My flexible furoshiki summer bag

Summer time - and the women's magazines and weekend supplements are packed with advice on where to go for the best holiday, how to achieve that gorgeous beach body and what to wear when you're there but, when you've packed the perfect capsule wardrobe, with an outfit for every occasion, how do you manage to fit in a bag for every look?

Simple - just tuck in a metre square furoshiki and a pair of handles and with a two or three knots you can create bags to take you from shopping at the market to picnicking on the beach, off sightseeing and out to dinner...

Here's a reminder of how to tie the drop bag, with instructions for the others to follow:

And please take a look in our online shops over the next few days where lots of fabulous fabrics, ideal for summer bags, will be listed soon.

And here are the links to the instructions for the other bags shown: two handled bag, grocery bag, loop handled bag, ring handled bag and the summer purse, plus some ideas on different fabrics to use. Happy wrapping!

WTD??

Did you know that today, 23 May, is World Turtle Day? This was started by the American Tortoise Rescue in 2000 " to increase respect and knowledge for the world's oldest creatures, These gentle animals have been around for about 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of the exotic food industry, habitat destruction and the cruel pet trade.".

I only just found out but as it happens I've been trying my hand at a turtle themed screenprint for our furoshiki. So, to celebrate the turtles, here's the wip ... (and it is v much wip :) )

Furoshiki for today - shoulder bag

What a glorious day, 28 degrees and a gentle breeze. It was certainly no hardship watching my son play cricket this morning ... and, of course, furoshiki came too. This is the standard bag wrap; which makes a roomy bag, ideal for toting around the Sunday papers, sun cream etc.

* Apologies for the picture quality - taken on my mobile.

Furoshiki for today - grocery wrap

I had to stop off at the supermarket for a few groceries today and so out came my trusty furoshiki (I think the checkout lady thought it was a little strange!), on piled the groceries, two opposite corners were knotted together, then the other two and, voila, a grocery wrap!

And look how much I managed to fit into it (the crisps are not all for me ... )

What's in the furoshiki today?

Now that the weather's getting warmer, I've been taking packed lunches to work wrapped, of course, in a furoshiki.

Just place your lunchbox in the centre of the furoshiki, across the diagonal; roll the top and bottom corners over the box and then simply knot the right and left ones. The furoshiki holds everything together, with the knot forming a handy handle, and when unwrapped doubles up as a placemat / napkin - how easy is that?


The bento box is from the Japan Centre and I wish I could show you some beautifully arranged Japanese style contents but it's just some salad in one layer and cherry tomatoes and grapes in the other! Just take a look on Flickr under 'bento' tho and you'll find lots of really amazing designs - even if I didn't have a child to hurry out of the house and a train to catch in the mornings I couldn't manage these.

Furoshiki for today

Here's how to carry home an A2 sized pad of tracing paper with ease - just take one metre squared furoshiki + apply a portfolio wrap! Now I'm all set to copy my new design for screen printing tomorrow!

Super cute kawaii

Super cute kawaii is the place to go for a daily dose of handmade cuteness and Japanese kawaii so I was really pleased to see that myfuroshiki been featured there.

Thank you, Claire & mar-c et merci Monsieur Le Bun!

Pretty Pocket Furoshiki

Today's creation just listed on Etsy:

This pretty pocket furoshiki is a gorgeous gift in itself, with three pockets to organise your bits and bobs - lingerie, scarves, haberdashery, napery, children's treasures........

Simply place your things in each of the three pockets, knot the tops, then turn the fourth lined pocket inside out, so that it forms an ingenious pouch with everything beautifully stored within.

*FREE SHIPPING*.