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!

Nicer obijime

After trying to coordinate my new obi last night, I found that I have very few formal obijime. So, I decided to see what I could find on Rakuten and scored these two for only ¥1,050! (As you can see by the tags, they were originally ¥15,750 - 93% off!)

I'm hoping to use the green one with the aforementioned obi, but sadly, it won't be here before my pictures are due to Furicle.

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.

Natsume, Hige Tsumugi Obi, and Ichimatsu Obijime

Ok, if I can behave myself, these may be my last lovelies for a little (as I have many expenses coming up and that need to still be paid off...).

First, I got this red lacquered natsume for practicing tea ceremony at home. It looks to be multi-seasonal.

The second item I purchased was this cream hige tsumugi nagoya obi with handpainted flower design. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be any specific flower or just abstract. The wispy grasses remind me of late summer and autumn though.

The last items I picked up were these 3 obijime. They appear to be sanbu himo from the photos, but I can't say for certain since they didn't give me any dimensions. I just loved the retro ichimatsu pattern. It reminds me a lot of the Taisho Roman era in Japan. =)

I must be on a Rakuten buying kick lately. Maybe it's just the desire to have new and better quality things? Usually, I sure don't mind buying vintage or used, but sometimes you just want something new. =)

The first buy is a cute bell design obi (with glitter! =D) that is reversible. It came in 5 different colors, but I don't have navy blue, so it seemed to be a good choice.

The next 3 are obijime and obidome. The obijime that come with the obidome are lace and meant for yukata. The first is a thinner obijime that I will either use for yukata (hopefully with a glass bead obidome, if I can find a reasonably priced one) or for decorating a more formal outfit.

The last item is a pair of setta for Josh. He seems to love cream or beige at the moment, so I hope he likes them once they're here!

Daffodil(?) Tsukesage, Men's Odori Yukata

Tonight's cheap eBay wins! Every thing was less than $2 XD

Pink Daffodil[?] Tsukesage - This one confuses me. It appears to have a design of daffodils, but they're on branches. Can anyone tell me if this is correct?

Men's Odori Yukata with Ougi and Yanagi - I bought this for Josh, but I'm pretty sure it will be too small for him. If that's the case, I'm going to find another use for it.

Four Kumihimo (two pink, one green, and one leather) - I really bought this for the 1st one on the left. I wanted a new light pink one =D

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!

Red & Yellow Date-Eri and White & Gold Obijime

I finally got myself a date-eri today. It's reversible between yellow with sayagata pattern and red with faux shibori. I'm already planning outfits with it!

I also bought a white and gold obijime to finish off my kurotomesode ensemble, as a gift to myself for passing the NCLEX!!!

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

Five Obijime

One of my favorite sellers on eBay frequently sells obijime in sets, but the problem is often that one or more of the colors are too similar to things I own already, but this one was perfect. And it had a yellow obijime that I needed for an autumn ensemble I've been planning.

In addition to the yellow obijime, I got obijime in gold and silver; dark pink; red, pink, and white; and mint green. I had a mint obijime at one point, but I redyed it due to staining, so I'm glad to have another one again.

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.

Yellow Striped Komon

I bought this yellow striped komon about one year ago, and I haven't worn it out but one time. It's a shame because it is one of my best fitting kimono, and my wine red nagoya obi matches so nicely with it. I did a quick kitsuke with it, and I am quite happy with the results. I had a dilemma between my blue obijime and green obijime. Both colors are present in small amounts in the kimono, and they both look fine, but I went with my gut and chose the blue obijime. Although looking back, the green would have been nice as well...