Tin Tin Costume

My children's school hosts a book character dress-up day once a year and it's that time again this year. My son knew what he wanted to be straight away so I thought I would have enough time to search op-shops...but couldn't find the right coloured top and pants, so I decided to make them for him. He is a big fan of Tin Tin and he showed me in his Tin Tin book to tell me what type of clothes Tin Tin wears. He already had a white shirt so I got the fabrics to make a turquoise blue top and a pair of brown trousers as shown in the photo above. In Prep year, he didn't want to become anything as he was too shy to do dress-ups, but now he is 9 years old, and so grown up, he is willing to dress up as his favourite book character. It is so nice to see this transition in him. By the way, my daughter didn't know what she wanted to become until the day before but we found a nice dress to make her look like Laura from "The Little House on the Prairie"...

Mounted fabric

I really love old fabrics. I love the stories behind them. I am not an artist so I cannot paint a picture but I mounted a beautiful old fabric on to a frame, and, voila, it has become an instant artwork. These frames are on my bedroom wall. I fell in love with these delicate Shibori(tie-dye) silk kimono fabrics as soon as I saw them. They were very old and some of them still had stitches from its original garment or some had small stains. I feel I own a piece of history...

New Addition to our Family

This is nothing to do with my creativity, but I just wanted to show off the latest addition to our family - Medaka (or Ricefish)! We have a small fish tank with gold fish which we adopted from our old Japanese friend who used to live in Melbourne but returned home 4 years ago. Initially 3 fish, but now reduced to 1 after the untimely death of 2 of them, the gold fish has been enjoying the freedom of the fish tank all to himself until last Thursday. We added 4 Medaka to our fish tank. The gold fish we affectionately named, Rock 'n' Roll, has been dominating the tank and pushing the Medaka to the side, but gradually Medaka seem to find their presence in this small water world. Another reason that I wanted to have Medaka is that there is a famous Japanese nursery rhyme called "Medaka no gakko (School of Ricefish)". Now everytime I look into the fish tank, and see these little fish swim, I think of this beautiful children's song and think of old time Japan. Kids are so happy to have new pets.

A Linen Shoulder Bag

I have just made this linen shoulder bag for my friend. We selected the fabrics together, and I think it turned out really beautiful. 2 tones of brown linen and dark red Kimono fabric at the front really blend well. Basically, it is a long bag that flops down naturally at the straps to close like a lid. Black linen lining is used and the magnet button is attached, too. It is such a simple concept, so I think the beauty of fabrics stand out. I like it very much!

A Red Bag

Here is one of my most recent handbags. I used woollen kimono fabric and black linen lining. It has a small pocket inside for your keys or mobile phone. The fabric was kindly donated by my mother-in-law who found it in a shop in Ocean Grove, Victoria. She remembered that I really like red fabrics, so she chose this one for me. It is gorgeous! So thank you!

This hand-turned wooden bead is made from Australian hardwood, which I polished with beeswax to give it a nice finish. With all these unique features, perhaps I should give the bag a name...

Latest creations

Other than handbags, I have a passion for making soap. My friends, A & N and I have been making handmade soap for a quite a while now. This is our latest batch of soap and one of my favouriteｓ, Charcoal Soap. Charcoal has great health benefits and it is said that charcoal helps draw dirt from pores of the skin. Our soap uses bamboo charcoal.

This is my first and the last (!) knitting project for this winter. It is made with beautiful soft mohair from New Zealand. I just love this smoky sapphire blue colour. My mother is a wonderful knitter so I wish I could say that I inherited her knitting skill... I am just so happy that I finished this before the end of winter.

New bags on the way

I have recently purchased beautiful Japanese kimono fabrics to make into handbags. The photo shows just a few. They are not silk but made out of wool and it means they are heavier materials. I often mix kimono fabrics with denim or linen, but they are just so gorgeous I will have to make a bag out of one piece of fabric. Often finding nice red fabrics is hard, so I am so happy that I found them! To me, it is almost they found me to be made into beautiful bags.