Origami Mommy

Needle book and other tiny projects

My projects are getting tinier and tinier. Here's a needle book I made the other day. I did the tree free-form style. I had a strong craving to embroider an autumn tree somewhere (although the hot weather has just now kicked in here in Japan), and this was the result.

Finally a place to store all my needles! It's only about 2 inches by 2 inches. The only problem is that Mia thought this was a little book I made for her, and keeps trying to grab it. I suppose a small felt book will be my next tiny project.

I also made her some small bags out of linen. She prefers the brighter one while I prefer the (as yet unfinished) subdued one. A great way to use up yo-yos.

Finally, the ultimate of small projects - a tiny hairpin.

I made a lot of mistakes with this, but it was just a first try, to see how it works, and oh, it's so much fun. Here's the wonderful tutorial by Mairuru.  I'm going to make more of these this weekend - we're going on another car trip outside Tokyo. I'll be giving a talk on diaper-free babies in Japanese at a workshop. More when I return - and please do stick around, because I am planning a giveaway in the next few weeks!

Sewing on Mt. Fuji

We escaped Tokyo over the weekend for a little weekend trip with friends to Mt. Fuji and a lake called Yamanaka-ko. While the rest of the group went into a hot spring and went swimming, I dug into a bag of felt and fabric scraps I'd brought along for some handsewing projects because it was so wrenching to be torn away from my sewing machine just when I'd started falling in love with it so.

Before I left, I made a new skirt and a dress for Mia. The dress was made of Japanese double-gauze fabric (which I adore - two more double-gauze fabric dresses are in the works right now), and was loosely based on the pillowcase dresses that you see tutorials for everywhere. I sewed elastic in the front and back and then made bias tape out of the material that I used in the armholes and for shoulder straps because I had no ribbon. I realize I am much happier winging it when making a dress rather than sticking to a precise pattern. I made a matching scarf out of the same double-gauze fabric with a pale pink striped cotton backing on the other side.

I also made a skirt out of a small piece of Heather Ross's Far Far Away fabric by Kokka, combined with a tiny ruffle made of Rowan fabric.

This, too, I made without a pattern. I just made each tier a bit bigger than the one on top and then used my newly-learned ruffling techniques (making a loose running stitch along the top and then pulling gently on the bobbin threads to gather) to experiment. I learn something new with each sewing project. This time I learned that I have to pay close attention while cutting fabric so I don't ruin the design - there are no whole unicorns on this skirt anywhere, which was a great disappointment!

I also made some bags - a tiny treasure pouch for Mia to carry small toys in and a larger tote bag for me out of canvas. I especially like the button detail on the bottom.

We went to a few really nice places on this trip. It was balm to my soul to be away from people and buildings. I was raised in the countryside so living in cities all these years and raising my children in urban areas has been hard for me. 

Mountains and water were everywhere and the weather was cool, although foggy. The fogginess made it challenging to take good photos, and in the end we never did get any good photos of Mount Fuji, although we drove up partway by car and then hiked a little bit up the mountain.....just a bit.

We also went to a children's nature park where they could play around in the water....

make things out of wood....that woodpile, heaven for my little boys! and saws and chisels and hammers and nails everywhere....

My brave friend allowed her foot to be used as leverage while the kids were wielding their saws...!

While the others were busy with their activities, I hand-sewed a bunch of little felt things and also got started on some embroidery at last. I don't think I was too successful with my first batch of felt mascots at all, but my children loved them and loved being able be involved in choosing colors and that's all that matters. 

As evening approached we got settled into an inn...

and then ate a lovely dinner

Sparklers afterwards....so much fun on a summer evening!

The sweetest shoes

I love Heather Bailey. Here's the result of yet another one of her free online tutorials: Bitty Booties

I've downloaded a couple of free baby bootie/baby shoe patterns, but I thought I would try this one first because felt is so easy to work with. It took no time at all to make - truly a quick and easy pattern - and my kids love them! It makes us all feel pretty excited to meet the baby whose feet will be wearing these this winter.

Felt sweets and twirly skirts

Such fun to make! Felt sweets were very popular here over the last few years. I actually don't see that many kits for them anymore but they do have them online and there are also lots and lots of cute books. I don't have this one but it looks very....intricate. The attention to detail! Here's another featuring felt bread and another featuring felt produce.

I picked this particular cake kit a few years ago and dug it out recently because I so wanted to do something small and needleworkish and quick. The children were smitten. I will be making a few more to immortalize our Japanese bakery experiences. Now that I have a kit under my belt I will feel more confident about cutting my own felt. 

The urge to create has been so strong in me lately (nesting, perhaps?) and it is so hard not to have enough time and enough materials. I discovered an Etsy store which ships beautiful fabric overseas. I also discovered a kit for an Amy Butler quilt which I have been wanting to try for so long. Those pinks and greens and browns! I'm not a quilter at all (how I regret not paying more attention when my mother was doing all her quilting), and am not sure if this is something that will be fun or frustrating for me to be doing, all by my lonesome, with a toddler girl to watch during the day. The cutting is the hardest part - I don't have a rotary cutter at the moment, and my botched cutting jobs usually result in imprecise sewing results. So I've been searching for a kit that has pre-cut pieces in it so I can just do the assembly and quilting.

I've gotten a few skirts done at least. This one, here, I actually did awhile ago, when I did the Japanese girly dress. It's from the same book, Koharu no fuku (Clothes for Koharu). It's so incredibly simple, just a tube of fabric 110 centimeters wide. Which seems very, very wide, but works if you use a nice gauzy material like this one.

Then I found a super tutorial online for a skirt which was right up my alley - just the right level of challenge for me, doesn't use too much material from my preciously tiny stash, and lets me combine two different fabrics. Plus, no pinning/cutting of complicated Japanese patterns. I really loved this skirt. But I have no pictures of Mia wearing it, alas. It is incredibly hard to photograph an active little girl! Just take my word for it - this is a great, clear tutorial. Hopefully I'll get a photo of her in it someday.