Getting caught up...

I forgot to post a few things here that happened in the last month or so. First, after I finished this handmade kimono, I tried to make a few more; this time from tanmono. The first is a poly ro komon, and the second is a cotton yukata. I wanted to style the yukata before posting pictures of it in its finished form, so this is just a shot of the okumi seam so you can see the progress. (I hope you'll forgive any sewing issues, especially on the poly komon, as the fabric was difficult to work with, and I'm definitely not a professional!)

I'm having a really difficult time trying to figure out what obi to use with the yukata. I guess it's just so neutral that almost anything would work, so I guess it just depends on what kind of look I'm going for, but I'm still lost...

On anther note, my son also got to experience his first tea ceremony class. And by "experience", I mean that he largely slept through it! 💤 

And you know I just had to have him wear something appropriate, so I got this little yukata-like onesie with crabs on it. 😆

June Chanoyu Okeiko Weekend

I got a lot of practice for tea ceremony last weekend! We had a big group class on Saturday, and then I had a private lesson on Sunday.

Saturday's outfit: 

Pink ro komon with kikyou, cream Nagoya obi with hyotan, purple summer obijime, mint summer obiage, summer zori from Calen Blosso

New Bag and Ombré Hanhaba Obi

I keep adding more things to my summer collection! I blame The New Kimono for this; if you haven't read it, skim the section on summer accessories and you'll know why I have issues... Anyway, I finally found a hemp ombré obi that I like. Too many of them have multiple colors, which is fine except that it makes it much harder to coordinate, and they're often quite costly. On top of that, I really wanted a one in green as my other is kind of a pain in the butt... 

I am honestly quite happy that there's a yellow tone to this obi because it contrasts with the colors of my summer kimono and yukata better than blue tones. 

I also had a lucky find! Kururi had a new woven bag up this year that I completely adore but it was a little pricey for me at almost 20,000 yen. At the same shop where I found the ombré obi, I saw this bag and didn't hesitate to purchase it! 

It's almost exactly the same as the Kururi one, and it was only one-fourth of the cost! It was the last they had in this style, so I'm assuming the price was dropped for that reason since no damage was noted (they had an original list price closer to the Kururi bag). 

Several weeks ago, I also purchased a new ro juban. This one is semi-custom sized, so I will finally have a summer juban that isn't too small. I hope it will arrive in time for my first summer kitsuke opportunity!

May and June Kitsuke Dump

I haven't posted any kitsuke pictures for a while, but I have been taking them! (Note: some of these pictures are sideways. While I righted the images before I uploaded them, Blogger keeps putting them the wrong direction. Go figure...)

At the very end of May, I wore this ensemble: a grey hitoe komon with water design and raspberry susuki and dewdrop design nagoya obi. I chose blue accessories to play on the water theme:

In the middle of June, we did one of our monthly "basic" tea ceremony classes. (We do demonstrations of tea ceremony for beginners, and if time allows, we do extra practice to hone our skills for our next class with our sensei.) I wore a green sha komon with ivy leaves and a cream fukuro obi with kikyo design. I used pink accessories in this kitsuke.

 My husband took some pictures of me while I was performing (these are from later in the ceremony):

Picking up the second chawan (tea bowl)

Cleaning the chawan

Adding matcha to the chawan

Putting extra water back in the kama (kettle)

Whisking the matcha

At the end of June, I was a guest at Anime Blues Con with my group Tsuki no Ie Okiya. We had a VIP meet and greet to attend, so we all wore yukata. I chose my favorite one, black with kingyo design, and a cream sha hanhaba obi with silver lamé.

It's not in the pictures, but I also wore a tonbo obikazari. In the musubi picture, you can also see the uchiwa I carried.

I will try to upload more kitsuke pictures from this summer!

Pink Ro Kikyo Komon

It's seems like it's always this time of year when I start to talk about how I am ready for summer. (And by the time summer arrives, I'm already thinking autumn...) The kimono shops are already gearing up for the next season because I'm starting to see new yukata and summer kimono collections appearing. I was reviewing my collection again and saw that I don't own very many summer kimono (only a few of which are ideal size as well). As usual, I went to my favorite TL size source - KimonoMachi. They are starting to add new ones, but they had several of last year's semi-custom komon still available - and somewhat discounted. I saw they had one left in stock of this lovely pink ro fabric with little purple and green kikyo.

Since my summer kimono are exclusively in cool tones, I thought it would be nice to have something a little different. Being all pastel tones, I don't think it will look stifling in the heat - especially if it's paired with a light color obi.

It'll be over a month before it's finished, but I'll post more pictures when it arrives.

Pink Sakura Komon and Blue Hana Ro Komon

These are my recent spoils from Shinei's end of the year sale. The first is this blue ro komon with some kind of flower motif. It's a generous 174cm long with a 140cm wingspan!

The second one is a pink striped komon with sakura motif. I can't wait til spring so I can wear it out! It's also larger with a 168cm length and 135cm wingspan.

Summer Kimono and Obi

Well, after an unsuccessful try at another ro obi, I bid on and won this one. It's not perfect for the omodaka kimono, but it will do:

Also put in a small bid on this sha kimono and won unopposed:

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.

Sha Kimono with Omodaka Motif

I honestly was not sure what motif I had on this new sha kimono that I purchased from Shinei today. The seller listed it as "bamboo flower", but after looking through Japanese motif sites, I was unable to find a good match. I asked around, and I do believe it's omodaka or water plantain. Here's the piece:

Close-up of design:

My plan is to either trade for pale or butter yellow ro obiage and obijime or re-dye my pale blue ro obiage and coral obijime. The color would match my other summer ensemble as well. I think that an woven obi of the pale blue color on the kimono or the teal color would round out the piece nicely. I am certainly up for suggestions as well!

Ro Ensemble - All Put Together =)

Despite the fact that it is still only March, it's already 80˚F (27˚C)! Since I finally got my ro ensemble finished, I took pictures outside. Some of the photos are "accidentally artistic". Despite two of them being blurry, the look was still very neat, so I've included them anyway.

Ro Ensemble

I finally got the ro obi I ordered, so my ro ensemble is finally complete! The only piece I'm concerned about is the obiage, as it kind of blends with the light color of the obi. I'm considering dyeing the obiage and obijime bright red to match the red leaves on the kimono.