Shop Vacation and New Embroidery Project

 So the last piece of the year has been shipped off and recieved by my lovely customer, Shadowyoai, on Etsy.  (used with permission)

The final product ended up being a little higher up on the head than I had originally intended, but it was still a really good product in the end.  And I learned a few things, too.  Always good. 

She took the customer photos, and sent them to me.  Frankly, she looks FANTASTIC in her kitsuke costume.  LOVING this look!! But as mentioned, this is the last one of the year, and probably the last one for a while.  

Shop Notes:  

So I am still closing up the shop here in a few days.  I am still debating on how I will bring it back, but I have some time still I think to decide on that.  I still need to take more photos, and fixing pieces, but kanzashi just hasn't been in my heart as much lately.  That and being sick is making me really not want to work in general.

My new kimono pieces came in, and the sugata is perfect.  The kimono on the other hand is about 6 or 7 inches too short.  I was considering giving it to my daughter or something as she gets older, but in the meantime I have a lovely kimono I cannot wear, and have kind of lost interest in my own kitsuke collection in general.  Collecting is fun, but I have no one to wear it with, and my husband DETESTS tying my obi.  That and I have had little interest in spending more money to push the kanzashi I am not so interested in making anymore.  I have planned a table sale for the last 3 years and have done nothing.  And not that TZArtizan is no more, I have no steady encouragement to continue my art.  At least with kanzashi. 

I am moving back into needlework.  I have tentatively lined up another Japanese Embroidery Lesson in March, and I have started a new embroidery project in the meantime with thread painting using long and short stitch embroidery.  

So what I have posted here, is a machine embroidery design I have from a book I purchased some time back.  It is really designed to be a 4x5 inch piece, but I have blown it up into a 7x11 inch design.  I used this new print and stick material I found for embroidery, and was surprised that it is working so well.  There is adhesive under a light stabalizer that you can run through an inkjet printer and do an instant design transfer.  

The fabric is a natrual irish linen, and its mounted to a scroll frame (that was not as easy as I had originaly thought it would be).  After I got it mounted and straight, I traced on some guidelines for the background with a non-photo blue pencil, which was difficult since it was hard to tell which parts were supposed to be background and which parts were flower stems.  I am using a horizontal direction, and basted down the guidelines so not only would the pattern lay flat (it moved some after mounting on the frame, it was not easy to get that tension correct), but that the lines would not rub off when stitching. 

I have started just a bit of the painting down the left side, as I am going to work the background from left to right.  I have purple and yellow for the irises, of course, and 3 shades of green for the leaves, a rust brown color for the fan frame, and different blues for the circles on the fan and the cord on the bottom.  

In truth I expect this project to never finish, or at least take me 5-6 years.  If my health doesn't fail me first.   

Getting Back to Work (Attempt Round 2)

This is yet another painfully overdue update.  But I have some good stuff to report.

bouquet

So this is the custom order I have been slowly working on.  Very slowly, but thankfully she has been incredibly understanding of my medical predicament (which I will go into later). 

There are three big kikus, several smaller filler pieces and a new dragonfly (which I have never attempted before).  All in all, the bouquet has come out amazing (she loves it), and the rest is falling into place.  I have this half mounted to the headband, and will continue the wrapping to the other side of the band (it's only about halfway right now, just to get the bouquet in place).
I also included a close up of the thread wrapping job, the stems are the usual 40w machine embroidery thread, with the headband wrapping being the nylon crochet thread I use for heavy jobs, and shidare.

wrap job

only halfway wrapped

 So the next part is the bira bira and the shidare frame, which will come down and be wrapped to the bottom half of the piece.  It's probably going to stick out a little bit so it doesn't get tangled in hair fibers and brushing against the ear. But I have to say since this is my first time doing a headband, it's coming out really well. 



Some of you may have noticed that the TZArtisan project hasn't been mentioned in some time.  It has been stalled for a while, and has officially been disbanded.  All the sites have been taken down and my unsold donations have been returned to me.  I feel really bad for my team leader, Ariel, who has simply over committed herself, and can no longer hold a mantle of leader, and no one else has the ability to take her place. I am very sorry to see it go, but in the end, I was not surprised. 


On another note, I have found a group on Facebook that I have fallen completely in love with.  Immortal Geisha has taken their forum community off traditional forums and onto Facebook Groups!!! They are the sweetest, most informative, dedicated group I have ever met.  I love it!!! And if you love kitsuke as much as we do, by all means, JOIN!!!!

Speaking of kitsuke, I have another kimono I have added to my collection!

I found this red lovely on an Etsy shop, and fell IN LOVE.  I have always wanted a red kimono, and though I thought it would be more bright red than this darker rust red, that actually makes me love it more (darker reds are more my coloring).  I have a gold obi to pair it with, or the new green with gold and orange to red stitching, an "orange as orange can be" obiage, and a red silk round obijime.  I also bought a yellow one, but it's really too dirty to use.

I am now on the hunt for a proper nagajuban, but with a 25 inch sodetake, or sleeve length, it's not going to be easy.  I might have to suck it up an alter one. 

The rest of this is personal business.

So I have been sick, and among my various diseases, we have discovered along the way that I am in fact a Type 1 diabetic, I have Autism, and my reproductive system is screwed.   I seem to be always sick with something at some time.  I recently had a reaction to one of my mood stabilizers, forcing me to stop taking it.  Anyone with a mental health history knows what a difficult time this can be.  When I had last written a blog post, I was starting to do better.  I didn't thing the fight would be as long as it has been.  I had been ramping up on a new medication and it really seemed to be working, until I got to the final dosage, at least the actual regular dosage.  Then I broke out in hives all over and realized I was allergic.  2 months of telling myself it would get better, lying to myself. 
Then we tried two more medications, both were a bust.  I am currently on something I have taken before, and it's helping, but I still have side effects, and I don't know how long I have until I have to change on this one, too.

Mental illness is a never ending battle. I will never be cured, and I will fight my extreme emotional reactions, like my blood sugar, the rest of my life.   There is no cure, and there is barely help.  We have made more progress with Diabetes in the last decade than with mental health or women's health.  And while I am very glad to be off of shots and on an insulin pump, I still feel like I am out of my mind, and I never know if it is hormones or Autism. 

I wont go into great detail what I am like when I am sick. Just trust me, I am no fun to be around.

So while I have been sick I have been unable to work.  Which means I am behind on everything. I haven't done my photos, or Japanese Embroidery, or any embroidery.  All I have done is work this custom order and do house chores when I can.

I am going to keep working for now, that I am able.  I plan on putting on the bira bira frame today on that headband order, and after that I will be working on updating inventory for the store.  I might even shut it down and move it to my own hosted site.  Maybe next year.

Getting Back to Work!

It's four days into August, and I am finally getting unpacked and the store back up. I spent quite a bit of time working to update old listings tonight, with new shipping updates and corrected descriptions.  I hope to have the shop reopen on Monday, August 7.

I have also been able to take some time to cut some of the new fabric I had purchased before I moved.  I found some fantastic multicolor chirimen, named bell flower.  It has lovely shades of purple, indigo, blue, and grey.  The white is always a good offset to use less of the super expensive print fabric and still give a positive dramatic effect.  I still have plans for a bira bira but I can not seem to locate my metal shears for cutting the aluminum dangles.

Also in the works, I have plans for more ornaments.  The holiday ornament section is back, but very bare. I am hoping to sell quite a few and use the money as donation to the Demiti Conde GoFundMe.  He is in remission but his lowered immune system keeps landing him back in the hospital.

However I have my own plans.  I am still going to sell kanzashi for myself, and use those funds to get a new kimono from Ohio Kimono. I am planning a photo shoot with real models, and I need a few more pieces for variety: a couple of obiage and an obi to match my autumn themed komon.  I also want a new juban and a couple more korin clips, and obi clips, and white collars.  Lots of little things.  All so I can have multiple usable sets of kimono for this photo shoot.

My Japanese silk embroidery has taken a back seat unfortunately.  My fabric began to pucker under a place I had recently stitched, which means my frame is set incorrectly. I need to tighten the fabric again, but have been hesitant to do so without instruction.

Ohio Kimono USA!

Found on Ohiokimono.com

OHIO KIMONO USA!

So you guys know I love kitsuke, the art of dressing in kimono.  There aren't a ton of kimono shops in the United States, and those that I have found are expensive.  Usually I get my products from Japan off Ebay, but even those are generally in poor condition.

Then I found this shop through my instagram account, Ohio Kimono  and they have some great kimono pieces.   They apparently travel to Kyoto every year or so to purchase more pieces for the shop, so each piece is hand picked.

Not only that, but they are organized and labeled correctly. Strange as it may sound that is a pretty big tell between a professional supplier and someone selling knockoff Chinese polyester bathrobes.

I already have my eye on a green obiage that would be a close match for my deep orange and black furisode.  And the fantastic fukuro obi with waves that I have nothing to wear with, but I would love to own all the same. Not to mention the green kimono in the picture.  They even carry a variety of accessories, like fans, kanzashi, and tea ceremony pieces.  Plus the best part, fabric scraps!




Ok now that I am done with my review, time for the notes.

First, my house move has been delayed.  Not much I can do about it, and it is nothing I did.  Just paperwork taking too long.  Which means the shop will be closed for most of August as well.  Really, it breaks my heart, because I miss my kanzashi supplies so much.  I find that other things are fun distractions, but at my heart I am a kanzashi artisan.  I've been closed for almost a month now, and I am really having chirimen withdrawals, lol.

I am finally over my cold, and plan to go back to stitching my silk embroidery piece soon.  I do like it, but I find I don't particularly love it yet.  It requires a lot of focus, especially since I am still learning the movement.  But I find that since I cant lay in bed and be comfortable (you guys know I was sick for so long that I am accustomed to working while reclined), I just don't enjoy it as much.

I have gone back to crewel again, trying to finish the pillowcase set I started earlier in the year.  I like it more, because it is faster and I can make as many mistakes as I want.  I dont feel paranoid about how it is going to look, since I am actually going to use it.

I have also had a lot of silk dying on my mind, but only in the kanzashi aspect of things.  My friend, Elizabeth Comer of Imlothmelui on Etsy  has essentially switched from making kanzashi to hand made watercolor paints.  They look fantastic!   I really like the pearlescent ones.   She used to be the queen of dyed fabric kanzashi, and I feel that learning from her is the next big thing to my path as a kanzashi artisan.

Working Right Along

So as you can see I have finished the first layer of the pines, the bottom one being twisted silk and the upper one being flat silk.  The twisted one came out pretty well, the flat not so much, but that doesn't surprise me.  It's my first piece.

Another self critique, the ume blossom has too large a gap between the petals.

Right now I am going to work on the sakura blossoms, which are actually slightly more difficult because of the nature of the thread and the way the stitches lay.

Other than that I am working on picking up my Japanese again. It would be exceedingly helpful to at least read certain Kanji, but I am starting over with hirigana.  I pulled out my copy of hirigana warriors off the Steam game engine and I am about halfway through.  I also own their newest Katakana warriors, so I have lots to work on before I get to Kanji.

New Stuff!!!

There is lots of new things going on at the Emporium!!!

I just finished updating the store with new inventory and several updated listings.  I haven’t started on DeviantART yet, but I have all the pictures prepared and text has been developed.  It’s really a matter of upload and cut/paste and tags. 

I also decided to get rid of the ornaments.  Holiday ornaments will remain but all the satin brocade ones are now in the CLEARANCE bin.  Every single one is 50% off, and I hope they move quickly.  Anything that remains will be sent to the TZArtisan store in May.

I also will be adding a few kanzashi pieces to the clearance as well.  Honestly I just have too much stuff right now and none of it is going anywhere. 

I managed to jump into another craft, little pendants and charms made from my left over yuzen paper I have from bookmarks and the upcoming paper fan project.  (I’m still trying to find the right sized wood from which to make it properly) But it uses many of the same materials and adhesives as the kumihimo findings so it seems to be a good fit.    

I have another big announcement, I have been signed up for another surgery on February 27, 2017.  Hopefully this will really help me get back in control of my life, but I will be out at least a week to recover.  It’s a small price to pay for my sanity and physical health.

Feeling Behind

Botan! Peony!

I have been busy lately, and feeling rather behind on a lot of my goals already. I have a list of things I have to do still, and I just started a botan piece recently.  I was going to do another multistyle, but I lost that feeling after finishing the first botan.  Red and white will be striking, and the green rounded leaves I started last night.  It's a 3 blossom maiko piecce and I was thinking about adding a bira bira but I'm not sure.


 I also managed to put the final touches on this yellow and white multi-style hana with 5 fall shidare.  It has bright green thread wrapping and a 4 inch gold hair fork. 

Multi-Style in Yellow/White

I also have the pine needle to finish, the phoenix, my 3 original hydrangea peices to fix, and a multitude of half finished hair sticks and small pieces to finish.  Then I have a photography shoot to set up, for bookmarks, finished pieces and a few other odds and ends.

Still working on kumihimo.  Looking for the right attachments for closures.

I ordered several things over the weekend for fun, like a obi-clip and a new han eri for my juban.  I also picked up some paper from The Rare Orchid during their half off flash sale!  I found the wood I need to make these fans out of washi paper, and it is kinda expensive. But I couldn't pass up 50% off!  And if I don't use it for fans I will use it for bookmarks. It's beautiful yuzen paper.

I managed to put on a kimono for the first time in months to do a demonstration for my daughter's girl scout troop.  I picked my regular komon, which is cream with a kiku/rivers/momiji pattern.  I pulled out a fukuro obi, which is probably too formal for my kimono, but my nagoya obi I had never tied before.  But the colors at least somewhat matched.  I used a cream obiage, because my only other one is bright golden yellow and would have clashed.  It was excellent practice to put it on, and only took about half an hour by myself, which means I am getting better.

I also discovered that I need a new pair of zori, since my casual ones do not fit.  At all.  And my gold-brocade ones have fallen apart, even if they are the correct size.  I have a very formal set for my furisode kimono but I am waiting to use those for a photo shoot. 

Kumihimo Coming Soon!

I have been busy, I swear.

The main focus of my time has been kumihimo.  Now that I have finished my bookmark lots I have moved on to kumihimo weaving.  I have been making long cords in various patterns like the one on the right.  Now that I have 5-6 of these I can move on to making them into bracelets. 

I started another kanzashi bouquet I have probably talked about before.  I managed the shidare petals and just had to quit.  I am kanzashi-ed out.  All that is left of this bouquet is framework and threadwrapping, but I just can't bring myself to go back to it yet.



I also have a ton of individual blossoms to go on hair sticks, along with the bobby pins I made.  I haven't finished those yet either, but it will be soon.  I have a new idea of how I want to attach them, so we shall see if it works.  I am worried about durability of the rayon thread and might have to move back to the nylon crochet thread to keep it on the stick. 


Though my personal life has become another whirlwind affair, I am trying to keep up with store stuff.  I started an instagram account under my birth name, which you can also find on the facebook feed. (Virginia DePauw)  But I am having a hard time keeping up with various websites that require daily activity. Pintrest has been a huge help, and I have been spending some time on that.  It's been a huge help for kumihimo patterns and kanzashi examples.  You can find me on there under LilyAshes Emporium.

Photos Coming Soon I swear

I finished a few pieces, like the momiji piece, and they have been coming out exceptionally well.  I started using a traditional mounting technique for these new pieces, and it is working out better than my own method (of course). 

I just finished this little blue and pink piece, the first in a new batch of kanzashi. 

I got my chirimen order in, and that means time to prep and cut fabric. I also have a back log of photos to take and pieces to list, and I swear I am going to get to that soon.  I haven't had much space in the house to set up a photo table, since we have been rearranging furniture and deep cleaning clutter lately. But we have one more piece to move in and re-arrange. A new desk for me!!!!

 But in the mean time I have that phoenix to finish, and I want to make several batches of stock pieces like bobby pins and hair sticks and little forks like this one. 

But the good news is I managed to finish most of my Christmas stuff in a single day.  All the extended family I tend to have anxiety over have been marked off my extensive list. Which means I have more time for kanzashi! And moving furniture. 

I am also going into the OBGYN today to have a discussion on one of my numerous complications.  This time it is the endometriosis.  But after today I should have a real game plan on my future health instead of just biding my time on this Lupron to see what happens. 

I am also hoping to reschedule that photo shoot for my furisode kimono for sometime in February.  It will be my last month on Lupron.  Which means my last month being pain free for some time. So I will have updates on that pine needle kanzashi I have to get back to before then. 

That's all for now I think.

New Piece (Again!)

I am still waiting for my new chirimen order to come in, which should be either this Tuesday or Wednesday.  When it gets here, I can finally finish up that phoenix kanzashi that is enormous.   But in the mean time I have been playing with new fabrics I got recently! My favorite has been this rusty, deep red with stripes of golden yellow through it.  It has made for some great momiji kanzashi! As yous can see, the colors blend together to give it that great dyed effect you so often see on silk kanzashi.  The greens are tea green and yellow green. 


I did attempt to use the gold mizuhiki that I purchased to make the centers.  Bad idea.  Not only did it not hold, it was very messy.  I am still not certain how that traditional spiral is accomplished with mizuhiki, but I am going to keep trying on the side.  Meanwhile I went back to gold memory thread from DMC, which has a copper strand in the center of the wrapped thread to give it hold. 

I also a custom order and sent out some recent bookmark sales! I have been slowly restocking my washi paper here and there, looking for new patterns and cheap deals.  I actually made some decent money this month, though it has all been spent on new fabrics already. 

My workstation is a mess though, and before I start delving into new pieces again, I have some major cleanup work to do.  After I finish this wonderful momiji and phoenix pieces.  Then I am going to do a few barrettes and by then it will be the new year.

In other notes, a Japanese Yuzen (silk dyer) has struck up a friendship with me, to ask for Etsy assistance and to help him learn better English. I have agreed wholeheartedly. He is young, but comes from a family of silk dyers. The panels he creates are stunning works of traditional art. I hope one day to go visit his workshop in Japan to see how he works.  It is serendipitous that he happens to live in my favorite city of Kyoto.

Shop is Open and Upcoming Work

I haven't updated this in some time, and I apologize for that.

I did manage to get that wisteria finished, now that I have hair pins again, and she is waiting for photos.  I really like the little curly vine i did with the leaves. I really like how this one came out, though I was hoping for some different colors.  I have to do a new order though, before I can complete another.  These take a LOT of fabric!!!

 While I have been feeling better on the Lupron, (so, so much better), I haven't had much time to get into kanzashi work due to a backlog of life chores.  I'm still working a temari for my son, and while there are a LOT of mistakes, it is coming along as a good practice ball for future use of this pattern (a three wing design). He wont mind the mistakes, he just likes the ball and colors. 

Sold 10-21-2016

I did manage to land a small sale, this large momiji piece.  It was one of the better ones to come out of my hotel stay, and I might have to make a few more.  Especially now that I have......gold and silver mizuhiki!!!!   I have been looking for it for a while and now that I ahve found some I am going to use the heck out of it.  Cause for as small an amount as I use, one pack is huge quantity. 

 That and with the sale profits I bought a bunch new barrette toppers, more oval and some rectangles this time, 25 of each.  Lots of pieces to make, and with enough that I wont be afraid to use them. I am actually really excited to give these out as Christmas gifts to some of the nieces I have. Should be fun.  And I might be able to pull off some more difficult pieces, like sakura's on water or dewdrops. I also need to do some christmas stuff soon, hopefully with these.  I can do some poinsettias on white and such, since I have never done one of those before. 

I am also finally starting to prepare my video tutorial scripts and such.  So hopefully I can get somewhere with that, too. 

This weekend I will be out.  All orders will be shipped out Tuesday, November 1.  I am going take a marathon vacation, and head out to Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans.  Hopefully I will have more updates after that.

Almost Back From Vacation

 So, I was able to only have 3 days of getaway but it was a productive time, albeit shorter than planned.

The first piece I went after was this wisteria bouquet, which came out really well, except she is missing leaves.  I face-palmed when I realized I had already bound her up and left out the leaves and butterflies and things that make these pieces really pop.  So I will either put her up at a discount, or just unmount her and start over.










The next piece I attempted were these three, a true peony style.  I have wanted to make one of these for a while but never had the experimental nerve to risk losing chirimen.  I made the blue one first, which I didn't like that you can't see the patterned fabric hardly. I made the red one next, and tried to cut the petal a different size.  I made the fourth one last, but I still think the first method was the best.  So, print on the exterior of the petal, and solid interior.  I used 1.5 inch squares for the outer ring and trimmed them up a bit for the second inner ring. The third is one inch squares folded in rounded petal, but with just three.  My base was 1 3/4 inch circle.






Then I got into the barrettes, which are coming out beautifully! I love my pink one and the green one, I really get to show off prints and small left over colors I only have a few scraps remaining. 
I also have tons of mizuhiki to use for this now, and I am really looking forward to using that.  I just need to find some gold and silver, but I do have several other colors.
I started with an order of 10 for the forms and I have already covered them all in fabric.  I am still deciding exactly how I am going to cover each one, but it is going to be a lot of fun to experiment.  




There are several other pieces I have not photographed just because they were nothing beyond my usual work.  I did a large momiji on a hair stick and another attempt at a peony cluster in blue and purple.  I also started a autumn colored kiku for a comb or bouquet.  But I have enjoyed doing these barrettes the most. There will be LOTS more of these.

Remade Kanzashi Notes

Old flowers, new set!

This piece really wasn't too difficult to do since all the blossoms were already made.  The real challenge was straightening the wire out and working with the extra short stems.  I added 3 leaves and 2 buds, plus the shidare. Left is a metal hair comb, right is a 4 inch hair fork.  Still works great for a bridal or wedding piece.  BUT I am probably sending these off to the TZARTISAN Store soon.  I have one or two more pieces to fix up before I send them off.
Both are thread wrapped in a pale sage green.  The hair fork is actually pointed to the left so it can be worn on the right side of a bun up updo in the back of the head. 

I also have about 50 hairbands in the works, half are for the shop, and half are for another project.  (as if I didn't have enough.)  Some are prints I did not get to sew because I ran out of black backing, so they are repeats.  I have a ton of the chrysanthemum arabesque gold print ones now, at least 5, though I am keeping one for myself.  I need to advertise after all.
Right now they are through with the first round of sewing, and now I am closing up the sides before the top stitching for completion (and reinforcement)

But with both my kids going full time to school next year, life is going to really open up and hopefully I can finish most of this stuff by the time that medical procedure comes around. Luckily I have something to help me manage my pain now, and that is going to help get a lot of these projects done.  (Can't sit in a chair at a table or sewing machine when in pain.)

Ornament Photos Complete!

I have been pretty busy, all my ornaments have been rephotographed, and are posted on the site. Even the holiday ones

Next I am going to be working on reorganizing and reworking several of my pieces.  You might notice that a couple of the ornaments are gone, particularly the orange, a fuchsia, a red, and an aqua ornament.  I also have several kanzashi fixed up and I am deciding what to keep and reuse and what to send off to the TZArtisan store.

Another down

Busy Busy and my Headband how to

OK SO!

Things have been busy behind the scenes.  I finished about 10 or 11 hairbands, and they are great.  I wore one out for a day and it was SOOO comfortable.  I have a new favorite headband.

They are pretty simple to make too.  I can cut about 3-4 tops out of a fat quarter, depending on nap. The underlining is a slightly grainy cotton, and it holds even in my super straight thick-fine hair.  I have given one to my daughter to test it's durability, and even though it is a tad loose on her, it fits her well (she is 8 years old).

They are easy to assemble, you just use a template to cut a top and bottom.  I use heavy duty craft interfacing on each side to help it hold it's shape.  Then machine stitch until almost closed with the right sides together and the 7 inch long elastic (3/8" 50/50 poly/rubber) tucked between the right sides.  I machine stitch the end 3 or 4 times to make sure it doesn't get free.
Turn inside out at the other end, stitch the elastic in by hand about a 1/2".  Then top stitch at 1/4 to 1/8 inch on machine, going over those elastic pieces at least 2-3 times.

I want to make more styles of this, with some of the asian brocades I have left over from ornaments.  But I would rather see if these sell first.  I might make one or two more just for design sake.


 I have also listed the 3 kanzashi I had laying around, the rainy day blue/grey/purple and the 2 new thread wrapped bouquets.  Which means I did photos as well. See? Busy.

I am also helping my daughter with something in the crafter department.  She wants to make things to sell for chairty.  I wholeheartedly agreed and we have been building her etsy site.  Will have more details when we are ready to officialy launch.

My pine needle kanzashi is being brought out even though I had to postpone the photo shoot.  We pushed it back to first weekend in July due to technical difficulties that are not anyone's fault.  Just had to be done.  But my obijime is coming along nicely, its at least 8 foot long now.  I expect it will reach 10 easily before it is completed.  But I need to finish the pine needle kanzashi next or i never will.

After the pine needle is done, I am moving on to a few more personal projects.  I am ordering a new line of sewing machine feet so that I can do things I had no idea were possible.  I have a ruffle foot and a walking foot, but this set I am getting has 32 feet.  Quilting, embroidery, overstitch, binding feet, you name it, this set has it.  Except a side cutter and a daisy foot.   But hey, not bad.

Eventually I am going to get into recycling some of these old nasty looking kimono into something beautiful to wear.  Just need more practice before I sew something like silk.  Or as expensive as a kimono.  I also wish i could repair some of the embroidery but I am just not even close to that yet.

I am also going to be making a few items for the TZARTISAN store.   I hope no one forgot about that.  I still need to do some hair sticks  but I want to make a bouquet or two.  And the new wig promo she posted is amazing!  I totally want the flame one.  It rocks.

New Product Prototype!!!

Side View

 Ok! So!

First prototype down, and I have a lot figured out. (Got this pattern from the book Sew Retro, btw.  Credit to them for the template.)
So, all the fabric has to be cotton.  I used satin for the underside in hopes to improve quality, but slippery fabrics do not hold in MY hair, much less  anyone else.  So, lesson 1 learned.  Cotton.

Secondly, I learned how much elastic to use in the back. The pattern called for a thinner elastic in 5 inches. I purchased a thicker elastic, but it requires more length. 7 inches or more.  Lesson 2 learned.

Third. The hand stitched closure is a pain with craft strength interfacing. 

Top

Underside

I am still getting accustomed to using my sewing machine again.  My curve line is not so straight, but the others are quite good!  I have a plethora of quality asian prints I am putting to use for this I have been collecting over the years.  I dont think I am using my woven silk for this pattern.  That will be for the obi patterns I develop later on.