All items by Japan Gifts

I make book sleeves, bags, scarves and accessories from Japanese fabrics.

From a young age I’ve had a love of all things Japanese. When I started making face marks during the pandemic it was obvious that I would choose Japanese fabrics.

I’ve always been a creative person whether it was pencil drawing to fluid art or egg decorating craft and now to sewing. Plus I did a couple of years of photography but unfortunately had to give up due to fibromyalgia.

I have not had any formal training in arts & crafts. My first full time job was in antique furniture restoration until I was made redundant. Then I did bar work in a club in Liverpool. My last job was working for a large British retailer and during the pandemic I took redundancy.

I started my selling items with my photographs and fluid art on, pillows, mugs and t-shirts via a print on demand company. I didn’t make many sales but kept the shop going. I didn’t do anything creative at the start of the pandemic, my head space just didn’t seem to be in the right creative place. It wasn’t until August of 2020 that I started sewing face masks in Japanese cotton. Bought pieces of vintage kimono silk but I wasn’t sure of what to do with them. I ended up making infinity scarves from them as most of the pieces where the perfect length.

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