Viewing entries tagged
fabric
Day 5: A little nostalgic
SIGHT:
This photo wouldn't be as awesome if the women sleeping wasn't sitting on the 70's upholstery on the train...
TASTE:
Freshly made rice crackers in the historic neighborhood of Tokyo in 浅草 Asakusa.
FIND:
One of my favorite item...Japanese 手ぬぐい Tenugui. They're simple cotton hand towels with a versatile purpose and can be used for wrapping, cleaning, or simply for decorating.
Found this via The Rathaus. I'm in love with these series of colorful & fabulous neck embellishment, by Necklush. Made with cotton strands, these versatile scarves can be looped or braided how ever you want around your neck, head, or where ever you can think of.
Simply awesome.
Spotted this fun colorful upholstered chair in quilted wool blankets by Jan Schouten from All The Luck in the World based in the Netherlands. The colors, the patterns, the warmth of the material, the little added delights of the doilies and stitched on words...everything about it makes me want go to the Netherlands and steel that chair. 
I especially love how she treated the back with the fringe still intact. It seems as if the blanket is just draped over the chair. So cleaver!
Jan also has a vintage shop where there are lots of awesome stuff that..once again... makes me want to go to the Netherlands and raid all the flea markets to find stuff like that! I want that black Joe Colombo-esque lamp so bad!!
Check out Jan's flickr with tons of great photos of her space and work.
I recently found this great bag company, Dolly Bags based in Amsterdam. They use fabulous colorful one-of-a-kind, retro/vintage fabric for all their bags. They're limited edition and handmade with TLC. Once they're gone...they're gone! I was looking at their etsy shop and found myself favorite-ing so many of them...it's a tough decision. 
...And of course they have to make this adorable clutch to make my decision making process even more difficult!
Finally!! The moment that I've been waiting for....Seattle Ikea gets the fabric by the yard department! For the longest time, the Seattle Ikea never had the fabric department and I was always bummed about it. I would go to Vancouver Ikea just so to get some yardage of some sort to fulfill my itch. (even though that's usually just a detour after a dim sum meal, a walk in Stanley park, a visit to the art museum, and another Taiwanese meal in Richmond.) Nonetheless, it wasn't the most accessible.
So Last week, Dylan & I went to Ikea to do some shopping for our new home and I found this fantastic FIALENA line with this adorable bold black and red heart pattern for only $7.99/yd! I had to use it for something, so I decided to make an reversable apron for Chika (my biz partner)as her birthday gift!! So this is it! My first stab at making an apron....
It's reversable...
with pockets and button hoops on each side to hang hand towels or oven mits.
It took me a good 5 hours to figure out the pattern, cut it, iron it, sew it, and iron some more...I think I'll have to modify the design so it's not so tedious to make. It made me kind of depressed to see Ikea selling their clever aprons for mere $7.99. But I suppose that's not the point...the point is that I had fun making the apron! On top of that, I think Chika did appreciate it much more knowing I put all my "hearts" into make the apron for her...Well, she better!! I'll be checking her kitchen regularly to make sure she's not cheating on me with some other aprons!
Just spotted this site Bon Bon Kakku where you can design your own fabric! Similar to Threadless t-shirt's designing format where anyone can submit their designs, and the winning design will get produced and sold on their site. Doesn't that sound fun!! Finally, maybe this is a good way for me to tap into the world of textile design....
There's tons of fantastic designs and you can buy them at 25 Euro/meter. I only wish that the dollar isn't so crappy right now! Grrrr....like that dog.
So it has been a super exciting week for L&G, because not only did Jan from the Poppytalk Blog write a nice entry about our living room display, but Apartment Therapy (Chicago) also used it as an example for a display idea! I was floored when Jan passed that information to me! Thanks Jan!
There's been several comments and inquiries about the couch and here's a little info about it! The couch is a Knoll couch with a parallel bar base that Dylan scored on Craig's List (for a mere $125...they didn't know what they had!). It was originally a couch in the Seattle Public Library and was covered in hideous brown naugahide.....eew, I know. We had to get it reupholstered and chose a Knoll fabric called Alignment in blood orange. We were able to get for cheap on Ebay for only $9.00/yd. I love Ebay.....and Craig's list.
Those curious about the display grid: The grid is easy to construct with standard 2 x 2's from a local lumber store (they're actually 1.5" x 1.5"). We chose cedar because we liked the color and consistency. So here are the steps...pretty simple, but the main thing is that there aren't any visible fasteners.
If I have to pick one textile company I love, it would be be Nani Iro based in Osaka, Japan. Their 2008 line designed by Naomi Ito is absolutely amazing and to die for!! I mean just look at the space! This would be my version of heaven....sigh.
The line is a mix of soft hand painted watercolor-like patterns with bright bold color combinations creating a perfect result of playful and simple sophistication . They really have a knack for creating things that express a certain level of human quality, subtlety, imperfection, and beauty...But all so well-balanced of course. They're just TOO good!
Even their poka dot and line design show some slight imperfections, as if they're drawn individually making them all that much more interesting and beautiful.
Above all the greatness of their textile designs, they have examples of products, such as bags, baby bibs, baby slippers, apron, dresses, accessories, and so on. All are which created using Nani Iro fabric by everyday crafters around Japan. All the things comes with full instructions (in Japanese). This goes to show that Nani Iro fabric looks great no matter what you make with it!
I love their little company moto, which really sums up everything about what Nani Iro is about. "Kokorokara Kokorohe Tsunagatteiku Nunotachi" which means "from the heart, to the heart, tied together with cloth". Simple words, but it sure leave you feeling warm and fuzzy all over, doesn't it?
I received some great neat gifts from people for my birthday awhile ago and forgot to mention it. There's a previous post about other great gifts I've received as well. Sorry everyone! But just wanted to let y'all know that I really am thankful for all the great lovely gifts!! I LOVE THEM ALL! (^.^)
Here's where they live in my home, now....
My first Heath ceramic from Terri! I was totally psyched to get this as a gift, since I've always wanted something from Heath Ceramics. I especially love their series of bud vases, it's such a soft humble form that feels very warm and satisfying.
Quirky creature from Terri. I cracked up when I saw this funny thing! it's so cute! I don't know what's front or back...but that's what cute about it, it could go either way. the brown thing could be a nose or a tail!
Tea towels from Chika. I was also super psyched about these since I've been eying on these forever! These are designed and made by Skinny La Minx , all the way from South Africa. The designs are charming and beautiful. 
Close up of the beautiful printed towels. 100% cotton and made in South Africa.
Needle felted bowls handmade by Lauren. Aren't they sweet? I didn't know you can needle felt things like that! I wanna have a felting party now! who's in!?
Also made by Lauren are these sweet fabric covered tacks. I love the colors and the patterns. Those will definitely be useful for my studio, can't wait to use them!
THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!
Last weekend I went to Eugene OR to visit my best friend, Kellie. I had her take me to a few antique stores and I found a few of these fabulous fabric yarn balls. They were all made with various cotton printed fabric, which had so much charm. Seeing them in the store inspired me to hit some thrift stores the following day to pick up some random fabric....and then next thing we know, Kellie and I were sitting on the couch ripping fabric like we never done before. There was something so therapeutic about ripping fabric...I can just sit and listen to music and make bunch of these....and not have to think about anything else. It was great!
These are the ones I made. I really love how it all looks when there's a BUNCH of them....so colorful and shabby chic! Plus it was effortless and fun! I'm thinking to make A LOT of them ....enough to make a room full of those balls....like the ones that kids play in. Wouldn't that be fun?
