FROM ERIN.

Received from Erin in Australia, June 2012.

Erin is such an amazing artist. She makes the most wonderful pieces of porcelain /ceramic. Her objects is like a fairytale and very fragile. Please have a look on her etsy page Erinswindow. Her mother Tokiyo makes the most beautiful garments of old vintage kimonos and I'm dreaming away to another place when looking at it.

Erin is from Japan, but is living in Brisbane with her daughter. They like walking and looking at things. Every night they sit and play or make things, as they do not have a tv. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Erin have been living in Paris, and she always loved to take black and white photos of tree and old buildings.

You can follow Erinswindow on facebook for updates on her work and her blog for work in progress.

Erin have send me a letter where green is the main color.

Yarns in kasuri, also called ikat. I simple love this technique.

A  sample of Chirimen kimono.

Two samples in green. To the left a wet felting sample made by Erin and to the right a linen kaya.

Like me, Erin is in love with the moo cards.

Dear Erin, thank you so much for your fantastic letter. The kasuri threads is hanging at my studio and one day I hope to be able to use them, either in my work or as inspiration.

FROM AVALANCHE LOOMS.

Received from Susan Johnson -Avalance Looms in Usa, May the 11.

I am in love with my new textile letter from Susan. It's so amazing, colorful and pretty. Love it!

Susan taught herself to weave in 1981 when she had her first daugther Ursula. She and her husband built a new weaving workshop and farm store in 2000, on their farm in Avalanche, Wisconsin. It's built on the site of the old barn foundation, in the former goose lot. The style of the building is a traditional Swedish plan, red and white. Please visit her page here. It's my dream to live in a house like that one day.

If you want to purchase some of Susan's weavings you can do it through her etsy shop Avalanche Looms.

Susan is in love with the rag weaving, it preocupies her. She likes the mystery of not knowing who have made the ragrugs and collect old ones. I have one from Morocco, you can see it here.

My dream letter from Susan.
Susan writes to me that textile letters reminds her of when she was a little girl and ordered an envelope of sewing trims from an address in the back of her mothers Vogue Patterns magazine. Inside the envelope were pieces of ribbon, ric-rac, seam bindings ect.

A little kasuri sample in silk with cute washi tape on.

Inside a beautiful woven sample in the most stunning Spring colors.

I usually weave in black-grey-white and have recently started to make embroidery again, this in more colorful colors. I have always been afraid to weave colorful, but now I have deceided to start, as I can see how the colors interact with each other in such a beautiful way, because of this sample. Thank you!

The ribbon from Laura Foster is amazing. Using your leftovers from either weaving or printing in this way, is a fantastic idea.

Pretty structures and colors in a rag.

In her farmstore at Avalanche Looms, Susan sells books, toys, housewares and textiles. She is crazy in love with Scandinavian design and designers. Earlier she has been selling textiles from Maharem which is part of the Kvadrat group, where I am a free-lance textile designer. My work from Kvadrat can be seen here.

A nice little ribbon.

Two cards from Susan and Avalanche Looms.
Susan ends her letter with: One good husband, 3 lovely children, a charmed life. I hope I will be able to say the same one day.

Dear Susan, your letter and your words means everything to me. So many of your treasury is going to be hanging in my studio.

FROM STEPHANIE.

Received from Stephanie in Japan, December 19.

I love sitting and looking at blogs and items on etsy and this is how I met Stephanie. She has this unique shop full of Japanese vintage and antique treasures, called FurugiStar and I love it.
Just now I have been sitting and going through her etsy page and I am so much in love with this peasant coat.
If you want to read more about FurugiStar, Stephanie have a fantastic blog and her beautiful photos can be seen here.

Stephanie says this about her passion:
"My shop, FurugiStar, specialises in Japanese antiques and vintage items found in and around Tokyo.
I love spending time in antique shops and markets here in Japan and my Etsy page gives me a great excuse to buy the lovely things I find.
I am interested in boro and antique noragi (collectible Japanese farming wear)."

When oppening my mailbox today I found this amazing and lovely textile letter, all the way from Tokyo to me.

Stephanie told me that my invitation to participate into my textile letters inspired her to create a photobook. She has combined light, colors and textures of autumn scenes with textiles. Autumn is "Aki" in Japanese.

She choose the Ginko leaf "tenugui" as a theme. I don't know how, but Stephanie must be able to read my mind, eventhough we have never met in person.
Ginko is one of my favorite leafs. Before moving to Copenhagen to study textile design at the Danish Design School I worked 1½ year for Jette Nevers, a textile designer here in Denmark. At the time she were doing some new developments for Georg Jensen Damask and she had made a drawing of the Ginko leaf. This one she asked me to work with.

Two pages in the photobook by FurugiStar with the beautiful Ginko leafes turning yellow together with an antique textile.

Here, a page of boro textiles from an exhibition together with Ginko leafes. I really love boro, as I see it as a result of a whole life putted into one piece of textiles.
I myself is the happy owner of a sashiko back and also a Saki-ori.

This is a "omiage", a gift with the beautiful Ginko leaf "tunugui".

Stephanie also included four antique, vintage woven textiles into the letter. I am so happy for these, especially because they are in indigo and white, beautiful colors together.
The one in blue-green to the left is in silk, at first glance it looks like a plain weave, but when looking closer you can see a twill, it is so beautiful. Stephanie says it reminds her of seaweed and 1950's upholstery. It is probably from the mid-century, Showa era. A beautiful piece.
The kasuri piece to the right is machine woven. I so much love double kasuri like this piece. It dates back to early Showa era.

Detail of the above.

Two white in white samples.
The one to the left is in cotton for a obi linning, which is found inside a Meiji era obi (over 100 years old). Fantastic. I love the texture of the thread.
The one to the left is in silk called "Mawata tsumugi"; homespun raw silk and handwoven. It was intended for a high quality kimono.

Here you can see the fluffy cotton on the back. It is so rustic and raw.
All of the textiles is avaiable in the FurugiStar shop at etsy.

Stephanie also send me four photos. She writes she lives in an area of Tokyo with antique, vintage clothes shops together with tiny "antique" cinemas.
One of her favorite things to do, at the end of a busy day, is to go to one of these war-era theaters.

The seats are old and creaky.
I come from a little town and perhaps 15 years ago the local cinema change all of there seats and the old one, probably from the 1950 were put for sale. My parents bought some and I have had these in my appartment. One day I will have them fixed.

Stephanie's beautiful card.

Dear Stephanie, I want to thank you for your lovely textile letter and letting me get to know a little bit of you and your life. As you know I love Japan and I hope to be back for a visit one day again. Perhaps we will meet.