Pictures from Japan

We visited the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya. Toyota started out making spinning and weaving machinery before they made cars. I have lots more photos of the spinning and weaving. This photo shows one of the more modern looms.

Some early woven cloth for yukata (a cotton robe as opposed to the silk kimono)

The Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima (near Hiroshima)

Statue outside the Nagoya station

More to come...

Far from home

I'm in Japan!



And it's true that the young women there wear some interesting clothes.

This emperor has GREAT clothes

Valentino the Last Emperor is a film that came out last spring. It had limited showing in selected cities and alas, I missed seeing it. But on Sept 8 it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray (gotta get one of those players)! The movie is a behind-the-scenes look at the world of Haute Couture. Valentino Garavani is of course the star, but the film also goes into his relationship with his long time business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, and follows the last two years of their 50-year career.


Oooh and there's a contest to win an actual Valentino gown. It's red and it's fabulous.

More monkeying around

Knit Picks has a new sock monkey knitting kit to go along with their earlier monkey kit (which is no longer available):



Yes I bought it and no I haven't even started the first one. I'm a knitter (and sewer) with stashes. What did you expect? But I am almost finished this short sleeved twisty sweater from Sublime:



I may not be sewing right now (still don't have the sewing room(s) back in order) but I am knitting.

We're going to Japan!

Nancy, Alison, and Rose were right!

Where in the world?

We have our airline tickets for a 2-week trip next month! Yippee! So where are we going?

• we've never been there before
• it's an 11 hour, nonstop flight from San Francisco
• we'll be lost and unable to translate any street signs unless they're in English
• as much as we like to not stand out as tourists when we travel, it will be nearly impossible to do so
• I will probably come home with fabric...likely to be silk
• I will probably come home with some sewing notions that I can't buy here at home
• we will likely eat fish for many of the meals
• the train will be a fast (very fast) form of transportation
• it's likely to be very warm this time of year

So where do you think it is?

Mad for Mad Men

Mad Men fever abounds! The hit show has 16 Emmy nominations and Season 3 starts August 16.

InStyle magazine has an "inside" look into the fashions of three of the female stars. I like Peggy's outfit...and especially her tiny waist highlighted even more by the belt. But I can only imagine the undergarments (and dieting) required to get that look. Can she breathe?




If you want to copy the Mad Men look, Banana Republic has a Mad Men Style Guide to go along with the "Casting Call" contest run by AMC. So far I have to say that most of the entries in the contest look like head shots of professional 21st century actors - many didn't even dress the part.