Stitches and Thrills

Here are the 3 workshops we will be doing at the #craftparty in Leiden! You can register for free through Eventbrite . Workshop 1: Landscape Book Workshop 2: Origami Dress and Sakura Workshop 3: Geometric shapes Workshop 1 : Landschapboekje Deze workshop wordt georganiseerd door Caro de Bruin van Honoriginal. Naast haar Etsy winkel geeft Caro ook workshops in o.a. Japanse boekbindtechnieken. Bij Handwerk Studio Leiden verzorgt ze de haakcursus. Bij een landschapboekje wordt er van dikker papier door middel van scheurtechniek een boek gemaakt dat openstaand   de illusie van een (berg)landschap geeft. Hiervoor worden onder andere afgeschreven atlassen gebruikt, maar ook steviger materiaal als behangpapier is er heel geschikt voor. Workshop 2 : Origami jurkje en sakura Deze workshop wordt door Simone van Sako&Jaci en Ama de Jong gecoördineerd. Simone richt zich bij de Handwerk Studio o.a. op het   upcyclen van kleding. In deze tweede...

At Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden there is a very special exhibition about the Geisha culture in Kyoto (these Geisha's in Kyoto are called Geiko's). There was so much to see I had to go twice (luckily I have a Museum card that gives free entrance to a lot of Dutch museums.) The Geisha exhibit is only on till Monday May 25th, so if you are in the neighbourhood do go and visit! Last week there was a contest on the Facebook page of the museum and I won a surprise package!   The package contained 2 fans, a pair of miniature geta (shoes), a gorgeous calender with vintage Japanese photo's and a 'Noren': a decorative curtain to keep out sun and dust. The envelope with the lady turned out to contain the cutest little gift bags. Lucky me :-)  Here is a photo impression of the Museum Volkenkunde. Two more Japan related tips for the coming week: Sunday 24th May: Japanmarkt, Leiden and until Sunday 31st May: Zijden Pracht in Sieboldhuis (S...

It is Etsy #CraftParty time again! For the first time this year we are hosting a Craft Party in our very own home town of Leiden! Two years ago I had attended a party in Amsterdam hosted by the Ka-Ching Collectief and had enjoyed myself very much. With our growing and active Leiden team we decided to join in with this annual event. During the Etsy Craft Party people are organizing creative events worldwide! Find out if there is a party in your neighbourhood here . The theme for 2015 is: " Kaleidoscope: Paper Taking Shape ". We have translated the theme in 3 small workshops which we are currently preparing. 1: Making a landscape booklet 2: Using discarded books as material 3: 3D folding Go and check our inspiration board on Pinterest . We found some great projects, albeit some way too ambitious for one afternoon. We are taking into account that a lot of non-Dutch speaking people are also very fond of crafting so we are prepared on giving instructions in E...

Final part: I have been making the Vivienne Westwood Drape Shirt via a free pattern on the Worlds End Shop Blog. Look here for part 1 & part 2 . Once I had posted on Facebook some friends said they also wanted to make it, thus it became a sew-a-long. After post 2 I did the buttons, button holes and pocket. But when the shirt was finished it was not yet quite what I had hoped for. To tell the truth: when I put it on I felt like the missing 6th member of Duran Duran in the Seventh & the Ragged Tiger years. (...and I should know, but you will never see THAT photo until I might have an unfortunate drunkblogging mishap... ) It took a few days to figure out what was missing. I needed some unbalance added to the design. If you use a stripe or plaid that effect comes from the print of the fabric. With this small houndstooth it was kind of dull and more like the wrong side of the 1980s. So made a second pocket using the selvage side to place angled over the or...