"Hello ! 2019"

Felice anno nuovo !

Feliz año nuevo !

 С Новым Годом

Happy new year !

Frohes neues Jahr !

!  عام سعيد

Καλή Χρονιά

あけまして　おめでとう　ございます

 šťastný nový rok !

新年快乐
Feliz ano novo !

"SAYONARA 2018 "

We are still counting down.
But, it already happened 
in other part of the world.

"came, and went..."

"Merry and Bright..."

"was he here yet ?"

"I wish I could do it this easily..."

"Tell me, what is the SPELL ?"

"Holiday Lights"

Is your home ready for Christmas ?

Urgence Homophobie - "De l'Amour" (clip officiel)

Réalisateur clip : Benoit Pétré
Production : Cousines et Dépendances
Compositeur : Patxi Garat
Réalisateur musique : Benjamin Dantès

"The End of Tumblr"

FUCK censorship, bigotry and political correctness!

Thank God we still have BLOGSPOT !!

"Season's Greetings"

" Magical Tree"

"Shooting Star"

"KIMONO REFASHIONED"

I went to Newark to see the exhibition titled "KIMONO REFASHIONED"  

It was a small show nothing like shows at the MET.  It took about 1 hour to see whole thing.  Only few people were in the space beside us, no walking around other people who are busy talking to their friends which I experience everytime I go to the MET to see any fashion exhibitions.  That made my very first visit to Newark Museum very pleasant.  If I payed more attention to the title for the show, I didn't expected to see more KIMONOs.  Since I didn't, naturally I was surprised to found there were only few KIMONOs and Japanese Objects in the show.  But Japanese fashion was very well represented by Hanae Mori, Issey MIyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garcon. Surprisingly I also found few of my favorite designer Madeleine Vionnet's great creations along with Chanel and Dior.

It will be on till January 6, '18 I think it well worth to go see it....

"KIMONO BAGS for GINZA BAZAAR"

"My KIMONO BAG COLLECTION"

December 5th, Ikebana International New York had it's annual GINZA BAZAAR.

I have a few friends who are board members of that organization, and they recommended me to be apart of that event this year.  
I submitted few bag samples, and I got approved to join the event at the beginning of November.  After that I visited my dear friend's home to take a look at her vintage kimono collection, and found more than a few kimonos which she was no longer wanted to keep.

So that was the starting point of my MIKONO BAG Making.  It took about a week to make them all by myself.   YES, I even sewed every one of them.  
Let me show you some of steps I took to make bags from vintage kimonos.

Taking a part of Kimono was the most time consuming part of this whole process.

The next step was cutting them into 3 different style of bags.

Basic Tote Bag, Kimono Bag, Komono Bag.

This was how Basic Tote Bags looked before I attached silk lining.

All 3 styles of bags were fully lined with silk which also came from vintage kimonos.

Some of fabrics were not strong enough to make into handles.

  I prepared Cotton Herringbone Tape for that.

Attaching a lining to the bag.

All 3 styles took almost same process except for the bottom of bags.

Basic Tote Bag will get 1 Deep Pleat to create width for bags. 

Other 2 style were stitched at the bottom to create desired width of bags.

< Final Products >

BASIC TOTE BAGS

KIMONO BAGS

KOMONO BAGS

I got CHIRIMEN KOGIRE, 

Which were small pieces of very textured traditional textiles for kimono.

Just big enough to make very small KOMONO BAGS.

"KOMONO" means Small Things, 

These bags were just big enough to hold telephone and lipstick.

Just like cocktail bags, but these go with a kimono.

*********************************************************************************

"Additional Items by Request"

The most popular fabric at the event was Red with White Ribbons & Gold, Red Balls.

I knew that it was the perfect textile for Holiday Season.  But I didn't know it will be gone so quickly.  Before I knew it all items in that textiles are taken.

During the event and after I got some requests to make more items in that RED Balls.

The other request I've gotten was making bigger bags in KIMONO fabric.

So, I decided to make Tote Bags and Grocery Bags(that is what I call the big bags) in remaining Kimono Textiles.  

They are big enough to carry for grocery shopping, and they have a shoulder strap.

The Wrong Side of Textile
I don't have patterns for bags, it's cut just by measurements.
And all have straight stitching.

RED KIMONO TOTE BAG

They've got Green Silk Lining

Grocery Bag with Shoulder Strap

To make it strong enough as a grocery bag I used stronger fabric for bottom.

or press-on interfacing on the textiles.

That helped to make bag shape distinctive...

"December, 1st"

"Hello December"

"Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center"

The Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center is lighted tonight. 

That means, 

The Holiday Season has officially began ! 

"Special Thanksgiving Dinner"

Setting up for the Dinner.
I had chance to take few snapshots before their guests arrived.

I have been going to their home for Thanksgiving more than 10 years.  But they started hosting that holiday dinner way before.  This year was their 50th.  It is remarkable that their tradition is still going strong.  Yes, some of guests have changed.  But I still see the same people at a huge table.  That makes me feel good things are still the same, and that is a very comforting in very hectic holiday season.  I'm very thankful that they are still hosting this very traditional American Holiday.  
And I got be a part of it.

Jonathan made very celebratory menu for very special dinner and all the dishes were special and delicious. 

By the way,  I was very busy eating & drinking once dinner was served.
So, I forgot to take any photos of Dessert.
As you can see above in the menu, 
Five different sweets were on the table waiting for us to taste.