28 07 2012

for my brother’s shop

My brother is opening his book/handicraft shop in Tokyo and I have been commissioned to make a few things for the shop. His shop is called “Entrebox”, a word made up by him combining “Entreprenuer” and “box”. The shop stocks mainly secondhand books related to starting up your own business. Also there are some shelves(divided into squares=boxes) which designer-makers can rent to sell their work. And of course I have my own section to showcase my work!

This is the apron for the staff. It’s only my brother at this moment but the one I’m wearing here is a smaller size which I’ve made for the future when he hires a cute girl. It’s made of heavy cotton drill in blue grey. Big pockets at the front, chest pocket, adjustable neck and waist ribbons.

The neck is adjustable by letting the ribbon go through the loop at one side and making a knot. The chest pocket is in the shape of the logo of the shop, a box with the shop name. You can acutally use it as if putting something in the box.

The shop name is hand embroidered. It is in Japanese but it says “Entrebox”.

This is the open/closed sign for the door. It is made of cotton fabric and grey herringbone ribbon to hang.
On the left of the words are two pockets with arrow-shaped cutouts. You can change the sign by moving the grey card from one pocket to another like this!

close up of the sign, hand embroidered “open” and “closed”

The back side of this sign says “break time” in Japanese for my brother’s toilet/lunch break.

This is a tissue box case for the shop. You never know what will make a shop special… This case is almost like origami but with cutout for the tissue of course and covered buttons for the lid section. I have also embroidered “tissue box” in Japanese because it goes well with the shop name “Entrebox”.

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22 07 2012

the Suicidal Girl’s blouse final ver.

So finally, I have finished the full look for the Suicidal Girl for this collection “minus the sun, night all day”. I hope you can see now that the concept of a single star in the night sky is represented by the lemon yellow top section of the blouse. French knots embroidered with silk yarn are the twinkle of the star which she will become in the end. I always like to design something quiet and romantic for her.

close up of the peter pan collar and the embroidered section

Covered buttons made with matching fabric blend in well.
The cuffs and hem are also embroidered with French knots.

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16 07 2012

the Suicidal Girl’s blouse calico ver.

This is the calico version of the blouse which goes with the bubble skirt in the last blog post. I am currently embellishing the final version which is taking some time. This blouse has a peter pan collar, raglan sleeves, change of fabric in a circular shape, gathered cuffs with binding, loop and covered button closure, and dots drawn with fabric pen. Buttons are in navy and the dots are sky blue.
In the final version, the top section is in lemon yellow and the bottom section is in navy. It is suppose to represent a star in the night sky. The dots are done by French knots representing the twinkle of the star. Hopefully, I will be able to show you soon.

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08 07 2012

the Suicidal Girl’s skirt

This is the skirt for the Suicidal Girl for “minus the sun, night all day” collection. I am making the blouse to go with this so it will make more sense when worn together but here it is, my first bubble skirt. I have been wanting to make one for a while. The concept is a single star in darkness and the black skirt represents the darkness. (The star bit will be represented in the blouse.) The phrase that came in my mind is “a star in the end.” I like the volume of it and the way the hem goes inside, making me think of a black hole. I have done some smocking near the waistline in navy just to emphasise the volume and the colour of the night sky. Made with black cotton sateen fabric, gold polyester lining, and black acetate grosgrain ribbon for the waist.

front side

back side with a blouse on top

grosgrain ribbon at the left side waist

smocking in navy

lining in contrasting gold (let’s give it some hope)

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