Several new purchases and mannequin kitsuke with new obi

I decided to do some kitsuke on my sewing mannequin the other day so I could practice with the new obi that my husband bought for me. The first one is a reversible cotton hanhaba. I love the simplicity of the dots and stripes in black and white! 

And here is the kitsuke I did with it. This musubi was kind of made up as I went along, but based on many I have seen in the past.

Obiage Haul!

My first post-Christmas kimono purchase is a set of obiage - brightly colored, might I add! I have been really pleased with the coordinations by 着物屋くるり (Kimonoya Kururi). They ooze Tokyo style, and mostly involve very subtle kimono and obi but with bolder obiage and obijime. I have been playing on this idea somewhat myself for a little while, but I am lacking in certain colors, so I am happy to have found many along the right lines at one shop. I would love to purchase direct from Kururi (you can do so here if you are an English speaker), but the prices are often a little rich for me. Finding the raspberry tone in the exact same shade as their かきつばたいろ ("kakitsubata") color has been near impossible, but I believe I have come close enough with this obiage.

It also came with a lovely round obijime, so no arguments there! There were two photographs the seller posted that show the obiage under different lights. The other photo (not posted here) shows a more purplish tone, but I believe that either way, it captures nearly the same effect. I would much prefer chirimen like the Kururi product, as I feel it ties and sits better, but for the price, I went ahead and bought this rinzu one.

The other obiage I chose were a bright green and a sky blue:

Both are lively colors that I hope to use in coordinations in the coming months. 

February 8th - Tea Ceremony Kitsuke

I haven't posted any kitsuke photos in some time, so I thought I'd share these. We had an informal tea ceremony practice this weekend. I wore a pink full shibori kimono that I had only briefly tried on when I bought it last April. I couldn't find a good occasion to wear it before, but my husband suggested I wear it this weekend, so I did! He also helped me choose the rest of the outfit. (He has somewhat reluctantly become a part of my outfit-choosing process.)

Since it was a casual practice (and I had another event right before), I took a little license and wore a casual nagoya obi with a cat design. I paired it with a dark blue obiage, a blue checkerboard sanbuhimo, rose design obidome, and a blue haneri with plum design for February.

Pictures:

Close-up of accessories

Selfie, but you can see the haneri better in this one.

Full-body, front

Full-body, back

Of course there has to be a cat photo!

I also performed tea ceremony that day, and my friend took some pictures, so I may have some more photos soon! Thanks for looking!

Chanoyu Juban and Brown Obiage

Sorry it's been so long since the last post! I had to move fairly suddenly, and I GOT ENGAGED!! So, real-life things had to take precedence for a little while.

Anyway, I saw this men's juban the other night and decided it would be a mistake to let it go. It's large for a vintage piece, and it has chanoyu (tea ceremony) implements on it as well as some nice shibori. I hope it will fit Josh nicely.

Since I knew I'd be paying the shipping anyway, I slipped an obiage in on this order. This nice warm metallic brown color should fit nicely with the fall ensembles coming up.

Recent Buys and Assembling Maiko Henshin

I decided recently that in addition to my geiko henshin (complete, but not debuted), I would also like to attempt a maiko henshin. So I began to assemble to pieces I will need. I have a red obiage, but it's pretty plain, so I decided to purchase an inexpensive one from Shinei and paint the designs myself. I got this type that they've had for a while. It was only $4, so I don't feel bad about adding to the design to make it more "maiko".

I also purchased a wide vintage obijime, which I may or may not use for the henshin.

These are from a few weeks ago, but I never posted them. The yellow shibori obiage is for my red furisode, but the orange and purple obiage is just because I liked it. =)

I have literally being watching this bag for YEARS. It was discounted steeply as it was the last one, so I snatched it!

Lastly, the coup de gras! A pre-tied darari style obi from Ichiroya. I've been eyeing it for weeks, but I went on ahead and got it tonight.

Obiage and Obijime Overload!

As I have stated upon several occasions, I needed to obtain more obiage and obijime (instead of more kimono, lol). Over the past few weeks, this is what I have come up with. The orange ones I am receiving through a trade, and the others I purchased from Shinei and econecojapan. So here are the spoils!

Kimono Wishlist

I need to give my buying more direction so that I can stop making bids on things I don't need... So here's the list, as it stands right now (* = want most or need soon, • = want, but not needed soon):

* White and gold flat obijime
• Royal or navy blue obiage and obijime
• Light yellow obiage
* Orange obijime and obiage
• Light purple obi
* Light blue obiage
• Another fukuro obi to go with my kurotomesode
• Light blue obi
• Green iromuji
• Gold brocade zori
• L or LL zori (purple, pink, blue)
* Stretch white tabi

More Obiage and Obijime

I bought a new ro obiage and obijime set today. After re-dyeing the old blue one to yellow and buying a matching yellow summer obijime, I decided I either needed a blue or green set for a softer look, so I got BLUE-GREEN, lol.

I also ordered a white and pink obiage that was quite cheap due to staining, but I figure I will dye it (maybe blue?), so no one will see the stains anyway.

This yellow summer obijime came in the mail yesterday, so now I have a yellow summer set! (It actually has little iridescent threads running through it which catch the light so beautifully!)

This is the matching obiage, which I dyed yellow (used to be pale blue):

I also dyed my pink shibori obiage to this lovely lavender color. I think it will see much more use now.

Red Obiage

Red obiage often seem to be ubiquitous in wafuku, especially in the ensembles of geiko and maiko. I have a few kimono and obi that would look nice with a red obiage, so I purchased one today from Shinei with the last of my birthday money:


I had them send it AirMail, so hopefully it will arrive fairly quickly so I can post some pics with some other new items I have received as of late!

Helpful Hints from Tomasan

For those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of Tomasan, please let me introduce you! She has very nicely complied a comprehensive list of kitsuke techniques, for men, women, and children. And these don't just include the basic kitsuke offered by most kimono websites. She often delves into more advanced techniques and musubi. These two things I will offer to you today.

First, how to "tuck" the obiage (used with furisode):

Second, how to tie shigoki:

Good luck with your kitsuke!!!

Some new things!

These haven't arrived yet, but I ordered an obiage and obijime set for myself two weeks ago. I hope they will arrive this week since I had them sent AirMail, but who knows. Anyway, the picture is below. Sorry, there is only one. I will post kitsuke pictures when they arrive.

February is ume!

I am so excited that February has finally arrived! It means beautiful ume are going to be in bloom soon! But of course, not in Memphis. I will fortunately get to see pretty pictures of those is Japan because of the lovely members of the Immortal Geisha forums who take a plenty of pictures each season and post them on Flickr. But as for me, I have just been enjoying the nice weather here. It's been in the upper 60's and 70's all week long - which is my favorite temperature range. So comfortable, you don't need a heavy jacket (if any), and you're not sweating either. It's so nice! We were supposed to have some bad storms last night through this morning, but it never happened. Not even a clap of thunder. Just rain and A LOT of wind. The university I attend even put out a high wind warning to all of the students. It was quite funny, actually, because we have "TigerTEXT" which is an alert system that texts you when something happens. I was sitting in my Health Assessment lecture class, and everyone checks their phone at the same time because of the text. 200 phones at once. LOL.

Anyway, I decided to get into the February spirit by doing an ume-inspired kitsuke yesterday. The kimono is one that my fiancé bought me for Christmas (at the time seasonally inappropriate), but now it is PERFECT! It is light and dark blue checkerboard with "bouncing" ume blossoms. I paired it with a multi-seasonal beige and multi-colored obi, an orange shibori obiage, an orange and gold obijime, and a big white ume kanzashi. According to the "rules", the obiage and obijime are too formal for a komon and nagoya obi, but, hey, I don't always follow the rules. :)

New Beauties!

I won a few new items yesterday on eBay. I really needed all of the items, and I got everything for a steal! The first and most important thing I won was a pair of white size L zori. These are vinyl and will match for almost any occasion!


Next, I got a white, pink, and light blue juban with 22 inch (56 cm) sodetake, because the orange tsukesage I own has longer sode, therefore not fitting my other juban with shorter sode.







Then, I got a pink obiage with sakura blossoms embroidered on it. I needed a color that would coordinate with many different outfits, so I figured that a light pink would be just the thing. Now I need a pink obijime to match. I'm on the hunt right now! XD



Last, a package of gold mizuhiki for my kanzashi creations.







Probably the best buy of the whole thing was the obiage. I only paid $1.80 for it! I am really surprised that I didn't get outbid on it, especially since my max bid was only $5, but hey, I'm not complaining! The shoes were also a shock, because everyone wants plain white zori. I only paid $8 for those. Another surprise because they are a size L which is harder to find. This same seller had them for $30 on his website, so I saved a lot by winning the bid. I just can't wait until all my things arrive, but since they are coming SAL, I expect it to take a while. :(