Journal cover - Japanese style

Weird. Last night I had my second bout of late night stitching in a row. Not sure what's going on there, but I am sure it's not how most "young people" would spend their weekend evenings. But ahh, who cares :)

Anyway, you know how it gets to 10:00pm, and you're sitting on the couch not quite ready for bed but with a sewing project in mind? And you say to yourself "Oh, I'll just cut out the fabric and then go to bed". And you cut out the fabric and then think "oh... I'll just pin it together". And then afterwards you think "oh, I'll just do the first round of stitching", after which you figure that you may as well just finish it off.

Well that's what happened to me last night. I decided to make a journal cover based on a pattern I saw in a couple of Japanese craft books:



It's really quite a simple design, and it seems like almost all Japanese fabric book covers are made this way, but I've never seen it here before:



It wasn't till after I'd made it that I realised how useful that little tuck under flap is. I thought it was just to make it easy to get the cover on, but I found it also helps to keep the cover from buckling when you have the book open flat. You can take up the slack by pulling the flap in tighter. Very neat.



The pattern isn't particularly complicated, but you can find it in either of those books above, which you can find in one of the online Japanese crafty shops that I've listed in previous posts (sorry can't remember which - but I know I've seen them!). Otherwise the pictures above should make good reference. It's just one big rectangle: tapered at one end, folded over and sewn at the other, with the vertical band sewn in also. Measurements should be based on your own journal and common sense :)

One last note - how bloody cute is that fabric!! I'm kicking myself for not buying more. But that's what happens when you're over there - it's all so overwhelming, and when you see something you like you sometimes hold out because you figure you'll find something even better later on. But my tip - don't hold out - just buy buy buy! I found it in Kyoto (again just $1 for a fat quarter) from a shop called Nomura Tailor in Teramachi Arcade. Grr.

quick pics

Ooch a busy work week this one! But thought I'd quickly pop onto the blog and post some piccies:


Tissue box holder made by Pete's lovely mum. She took some progress shots whilst making it so I'll upload them somewhere soon if anyone's interested in a tute?


You know, I really have no idea why tissue boxes are always so ugly. I mean really, it's like they put no thought/effort at all into the design. Does anyone really like white roses, seashells or dolphins? There was once this really lovely design with silhouetted japanese branches all around the sides. Now that was nice. But then it disappeared!! Anyway this is a great solution - thanks Heather!


And of course... the crafty book spine shot. That's what you do when you buy a bunch of crafty/sewing books right? ;) Anyway they're both lovely. Amys' book covers a lot of great basics, but Lotta's takes the cake when it comes to styling and fabric selection. I'm a sucker for that muted Japanesey-craft-book style photography.

back!

Wow. what an amazing, exhausting experience. 2 weeks in a crazy, diverse country with sooo much to see, and not enough time to see it all. Throw some 30 degree+ humid weather and you end up with a very exhausted and somewhat overwhelmed Lara.

I'll need some more time to digest the whole experience but in a nutshell it was great - everything I hoped. I'll write some more thoughts later.

But of course, I'll leave you with some photos of what we all really want to see - the craft loot!


initial crafty puchases - fabric, trim, stamps, paper, purse handles and kit, minature pegs + spools, 'handmade zakka' book


further crafty puchases - cutesy japanese fabric, crafty books, cram cream tape, Shinzi Katoh cafe mug, cute little 'vault' storage stack

I had a fantasic christmas. A great day with my family, which included a Skype session with my brother's family in the States, sitting in our respective living rooms opening presents in front of a TV eqipped with a webcam - it worked surprisingly well :)

I received lots of gorgeous thoughtful presents from my boy, and from my folks I received the classic Breville Wizz that almost everybody's mum had whilst growing up and which has barely changed in design over the last 20 years (i see that as a good sign). We made pasta dough with it and used our pasta maker for the first time. Home made pasta is oh my god ... sooooo, so good! I think I will be getting right into it and this could become a pasta making blog, hehe.

I am now also the proud owner of lots of great craft/melbourne/design books, including Handmade in Melbourne, and guess who I found inside! What a nice surprise and now I can put faces to the names - congrats girls!!



Back tomorrow-ish with more - hope you're all having a great break!! :)