Tag: indigo

What’s Old is New Again

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This kimono has always been one of my favourites, but for some reason I’ve never paired it with anything other than an orange obi. Don’t get me wrong, it looks great with orange, but I wanted to diversify a bit. I realised it had the same kikkou pattern on the shoulder as my green darari-style tsuke-obi and I knew exactly where this coordination was heading.

Red accessories because there’s a bit of red in the obi and it helps make the lining pop, and red accents always make an outfit feel a bit more vintage to me! I debated using a dark red haneri shigoki obi as well but it ended up feeling more balanced without it. Even if you’ve planned an outfit entirely in your head, it’s always good to be flexible when you finally get things laid out together. Never feel like you have to stick entirely to your original plans, and that doesn’t only go for kimono coordinating.

Items used in this coordination

Q is for Quilting

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Quilting, the process of sewing two or more layers of fabric together to make a thicker padded material

 

Q, much like last week’s letter L, is a letter that has no equivalent kana or phoneme in Japanese. Typically, Q-words that are transliterated from other language end up being written with a K-based kana. For example – my last name, Quintal, would become クインタル, or Ku-in-ta-ru. I don’t mind it!

However, it did make finding a topic for today’s entry a little difficult. It took me a while but then it hit me; sashiko is a form of quilting. I thought I’d share a larger project I finished a while back. It’s a beautiful pattern, a collage of kamon, or family crests, designed by Susan Briscoe.

I haven’t gotten around to edging it yet but it will eventually be a wall-hanging, possibly double-sided. I haven’t figured out the details yet. I love sashiko stitching because it’s technically such a simple thing, but the results are so striking, especially when it’s done with white thread on dark indigo fabric like this. I love that it’s often used as a very practical, utilitarian handicraft, reinforcing fabric and adding weight and heft for warmth. And yet, it’s so beautifully decorative!

If you’re interested in doing this panel yourself, it’s available directly from the artist who designed it, Susan Briscoe.

Taisho Blues

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I know, I know, I said the last outfit I posted would be around for a while. Work continues apace on updating and redoing my visual catalogue, and when I took out this Taisho-era beauty I love so much, I realised I’d never coordinated her with this vintage orange hakata obi and that seemed like a crime. They feel like they were made for each other. But then again, I think hakata goes with everything. When I first got it, I paired it with an orange obi and while I loved the colour contrast, the obi was a metallic, Showa-era blingfest that felt incongruous with the soft vintage feel of the kimono. Springy green accessories were the perfect finishing touch, including a brand new obiage I’ve never used before.

If you’re a regular reader, you know that for whatever reason I’ve always had bad luck with tying obi in tsunodashi musubi but I was really in the groove after putting this outfit together and I figured I’d give it another shot. I’m really glad I did, because it worked out perfectly. The ohashori is quite puffy-looking, which is unfortunate, but sometimes it’s inevitable due to the shape of the mannequin.

Now this is definitely an outfit I’m happy to leave on the mannequin until I’m finished everything else I have in the works.

Items used in this coordination

Art Gallery – Vintage kimono artwork

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Tiranaki (Naki for short) is someone I met on Gaia quite a while ago while we were both moderators. Naki is a lovely, talented lady. Aside from her awesome artwork, she makes beautiful handcrafted jewelry and hair ornaments and designs funky clothing and accessories, under the banner of Koana Designs. She makes some great origami-paper kanzashi that would look absolutely love with kimono, so definitely give the site a look.

The kimono she drew is quite ornate and doesn’t fit me ideally so it was fairly rumpled in the pictures I provided for her so the amount of detail she put into it is a testament to her skill. I love how both the background and the painting style have a wonderful vintage feel to them, it suits the age of the kimono, I think. To view the larger version, see iton her DeviantArt or click the one in this post, as always.

Geisha Henshin

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So as I mentioned in my last post, I was going to be visiting Naomi. One of the things we’d planned to do was a full geisha henshin, something I lacked both the know-how and wardrobe to do. I knew she had a lovely purple hikizuri with ferns on it and we’d decided to use that. HOWEVER… about a month ago, a gorgeous hikizuri in shades of purple with indigo ariso (curled up jumping carp) showed up on eBay. I wanted it desperately, but with my trip coming up I couldn’t justify bidding too much, so it slipped out of my grasp. Imagine my shock when Naomi was handing me things to look at and said “oh, and I have this old thing, you can keep it”, and I saw that very hiki when I unfolded it. I was in a bit of a tired, emotional state to begin with and I totally lost it and started crying, I was so touched. It turns out she and Erica had conspired to get it for me as a “very very early birthday/Christmas present”. For the record, my birthday is in November.

Araiso Geiko Hikizuri

So anyway, when we did the henshin today, of course I had to wear my new hiki. I have to say, it still feels weird to say that. My new hiki. Mine!. But I digress. It was a super fun experience, and we took waaaaay too many pictures. I’ve refrained and only posted my favourites. And, just because it’s hilarious – geisha henshin with a shaggy, grown-out mohawk and a giant stuffed octopus.