travel – Measure Twice Cut Once

Posted on 26/10/202026/10/2020 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Sewing Adventures – Rifle Paper Co, Travel Pouches

Planning for travel seems like a foolish notion right now but at the beginning of lock down I went through my stash and pulled out some fabrics that need to be sewn up. One of which was this gorgeous hand drawn map fabric from Rifle Paper Co.

I love a hand drawn map, whimsical with promises of exploring it’s right in the wheel house of things I enjoy. Add to that the fact The Englishman spends a great deal of his day looking at or drawing maps as part of his day job and well, a bit of map based fabric stood no chance around here.

Originally purchased from Miss Matatabi I’ve had it stashed away waiting to be something. As always I had elaborate plans and then decided that simple was best. Using a ruler and a rotary cutter I sliced it up so that I could fold each panel. add a zipper, sew along the bottom and the side and have a pouch.

Zips were from the stash hence why there are different colour zip tapes and I used some of the selvedge to neaten off the ends of some of the zippers to give a better finish to the top.

With travel off the cards for quite some time I’ll put these to use as project bags for my embroideries and dream about a time when we are free to explore once again.

Pattern: none just winged it

Fabric: printed panels by Rifle Paper Co originally from Miss Matatabi

Alterations: none

Posted on 30/04/201519/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — 1 Comment

Traditional Japanese Textiles

I’m in the midst of planning a trip to Japan for next year. I’m a little (ok maybe a lot) obsessive about planning for trips. I love reading up on places to go visit and making itineraries and finding fun things to do. This time we are aiming to go see a few more places that we’ve never been to before so I’m thoroughly enjoying my research.

One of the places I’ve found to be an excellent resource is YouTube. Lots of great documentaries and travel shows and an equal amount of truly tragic ones too. Along the way I’ve found some good pieces that cover Japanese Textiles so I thought I’d share them with you. Some of them are a bit old and a little high school video lesson about them, but that also makes them a little bit charming too.

https://youtu.be/oYG0u-SNQoE

https://youtu.be/FQuuFIEgvjo

https://youtu.be/D7oFkDJbGss

Posted on 14/07/201414/07/2014 by Susan Goodwin — 14 Comments

Dressing up in Japan

Yesterday I shared some photos on Instagram of some of my favourite holiday memories.

Dressing up in Japan.

It should be ultra cheesy and horribly touristy but it’s not. It’s fun and you get to choose your kimono from an entire roomful of gorgeous colours.

I’ve had photos done on 2 different trips to Japan, each done at the same place Maiko Henshin in Kyoto. I originally discovered it, as one of my best friends lived in Japan for many years and on a visit he suggested it as something fun to do.

You need to book in advance but unless you are there in peak holiday time you can normally book only a day or so in advance, other times it can be over a week before there is space. The staff have limited English so the first time my friends booked for me and the second time I asked my hotel to help me with the booking.

When you arrive you are shown into a locker room and given a chemise to change in to. Take off everything but your underwear and pop on the chemise. All of your belongings put into a secure locker and you get a key on a stretchy cord to wear around your wrist. If you want to take your camera with you, you may have to ask permission as normally they ask even your phones to be locked up. Photos are not allowed until after you are fully dressed and finished with the professional photographer.

From there you go up a few floors to get your makeup done. The makeup feels weird. It’s a thick white paint and just a little cold when being applied. The staff are all lovely and each time they have gone to great lengths to tell me to take out my contacts. After awhile I managed to convince them that my blue eyes were not contact lenses but just my eye colour.

After make up you go down a floor and led into the most amazing room absolutely bursting at the seams with kimonos of all colours and patterns. You are asked to choose a kimono and an obi. It is overwhelming and you want to steal them all (well I certainly did, want to that is, I didn’t actually steal them).

In the next room a small army of women dress you. You lift your arms when told and they swarm around you. The idea is create a square silhouette so extra padding is applied. You feel like a couch!

All too soon you are dressed and they are tying up your kimono with a decorative belt. Then it’s time for a wig. Each time I have been very blonde (the first time was actually blonde and pink) so I get a full wig. In some of the photos I can just spy little bits of blonde at the back. Seeing myself in dark hair is always a little bit of a shock.

The photography room is adjacent to the dressing room. Here is a tip my friends gave me on the first trip and it’s so good I just have to tell everyone. Don’t smile with your teeth in the photos. Closed lip smiles only. Why? The white make up is so astoundingly white, you look as if you have terrible yellowed teeth even if you have fabulous teeth. So practice a closed smile. Oh and go with a neutral nail polish or none at all. It really shows up in photos and can clash with the traditional look.

The photographer poses you with a variety of props. Fans, umbrellas, bags and a Temari (embroidered ball). They pose you, tell you where to look at the wall (there are numbers on the wall for you to follow) and all too soon you are done.

You can pay for an extra package which allows you time to walk around outside. I’ve done this both times. First time was fantastic as it was beautifully sunny and wonderful to pose outdoors amongst the traditional buildings. The second time it was raining and well lets just say that photos in the foyer are not very spectacular.

All up it takes a couple of hours and is a really wonderful experience. It’s not exactly cheap and be warned they don’t take credit cards only cash so come prepared. After you are done with the photos you get undressed (with help) and then back to the locker room. Using many many many wipes and a hefty dose of baby oil you can get the white make up off.

Oh and it’s not just for the ladies, the men can also get dressed up too, with The Englishman choosing to dress as a Ronin.

Posted on 18/06/201419/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — 7 Comments

Liebster Award

The lovely Mel from Made by Melanie has nominated me for a Liebster award. It’s a series of questions you pass via various bloggers so you get to know a bit more about them.

So without further ado here is my Q and A

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started this sewing blog only last year. I had been sitting on the outskirts of the sewing community and honestly it looked like fun so I jumped on in. Previously I have blogged for my other online business, contribute to women in business blogs and run some community event blogs.

2. How do you get yourself out of a sewing funk?

I used to buy more fabric. Mum always says when you are feeling uninspired there is nothing like a new piece of fabric to get you started again. Now that I’m in stash busting mode, I like to take a look at my patterns and see which ones can be made up the fabrics I already have.

3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Japan or England.

Japan because it’s awesome and I love traveling there whenever I get a chance and England because that’s where The Englishman is from and I love going to visit.

England is far prettier than it is given credit for. Filled with amazing places and food. Too often people dismiss it or only talk of London as a destination but I’m thoroughly enjoying seeing bits of the country each time we visit.

4. Sewing for other people: love it or loathe it?

An entire garment from start to finish love it. Mending or alterations HATE IT. Except I’m stupid, too nice and polite and either offer or when people ask I say yes. I’m resolving that after the batch I have now, am not doing any more alterations ever. Unless people are willing to pay ridiculously large sums of money and bribe me with chocolate and Liberty fabric.

5. What is your best feature?

I’m willing to help. Ask me how to do something and I’ll show you. Ask me to help you move house and I’m there. It sometimes backfires on me but mostly it’s ok. I love sharing knowledge and learning from other people so I like to share what knowledge I have.

6. What is your favourite fabric shop?

Nomura Tailor in Kyoto, no trip to Japan is complete until I have spent hours in there (and a small fortune).

7. What is your biggest sewing sin?

I never swap out my needles. I sew till that sucker breaks. It’s a terrible habit but I’ve also not had problems doing that either. It would have to be a very fancy and expensive piece of fabric that would prompt me to put in a new needle.

8. If you could make any sewing process disappear, what would it be?

Alterations. I want every pattern to perfectly fit me as soon as I cut it out. That would be bliss.

9. Which other crafts, if any, do you do?

Counted cross stitch, softie making (which is kind of part of normal sewing too I guess), drawing and photography. Does baking count? am a keen cook and baker always looking to improve my skills there. I also quite excel in the art of cat fur accumulation, though in truth that’s mostly the mini.

10. Cats or dogs?

Cats! Well cat singular as I don’t think Miss Mini would be very happy if there were cats plural.

Mini proving one can never be too comfortable or too fuzzy. I would love a sausage dog but mini would hate it and be like 8 times bigger than it too. It would be hard to explain that the dog nearly suffocated because the cat sat on it! Plus we have no space.

Thanks so much Mel for the nomination, I hope everyone learnt a bit more about me. Now it’s time to nominate some others, so they can share along too.

Maria from How good is that?

Steff from Where I create

Amanda from Bimble and Pimble

Michelle from ButtonTreeLane

Natalie from Natalie Jane Handmade

Posted on 22/01/201419/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — 6 Comments

Japanese Pattern Books

I discovered Japanese patterns on a trip to Japan many years ago, but the last few years have brought an explosion of interest in Japanese pattern books.

Like so much of Japanese design there is an understated elegance about the styles and some of them are downright quirky and I adore that!

My collection of books was not large until our last trip to Japan.

I’d been saving for months and did my research on all the best places to go. Everyone raved about the Kinokuniya’s in Shinjuku and after a long day exploring other parts of Tokyo we headed across by train.
The store itself was very easy to find but had not one single sign in English and as it was over 9 stories high. I knew I wouldn’t have time to go floor by floor to find them.
I asked at the front desk and the first assistant was unsure how to respond in English so spoke to another assistant who translated that they were upstairs and what floor they were on. Giving me a quizzical look he explained “but they are in Japanese?” I said that was OK I didn’t need the language to read the patterns. He seemed baffled but happy I knew where to go.
When I got to the right section WOW it was huge! And broken down into craft, knitting, sewing by machine, sewing by hand and oh so much more. This is going to take awhile I said to The Englishman who happily wandered off to explore the rest of the store.
So much good stuff! I chose a handful that I just couldn’t leave without and took photos of the covers of the ones that I liked, but as I had more stores to go to I didn’t want to blow all my budget! (Photos of the covers is a brilliant way to remember as the way a westerner will typically say a title will be different to the Japanese pronunciation whereas a photos is universal). Price wise a book in Japan is almost half what you will pay for it here in Australia. It will of course depend on the exchange rate of when you are there so it’s good to do some research before you go and use an app like xe.com to help with the exchange rate.

Later in the week we were in Kyoto where one of my all time favourite fabric stores is. I spent time looking at the fabrics downstairs and then at the patterns upstairs. This time I made a list as this was just the recon visit and I’d be back on our last day in Kyoto to get everything I needed (saves lugging it around as we were changing accommodation while we were there).

On the last day I went back and got everything I had decided on from my list. The Englishman had discovered some lovely indigo fabrics with amazing prints that made their way into the “buy” pile as well. Combined with the patterns, books and fabrics I was starting to worry about the weight of our bags flying back. Luckily there is a huge post office just outside the Kyoto train station (a handy thing I had remembered from a previous visit to Kyoto). A big box and quick discussion with the lovely post office staff and my entire 5kg box of sewing treats would be on my doorstep in Sydney in under a fortnight for the grand cost of $25! Bargain. Post out of Japan I have found to be very reliable and is far cheaper than excess baggage (books and fabric weigh alot), some stores even offer a DHL/Fed Ex or Post service so you purchase and they take care of all the shipping for you.

And yes I did go back to the bookstore in Tokyo to pick up some more pattern books before we headed home!