My 2013 in review.

I've been a slack blogger this year huh?
With this post it'll be a grand total of 14 for the entire year!
I suppose that has to do with the fact that I haven't worn kimono as much this year as I would've liked, but you know, real life gets in the way sometimes.

So here's my years worth of kitsuke!
Not the most exciting bunch but at least three of those ensembles were of kimono I've never worn before so that's a good stat ;)
( Also three of those kitsuke are wisteria kimono, do you think I have a problem much?!)

Left to right:

Yellow yukata with mauve hanhaba obi.
Wisteria yukata with the same mauve obi ( I was in love with that obi for a while)
Worn to the Kimono de Jack Australia event at the Japanese Festival in Melbourne.
Winter scenery kimono with accessories for the Kimono de Jack Australia Winter Challenge.
Another wintery themed kitsuke, although I was aiming for a "spring" feel...
Grey and white patterned komon with cream hakata obi.
Ro wisteria komon with a cream hakata obi. ( my next obi love affair was this obi)
Wisteria furisode with a wisteria obi and me in a bad wig!

My last kistuke for 2013 is a sea themed ensemble: ( not at the sea tho...)

This seashell kimono was one of my early purchases and I love it dearly!
The kimono is a hitoe chirimen and its so soft and comfortable, just on the small side for me however. It is also badly stained so I'll never wear it out in public but I enjoy it nevertheless.
The obi is a recent purchase ( recent two years ago -_- ) the whole thing is just open weaved threads in shades of blue and white. I've worn it before and find it a very easy obi to use.
I went with golden accessories for this look with  a golden yellow obiage, gold obijime and a gold seashell obidome I made :)
I'm very happy how it all pulled together, usually when I plan a kitsuke I decide on a kimono and an obi ( or a small selection) and pick all the accessories as I'm dressing.
Even my collar was behaving for me today!
Usually my collar gets eaten by the time I get around to photos and I have to spend 10 mins adjusting everything but not this time, just a quick smooth over and all good.

I also opened my Etsy shop KofujiKimono late 2012 but didn't really start to do much with it till the new year. 
I'm happy with how I went in my first year of selling, provided I did close the shop for three months while we moved.
I do have a lot of new ideas for the shop next year! Lots more obidome and I hope to start making a few other kimono accessories.
I will also continue to stock vintage kimono, obi and accessories.

My fiancé and I also bought a house this year ( that's the move I mentioned) so lately my spare time has gone into jobs around the house.
My  mother is coming for a visit in the new year and insists on painting some rooms for us. A very generous offer but we are still so un-organized that the spare rooms are still full of boxes.... There's the tv/living room to paint if she really wants I guess...

That would have to be my year all summed up, not an eventful year but a year for getting things done I spose.

My goals for 2014 include:
* Blogging more. You guys saw that one coming huh?
*Wearing kimono more often so I have something to blog about
*Save for an overseas holiday or renovations for the house ( including the original 70's kitchen... No joke...)
*Work more on my Etsy.
*Sew more of my own clothes. This will probably be limited to dresses and skirts but I'll be happy with that.
* Lastly the normal eat better/lose weight/walk the dog more thing.


How has your 2013 been and what are you planning for 2014?

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, Haori and some Maiko Stuff For Sale.

Hi everyone :)

I'm selling some more pretties on my Flickr:

Top row:
*Bamboo haori-$30
*girls haori-Sold.
*Stripe haori-$1

Middle Row:
*Kofurisode and hakama set-$120
*Purple komon-$10

Bottom row:
*Ro komon-$50
*All shibori houmongi-$50
*Vintage juban-$50

All are open to offers, I just want to get rid of these.

Maiko Postcards: $15.
Maiko half Han'eri: $40.
Kyo Odori Plate: $15.
Kinchaku: $50.

Please have a look at all the detailed photos of the items as well, in my
 Flickr folder and contact me on Flickr or here if you are interested in anything.

Next I'm going to be listing some books. I've collected many over the years.
 Most will be in Japanese but will have photos (my original reason for buying
 them as I don't speak/read Japanese apart from the odd phrase/word) so
 hopefully that will interest some of you.

Then I think I'll list some obi and obijime/obiage and some general kitsuke items.

Basically I'm selling most of my collection as I don't really wear any of them
 and may as well put the money towards clothes I will wear. Sad truth.
 I've been thinking this way for a while now. I'm sure some of you also go
 through phases where you wonder why you collect kimono but this has
 been hanging around in my thoughts for a while now.

So feel free to make an offer on any of my items. If it took me 5 years to collect

 all that I have, it might take another 5 years to sell it all...

More goodies for sale :)

I'm sure most of you are getting bored with me posting only about selling stuff but I am finding new homes for things, so soon I'll take a break from selling.

I sold 7 things last week! That's great!
 I sold the Marumage wig :) that made its way over to Western Australia to its new home.
A few obi I sold to a lady also in Victoria and I even sold an obi to a lady in Bendigo (!) who was giving it to an elderly Japanese friend for Christmas, Awww! I think that's so sweet :)
And a few geta are going over to Westerna Australia as well.

Ok this week I have:

Geta:

*Clear varnish wooden geta with blue and white hanao

*Black painted geta with red hanao

*Plain wooden geta with gold and black hanao.

Kimono:

* Sky blue iro-tomesode with wisteria design

*Pruple komon with hexagon design

* Shiromuko

*Meiji era girls furisode

Obi:

*Red and black hakata obi

*Brown and white stripe with swirl detail

*Ro fukuro obi with water wheel.

Please have a look at them in My eBay :)

In the next few weeks I might start on scanning more odori programs as I'll be receiving them soon.

Hopefully I'll be sharing with you my latest sewing project soon... Its only taken me a week... and two years!