"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.

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"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...