave a new ipad less. well, a little less maybe!

goal: a clean and organized home

another new year's tradition in japan: osouji- a big and thorough housecleaning. literally the word means 'big cleaning'. and...this year i actually did it! it felt great to organize everything in my apartment, and clean up some messes that had been hiding behind closed doors.

anyone who knows me in real life knows that i am messy, and although i love having a clean and organized space, it's hard for me to keep it that way. i start pulling out craft projects...and the next thing i know...anyway, this year i have a nice baseline of organization to start with. and that called for a trip to ikea! where i bought the fabric above, which i plan to make into curtains.

and while we are on the subject of fabric, here's the tiny elephant cotton print, in even more colors! these are in the shop, along with more colors of elephant cotton canvas back in stock too.

more tiny elephants

i've very excited to tell you that i've found the new tiny elephant cotton print in new colors! like this yellow,
dark navy,
and green on white. they are all in the shop, which i will be upgrading with even more new items throughout this weekend (i can't seem to keep up with all the new things i want to share with you!).

holiday fabric find: hoshii saaaa saa

i found this wonderful fabric at a little fabric store near my house. it's from the nani iro 2008 collection, called hoshii saaaa saa, and long sold out at most larger fabric shops or the nani iro website.

there's a bit in the shop, and there are also a few meters with the same gold star pattern on a cream background with brown. let me know if you would like some!

i'm going to be saving some of this one for myself, although i am not sure yet what i want to use it for...double gauze would be perfect for kids pjs or a baby hat...i love the pattern for a tree skirt, or a soft sewn ornament...or maybe some holiday potholders with some sashiko stitching like this...or a tea cozy? what do you think? it's just so soft and cozy and festive all at once!

tiny elephant japanese cotton print

this adorable soft cotton fabric is a brand new addition to my shop, it's available in these 4 colors.
the elephants are seriously tiny, about 1 cm tall.
here's the new fabric shown with the larger cotton canvas elephant print in grey, which is also back in stock (in grey only, for now).

matroyshka crafting

i've posted about this fabric before, but finally found a few minutes to whip up a few little projects using it.
these were so quick to make! basically the same process as the wee stuffed animals i made last summer with ed emberley animal fabric (psst-which is in my shop now!) anyway, back to the dollies: put two right sides together, sew around the doll, leaving the bottom open. for this project, i used 2 dolls that are the same size for each. this fabric actually has 4 different sized dolls printed on it, in different colors. after sewing, trim seam allowance to 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm.
turn right side out and topstitch around the edge.
i did this project by hand, although of course you can use a sewing machine! if you do it by hand, i though that the top stitching made a little neater.
stuff, and sew the seam closed at the base of the doll.

i also tried a new project, a little wallet to hold my transit cards--i have 2 for the bus (one for kobe, one for kyoto) a train pass, and a prepaid card i use to pay for bicycle parking near the train station. and it's gotten to the point where it really helps me to keep this little collection out of my wallet where i can find them easily.
the wallet project was easy too, but i haven't written out directions yet...
i'm thinking about trying a similar design for all my point cards next...

european insprired prints

recently i feel like there are cute fabrics inspired by european/retro designs everywhere here in japan...and i love it!
this print, with the big matroyshkas, would make a great simple stuffed doll project...
and here's a few more in blues and greens. they've all been added to my shop!

discoveries

i discovered a number of things this week, including new fabric! who doesn't like robots?

there's a lot of cuteness in japan by way of scandinavia, a great trend i fully support.

i found this adorable print from the 'rabbits and racecars' series by heather ross for kokka,

and cotton canvas with baby goats. eeeek, so cute!! oh, and the fabric is finally all in my shop.

i discovered a complete post office inside a department store (kyoto takashimaya, 7th floor, along with other things you expect to find in japanese department stores, like a museum, a whole bunch of restaurants, etc.)

i also discovered that there is a bus from my street directly to one of the main shopping areas of kyoto, very close to my favorite shop (muji, of course!). this is a bit mysterious, because the bus doesn't show up on the tourist bus map i have, but i know it's real, since i've taken it several times (and i missed it this morning). i feel a bit like it's my own cat bus from the movie totoro–which is a bus that goes where you want to go, in my case either towards muji or towards my home, most often.

elephants are back!

look at these adorable baby shoes by mette from erleperle (where there's also a link to the pattern if you want to try to make them yourself).

the fabric she used is the wonderful and wildly popular elephant linen/cotton print that is available in a number of different colors. and i just restocked it in my etsy shop in almost all of them!

let me tell you, it was quite wonderful to visit the fabric shop again after being out of commission for a month with a broken foot. i'm still using crutches, but at least i can walk around using two shoes. i came dangerously close to buying more fabric than i could carry home, which i still have to photograph for an update later this week.

back to school?

this cute pencil case is by alliebeans, whose etsy shop is full of even more goodies, lots made with sweet japanese fabric.

today i finally am finishing my application for kobe university, which i will turn in tomorrow. whew. in honor of kobe u, whose unofficial mascot is the wild boar, and thinking about going back to school, this pencil case with its wee inoshishi was just the thing!

nani iro fabric and sewing book

nani iro is a line of fabric created by the designer naomi ito for the japanese fabric company kokka. for the last few years, she has designed a new textile collection every year. you can see all the nani iro collections here. this fabric is from the 2009 nani iro textile collection. i love it.

i also finally got my hands on the nani iro book, which is full of lovely sewing projects using the nani iro fabrics. i am feeling very inspired to start sewing again...

there are also free patterns available for download from the nani iro site! it's in japanese, but if you go to this link you can click on any of the photo icons for patterns that were released with those collections. if you get lost on the site, just go back to the 'sewing' tab at the top of the page.
enjoy!

oh, this book and fabric are both available over in my etsy shop.

elephants never forget

here's some elephant fabric that's over in the shop.
it's available in more colors, and with bright colored elephants on a white background, so just let me know if you are looking for something else.

on the topic of remembering, i'm going to try to post every day starting in june. definitely a habit i want to get back into.

japanese fabric sale: part 3 sneak peak

a few japanese obi fabrics, more details on monday!

going to japan fabric sale, part 2

i have several pieces of this lovely plum pattern on silky crepe. if you are interested in any of these fabrics, please email me directly.
3 pieces are 13" by 19", $10 each plus actual shipping; 2 smaller pieces that are 7" by 17", $5 each. all 5 pieces, $25.

orange crepe, 12 inches by 22 inches, $10 plus actual shipping cost.

these 2 images are of one long piece of crepe fabric, made up of 2 pieces with the fan design and 1 piece of the flower design with the grey background sewn between them, 48" x 14" total. $10 plus actual shipping cost.

a mixed pack of rayon chirimen crepe fabrics that i never opened! 7 pieces of fabric with different patterns, 23 cm by 30 cm each. $25 plus actual shipping cost.