New purchases

Kimono wise I've hardly bought anything for myself this year, I suppose that's partially because once you've been collecting kimono for a few years generally you start to create a well balanced collection, one or two of everything.

I've bought a few dance programs, a few pre-ww2 Kamogawa and a couple 1970s Miyako and Kyo odori. I really need to make time to scan a few of those in.

So a couple of dance programs and also something special!
A few weeks ago on YJA there was a couple of maiko hikizuri up for auction ( also a few han'eri and one darari!)
I was incredibly lucky in those auctions.
I managed to snag a han'eri and a hikizuri!

The three han'eri that sold went cheaply, I think that's because most people were throwing the big money at the hikizuri and darari.
The han'eri has seen better days, it has heavily dirty with red marks... Perhaps it could be spot cleaned?
Has anyone had any experience cleaning embroidery?

The maiko hikizuri isn't in good condition either, it does have some slight discolouration on the body and some prominent stains on the front, nevertheless the actual design is beautiful, subtle and elegant.

Enough talk, photos!

Sorry for the lame photos, I would like to sew the collar up and dress up my mannequin later :)

Yeah I was really having a bad photo day huh? Blurry as...
Anyway, I tried to capture all the subtle shading on the leaves, I must seriously have a thing for autumn leaves on my kimono...
The combination of ivy and bamboo is a bit different, or at least I haven't seen it many times.
Bamboo is a pretty common theme on kimono as is ivy I spose but I guess I just don't see it as much.
Plus the purple background really makes the greens and reds pop :)

The han'eri is a senior maiko collar, my first, the others I have are more for younger maiko. But like I mentioned before it'll need a clean somehow, we'll see how that goes.
Because if I'm honest with myself it'll take me 4 months just to sew it onto a chikara-nuno/emon-nuki.
Poor time management skills? I gots them.

To top it off I'm going to make an ivy obidome!
It'll look all matchy-matchy like my waterlily ensemble
(In a good way I hope)

Which darari obi do you think I should use?
Black with gold ume
Orange with gold kiku and kiri
or the white and gold two piece obi

I personally think all would go ok, but the black would really make a strong impression (junior) or the white and gold for a more subtle look (senior).

Waterlily hikizuri ensemble

Woah! Nearly two months since my last blog post..... Geez that's bad...

The other week I sent off a waterlily obidome I'd made to a friend, I'd made it with large loops on the back for vintage obijime for a retro style or for use in a maiko henshin. ( she was happy with it :) ) but then I thought I should dress up my mannequin in my waterlily hikizuri to match the obidome!
Timing is just about perfect because this hikizuri was worn by then maiko Fukuhina in the 2009 Miyako-no-nigiwai performance:
Here
This kimono is one of my favourites in my collection, I must admit though because I treasure it so much ( and because it cost a lot too) I rarely take it out to display.
I'll probably keep it on the mannequin for a week before packing it away...

Photos!

I had such a hard time tying the obi! Tough work, I was sore afterwards.
The obi is a two piece that I bought in late 2011. I originally bought it to go with my formal black maiko hikizuri but the mon are different.
I should really put them together and see how they look...

Anyway so the obi isn't in very good condition, the gold is a bit faded, the white has turned that slightly grey-ish colour that white goes and has permanent fold makes( maybe you can see that) but nevertheless I think it looks great with the kimono!
Here is my crappy stock photo...
Actually I'm surprised how well everything matches each other, no where near maiko quality but I'm happy with it.

The han'eri is a maiko han'eri that I'd sewn onto a emon-nuki/chikara-nuno:
Here
I really need to get around to sewing my other han'eri onto them for easy use.

The obiage and obijime are just "maiko-esque" looking so I bought them.
By the time I got around to putting on the obiage and obijime I was knackered so that's why they're a bit messy... I didn't position the obiage very well, the pattern is grass leaves.

Then a bronze waterlily obidome.
I'm of two minds with the bronze obidome. On one hand I like it because it matches the gold in the obi and the haneri but on the other hand I feel like it needs to contrast the obi in a strong pink and greens?

Overall I'm very pleased how it looks :) Hope you liked the pretty pictures!

Looking forward to Easter!

Easter this year means four straight days off work for me!
Working two jobs and an on-line course is starting to take its toll a bit as I haven't managed to juggle all my tasks. Need some organization I do.
Plus my boyfriend will be home too so we can spend some quality time together, usually when he's at work I have time off and vice versa.
It would be really good if we could do something on the house but I think we'll be catching up with friends and watching movies :) which sounds awesome too!

I've been a bit slack lately on my Etsy shop, I haven't had as much spare time as I would like to devote to it at the moment but the March sale I had was great! I sold a few tsuke obi, some more obijime bundles and I had another custom order for obidome! I made two lily of the valley designs and a bright red camellia.
I switched to a better quality resin and the pieces feel a lot nicer too. It is a bit more tricky than the previous type but the results are worth it.
I've also managed to source a type of flat wire to use on the back which I'm using now and looks great as well, the thin, round wire served its purposed but didn't look very nice, but I'll use that on the small designs for the thin obijime.
Which leads me into...
I've started making up a few obidome designs for the vintage thin and really wide obijime.
I only have a couple of designs for both right now but I plan to sell them with the obijime as a set.
Hopefully I can get that up in a few months, I'm still sourcing the obijime.
The last things I've added to my shop are some obiage bundles: Here all in lovely colours :)

As mentioned in my previous post I've been experimenting with some metallic colours and those are coming along nicely. The pewter and bronze colours look fantastic!
I hope to be able to photograph some of the things I've made over the Easter weekend and get them ready for my shop :)

And now some photos, if you've managed to read all that without clicking away in boredom ;)

The pewter and silver colours.

Pewter is the darker one in the back and silver is in the foreground.

Bronze and gold colours. I was surprised how well it turned out when I put the two together on a piece.

I imagine the same could be done with pewter/silver as they share the same "cool" tone or "warm" tone for bronze and gold but I don't know how well a silver and bronze obidome would look, for example.

No doubt I'll give it a try at some time ;)

Bright Stripes!

On Sunday I thought I'd try on my new kimono and obi.
I don't have many kimono that fit like they actually should and it was really nice to be able to wrap it around my big hips with a good overlap and sleeves that nearly reach my wrists rather than half way up my forearms ( who knows that feeling?!)

I tried to pick an obiage/obijime colour that would be strong enough against the colourful-ness of the kimono and obi, I think it looks ok but perhaps there would be a better combo out there.
I like this kitsuke :) Partially because it was a recent purchase and I wore it instead of putting it in my cupboard for 2 years, also because its different to what I usually wear and a bit brighter.
The obidome is a "pewter" kiku. Lately I've been experimenting with metallic colours and I think they look pretty good.

Etsy Sale on Kimono and Obi!

Just a quick shout out that until the end of March I'm having a sale on the Kimono and Obi sections of Kofuji Kimono!

Included in the sale are some pre-tied obi I listed recently., here's two examples:

Summery obi

Pink arabesque

Thankyou!

Interesting kimono remake shops on Etsy.

Every now and then I come across and interesting shop that uses kimono and obi fabric to make clothes or accessories. I know that's nothing new and some people don't like the idea on the fact that someone has cut apart kimono and obi to remake it but sometimes the creations are just sweet :)

Here are some of my favourite finds:

OniGokkoBags for when you need a funky backpack:

Here

KiryuOri makes these adorable bow ties:

Here

PriscillaTokyo uses vintage fabrics to make clothing.

Here

Shantique creates amazing wedding dresses and clothing from kimono.

Here

MaikoGirl makes these pretty cuffs from vintage fabrics, an easy way to show your love for kimono everyday.

Here

I'm sure there's lots more shops out there, what are some of your favourites?

New Kimono and mannequin kitsuke

( because I was too lazy to dress myself...)

I decided that I really needed some striped kimono, and a hakata obi for good measure.

And so I got....

I decided that if I was going to buy anymore kimono then they should really be a size that should fit me, rather than a pretty kimono that's too small.
Yes I realize that I could let out the seams on a small kimono but I started that on one of my kimono.... well over a year ago. So not the best option.

I'm not sure what possessed me to buy the bright purple and green stripe kimono, maybe that day I thought I needed a bright kimono.

The black, white and green kimono is actually a hitoe kimono so that's seasonally appropriate for now and I really like how it looks with the cream and green hakata obi.
I kinda lucked out with that combo, I didn't buy the obi to match the kimono, and I think the hakata will work ok with the purple stripe kimono too.
Actually I never think how a new piece will work with my existing collection, if I like it that's about as far as I think about it. Therein lies a major problem with my collection!

Hopefully I can get around to doing a proper kitsuke for each kimono soon.