Handmade wool dress

I sewed my wool dress today. It took about 7 hours because I sewed it all by my hands (as usual).

The most difficult thing for me is to make button holes.
It's difficult to make them beautiful.


Because I haven't got new clothes these days, my mother worried about me. So she gave me some money to get new clothes.
But it's not because I don't have money. I like to sew my clothes. And also, it's difficult to find something good which fits my body(a little oversized). These days, many shops have only one size clothes and I cannot wear them...

So I got this wool and gingham check cotton with her money. I made this dress to wear when I go back to my parents house, four days after.
It's big to wear something warm in it.
I hope she likes it!

It's difficult to take pictures!

I took some pictures of my new works.
The idea of these trees came up in my head while I was sleeping yesterday. I desighned it soon after I woke up.

The most difficult thing was to take a good picture.
Because my room has little light. I bought a small light for taking picture but the light bulb color was yellow... I should get another one of white color.


So, I should take pictures without the small light. And with little room light, I should have opened the diaphragm. I wanted to take pictures with less opend diaphragm to make pictures sharp.


***
By the way,,,
Why my room is so dark? It's because many tall buildings are surrounding this building. I'm living in a second largest population city in Japan, and I can walk to a largest station by walk. And I cannot spend much money for living...
So this room is very tiny and dark...

I want to live near the sea!!!!!

Origami Lotus Flower pin

I made lotus flowers with thin cotton fabrics.
I made them in the same way as Origami way.
How to make origami lotus

It was difficult to fold cotton, so I sewed the center and four corners a little.




I came up with this idea while I was sleeping last night. I'm always thinking what I'll sew next.

Baby bib

One of my best friend gives birth this Christmas. I'm really happy to hear that because the birthday is same as my mother's.
Last week, I made a baby bib for her new born baby. I wanted to make something original and cute, and I designed it as a bear's face.

I used double gauze cotton for the backside and put cotton fabric in the inside for much drool.

After that, I made another two bibs for my shop.

Japanese time and miniature editing

I've just seen a news. A captain of ANA(Japanese airline) drunk too much than the rule last night, so the company didn't allow him to fly today.
The airline was late because they should look for another pilot. It was the news.
But the delay was only 5 minutes!!!!!
Is it news??? I don't think so...

I often notice that Japanese people are too nervous about time.
If the train comes late by only two minutes, they announce the delay and apologize for passengers.
It's Japan.
I traveled a lot in Italy. I often met long time delay train. I had to wait for 6 hours max. If the train came 5 minutes late, I thought it's on time.

I want to think time like Italian people.

The pictures are what I took in Italy. I edited them to look like miniatures.
The top picture is a sea of Sorrento.

And this is a town of Perugia. There are lots of old buildings.

And this is from a tower in Asti. After I went downstairs, I drank delicious spmante!

I like this editing method very much.

Origami Ororon bird

Today I found this instruction and made 4 Ororon birds.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tomodachi/museum/page/ororon6.html

They were a little difficult but very cute! I made them from a piece of Origami paper because I wanted to make them very small.



The instruction is from Japanese Origami artist, Takai Hiroaki.
His Origami are always very cute and very original (but sometimes difficult..).
I like his works very much because they look as if they are alive.
This bird is also what I made with his instruction. It was much easier than Ororon!


If you try to make this Ororon, and have any questions, please ask me!

How to make a paper bag

Today, I made some paper bags for a customer.
So I'd like to write how to make a paper bag. I used some pages of magazines.
(1)Cut two pages from a magazine.


(2)Paste the edges of two pages together.



(3)Fold each side of the bag in same width. In this case, I folded in 1 inch.


(4)Tuck down each side.


(5)Fold the bottom of the bag. In this case, I folded in about 2 inches.


(6)Open the bottom.



(7)And fold it like the pictures.


Then, paste it.


(8)You did it! I love this one very much because I love tomatoes!!!!


I made five bags today.

Thank you for reading my poor English instruction.
I hope you like it.

Frankenstein zipper pouch

My boyfriend gave me this new idea of zipper pouch.
Frankenstein!

I had only red zipper pouch, so it seems blood...
And it's very difficult for me to make a face. Umm...


Also, I made Japanese lunch box. They are coasters.
Onigiri(rice balls), grilled salmon and fried egg.

It's very easy to make this kind of boxes with paper. Next time, I'll try to explain how to make a box from a piece of paper.

A cat eating a fish pouch

I thought this design while I was studying. Suddenly I came up with the idea, and soon I went to the nearest sewing shop to get some zippers.

But I had to take 2 exam this weekend, I had little time to sew it. So, I could make only one last week.
I listed it up soon, and happily a customer got it soon. Thank you!!!!



After the exam, I made two new ones.
Now, I'm thinking other ideas of this kind of pouch. I want to make some frogs, but I cannot immagine how I do with the end of the zipper...

It's fun to think new ideas!

P.S.
The exam is for certification of bookkeeping. I like reading books and studying something, and I didn't know much about money. So I studied bookkeeping at first.

Walking in the rain

I like walking in the rain, without umbrella.
When I went out yesterday, it sprincled a little, but I didn't bring my umbrella.
I walked along the river. There were a lot of cherry trees. They saved me from the rain. Sometimes, they dropped a big rain drop on me. I feel as if I'm playing with the rain and trees.



Now, it's the season of fallen leaves in Japan. The leaves of cherry trees turned red and it's very beautiful on the river. Contrary to spring, there are few people under the trees. So I walked under trees singing my favorite songs.

My new shirt

I sewed a new shirt for myself.
I bought the cotton with only 2 dollars. It is very thin, so I cannot wear it on till next spring..
I took this pattern from a book, titled "sewing talk".
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8424017


It fits me very well, so I ordered some fabrics at an online shop to make other shirts.
As always, I sewed it all by my hands, but it took only 3 hours or so.

Japanese girl's sailor suit

When I was in California, I met an Italian girl who liked Japanese manga very much. She likes Japanese girl's sailor suits especially and asked me to show her my old ones(But I've already thrown them out...).

I remembered it today, and I made a sailor suit shape pouch. This suit is summer version.
It closes with a snap on the back of sailor collar.
It was difficult to put the pleated skirt on the pouch and I couldn't make it in a good way... I'll try again!

Today's my shopping in a super market

These are what I bought today in a big super market near my house.
I want to show you how foods are packed in Japan, and how much they are.
These days, the prices have risen.

This is a packed bacon. It costs 1.5 dollars per 100g.

This is a Japanese persimmon. One persimmon costs 1 dollar.

This is a part of branch of bananas, from Philippines. It costs 1.5 dollars.

This is a pack of potatoes. It costs 1 dollar.

This is a pack of bean sprout. It costs 50 cents.

This is a pack of petit tomatoes. It costs 2 dollars. Tomatoes are summer vegetables so I cannot buy them often now... (I love them a lot!)

This is a small pack of ground pork. It costs 1.3 dollars per 100g.

This is a pack of California raisins. In a pack, there are 240g raisins and it costs 3 dollars.

That's all. Bananas and raisins are imported and others are Japanese. There are lots of imported foods, but I buy Japanese as much as possible.
How about are the price and package compare to your supermarket?