Bangasa Kimono = ^( ^_^)^ ^(^_ ^) ^

Youtube Tutorials

2011-12-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

This month I've finally got off my arse and did what I've been promising to myself for about a year now. I've always wanted to make some youtube kitsuke videos and I finally did it this week. I went to Isla house and spent a few days recording how to tie obi, and here is the result.

Part 1:

Part 2:

This knot is called a kamifusen (paper balloon) and it's tied using a hanhaba obi. I'm quite please with the way they turned out.

Project Kuro

2011-10-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

I find it quite funny that I don't have a kurotomesode in my collection, I have a maiko obi but no kurotomesode.( Cos you know I'll get more wear out of a maiko obi then a kurotomesode!) It's usually what most people buy when starting out in wearing/collecting kimono, I guess it's due to them being ~~cheap and~~ abundant on ebay. Anyway I've never really liked the look of kurotomsodes, not for any particular reason I just find them a bit blah. Also after finding out that you unless I'm going to a wedding and a close member of the family, you can't really wear this anywhere else! Talk about a one time wear garment, no wonder there so cheap and abundant on ebay. But in order to 'complete' my collection I need a kurotomesode.
You know I've been telling you about my wip's and how I should get a move on with them, well this is one of them. I bought this bolt from Ryujapan years ago with the intention of making it in a kimono, hell I even bought some doura bolts to line the thing. However life got in the way and it's been languishing in wip purgatory ever since. In a effort to get try and make a dent in wip hell I've decided to make this my next project.
As you might know I have sewn a hitoe (unlined) kimono however I have never even attempted to try and sew a awase (lined) before or anything that requires me to match up patterns. So this is going to be my baptism of fire and I'm going to document my process here.
This is the bolt I'm going to make my kimono from

Kinda shitting myself in case I make a mistake but if I don't start now I never will, and like they say 'fortune favours the bold'!

Various Buys

2011-10-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

These have been my kimono purchases over the past few months.

I've been on a mens kimono buying spree, the two sets above fit someone between 180-185cm tall.

I finally bought a uchikake, yay.

Tatoushi 2.0

2011-10-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog for some time now, it's time for a post.
For a while I've been thinking how to add a window to my tatoushi so I can see what I have stored in it. Buying business cards for a collection as big as mine can add up, so I thought this would be a better and cheaper alternative. Anyway here's the finished product.

I think it turned out o.k, the only problem I'm having at the moment is how to sew the bias tape around the window neatly.
That's it for this post.

It's Been Too Long

2011-04-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

Damn, looks like I haven't updated this blog since January! Looks like I"ll have to fill you in on 3 months worth of info :(

January
Went to January's Kimono De Jack at the Barbican, had fun and met a new member.

February
Another Kimono de Jack, this time in Birmingham. Went to cadburys world

March
Kimono De Jack in Manchester (see a theme here?)
You can check out the pics and what we did on the Kimono De Jack UK blogpage.

Which brings us to April. April has been a busy month for me and we haven't even finished the first week yet! What makes this month so busy? Kitacon. For a while now me and the girls have been discussing a kimono based venture, like dressing people up and photographing them. We were thinking where we could do such a thing and we all agreed we should tour the anime conventions. So back in October Isla contacted Kitacon regarding us becoming dealers and lo and behold they had space for us. We decided it was now or never and booked two tables, one for kanzashi and the other for kimono/ kitsuke. Well that was the plan anyway. Now were up to February and we haven't even decided what kimono we're going to use for the photo shoot! We had a big meeting after February's KDJ to plan what we would be doing and charging. After 4 hours we pretty much had most of the details sorted out, like pricing and what kimono/ obi to bring. Liz suggested we just bring the fancy ones like furisode and kakeshita/ uchikake and she was right, everyone that dressed wanted to wear the furisodes.
About 2 weeks before me/Lyuba and April/Liz tool some photos for the photo book to show what they could dress up like. If you want to know more about that you'll have to go to Lyuba's blog.
While I was at Lyuba's house we decided to have have a clearout of her kimono collection, you know so we would have some stock to sell at the con. After 3 hours she had 30+ pieces on her to sell pile ( that eventually went up to 60+), I wasn't going to bring anything to sell at the convention because I couldn't carry it all however Lyuba kindly offered to take it up to kitacon in her car! Once I had that offer I went nuts on my collection! I don't even know how much stuff I had but I know It was two boxes that weighted 15kg each! and I still have some more stuff at home!
Fast Forward to Saturday 1st of April at 6am. We all woke up in time but spent so long getting ready (ie putting on make up) that we we're nearly late for the opening of the dealers room. After piling our stuff into the cars, we set off for the Birmingham Hilton where the convention was taking place. After a few hiccups regarding where the dealers room was and parking we finally found the dealers room.
O.k I'm going to cut the story here and continue later, I'm getting tired.

Book Review: Japanese dressmaking with DVD はじめての和裁 DVDつき手習い帖 [大型本]

2011-01-25T01:07:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while and I have been lazy when it comes to this blog, I apologize. I can only hope you'll forgive me and accept this book review.

Japanese dressmaking with DVD はじめての和裁 DVDつき手習い帖 [大型本]
Language: Japanese

No of pages: 159

ISBN-10: 4522424078
ISBN-13: 978-4522424070

Amazon

Yesasia

This book is about making hitoe kimono in the traditional handsewn way. It also has instructions on how to make a variety of kitsuke items (see contents below). About 3/4th of the book is instructions on how to make the items, while the last 1/4th is filled with sewing techniques, a Q & A and basic kitsuke.
The best thing about this book is that it comes with a DVD (1 hour 35 minutes) which takes you step by step, through measuring, cutting, marking and sewing a kimono. The downside to the DVD is that it doesn't cover the other items in the book (like the rain coat)
it only show you how to make a kimono.

Content: Book
P 1-27 - Introductions and photos of kimono
P 28-71 - Kimono
P 72-87 - Han juban
P 88-91 - Hada juban
P 92-99 - Susoyoki
P 100-110 - Obi's
P 111-124 - Rain Coat
P 125-130 - Tabi (23 & 24cm)
P 132-143 - Q&A + stitch glossary
P 144-157 - Basic kitsuke

Content : DVD
Chapter 1: Introduction of materials needed
Chapter 2: How to measure and cut the bolt
Chapter 3: Marking the bolt
Chapter 4 is split into 9 sub chapters and deals with sewing and assembling the kimono.
4:1: Sleeves
4:2: Sewing back panels together
4:3: Making the tuck at the back to the kimono
4:4: Sewing front panels to back panels
4:5: Okumi
4:6: Hemming bottom
4:7: Collar
4:8: attaching sleeves to body
4:9: Finishing the kimono by ironing
Chapter 5: Sewing techinques like basting stitch e.g

Pros:
- Has a DVD showing you how to make a kimono.
- Very detailed
- Comprehensive

Cons
- Has alot of text and it's all in japanese
- Expensive
- Has no instructions for lining the kimono

Recommened for
- Those who want to make a kimono in the traditional way
- Visual learners

Not recommened
- Those who hate handsewing
- Beginners (unless you can read japanese)

I like this book, it's very detailed and has information on how to make stuff like a rain coat! No haori though. Boo. However that's my only gripe, so if your in the market for a kimono making book. Try this one.

_______

I'm In Pain

2010-12-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

Yes I'm ill, so no blogging for me for a while. Hopefully I'd be better by friday as have a fashion show to attend to, Anyway I'd leave you with some reading material courtesy of one miss Diana Quintal, a fellow kimono blogger.

http://moonblossom.net/blog/

A Few Tips for The Beginner (Women's Kitsuke)

2010-11-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write about this topic for a while, I've seen over the past few months more and more people getting interested in wearing kimono (especially in the UK). So I thought I'd share a few things I've learnt over the years.
Sizing.

Get the right size kimono! seriously. I've seen some shops saying kimono sizes are all 'one size', there not (even by Japanese sizes). Buying a kimono that fits you will make putting it on a lot easier, the most important measurements that you need are your height and the width between your wrists (when you hold out your arms) and maybe your hip measurement if your a little plump. The length of the kimono should ideally be the same height as you, so you can get a decent ohashori out of it. I've seen some people wear kimono that are just way too small for them, so when they sit down they they show the whole world their underwear! or their boobs, but I don't want to get into that.

Start small
If your just starting out, get a yukata. These are informal, cotton kimono (think jeans and t shirt) and they are easier to put on. They're cheaper and require less accessories to put on, 3 koshihimo, 1 datejime and 1 obi ita are needed for yukata. Once you've mastered putting on a yukata, you'll have the skills to put on a kimono.

Elastic Koshihimo

Another accessory I would recommend, to even seasoned pros. The typical koshihimo is made from muslin and these have no give, so if you tie tightly your going to feel it! With elastic koshimo you don't have this problem. These koshihimo I find are much more comfortable then the muslin kind as they 'expand', especially useful if your going to eat! These koshihimo cost much more then the standard muslin kind however I feel they are worth every penny. So if your staring out, I would suggest you buy elastic and not muslin.

Obi Clip

I'm all for shortcuts and one of these will help you tie a short obi and a otaiko with minimal effort.

A adjustable juban

A adjustable juban is a godsend, it mean you only need to change the sleeves to make it fit any kimono so more money for other kimono. I will post up a tutorial on how to make a normal juban into a adjustable one.

Flatten and Padding

I have to admit this is a slight pet peeve of mine, kimono wearers who don't bind their chests. If you have a chest bigger then a (UK) A cup, I would suggest you bind those babies down! A sports bra or Ace bandages will do, this will help keep your collars from moving around. Also if you have a hourglass shape then padding your waist (ideally you will want to be a cylindrical shape) will help with a slipping obi.

Synthetic Kimono

If your just starting out wearing kimono I would suggest you stay away from the vintage kimono, sure they're pretty and made from silk but more often then not they are tiny! I'm 5ft and skinny, and even I have some trouble getting into vintage kimono! That's not to say anyone bigger then 5ft can't get into vintage, I'm just saying it takes some advance kitsuke which I might get into later in another post.
Synthetic or poly kimono on the other hand come in a variety of sizes other then 'tiny'. Poly kimono also comes with the added advantage of being washable, silk kimono are not. So if your going to go out on the town or eat, your not going to have to worry if you spill a drink or brush up against a dirty wall. Rain will also stain silk so if you live in a rainy country, you might want to look into buying synthetic.
Practise!!!!!!!

The only way your going to get better is to practise, rinse and repeat.

Now as a beginner your properly reading this and thinking wtf! but bear in mind these are just my own personal suggestions, what might work for one person might not for another. You can take it or leave it.
These tips are things I've picked up over the years and I'd thought I'd share. If you have any other tips, leave a comment and I'll add them in.

Kokia Koncert

2010-09-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

See what I done there..................................................................

Fine.

Anyway this is going to be a quick post, Just found out one of my favourite Japanese singers is coming to London to perform!!!!!!!! Last time I saw her was in Ireland two years ago (and I totally stole her signed poster outside)! She going to be performing at the 02 Academy Islington on the 22nd of October, I've already brought my ticket!

Obi Ideas Anyone?

2010-07-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got my brown lily furisode in the post today gorgeous! and it's really big, the sleeves actually touch the floor when I put it on. Anyway I've been trying to match a obi for this kimono and the only one I think would match is my fuji fukuro obi pictured below.

Or I was thinking of matching this furisode with a fur zebra print obi (though I have to make one)

What do you think?

New Ro Kimono

2010-07-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't brought another one. Due to the big clean up I've found a few bolts I've brought but never got round to sewing, I've got quite a few but off the top of my head I have 2 furisode karinui, 1 kurotomesode bolt, 1 furisode bolt, 3 yukata bolts and 1 ro tsukesage or houmongi bolt. So In a bid to make a dent in my WIP pile I started on the ro bolt, seeing you dont have to line the kimono I thought it would make a good starting point.
This bolt was brought years ago but when I recieved it it looked like someone has chopped a bit off the ends, so thinking that the bolt was to short to make a kimono I put it away in my fabric stash. It's only when I saw it again that I started to think 'I'll just measure it just in case there is enough for a kimono' and lo and behold there was 12 meters, just enough for a kimono. So I started and luckly for me there are markings on the bolt telling you where to cut so that was easy. The only problem I had was the collar and sewing, a little tip don't sew ro using the sewing machine. Make a mistake and you won't be able to get rid of the needle marks from the fabric! Anyway I've nearly finished the kimono, just have to attach the sleeves and hem the thing and I'll be done. I'm going to wear this at the japanese matsuri in london on september 18th.

Gotta love the colour :)

1 Week, 3 Days On

2010-07-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's been 1 week and 3 days since I had my eye surgery to correct my eye sight, and I have to say it's been worth every penny! my eye sight is better then 20/20! I have to get used to not wearing my glasses, it's a strange feeling. Anyway the surgery went fine, the actual surgery was only 15 mins but I had to wait for around 2 hours before I was seen. After the surgery went home in a taxi and started to have the 'onion eyes' they were telling me about, it's when you get stinging and watering of eyes. Went to sleep for a few hours and when I woke up the onion eyes feeling was gone and I could see things from a distance. I had to put in antibotic and anti inflammatory (which are white) eyedrops for a week, everytime I put them in I could taste the drop in the back of my throat! It was not a nice taste. Anyway I finished my course of medical eyedrops and now I can stop wearing the goggles at night (you have to wear googles at night for the 1st week).
So 1 1/2 week on my eyesight is the best it's ever been since I remember, in all I'm a very happy girl :)

As you all know I've been busy sorting out my kimono collection, I'm am please to tell you I've nearly finished (just got to make 1 more bag and order the moo cards) and I have listed some of it on ebay.

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/team_maneki_neko/

Please take a look, all listing are auctions starting at 99p! I'm going to list more items over the next few weeks so keep an eye out and you might grab yourself a bargain!

Okinawa Day Outing

2010-06-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

On saturday at smithfields market they were having a event celebrating Okinawa, so me, Luyba and Cynthia decided to meet up at this event. Unfortunately for me I was working that day and it was 27 C, so you can imagine how I was feeling when I was making my was to Liverpool St Station, in yukata. All I can say is thank god someone invented baby wipes.
oops forgot to describe what i was wearing, it was a shibori yukata that I got from a lot on YJA and a white hanhaba obi with a bangasa motif. I don't have any pictures but Lyuba's husband took some so if you want to see what we were wearing check her blog (strawberry kimono). I don't have a picture of the obi but I do of the yukata.

Back to the story. I got to the market around 2pm and found out I'd just missed Cynthia (damn) and saw that the festival was small. 7 stalls and a stage small. Took a look and decided to leave and get something to eat. So me, Luyba and her hub go to a restaurant called Taro near Leicester Sq, had a good chat then went to Carnaby St to go check out a shoe shop. Afterwards we went to Haagen-dazs and got some ice cream and a funny thing happened. As we were queing up one of the waitress came up to us and started to talk to tell about how pretty we looked, she was pretty excited (something I'm not accustomed to :P) and she mentioned she was in the kimono club in Barcelona! (I've been following their club for ages on flickr and their blogs) but had to give it up when she came to the UK. I'm always on the look out for new members for our kimono club so when she said she was in the kimono club in Barcelona, ding! ding!
Anyway the waitress name is Marina and Luyba gave her her business card and told her to contact her, I hope she does I got a good vibe off her :) So after that we had another good chat (Luyba's husband is a funny guy!) and then went home. The next day I was limping from walking around so much! Luckly it was the England vs Germany match so there wasn't much to do at work and that's it for Okinawa Day outing.
On a side note, I got mentioned on Minna No Kimono about the fabric tatoushi. I'm quite pleased :)
Now on to non kimono related stuff, my eye surgery date is drawing nearer and I'm shitting myself, really shitting. I'm still going to go through with it, but this panic is staring to grow and I'm not liking it, not one bit. So next time you'll hear from me is after the surgery and hopefully I will have 20/20 vsion.

Kimono Binging

2010-06-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

So after being such a good girl and not buying any kimono (or related stuff) for about a good 6 months, I went on a bender. What started it off was I saw a loverly taisho kimono on ebay and thought I'd treat myself. Bad idea. After that I went on a binge buying stuff from rakuten, yamatoku and ryujapan and it's all adding up. Now I know how it feels for people who diet! I'm now going to ban myself from looking at any of their websites, I can't keep this up at this rate all I'll have in my room is kimono.

Anyway might as well show you what I brought

And my baby of the lot, this brown lily furisode. It's 174cm and synthetic so if I want to dress someone up I dont have to worry if it fits them or if it get dirty!

Bloody impluse buy, still like it tho.

A green tsuke obi, I bought this because I don't have a non formal green obi.

Maiko kinchaku....because it was on sale.

Okobo, for my oiran kitsuke for the MCM expo. Then found out it was going to be 13C and raining, scraped that idea.

And finally a shibori furisode.

Told you I went on a binge.

I Can See!....Not Till Tuesday Tho

2010-06-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm booked in for surgery to correct my eyesight :) I'm having the operation next tuesday so this time next week I'll be glasses free!

SCORE!!!!!!

Rakuten Virgin No Longer

2010-06-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo, I know I shouldn't be buying more kimono stuff but I just got my new credit card and there is some things I still need.... o.k want.
For those who don't know what rakuten is, it's like a big online mall in japan. It has something like 60000 shops on it's website! Anyway Chan has been telling me it's easy to buy stuff from the website but in truth I've been scared, till yesterday. I'm not going to tell you what I brought because it's going to be early christmas presents for the girls, and I don't want to ruin the suprise. Needless to say everything has gone smoothly and the shop has just sent me a email saying they have sent out the items, so now to play the waiting game.

Kabuki In London

2010-06-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

On the 10th of this month I went to a kabuki show in London, it starred the famous kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa XI performing Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees). So I thought it was a ample opportunity to go in kimono. I was torn between going super formal or super casual as I've made a vow to actually wear everyone of my kimono at least once before buying a new one (that's failed btw, more on that later). The choice was either go in a iro tomesode (the one shown below) tho I would have been WAY to formal.

Or to go in a komon, however I don't think I have a obi that matches.

I wanted to go in the iro tomesode however I thought as there were going to be other japanese people in kimono there, I'd best play it safe. as luck would have it I remembered I had a tsukesage floating around in my collection that I hadn't worn yet. So after much digging I finally found it.

I remember buying this kimono when I first started buying kimono but for some reason I never got round to wearing it. When I started to try and match it with a obi, I could see why. After much deliberation I decieded to call the in the big guns, the IG members. Originally I had paired a black obi with a fuji motif and a pink obiage, however the others felt that a yellow obi and obijime/age combo would work the best, and they were right. So without further ado here's the pics

As for the play itself, it was great! especially the audience, in particular these two old guys who were having a shouting match (you can do that in kabuki I believe) to encourage your favourite actor.

Now thinking there was going to be more people in kimono at the event, imagine my surprise when I get there and find out I'm the only one in kimono! Hell no one was dressed even remotely formal, all suits and jeans.

I did have someone come up to me speaking japanese when I was having the above photo taken, man I haven't had that that happen to me in a long time. I think thats because usually I'm with the girls and I direct them towards April's way (she can speak japanese).

Now I have a confession to make, I absolutely hate this kimono! There nothing wrong with it, it fits me and all but for some reason Im just not liking this kimono. I know your going to say it beautiful and it is, but for some unknown reason I just don't like it. It's like with the red parasol I traded with Priscilla, I hated that thing! nothing wrong with it, just hated it. I think my tastes have changed over the years and since I've started to sort out my collection, I realized I have way to much and it needs a cull. So this kimono going on the "to sell" pile along with 40 other kimonos, obi etc.

No, I'm Not Dead...... Just Lazy

2010-06-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yep like the title says I have been neglecting this blog, It's not like I don't have anything to say, I just feel like I don't have the energy to put it down into words. There's quite a few things I need to blog about, The march kimono outing, the concert, kimono purchases, may expo and a wedding. Teach me to procrastinate.
So Let first start with the koto concert me, Isla and April went to in march. The japan society in Birmingham was hosting a koto concert for it's members, as April is on the committee we managed to get tickets. Also I felt everytime we have a kimono meet up in London April has to travel down from Birmingham, so I thought it was about time we came to her instead. Me and Isla discussed what to wear to the concert, I was going to go in one of my furisode but I changed my mind beacuse I had already worn them all to an outing before and there were other kimono I still haven't even touched since I bought them. After some serious thinking time I decied to wear my multi season houmongi that I had been saving for a special occasion, you can check out the pics from that night here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shigatsuhana/sets/72157623608216674/

As for the koto concert, it was great! There was even a young girl in yukata performing and whoever said Birmingham was a dump obviously hasn't been there for a while.

Two, soon To Be Three Events

2010-03-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

My, it's been nearly a month since I last updated my blog. I would say I've been busy with work and play but in all honesty it's because I broke my glasses. Yes you heard that correctly I broke my glasses, so now I can't see a thing and that makes things a lot more difficult. Luckly I have contacts however I can only wear them for 8 hours before they start to get uncomfortable, so for 8 hours of the day I can see :) the other 16 I can't see shit! :( Anyway going to get my glasses fixed sometime next week....hopefully.
These past couple of weeks I have been a busy bee, I've been on teo kimono outings in two weeks! and on the 12th I'll be attending a koto concert, in kimono! I don't think I've been on a streak like this ever.
The first event I went to was the Japanese Art Festival on 28th of Feb with Lyuba. Now the less said about the festival the better, lets just say I'm never going back. anyway Me and Lyuba decided to go to Mitsukoshi for lunch seeing as we were all dressed up with nowhere to go. Didn't get that many pics because.....I was eating, and at the end I was to full and tired.

Funny thing about my outfit is it's nearly all handmade, all except the easy collar, tabi and zori! Lyuba wore her kimono in the style of a 20's pin up girl :) Shame she wasn't in the kimono fashion show, she would have blown the other girls out of the water with her outfit!

The second event was on the 6th of march and it was a lecture/demo on nihon buyo. This time I was with Isla. If you want a review of the day go to Isla blog (kittykanzashi) she's pretty much summed up the day, I'll just show the pictures here., prepared to be spammed...

I'm wearing a blue tsukesage with a gold fukuro obi and burnt orange obiage and obijime. At the end of the event we saw there was quite a few women in kimono (damn! should of got pictures), most of them in komon! I was thinking I was way overdressed until I saw one women in houmongi and another in iromuji, when I saw them it eased my mind.

Well thats it for now, on friday (12th march) me and Isla are meeting up with April (in birmingham) to attend a koto concert. I was going to go in furisode cos when do I ever get to wear a furisode? However when I started to sort out my kimono collection I realized that I have a load of kimono and obi I haven't even worn yet! So I'm torn between wearing a furisode or a kimono, not to sure what to do yet.

Excited! :)

2010-02-01T05:47:00.000-08:00

Yeah!!!! I managed to get tickets to see Florence and the Machine!!!!! Of course they cost me a arm and a leg but it's Florence!!!!!!

Fabric Tatoushi Tutorial

2010-01-18T14:46:00.000-08:00

Fabric tatoushi

I've always wanted to make my own tatoushi , the traditional paper ones I find are usually quite fragile. The ones I own have over the years ripped or the ties have come off from the paper. This is one the reasons why I decided to make them out of fabric and to add a zip.

The fabric tatoushi are fairly easy to make, it uses a metre of fabric and you can use any type of fabric, though cotton will be the most easiest to use. Traditional tatoushi uses cotton ties to keep them closed, I have chosen to use a zip to fasten my tatoushi, It allows for easy access.

The zip I use is called a continous/chain zip, this is a zip which comes off a roll and you can cut it to your desired length, these should come with silders which allow you to zip and unzip.

The bias tape I use is cotton as I find it easier to sew then satin, you can find all of these supplys from your local haberdasery or ebay.

In this tutorial I have added the option of adding flaps to the tatoushi, this stops the kimono from being caught in the zip as you open and close it. This is entirely optional.

Materials:

1 metre of fabric

19mm cotton bias tape (L) 180cm x2, (M) 155cm x2, (S) 145cm x2

Continous Zip (L) 180cm, (M) 155cm, (S) 145cm

1 Zip Silder

Tools:

Sewing Machine

Iron

Scissors
Pins

Layout

Decide what size you want your tatoushi to be and cut out the pieces as shown in the diagram above. Also cut your zip and bias tape to the appropriate length. In the photos I'm making a large sized tatoushi.

1: First fold your body piece fabric in half (check diagram) and iron in a fold.

2: Serge the edges of your flap pieces or sew a zigzag stitch around the edges.

2: Split your zipper in half, so now you have the zipper in 2 pieces. On one of the zipper pieces, cut away 2.5cm of the fabric tape. Not the teeth!

3: Place the flap pieces to the body and pin 2.5cm away from the ends, check photos.

Then pin one side of the zipper on top of the flap piece. Make sure the zipper teeth are facing inward and is the right side up. (check photo)

4: Using your zigzag foot as a guide, sew the zipper and flap onto the body.

6: When you get to the corner, stop sewing 3mm from the end and leave the needle in the down postion.

Turn the fabric and the zip 90 degrees and continue sewing.

Continue sew all the way round the edge till you get to the fold line. Backstitch and leave the excess zip for now.

7: Repeat for the other side. It should look like this when your done.

8: Now sew the bias tape around the edges, just like the zip. Your goal is to hide and encase the raw seams, it should look like this when your done.

9: Now you need to use the zip silder to join the two zipper parts together. Here is a video to show you how.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24_71RzEqTE

It should look like this.

10: From the folded edge, sew 7cm in. Do the same for the other end.

And your finished.

This is my 1st time writing a tutorial, so if you have any problems, let me know. Also if you make one let me know how you got on. Thanks.

F*@K!!!

2010-01-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

I dropped my iphone in the sink & now its dead & it's going to cost me £150 to repair %*@$!

Fabric Tatoushi/Tatoshi Tutorial Preview

2010-01-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've been busy trying to sort out my kimono/obi and fabric collection, I just have to much! So today I finally decided to knuckle down and start making some zip up tatoushi. I've been meaning to make some for a few months now but never got round to it (deja vu, anyone?). Now the reason why I need to make some the the fabric tatoushi is because I hate the paper ones I have, nearly all of the are either ripped or the ties have come off. I find the paper ones are just not strong enough to handle more then one kimono or obi in them.
So I go raiding through my fabric stash and find some suitable fabric and using measurements provided by a kimono magazine I had I started.

And above is the finished article, I chose to make a medium sized one beacuse I remember someone on the IG forums saying they kept there kimono in the medium sized tatoushi. Anyway as you can see from the 2nd picture, a kimono does fit but it has to be folded up from the bottom. I'm also going to order some minicards from a company called moocards. The minicard comes in a box of 100 and is like a business card but half the size and they allow you to a different design on each card! So I'm going to take pictures of all my kimono collection and get them printed out and hang them from the tatoushi zip pull, because I don't have any see thorugh window on the tatoushi. If anyone is interested I will post a tutorial.

Now I have to make about 100 of these fabric tatoushi to house my collection!

Cooking Nikuman

2010-01-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I'm back and sort of recovered from my illness. I still have the ear infection but it's getting less irritating, I've noticed if I tilt my head side to side, I can hear the fluids swishing around :)
Last week I was watching of my favourite youtube channels 'Cooking With Dog'.....it's not what you think. It's a show dedicated to japanese cooking, the host is Francis, a poodle hence the title. Anyway the lastest recipe s/he posted was nikuman (chinese style steamed bun), I LOVE steamed bun so I thought I would give this a go. Now I have a confession to make, the last time (or anytime) I tried to make any bread recipe it's either come out burnt, hard, raw or all of the above. However I'm a sucker for pain so I decided to give it another shot, hell I had a video clip showing me what to do, where could I go wrong.
So off to the chinese supermarket I go in the snow and ice, buy the ingredients, go home on the bus which nearly drives into a traffic light post due to the icy roads!, making the filling & bread dough and finally cooking them. Here are various photos of the nikuman made.

All I can say is DAMN! I have never cooked anything in my life I even liked, but these, these little buns of goodness were wonderful (tho a bit salty, but that's my fault). The bread was soft and airy, the filling was moist, everything was (nearly) perfect. I whole heartedly recommend this recipe :)

Ooh nearly forgot, as you can see my background has changed, I'm in the process of making my blog more nicer (is that even a word?). So there will be a few changes around here as I learn how to change the layout.

I'm Ill....Again

2010-01-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

I'm ill again, not as bad as last time but still ill. Funny thing is this is the first time I've ever had a ear infection, it's kinda strange. It doesn't really hurt but it's like one ear is underwater so I can't really hear from my left side, it's kind of a strange feeling. Oh I've also lost my voice ^(^_^)^, good times.

Happy New Year & A Preview

2010-01-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, people! Hope you had a great christmas and new years, mine was spent with the boyfriend playing on the PS3 I had just brought. didn't even noticed it was the new year until I heard faint sounds of fireworks!
During the chirstmas and new years celebrations I managed to find time to make another kimono, the fabric is made by a company called Benartex and the design is called 'London Cats'. Quite appropriate considering I'm a London girl :)

Anyway I managed to finish this in about 12 hours (that reminds me, I really must get a overlocker) and now I'm stumped, I don't know what to match it with. My sister was no help, she said the fabric look like pyjama's. Now everytime I look at the kimono it just looks like pyjamas to me! So I have decided to add some sort of design (in silver) to the kimono, don't know what or where I'm going to put the design but I've made up my mind. I don't really want to paint flowers or butterflys on the kimono, might do a feather motif but I'm not sure yet.
Anyway here's to the new year and I'll see you soon.

I'm Back

2009-12-24T05:34:00.000-08:00

....with nothing to report, actually not true but as it's christmas and I have things to do (like shop). Anyway see you lot in a few days and merry christmas.

My Internet is down

2009-12-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

MY INTERNET IS DOWN AT THE MOMENT, I THINK THE SNOW HAS DAMAGED THE PHONE LINES. SO I'LL BE OUT OF ACTIONS FOR A FEW DAYS (HOPEFULLY). BTW IF YOUR WONDERING WHY I'M WRITING IN CAPITALS IT'S BECAUSE I'M USING MY IPHONE TO POST THIS MESSAGE & IT WON'T ALLOW ME TO SWITCH OFF THE CAPS LOCK KEY. I REALLY THINK BLOGGER HATES ME.

Handmade Kimono Outfit

2009-12-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

Wow two posts in one day, must be on a roll.

In my last post I talked about my new Janome sewing machine (I love you) and the projects that were put on the backburner due to the old machine braking down (I love you too, just not as much as the new one).
One of these projects were to make a kimono and easy obi, I had already cut out the fabric and all the other bits and pieces, they just needed sewing. The first project I tackled was the easy obi, The fabric I used was in my fabric stash. Actually I had bought this fabric last year with the intentions of making the obi but for some reason it never happened till now. Anyway with the new sewing machine it took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete the obi.
The second project was a new ironing board cover, this was completed in less then a hour from start to finish!

The third project was to make a kimono. I had just brought a book which showed how to make kimono out of normal fabric, so I decided as I had the new sewing machine and the book I had no excuse not to make a kimono. The fabric was brought years ago with the intention of making it to a kimono but I never got around to it. I bought this fabric because I saw one on Mamechiyo's blog and I thought it looked quite good to wear.

In all it took me about nine hours to finish the kimono and 4 hours to finish the obi. I'm quite pleased with the result, the obiage is the one in the short post post, the bat obiage. The obi is the reversible easy obi mentioned above.

The book I used is this one

http://www.yesasia.com/global/mishin-de-kimono-men-asa-yukata/1020349532-0-0-0-en/info.html

Now I do have to warn you even though this book has a pattern for the kimono, I found this book quite difficult to use, of course it's in japanese and there are some photos of the steps in making the kimono however most of the instructions are written. If you can read japanese that's fine, I don't, so I was relying on the photos. Also it only shows you how to make the kimono and has a small section at the back for making the obi, I brought this book hoping there would be a pattern for making tabi but it does not have one. I paid £17 for this book and I don't think it's worth it.

All Hail, My new Sewing Machine

2009-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last updated my blog, I would use the excuse it's christmas and I've been busy but thats only partially true. The other truth is that I've been lazy.... and I have a new sewing machine.

My old sewing machine was a basic with no frills and it cost me £50. I had this machine for a few years and trust me I've used and abused it during that time (I once spilled some water on it and it leaked inside) but it still carried on like a work horse. That was until a month ago when I started on my easy obi, for some reason the sewing machine would not sew no matter what I did. I was thinking of taking it to be repaired however it would cost about £50, thats how much I paid for the machine!
So I was on the market for a new sewing machine, thankfully Lisa from U-Handbag had just test drived a Janome sewing machine (Janome 8077). This new machine usually costs £330 but Janome was having a promotion so it went down to £250, now my old sewing machine cost me £50 so if I was to buy this sewing machine it would cost 5 times as much as my old one! However after reading the review I decided that because I use the sewing machine so much I really should invest in a decent one. So I brought it.

I'm in LOVE with this sewing machine!!!!

My old machine couldn't really get thought thick layers of fabric even with a denim needle, but this machine goes through the layers like a hot knife through butter and thats with a normal needle! This machine has all the features I used to dream about when I had my old sewing machine, a drop in bobbin and a needle threader!

Man this sewing machine has made me want to finish all the projects I've started but not finished.

Oh, nearly forgot I must mention my BF paid for this machine and gave it to me as a christmas present! All I can say to the BF is THANK YOU! and I love you and the sewing machine.

Short Post

2009-11-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

Gonna be a short post today. Made another obiage today.

Told you it was going to be a short post.

Nine Tail Obi Kitsuke

2009-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

O.k, so here are the pictures of me wearing the obi I made in the previous post. I have to admit the kimono and obijime don't really match but I was tired and these were the first things that came to hand.

I found out that this obi is way too long for me, even with padding! I could only tie it with the help of a obi clip and it still was a bit wonky, as you can see from the photo above. Anyway I learnt a few things from this mofuku remake, namely don't try to paint on ro! It's a b***h, don't do it!

One Down, Two To Go

2009-11-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yay I finally finshed the fox obi in the previous post.

I'm not to sure if I positioned the three tailed fox on the right spot of the obi, I'll have to wear it to find out. I'm pretty pleased with how the obi came out Will post pictures of this obi in action later (have to wait for the paint to dry.

Cracking On With The Crafting

2009-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I've got 3 all black obi's (mofuku) so in order to make them more wearable I decided to paint on them. So I ordered all the things I needed and they came today so I thought I better start on them.
For this remake I used a ro obi as I have 2 of them, trying to draw the design (a fox) onto the obi was a nightmare. The fact that the fabric had tiny little holes in it and woulden't stay in place made it so much harder (1 1/2 hours in fact). Anyway after drawing the fox onto the obi I started to paint, at this point I found out I have no fine paintbrush only a calligraphy brush! So I had to make do and started painting. Originally the idea was to just paint the outlines and fill in the rest when I had a appropriate paintbrush, however things never go accoring to plan do they? The calligraphy brush was too big and I ended up painting pretty much the whole thing in, roughly of course.
So after half an hour of careful painting here's the near finished result, still have to do the design for the front of the obi but I think about that when the time comes.

Another one I made, it's supposed to be fireflys flying over grass in the moonlight. It's painted with glow in the dark paint, so it.......glows in the dark.

Weekend Outing And Japanese Concert

2009-10-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last saturday I met up with the girls, in kimono of course. I decided to wear a awase komon that has clematis and some other leaf pattern on it, I paired it up with a golden yellow and blue obi. I didn't take any photos so you'll have to go to kitty kanzashi's blog for what we did. I did take some reference shots though.

Yesterday I went to a concert at Lauderdale house in north London called 'Le Concert d'automne'- The Spirit Of Love. It was a collection of love songs from a selection of operas and some traditional japanese songs thrown in. The singers were Emiko Marimoto (soprano), Makiko Kikuchi (Mezzo Soprano) and Noel Charles on the piano, so I decided to go in kimono. I chose to wear this ploy komon because 1: I haven't touched this kimono since I bought it and 2: I heard it was going to rain. This kimono has yabane, take, chou and some flower I don't recognize, so I think it's a multi season kimono. The obi is a purple silk nagoya obi with a grass motif. These pictures are taken in and around Lauderdale house.

I actually had some problems coordinating the outfit, originally I had planned to wear a yellow obiage and jime but after consulting with my kimono buddys I changed it to dark orange. I think it looks really good! better then the yellow I chose. Anyway back to the concert, It was about 3/4 full, most were japanese and most knew each other. I got a lot of 'sugoi' and 'kawaii' (thank you anime) but none actually came up to talk to me, which was a god send because I had just walked 10 mins uphill to get to the house and I was exhausted.
The music was really good however my only gripe is when the singers sung the japanese songs. Maybe it's because I've heard those songs sung in the traditional way that it sounded a bit weird when sung by a opera singer. The only way I can describe it is when a opera singer sings a pop song (think El Divo), somethings not quite right.

On a side note I'm sorry about the post layout looking a bit wonky, this has been happening a lot (actually everytime I do a new post) I'm trying to sort it out. I've also stopped blanking out my face because i'm too lazy to edit my pictures and also if you really wanted to see what I looked like, it would be pretty easy to find pictures.

Two Has Gone A Little Overboard!

2009-10-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm 'spring' cleaning my room at the moment, so everythings everywhere. After 3 years of non stop buying (especially kitsuke related) you can imagine the amount of stuff I've accumulated over the years. So it's taken me a few months to sort things out, like what to sell, finish projects that I started and never finished and to sort out my kimono collection.
Before my collection of kimono and obi could fit in a drawer under the bed, now when I started to sort and fold my kimono I realized my collection had grown so I had to transfer them to my wardrobe. Here are some pictures I took of the end result.

The above picture is my obiage collection, it fills up 2 1/2 tubs.

Funny thing is that the kimono in the photos are the ones i'm keeping, I have another stack of kimono in my room waiting to be sold! Also got to make some fabric tatoushi, the ones with the zips because I hate the paper ones. They always tear or the ties break, so I have a few paper tatoushi lying around. If anyone want's them, give me a shout. Do have to warn you though some are not in the best condition (ties missing and crumpled)

I have yet to sort out my obijime and obi collection. Will post pics when I do.

You Can Now Comment.......I Think

2009-10-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Someone just brought it to my attention that they can't make a comment on a post. I've tinkered with the settings and I think I've fixed it. So now if you feel the need to comment, do :)

Feck Me! It's Cold And Work Rant

2009-10-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Damn it, I'm ill. I swear to you UK weather is schizophrenic! One minute it's warm and then the next it's freezing (like today) and I haven't got a long winter coat, so now I have to go out and buy one. Oh and if your wondering why I'm complaining about going clothes shopping, its because I f**king HATE clothes shopping. Don't ask me why I just do. So back to the illness and feeling like crap, I had work today and something happened at work to made me realize I f**king hate my managers and I take too much crap from them. I think I had an epiphany (thanks thasurus :P) and now I'm going to take it easy and not kill myself for them.

I don't really like bitching about my workplace because it is a fun place to work...... sometimes.

My First Go At Shibori

2009-10-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided to have a proper clean out of my room, mainly because I couldn't open my door to get in! Anyway in the process of cleaning up I found two WIP (work in progress) that I had started over a year ago. From what I remember last year I thought I would try my hand at shibori. Now if you don't know what shibori is, it's essentially tie dyeing but done in a way only the japanese could come up with! (think intricate and time comsuming) Wiki it if you really want to see genuine examples. Anyway I thought I would try and make a shibori obiage so I brought some silk scarfs and with the help of a book called Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing by Yoshiko Wada (which shows you the techinques used) I started to tie the scarf up. Now I can't actually remember why I did two different kinds of shibori but I did. I used normal poly cotton thread to do the tyeing and I do remember thinking this wouldn't work, but I dyed it anyway, and this is the result.

I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out, especially with the sides of the scarf. The only problem I had with the shibori was undoing the threads, It took me a few hours to untie the damn things!

Mofuku Remake In Action

2009-09-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

So I promised pictures of the obiage i customized in the previous post.

The outfit is the one I'll be wearing tomorrow for the matsuri. I can't wait to meet everybody tomorrow, hopefully if I remember I'm going to take loads of pictures.

Mofuku Remake

2009-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Man, i've been working like a dog these past couple of weeks. It's ramadan & where I work the workers are about 70% muslims, and everyone has taken their holidays! Leaving me and about four other people to cover their shift, I've been doing 12 hour shifts twice a week, hell I did a 15 hour shift on sunday (not sure if that was even illegal) so i'm slowly dying at the moment :) Luckily it going to be eid soon so no more 12 hour shifts. ^( ^_^)^
As it was my free day off today I thought I should do something about the 7 black obiage I have, these obiage are mofuku (funeral wear) so you can't really wear them in everyday kitsuke. So I thought I might try and remake them into normal obiage so I can wear them with kimono.
Now i'm no artist when it comes to drawing or painting, especially on silk so I decided to use a stamp and inkpad. The stamp is one I brought from Japan when I went there on holiday and the inkpad is a versacraft white inkpad.

This obiage is made from chirimen, I read from the internet that I had to prepare the fabric by washing it.Now what I know about chirimen is that when it gets wet it goes stiff. So I decided to experiment, I washed one half and left the other half unwashed. After the washed half the obiage had dried (it was slightly 'crispy' but not stiff) I then started stamping.

This is the first few tries.

I've yet to perfect my stamping techinque so I carried on stamping hoping I would get better. Ater a few hours I finally finished and ironed the obiage to set the ink, and here's the finished product.

I'm quite pleased with the finshed product, I've got bruised thumbs but i'm still happy :P

I compared the side that I washed and the side that wasn't to see if there was any difference in the quality of the print. I can't see a difference between the two, so i think it's all down to how you ink up and press the stamp. I'll post up some pictures of the obiage in action later, but for now it's time for me to have a well earned rest. I still have another 6 obiage to remake :) ...... :(

Work's Five Year Anniversary Party

2009-08-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

About two years ago, my workplace had it's five year anniversary party. The party was hosted at Café Royal (now closed down unfortunately) & was a black tie event. As I had no formal wear or even a dress in my wardrobe ( I dress as a tramp in everyday life) I decided to wear my furisode, the very first one i ever brought.
The furisode is a synthetic one which is good if your going to a party of 100 and the drinks are free! I decided to wear a fukura suzume tsuke obi, because i had no one else to help me dress :(
It took about two hours to dress myself, and even though my obiage is really a shigoki obi, because i didn't have a red obiage and my obijime is riding up. I'm really pleased with the kitsuke :)
Here are some pictures of the outfit

The furisode was a success, I was the only person not wearing any black! got alot of compliments from workmates, it was a really good night. However trying to get a cab on a saturday night in the middle of central London is nigh on impossible! So me and a some friends had to wait for a cab outside the Tiger Tiger Bar. Now one thing i wouldn't recommend doing in a kimono is waiting with drunk people. I had to fight off people wanting to touch or hug me! We got a cab eventually and that was the end of my first furisode outing.

Italy Kitsuke

2009-08-26T14:38:00.001-07:00

PIC_0124, originally uploaded by kanzashi11.

Earlier this year I went on holiday to Italy, so I thought I would bring a kimono to wear. I decided to wear a summer set I had brought, it's a purple checked hitoe silk kimono. I paired it with my white chidori obi and a lime green obiage & navy blue obijime. I also brought my long sleeved haori thinking it would be cold....it wasn't.
The haori has kiku on it and has quite long sleeves, now I know the haori is a winter one and the kimono i'm wearing is a summer one, so they don't match in kitsuke rules. However this is the only haori I have that has long enough sleeves for the kimono, also I don't actually have any summer haori.
Anyway this photo was taken at the train station as we were waiting for the train, we were going to Genoa to visit the aquarium. It was fun, as we were queueing for our tickets at the aquarium I overheard a child behind me say to his mum 'what was I?' (fish, dog, dongcopter?)
She replied that I was japanese, he then asks "if shes japanese why is she speaking english?" Now at this moment i'm waiting with baited breath for her reply, the mum answer was "well she must be from England". I think the answer she gave him satisfied him because I didn't hear a word from him for the entire time I was in the queue.
There was also a japanese couple sitting on a train which takes you around the city. I was standing in the queue for about an hour and for the entire time they were staring at me. I know they were staring at me bacause when I went past them I decided to look back, and they had done a 180° just to look. Maybe i'm paranoid but I did this more then once, and each time they were still looking!

1st Ever Kitsuke, Part 2

2009-08-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well here are the pictures (faces blanked out) from my 1st ever outing in a kimono, as you can see from the 2nd photo i also wore my maroon haori. I thought the colours matched well and the kimono motif were kiku which is a winter motif. It was lucky i choose this kimono to wear, it was in the middle of winter and something like 3°C!
The 1st photo was taken at some restaurant (i can't remember the name) and the 2nd photo was taken at covent gardens. We went to watch Carmen at the royal opera house, it was really good. I'm not much of a opera fan but i've always wanted to see a live performace of Carmen, and there was a performance on my birthday XP.

Well i hope you enjoy the photos from my first ever outing in kimono.

1st Ever Kitsuke

2009-08-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

kimono2, originally uploaded by kanzashi11.

As this is a blog dedicated to kimono/life (more kimono :P) I thought it appropriate to post my 1st ever attempt at wearing a kimono (called kitsuke in japanese, for those who don't know).
Now as my friends can tell you, i'm not a big fan of the colour pink....in all forms. However when i saw this set i just had to have it, i'm not to sure what made me want to buy it maybe it was the beaded zori & matching clutch? Who knows?
Anyway as i was going to the royal opera house for my birthday, what better opportunity to wear this set. So i started to practise my kitsuke and here's the result

Now here's a warning to anyone out there wanting to learn how to wear a kimono, DON'T start practising with a fukuro obi!!! It took me 2 hours to tie the thing! 2 hours! I nearly passed out because of the heat.
I do have pictures of me in the outfit at the royal opera house but there on a another computer, so i'm going to post them another time.

1st Post

2009-08-23T14:55:00.001-07:00

This blog is dedicated to my love of kimono, i'm going to post my collection & maybe some combinations. I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog so forgive me if the posts are few & far between, tho if you do keep up i guarantee you'll find some gems.