Four Seasons : miss matatabi for Kokka

Hello! I’m Frances from Miss Matatabi and I’m thrilled to be here to show you some things I made with Kokka’s new fabric collection, Irome.

irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

Irome is made up of six lovely prints in four colorways, with each colorway representing one of the four seasons. I’m pretty indecisive by nature and usually take forever to choose fabrics for a project so when I received the collection, with so many beautiful options, I couldn’t decide which prints to use and ended up sewing with almost all of them.

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

I started with the autumn colorway and made a simple but pretty scalloped bunting using this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. It’s such a satisfying and quick project and a great way to show off your favourite fabric prints. The bunting trend may be over but I’m enjoying having these prints on my studio wall to look at every day.

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

I then made Olive using the spring colours. Olive is part of the Olive & Archie doll pattern from Wee Wonderfuls and she was so much fun to make. She actually started off as Archie, and you may notice she has Archie’s hair, but somewhere along the way he decided to don a dress and become Olive. I really love this minty colorway, especially the scallop lace print on Olive’s bow.

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

Olive needed something to snuggle under on chilly nights so I made her a little quilt in the winter colorway. It’s a teeny Disappearing Nine Patch quilt and is a fun one to try if perhaps, like me, you don’t consider yourself a quilter but want to give quilting a go. The Cottage Mama has a nice tutorial for a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt. The quilt binding is double gauze and I had some issues with the corners but it was too beautiful not to use. It’s a Fuwari fuwari print from the 2006 nani IRO collection and I’ve been hoarding it for way too long. Silly to keep it hidden away in a drawer, right? Seeing all these subtle winter prints together warms my grey-loving heart.

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

Finally, summer! I dread the summer months here in Japan and find these cooling blues and greens really soothing. I only used one summer print this time but definitely have plans for the others. Once summer hits I’m sure I’ll turn to these prints as a mental escape from the sweltering heat. Anything to keep the sanity!

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

I didn’t use a pattern for this shirred summer dress but Caila Made has a lovely tutorial you may want to check out. Jorth also has a tutorial with sizing in centimetres for those amongst us who don’t naturally think in inches.

Irome by Kokka : miss matatabi

Smooch! I can’t wait to see what you all make with Irome!

Thank you Kokka for these gorgeous fabrics and for the chance to be here today.

This post was written by Frances Arikawa for Kokka.
Irome is a quilting cotton collection that will be officially released at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh on May 16th 2014. If you would like to be able to purchase prints from the Irome collection locally, please be sure to let your favourite fabric store know. If you are a store owner planning to visit Quilt Market do come and say hi at booth no. 2045 2145.