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. 😆

Hydrangea Yukata and Too Small Heko Obi

Today's kitsuke was a lesson in problem solving! I ordered a heko obi for this yukata, and the dimensions were listed incorrectly. Instead of the adult size that was listed, I received a child's size... It was a good buy so I figured it was not worth returning. At first I thought I might just use it as a puchi-heko obi or even for fabric, but then I decided to see if I could find a way to tie it. One of my favorite books (ファブリック帯の本) has many ways to tie heko obi, including using long scarves, so I modeled it after those musubi. I also used a hanhaba obi tying tool (kind of like biyosugata but for hanhaba) to help provide support. I hope you like 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

Casual Hitoe Tsumugi Ensemble

Today, I met with a friend for tea, so I chose casual ensemble: a grey striped tsumugi hitoe with summer accessories. It's already hot enough for full ro/sha here, but I decided to stick slightly closer to the traditional calendar by continuing to wear hitoe today. Despite the heat and humidity being so high, this kimono kept me pretty cool!

End of Summer Review

With today being the first day of autumn, I thought I'd look back and talk about my two favorite purchases this past summer.

In the early half of the summer, I finally found a shibori yukata that was large enough for me. It was even better that it was purple! I often find that I only wear an item once per season - if at all - but I wore this three times (which is saying something when you don't wear kimono every day)! The color is just fabulous, and the comfort level is incomparable. Though I spent more than I probably should have on a single piece, it will probably pay for itself just by the number of times I will wear it.

Image and product from Ichiroya

My other favorite purchase is probably a little unlikely. While I found many beautiful things over the summer, this is not one of them! In fact, you wouldn't see it at all when worn. 

A Weekend of Chanoyu

This past weekend, I was entirely immersed in chanoyu! On Saturday, our sensei was in town for a day of lessons, and to my surprise, his parents were visiting as well. His mother is an Urasenke master, and she personally gave me a lesson in preparing koicha. It was quite an interesting lesson, as my Japanese is very poor, and her English is minimal. Surprisingly, I did pick up on quite a bit of what she was saying, but I believe all of the pantomiming helped!

As usual, I wore kimono to practice, so here is my ensemble: a yellow-beige sha komon with tsubaki pattern, raspberry color ro nagoya obi with tsuyu-shiba design, white ro obiage with yellow shibori dots, and yellow summer obijime.

On Sunday, my dear friend held a private gathering in her personal tea room. She was the host for the first part of the gathering, and then my sensei's mother hosted the second half. It was such an honor to be able to attend! The ensemble I chose to wear was a sky blue ro iromuj, pale lavender fukuro obi with uroko design, navy tate-ro obiage, and mint summer obijime.

KdJ Memphis, June 2015: Jun Kaneko Exhibit

This past Thursday, my husband, my friend Shay, and I went to see the work of Jun Kaneko at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens for our Kimono de Jack Memphis outing. Shay and I both work kimono, of course!

She wore her lovely vintage hitoe komon and borrowed an obi and komono from my collection. If that kimono were larger, I'd definitely steal it! The pictures don't do it justice. 

My ensemble was a black ro komon with a whirlpool and zakuro (pomegranate) design. The obi is cream colored ro with a lantern (or a case could be made for moon) design. Both of us opted for cool blue accessories. Shay was much more modern with her styling, and as usual, I stuck to a more classical kitsuke.

June Kitsuke - Blue Cotton Komon

I had to help my sister run her booth at a comic book expo today, so I decided to wear this cotton komon that has been sitting in storage for some time. When I purchased it, the seller advertised it as a yukata. It is likely cotton, but much softer than any yukata. It also has hiro eri (wide collar that must be folded for wear). It is not sheer like sha or ro, but not as opaque as regular hitoe. Since the traditional calendar says that you don't switch to ro and sha until at least June 15, it really is the perfect "in-between" kimono.

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!

Kimono Buys Over the Last Several Months

I've been bad about not sharing my new acquisitions over the last several months. Here's a quick summary of some of the ones I forgot to post!

 Grey colored line pattern hitoe komon

Navy and white yukata

 

Pink sakura pattern furisode

Brown lattice pattern komon

Black zakuro pattern ro komon

Grey striped ro men's hakama

 

Burgundy ro men's kimono

Bingata tsumugi nagoya obi

Chain pattern odori obi

Geometric pattern hitoe komon

July Kitsuke

I finally got a chance to wear this semi-custom pink ro komon with a kikyo design. Honestly, I don't own very many obi that I think are a decent match in color and style for this kimono, so I went with an all pale color ensemble by using this lavender hakata obi and mint accessories.

The only bright color in the ensemble are the teal zori. I had to throw in a little curve ball.

As an extra touch, I wore this cute uchiwa kanzashi. I figured better now since July is almost over. ^_^

Thanks for looking!

Yabane and Kikyo Yukata

I said no new yukata this year... I failed myself... (^-^*)

Most of the designs from my favorite sellers this year have been too bold for me, but this one struck a chord with my sensibilities. Oh, and there's kikyo on it...

I think I may pair it with my kingyo hanhaba obi. This yukata is nearly monochromatic and doesn't pack much of a punch, but that obi sure does! Without seeing them side by side in the same light, it's hard to tell just yet if the colors will be ok together, but since they play off orange tones, they may be a decent match.

Tea ceremony with Dr. Sachiko Matsushita

On Saturday, we had a special tea ceremony class led by Urasenke master Dr. Sachiko Matsushita. Matsushita-sensei actually founded our group (The Way of Tea in Tennessee) back in 2008. She returned for a visit this past week. I was so lucky to be able to learn from her! I wish I had a better picture of Sachiko-sensei's kimono and obi. She is currently living in China and could not bring her own kimono with her, so she borrowed these from another member - but that other person did not have any undergarments - so Sachiko-sensei wore the kimono without a nagajuban. The kimono itself is one that the untrained eye may not recognize as beautiful - or expensive. It's an asa komon with a kasuri weave - truly a splendid piece! The obi is a bingata dyed design - gorgeous! Even without proper undergarments, she wore it with the elegance that I can only hope to attain with as many years of wearing kimono as she has!

Kentaro-sensei, Sachiko-sensei, and myself

Ichigo daifuku and blueberry daifuku prepared by Kentaro-sensei's wife

I will hopefully have some other pictures to add to this post later!

UPDATE 7/21 - Finally, I have more pictures! There's a few kitsuke pictures and then just ones of tea ceremony. (My husband took these from the chair where he was propped up; he had surgery only a few days before but was determined to make it to the class!)