More goodness from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival!
Look at all those lovely shades of blue! Indigo was widely used for fabric dying in Japan, hence the reason many traditional Japanese textiles are blue.
Apologies for the sub-par composition on this shot. Definitely not one of my best. But look at all those varying shades of indigo. And it’s a traditional Japanese wave pattern that can be found in fabric patterns, needlework, and even handmade textured paper.
What’s up next? Photos of the special exhibit on indigo and the antique vintage (anyone know which term would be correct?) really old textiles on display.
May life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
While I wasn’t able to do much by way of sewing this weekend, I was able to accomplish something tangible – I set up my Etsy shop! Woo-hoo!
So far I have listed some traditional Japanese fabrics for sale – both by the half-meter and fat quarter bundles. And guess what? The international shipping is affordable! No more of the international-shipping-costs-more-than-the-purchase-itself nonsense.
I plan on listing some more traditional fabrics before I start listing the super-cute Japanese fabrics everyone in the crafting community loves so much. You can also expect adorable trims and paper goodies in the future, too.
May life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
It’s time for the first post showing the phenomenal detail work on some of the quilts at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. First up? The Goldfish quilt originally posted here. (I don’t know what the actual name of the quilt is because I didn’t take any pictures of the signs next to the quilts, so Goldfish is my title.)
‘ello, fishie! (Make sure you imagine that in an Eliza Doolittle pre-makeover voice. Sounds better that way, I promise.) Seriously, though, look at this thing: piecing, applique, embroidery, hand beading, free motion quilting…all on a variety of fabric types.
You can tell, if you look closely enough at this photo, that there is satin and a thin rayon fabric (stretchy, slidey, and nearly impossible to work with – at least for me) stitched together in some of the most beautifully executed curved seams I have ever seen. I need to take lessons from this guru of the needle. And the stippling…oh my word, the stippling.
I wish I had gotten a better shot of this border. But have you ever seen the lighting in a convention center? Garbage. Combine that with trying to get the shot as quickly as possible so as to not get run over by a pack of obasans (pack? gaggle? herd? if you know, please tell me) and you get a photo with a narrow depth of field when that totally isn’t what you’re going for.
But enough griping. This border is seriously awesome. Forget typical binding…it’s a three dimensional finish, really enhancing the overall impression that the quilt is a framed painting rather than a quilt. And I cannot imagine the amount of time it must have taken to make sixteen of these cords by hand. (Four per side by four sides equals 16, right?) The workmanship that went into this is just remarkable.
May these quilts continue to inspire you!
Miss Kaizer
Self-restraint on a Herculean scale – that is the best way to characterize my shopping at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. Of course, it helped that most booths were so crowded that I couldn’t have gotten near anything if my life had depended on it. But the things I did get were either phenomenal deals or just too awesome to pass up.
First? A piece of fabric printed with vintage floursack advertising on it. I’m going to make it into a bag, but I’m not sure what for. And knowing how long it takes me to finish projects, it will be 2012 before we all see it again…ahem. I also picked up metric ruler trim – I’m sure you have seen the ones with inches, but metric? That was a first for me. And a meter of it was only about $1. Score! I also got three meters of lace for just a couple of dollars. Woo-hoo! To feed my sashiko obsession, I got two bundles of sashiko thread for $5 each. I don’t know how many yards of thread there is in each bundle, but I know it’s a lot. They also had sashiko thread for sale in varying shades of indigo, and I almost got a variety pack – 8 bundles of thread varying from off-white to nearly-black-navy, but I was a good girl.
As I was trudging away from the sashiko thread, bound and determined to not turn around, I saw a basket on the floor filled with old wooden thingies (yeah, there has to be a better name for that – lemme know if you come up with one). They look like they were used to wind thread for weaving or spinning or something. I plan on using them to store my sashiko thread. Vintage Japanese crafting goodies? Oh, yes! I’m a happy girl. And the people running the booth gave me the fabric scraps you see in the picture. Two of each color. I have to find the perfect project for these, cuz they’re totally fabulous. Again, we probably won’t see them until 2012.
The final find of the show? Thread nippers. I have been watching the Cutting Tools 101 videos over on Threadbanger, and on one of the videos couture designer Kenneth D. King stressed the importance of not using your shears to trim threads. Why? Because you will most likely wear a dull spot into your scissors. When I heard that, a lightbulb clicked in the old noggin – so that’s why my scissors don’t cut as well as they used to! So I had been looking for a good pair of thread trimmers, and I stumbled across a super-sharp $4 pair at the show. Done and done!
All in all, I was very pleased with the goodies I got. But next time I think I’m going to go shopping for more hours in the day so I can actually do something with all this stuff.
Until next time, may life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
Ok, Kaizer-peeps. Time for more quilts from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival.
You absolutely have to see the detail on this quilt. It is fabulous.
Ooooh, lovely!
Keep checking back for more. May life continue to inspire you!
Miss Kaizer
Last weekend I attended the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. I had been looking forward to this show for quite some time, but I didn’t end up enjoying it as much as I had hoped. Why? It was the first weekend of the show and it was crowded! Like rush hour subway crowded. The biggest problem? Most of the people attending the show were obasans – obasan is the Japanese word generally meaning “old women”, but has come to carry a different connotation: pushy old bag. Let me just say, I have no problem with anyone in this world because of their age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. I have a problem with people when they are rude or nasty people. It just so happens that obasans are some of the pushiest, rudest people I have ever encountered. And the Tokyo Dome was choc-a-block full of them. You know how peopole say when you ask God for patience you don’t just become more patient, you are put in a situation that requires you to be patient? Um, yeah. They were talking about this quilt show.
I prefer, when I want to take a picture of a quilt, to not have any people blocking half of that quilt. So yeah, since some of them were so large and the area where they were hanging was so high-traffic, I had to wait for up to ten minutes in each spot for that split second where there were no people in the frame. Yeah, like I said, an exercise in patience. But I did it all for you guys! And the experience of working with my father in convention and expo photography has made me the master at getting people-free shots in some unbelievably crowded places. Thanks, Dad!
Here are a couple of my favorites:
Yeah, this whole thing was yo-yos. I shudder to think of sewing so many yo-yos by hand. Ouch.
And this one is a fabric recreation of Shibuya crossing, the busiest crossing in the world. It’s the same crossing they drive through during the chase scene in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and the same crossing where Party Boy danced in a silver thong in Jackass: The Movie. Yep, classy cinematic references.
This is a very small sampling of the quilts I photographed at the show. And some of these quilts deserve a post of their own – the detail is stunning. I will try to post more pictures of these marvelous creations at least once a week for the next few months or so. And of course I will have a post just for the cool goodies I snagged while shopping at the show.
May life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
Yes, I do sometimes actually finish projects. Look! Finished beanbags! These bad boys were sitting in a basket next to the couch for a couple of months. They were stitched up on three sides, turned, stuffed, and pinned on the final side. All I had to was slip stitch the final side shut. Yes, it took me way too long. I assure you I am properly hanging my head in shame.
But check them out! Six colors, two of each color, and super-light. You can throw these things around in the house and not damage anything. You can get hit in the face with one (although I don’t exactly recommend it) and it doesn’t hurt. I created these for friends of ours down in Imabari who teach English to kids in their house. The last thing they need are beanbags that can really cause some damage.
And although I haven’t tested them yet, I’m pretty sure these things will be machine washable. Now that is what I like to call a crafting coup d’état.
So the Lego Paperpunch Giveaway is now closed, and the winners were randomly selected. And the winners are…
(drumroll please)
Comment number 3 and comment number 7! Congratulations to Sherry and Michelle. I will be in contact with you by email to get your shipping info.
I hope you all continue to check back for future giveaways as well as some fun tutorials I will be posting in the new year.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all of you!
Photo courtesy Crazy Mom Quilts
Two days ago I read the post on Crazy Mom Quilts about how to calculate fabric requirements for making quilts. As I read through the very clear instructions I realized that the calculations could be automated in an Excel spreadsheet. So I built two spreadsheets. The first one tells you how many charm squares you need if you are just making a charm square quilt (no sashing, no borders, etc.) The second one tells you your fabric and cutting requirements for one of the lovely 9 patch quilts you can see to the right.
For both files you can either select a standardized size quilt, or you can specify the dimensions you would like (think non-standard or square). The calculators will get the final quilt size as close to your original dimensions as possible, but it will always round up to accomodate sashing and fixed block size.
For example, if you want a 40″ square charm quilt:
Charm squares are 5″, 4.5″ after seam allowances. Forty inches divided by 4.5″ is 8.8889 charm squares across. The calculator will round up to 9 squares across, and then it will also tell you the final dimensions you can expect for your quilt. In this case it would be 40.5″.
If anyone wants to double check my math on these it would be greatly appreciated. I am fairly confident in my calculations, but I would definitely feel better if someone else were to also take a look at it.
Click here to download the Charm Square Quilt calculator
Click here to download the Nine Patch Quilt calculator
Until next time, may life continue to inspire you!
Photo courtesy Craft: blog.
This giveaway is now closed.
Ok, Kaizer Peeps, it’s time for my first giveaway!
You may have seen the post over on the Craft: blog about the Lego paper punch being sold by Muji. The paper punch that is only being sold in Japan. Well, guess what? It is extremely popular here, too. They cannot keep them in stores. They have sold out twice already and won’t have any new ones available until Christmas Eve. But guess what, kiddies? I have two of them on the way to my front door! And I’m giving both of them away.
What do you have to do to enter the drawing? Just leave a comment! Comments will close at noon (Tokyo time) on December 24, at which time I will be randomly selecting the two winners. Oh, and I will be adding a couple of extra surprise goodies in with the paper punch.
Good luck, and may life continue to inspire you!
Miss Kaizer
Tokyo Quilt Festival | Miss Kaizer | 
February 8, 2010 6:03 am | 
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