Sewing Obi

While I've sewn many a yukata or kimono now, I don't think I've ever made an obi that I've gone on to wear. This year, I was gifted a box of fabric from some family friends which included two silk wrap things. The moment I saw them, I knew they were destined to be obi. 

I washed them, unpicked them and lay them out. 

They had the most beautiful embroidery on them and I loved the colours, particularly the black and gold. Everything about these made me happy for sewing and the potential of taking something that wasn't being used and making it into something else. Hooray!

I bought some fancy interfacing stuff that I think is generally  used to make jackets and lapels sit correctly, because I really wanted the silk to hold up as an obi without crinkling. Then it was a matter of cutting them into rectangles and sewing it all together. 

The black one really does look stunning on, but it's so so difficult to get a photo of. I'm wearing it here with the kimono I made last year. 

Can not say how much I love these. Guess I'll just have to wear my kimono more often so everyone can know. 

Happy Bento

Nothing more satisfying in life than a beautiful lunch greeting you on a hard day. 

Obviously these aren't every day occurrences, but when they pop up, it is indeed wonderful. 

Palate Cleanser

This was some sewing I did at the start of the year as a palate cleanser after the cherry blossom dress of doom. My sister's husband owns a heath and wellness practice and had some Japanese style door hangings over some of the doorways. The ones they had were looking a bit worse for wear, so she asked if I could make some new ones. 

Easy. 

Fiona ordered some cool Japanese themed fabric from Spoonflower which was very nice to sew with. Given that everything was rectangles and straight lines, all the sewing went beautifully. The only tricky thing was remembering to turn the cranes so they would be the right way up on both sides. 

Incredibly hard to photograph, but they really do look lovely in the practice. This is what having sewing skills is for!