Old kimono kitsuke! (haha lame title)

So inspiration struck again!
Although it's just gone autumn here of course this kitsuke isn't season appropriate, I'm pretty bad at that actually :/
Anyway, its still really hot here so I decided to do a ro kitsuke because I haven't done one this summer.
This kimono is one I've had for years, its ro with wisteria. Of course my wardrobe would entirely be made up of wisteria pieces if I could manage it :p
I've only worn this kimono once before, back in '09 for a staff party:

I've got a thing for ro, its such a beautiful fabric!

So here's what I came up with this time:

Sorry the photos are pretty crap, this was the best of the bunch.
Unfortunately I didn't get a clear shot of the obi area.
Again I've used my cream hakata obi, I really need to get some more, they're great!
I find that lately I've been drawn towards non-seasonal kimono pieces, perhaps because they can be worn whenever? I don't know...
Obi was tied with a biyosugata again, except this time it was really really tight! I had  to sneeze later and it was so difficult and kinda painful lol.
I'm still having trouble getting the obi to look nice and straight, also getting that "peak" at the top of the obi where it folds out, if that makes sense. Practice.... I know...

New kimono kitsuke

I don't buy all that much anymore, I've got more kimono than I'll ever need and some I haven't even worn so I've been hard on myself and said "no" to many things. However I've basically got no spring kimono! Or winter really for that matter, but summer and autumn I've got covered.

So I bought a plain-ish komon for Shinei. I don't buy much from them, mostly because I can't remember my password and the website is difficult to use, but no denying there are some lovely things on there.
Although its autumn here, this is a springy outfit (hopefully) everything is non-seasonal but the colours look spring to me.
What do you think?

Actually looking at the photos it could pass for a winter ensemble as the colours are quite icy.

Don't mind the hat either, it was the first thing I picked up to get my hair off my neck, I had some moles removed yesterday and my neck is really sore :( so that's the story behind the hat lol.\

I used a biyosugata to tie my obi today, I still haven't managed to use it with ease, but at least I managed to tie it on without throwing a hissy fit ( like I've done before lol) It actaully worked pretty well, but the waist part was very loose on me. Bit more practice perhaps... 

I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out today :)

Kimono de Jack Australia's first meet!

On Sunday was the Summer Japanese Festival down in Melbourne and the first KDJ Aus meet took place there!
Admittedly it was only the two of us but we handed out some flyers to people dressed in kimono and hopefully we can get some new people for the next event! Already the Facebook page has a few new likers :)

Just a small selection of photos, there's more on the KDJ Aus facebook page.

Was a good day, apart from being sunburnt to a crisp by the end of the day and nearly being blown away the rest of the time lol. Many people in yukata, some in proper kimono, some in shiny satin kimono, some in wa-loli, some in cosplay... some people were even just wearing haori over jeans or tights so it was good to see the variety :)

I think there will be another even planned soon so if you're interested please like the facebook page and keep watching!
My kitsuke wasn't great, I got changed in the toilets of a restaurant and my musubi got squished early on trying to move through the crowds... and it probably got really messy when I joined in the dance lol but it was fun!

Kitano Odori uploads and Kimono Remake #1

I've recently uploaded Kitano Odori from 1982-1989 on my Flickr.
In those Kitano are some of the maiko hikizuri that were recently up for auction on YJA a few weeks ago, just as a point of interest to anyone, I found them interesting because on the TM forums members had found those hiki being worn by Ume- maiko however in the Odori Programmes they are worn by Katsu- maiko so either they had two name lines or what, I don't know but it adds an extra dimension into the mystery.

Another project I've been looking at is turning kimono into dresses, skirts, coats etc and there's a great thread on IG forums about it Here.
As much as I love kimono sometimes its just not practicable to wear them so I really liked this idea for everyday wearing.

So here's what I came up with:

A very simple skirt, I was practising shirring so that's why the rest of it is basic. It turned out ok, but its not tight enough around my waist though, so I don't know if I need to change the thread tension or whether I should've used only three panel rather than four. Or used five panels but gather them a lot more so it flows more.
Either way, its ok but not great. I wasn't going to wear it outside the house anyway because the fabric is badly stained by grease it looks like. I tried washing the fabric before I sewed it up but I couldn't get rid of all the stains.

Here's the original kimono:

Sooo....that's what I did today.
I used one body panel, cut into four equal part, so I still have some fabric left to work with.
Thoughts?

New look blog and more odori uploads

Hi all.

So I've been meaning to "pretty up" my blog for a while now and its just never happened.
Then the other day I pulled out some of my kanzashi, laid it out on one of my kimono, spent an hour arranging it and taking photos from every angle in every camera option....  finally came up with a decent photo I've put up as the header.
Success!
Then I tried making a simple yet elegant background... Not quite happy with the current one so I might play around with that a bit more...
I don't spose it really matters, chances are by th etime you read this I'll have made one that I'm happy with.
So me telling you this is kinda pointless yes?

Great.

Odori programs!!
Still working on the Kamogawa odori:

1983

1984

1984 Autumn

1985

1985 Autumn

I've still got a few more Kamogawa Odori  to upload but then I'll move on to Gion or Kyo odori.

I've also got some photos of my kanzashi that I've been meaning to upload but haven't yet...

Might try to get those up tomorrow..

And photos of my maiko hikizuri that I finished sewing!

Well I still have't put the extra fabric at the under arm openings and I have a terrible feeling that I've positioned the sleeves wrong but otherwise-Yay!

Yukata Time!

Hello again :)

Its been quite a while since I've worn kimono... Last time was when I was doing the Hogwarts Houses themed kitsuke and I had a terrible time being a Ravenclaw one day....
Anyway, its summer here in Australia and we've had a few really hot weeks ( there's lots of bushfires going around at the moment) but at least its cooled down a bit now so the other day I thought it'd be a good time to throw on a yukata.
Now I only have three yukata in my whole collection as I was silly and didn't start with yukata when I first got into kimono...
So here is my first ever yukata: Oh and its wrinkled, I didn't think to give it a quick iron before wearing it...

The mauve of the obi doesn't really match with the purple on the yukata but close enough. Really happy with how my obi turned out! Usually I can't make a chou-chou even but I must've lucked out this time  :p

Also a super quick photo of the Pampass grass kanzashi I managed to buy from Ichiroya when they had a massive sale on maiko kanzashi a few months ago.

Finally! I've been wanting this kanzashi since I first got into kimono/kanzashi way back in 2008.

It's not in the best of conditions but I'm very, very happy to have it either way. Unfortunately I missed out on buying a bridge part to make it a set :( 

I also missed out on buying a uchiwa kanzashi bridge to make a set from that too.

And I would love a wisteria set! The rest I could honestly make myself I could be bothered lol.

Oh well, Maybe next time :)

Umm, I've also uploaded two Nagoya odori programs:

Nagoya-2nd Naka Kyo Gion Odori-1961

Nagoya-3rd Naka Kyo Gion Odori-1962

Very interesting as I wasn't sure what these actually were, I thought they were Goin odori (from Gion Higashi in Kyoto) but a few Flickr members set me straight :)

There's also some maiko hikizuri on YJA at the moment:

Auction link

Auction link

Auction link

They all seem to be quite damaged so I don't know if they were used in henshin...

There was also this hikizuri which has already sold:

From the same seller, also with a lot of damages but the auction still ended for 34,270yen!!!

I was going to have a bid around the 10,000 yen mark but I've been working a lot recently and I flat out forgot to bid before going to bed!

I've nearly finished sewing my maiko hikizuri too! 

I just need to add a strip of fabric at the under arm openings and its done!

Happy 2013 Everyone!

Hope everyone had a great New Years :)
Personally I've been down with the flu since Christmas so I didn't do anything special.

I haven't been uploading to Flickr lately (bad me) but I did put up the 1968 Calendar scans:

See the rest here

I've still got a massive bunch of odori to upload and I'm slowly chipping away at it but I've recently been working on some sewing projects.

The first, while not impressive to anyone but me lol, is the 50's style dress I made for my friends wedding:

I'm not a sewing person so I was quite proud of myself! The bodice I had a lot of trouble with as I made my own sloper and it just wouldn't work for me :(

The skirt is just a simple pleated rectangle skirt that I found very easy to make and feel confident enough to do again.

The shape probably isn't quite right as I'm only wearing one 

petticoat and to get the real shape I probably should've worn another one as well... but I only have one and the petticoat I tried to make is a total mess : /

Then next dress I'm going to try is very similar to the above dress, except I'll try a sweetheart neckline in this super cute doggie fabric!

Another project I've been working on very slowly is restyling this katsura. I bought it off YJA years ago and tried styling it once See here for the sad result. This time I'm going to do it properly and slowly and hopefully get it right this time.

So the totally awesome photo you see below is of the wig and I've just finished washing it, section by section, so it wouldn't get all tangled and me frustrated. 

Its really big and puffy! So next I'll be sewing in some hair pieces I bought to fill in any holes and fix up the netting on the inside. I don't expect to be finished this before the start of next year, it took me the best part of two months two wash it so I'm definitely taking my time on this one...

Another project I have been taking my sweet, sweet time with is sewing a maiko hikizuri... Coming up to 

2.5years now... I was trying to get it done for 2 years but I've had a lot of trouble with the lining *sigh*

The design is fans with different flowers inside and grass on the background.

Really pretty and I'm nearly done!

I've just got to finish the lining, attach the sleeves, sew down the collar and add the tucks!

Still sounds like a lot but in comparison to the kimono as a whole its nearly done!!!!

I will seriously be very happy to have it finish, although I probably haven't done a very good job at sewing it correctly at least it will be altogether.

I've given myself until March to get it done....

Then I'm working on sewing one of my maiko han'eri onto a emon-nuki to help when wearing it:

Here are the instructions I'm working off, kinda making it up as I go along because I'm not sure of certain things but so far its looking good! 

The deadline for that is February....