Tanabata

Tanabata at Meiji Shrine.  Wishes are written on the papers.

In order to survive the rainy season in Japan, I am convinced that one must embrace it.  The rainy season could have a lot of rather unpleasant associations (like mold, which I did not want to mention, but there, I just said it), but I prefer to think about the hydrangeas and then Tanabata.  The festival involves an ancient story, paper cutting, and decorations.  Oh, and it also means that the rainy season might be over soon.

Will definitely need to wish upon a star for that.

even though we’ve never met…

I finally made my first bonnet from Amy’s lovely pattern. Summer’s here, so this bonnet is made with lightweight, all-cotton fabrics, and lace trim, no brim. My daughter had requested weeks ago that I make her a “Holly Hobbie bonnet”. We have a rather cute Holly Hobbie DVD, in which Holly finds a trunk full of her great-grandmother’s clothes and sings about wishing she could have met her. Here is the song, which I admit got me teary more than once while listening, thinking about what it would be like for a little girl to meet a grandmother, at the same age as she. Or maybe it is just me, remembering my Holly Hobbie dolls from childhood?

…I’m sure I’m just like you.

and my heart started to beat a little faster

tamagoyaki

give ‘em what they want

And in this case, that would be unicorns.

Pattern is my old stand-by, Simplicity 4206.  I recommend this pattern for shorts, pants, a tiered skirt and tops to anyone beginning to sew.  For further convincing, take a look at the Simplicity 4206 Flickr group. I followed suggestions to lengthen the top, about four inches.

Fabric is the Heather Ross “Far Far Away” cotton double-gauze that everyone is going nuts over.  It seems to be everywhere on the blogs these days, but in real life?  Trust me, no one has seen unicorns in a wildflower field before.  The girls love it–”Oh!  It’s a horse!  No….it’s a…a…deer!  No, it’s a…unicorn!”  Another fun thing about this fabric is that it is native to Japan, under the Kokka brand.  So the price is about $12 per meter, much less than in the U.S.  Next to the higher priced nani iro double gauze at Yuzawaya, the Heather Ross won, hands down.  (At least if you have little girls in the house).

She had to get in the photo, and I had to show you part of her pajamas I made from some very silky-feeling cotton shirting fabric.  The verdict on these?  “Oh!  I love pajama sets!!”  Four-year-olds are extremely opinionated, yet charmingly easy to please.

rabbits &…

…race-cars!  When Emily needed a little bag for her change of clothes at gymnastics class, I turned to the drawstring style that came with my smock pattern.  It can easily be adapted to many sizes, too.  I bought two meters of this lovely home-dec weight Heather Ross “rabbits & race-cars” fabric at the Yokohama quilt show last year.  There were some vendors who normally only do wholesale orders, but were selling two meter cuts of all kinds of fabric for just $10.  Needless to say, I grabbed the two meter Heather Ross bundle and ran to the cash register!

And how could I let the beautiful selvedge go to waste?  The tab for the cord looks just right on this bag used for the appropriately named “Rabbit Club” gymnastics class.  (We’ll work on race-car driving another year–maybe go-karts first?)

Double trouble

My twin niece and nephew will turn three later this summer.  I decided to get the party started early with these:

These aprons have to be the most satisfying thing I have sewn in a long time.  You can find the free tutorial online here.  It is definitely a pattern I could recommend without hesitation to someone who is just learning how to sew.  Nice details, but easy to make, like the elastic neck strap and Velcro closure at the waist. They make the “all by myself factor” quite high.

I added pockets, because pockets on little aprons are non-negotiable with me.  Now run off and make one of these for a favorite pre-schooler in your life.  I think my turtle and flower lovers will approve.

Encore

One of my favorite sewing projects for my daughters is this dress, made from nani IRO double gauze.  When I saw Hillary’s adorable dress made from the same fabric, I remembered how much I loved my pattern for that first dress.

So I took some cotton lawn (silky!  smooth!  cool!)  Alexander Henry fabric purchased from Sew Mama Sew last year, and made another one. There are two alternate styles for the back of this dress, so I think I will try one of them next time. For now, this style suits my girl just fine.

(back of the dress)

The pattern is vintage McCall’s, and although it is technically a dress, it is more a shirt length on my four-year-old.  Perfect, considering that she cannot wear skirts or dresses to school.  Paired with pants or shorts, this tunic/blouse is just girly enough, without breaking the rules.

While I am thinking of that word “encore”, I must take this chance to say how much I love hand made hand-me-downs.  This dress has a new owner:

Time to go unfold a vintage quilt a friend gave me today.  She rescued it from a church charity sale, just before it was about to be thrown out!  Here’s to good friends and good quilts–details next time!

a tenugui season

If there is a season for tenugui, it must be summer.  Or well into spring, when the mornings are damp and warm. One thing I love about these 35 cm x 90 cm cloths is that new, seasonal designs are released every month. So there definitely is a tenugui to match every season.  (These are new designs for May, from my favorite shop, Kamawanu).

I made this lunch mat to go with my daughter’s bento this month.  It might be fun to make new mats every month–she sure loves them.  The lady bug design is tenugui.  There are a couple of fabric stores that sell small pieces (hagire) of tenugui, which I always jump on to use in patchwork.

This book came from the library.  That is where most of my sewing and textile books come from these days.  My library rocks.

Giraffe, dinosaurs…

Spots and dots…

Beans, beans, rice…

Part of a page for directions to make drawstring  “anything bags”, or what we would usually call “kinchaku”.  It is hard not to be utterly charmed by these cloths, don’t you think?

Every day

I love the idea of Every Day in May. It can be interpreted in many ways, but to me it is about doing something creative, every day.  A little or a lot.  The most important thing is to make that routine, and to take that time, whether it is 5 minutes or 50.  Will you join?

May 1st is almost over in this part of the world.  Today, I made a few simple quilt blocks.  Tomorrow, maybe more?