What I made in last three days

While my boyfriend was away, I cleaned up our room and organized my fabric stocks.
Then, I enjoyed making these items. It was very happy time for me.

At first, I finished a custom order.
I made up these 18 small dolls for hanging.

I especially like this Den-den daiko(A drum with beads which make sounds).


Then, I made some plushes with beads.

I got these beads in one of my favorite shops and wanted to make something with them.
With the other color beads, I made these elephants too.


I wanted to make some more tiny items, so I made these house key cases.


I put a cat on each back.


I found some beautiful flower printed fabrics and laces, and I made this scarf.


And I made these lanyards.



When I found this linen fabric, I wanted to stitch on it with Sashiko cotton embroidery thread.

I enjoyed stitching freely.

And at last, I made these pouches for winter.

I used all of my favorite goods what I found in these days. Wool fabrics, laces, buttons and leather pieces.

I enjoyed putting them on this little pouch.

Yes, I made such a lot! I concentrated in making too much so I didn't take a picture of them and it took more than a day for taking pictures and editing them. I took more than 300 pictures...

Enjoy sewing!!!!!

My favorite Japanese online fabric shops

Hi.
Some readers asked me online fabric shops in Japan.
They are written in Japanese only, and don't ship internationally, so you might feel hard to see their sites.
But for whom want to know how they are, I made this list.
(I'm sorry I cannot get fabrics for you...)


The first one is "Haru". I call my boyfriend "Haru", so I like this shop very much (* v *).
They sell lots of fabrics, and especially, their flower print fabrics are beautiful.
This is a page of flower print cotton.
Haru cotton flower

The next shop is SWANY. They have two real shops, and one is only two stations away from my apartment. But I know their fabrics are good quality, so I get their items in relief from their online shop.

Here are their outlet price fabrics.
SWANY outlet

I like their linen fabrics.
I got the white linen fabric for this bag in their sale.


The third shop is CHECK&STRIPE. It's famous, isn't it?
Their fabrics are beautiful but it's expensive for me. So I get their fabrics sometimes when they have discount price fabrics.

I got fabrics from this shop, CRAFT PUKU too.

Their fabrics are very cheap, and usually I'm content of them.
Now, I'm thinking to get these dot fabrics.
CRAFT PUKU Dots

For cotton linen, or cotton double gauze, I love this shop, "Fabric Store".

But their fabrics are not so low cost, I wait their sale or their fabric bundles.

And for lace, I use this shop, "Merci".
Their Batten lace are very cheap, but most of them are usually out of stock. So it's hard to get what I want...
But for example, this lace of 10 yard long costs 3 dollars or less.
Merci lace


At the last, I got these fabrics from this shop, "FABRIC BIRD".
Because of their sale, I got them in only 4 dollars per meter.
FABRIC BIRD one coin sale

But most of them went out of stock soon after they began the sale.

Most of Japanese online shops have their mail magazines, and to know when they begin sale, we should read them.

Oh, today I went to my nearest fabric shop, "Okadaya".
Today they just began their sale, and I could get all items in 20% off price.
So I got these fabrics.

One is Liberty, and the other is cotton double gauze fabric. I'm happy with them (* v *)!!!!

Have a good weekend! I usually stay with my boyfriend but he is away for three days.
I make many items with these new fabrics!

How to make a leather bottom pincushion

Hello. Today I write here how I made this pincushion. You don't need special tool for leather, so please try it. Leather makes your items more gorgeous!
For this, I used the leather of 1mm(0.04inches) thick. If it's too thick, it would be more difficult.


At first, make two patterns, one for leather piece and the other for fabric.
The fabric one is easy. Draw a circle of 10cm(4 inches) diameter. It includes the allowances.
!!!!! I'm sorry. My first pattern was wrong of the placement of holes. I corrected the pattern. Thank you very much MartiVG !!!!!

The pattern for leather is this. You'd better to make it with thick paper.
Draw a 6cm(2.5 inches square), and then draw three lines in every 5mm(0.2 inches), from each edge(like the picture).

And make holes at the orange dot points (four points on each corner) with a stiletto or thick needle.

Then, cut leather using the pattern. At first, cut 6cm square. To cut, I used a rotary cutter. You can cut it with cutter knife, or scissors also.


Then, cut the four corners as the pattern with scissors.


Put the pattern on the leather piece, and mark as the points what you made.


Take the leather piece, and hole the marked point with stiletto or thick needle.


Sew the leather. I used Sashiko thread on the needle. The thread should be strong.


Make a knot at the end of the thread, and put the needle from the under side, then, go to the next hole like the picture.


Then, put the needle at the upper hole, and go to like the next hole as the yellow arrow.


And then, go back to the first hole and pull the thread well.


Repeat the same route again, pulling the thread well at each hole.


Sew it three times in total, and make a knot at the end on the wrong side.




Do the same at all four corners. You finished making the bottom!


Then, go to the pincushion. Make 10cm diameter circle with your favorite fabric. It's better to make it with cotton or linen. And sew the edge line roughly with running stitch.


Put stuffing in it and pull the thread. Check if it fits well on the leather bottom, and sew the closure well.


I put a leather piece on the top.


Put glue on the leather bottom to put the pincushion on it. I used the glue for leather craft. But I also tried to use the glue for fabrics and it went well.


Put the pincushion on it and leave for a while. That's all!!!!!


Enjoy making!


Thank you very much for reading(* v *)!!!!

Birthday gift for my father

I made a leather strap for my father, as a birthday gift.
It took very long time for hand stitching. It's very simple.


I usually feel difficult to make something for my father, because he doesn't put anything on him. All he has is his cell phone, keys and the wallet.
So I made it. In future, if I can make more detailed item with leather, I'd like to make a wallet for him.



This is a salad what I made today.
I made the ham with breast chickens also. It's very easy.

Put a spoon of sugar and salt on two or three pieces of chicken breasts. Put them in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for one-two days.
Then, wash them under running water and put in water for 30 minutes.
And wrap them well with plastic wrap making the shape of ham, and put them in boiled water. If you want to add some seasonings or herbs, put them on the wrap before roll the chicken.
After 5-10 minutes, turn off the stove and leave them in the pot till they cool down.
That's all!
I like them because they are healthy and very cheap.

Apple cake and a walk around Yokohama bay

I baked a big apple cake last Sunday.
I like cooking very much because I love eating.

It was too big for us, two persons, but we ate it in two days (* v *).

It was beautiful day, so we went for a walk.


Then, we took 100 yen (1 dollar) bus to Yamashita park, in front of Yokohama bay.

It was really beautiful day.


People were enjoying in their own way.

I wanted to go to this park because there was a Indian festival.

He is a bard and his song was very impressive.


I also wanted to eat some Indian foods. I love naan.

This dish was delicious. We ate one more curry (* v *)!!!!!

It was a beautiful day.


After we enjoyed a lot, we came back home by 100 yen bus again, and then I got back to my work.

I made these pincushions after the walk. Aren't they cute?

It's very easy to make them, so I took some pictures while I was making them. I'll post it, please wait for a while (* v *)!!!!


Oh, someone asked me where I got these leather pieces or leather tools. I got them in a Japanese online shop and a craft shop near my house.
In Japan, there are lots of online shops that sell craft tools/materials. It's very convenient and cheaper than real shops. For example, I got some fabrics in 4 dollars per meter today(All are beautiful Japanese cotton and Japanese cotton/linen blend fabrics).
I like to go to real shops also, but they are more expensive and don't have so many things.
But most(almost all) of Japanese shops have only Japanese pages and don't ship internationally. That's a shame.

How about in your country?