Exhibition getout

This afternoon, we took down the exhibition in approx. 3 hours, although we probably could have done it more quickly, there wasn't a rush in the end. Having had a chance to "breathe" outside of their storage boxes for over a month, the kimono took up more space to repack, so I'm glad I bought four more boxes yesterday! Reiko & Chie's uchikake didn't fit the standard underbed storage box I'd bought for it, so I will have to find a slightly larger one - the overall width of the kimono was too large, although the extra bulk with the embroidery would have fitted one box. The heavy padding around the uchikake hem means they have to be folded with the kimono body flat, without a fold along the centre back and without folding the overlap panels flat against the body. So the overall "yuki" (CB to wrist) measurement on this one must be more than on my other uchikake.

Jim seemed happy with the visitor numbers and we are talking about a follow up exhibition, maybe in 18 months' time!

Kimono Dreams slideshows

Now we are closed, here are some more slideshows -

http://s128.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/haribako/kimono/Kimono%20Dreams/ae87084b.pbw

http://s128.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/haribako/kimono/Kimono%20Dreams/2593ec1b.pbw

http://s128.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/haribako/kimono/Kimono%20Dreams/04176a52.pbw

http://s128.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w128.photobucket.com/albums/p183/haribako/kimono/Kimono%20Dreams/014c18a0.pbw

Tiger haori etc.!

We did a little bit of kimono dressing, showing how to make an ohashori fold once again. The "obi" was improvised from a girl's heko obi (a soft obi) and an obi ita (obi stay) to give it some shape. One of our visitors made a great model - thanks!

One of our visitors brought an interesting man's haori with a dramatic tiger lining. Men's haori usually have dramatic linings, but this tiger was just stunning! The kamon (family crests) were unusual, as they had been appliqued over another set of crests - one had fallen off, revealing the original crest which had been partly dyed out. I've never seen crests changed this way. The lighter white crest (tachibana - citrus blossom) is the replacement.

The River Dee was lower than earlier in the week, but just as wild. I hope we don't have rain for tomorrow (get out day).

Wednesday at "Kimono Dreams" exhibition

Today was one of the busiest so far, beginning with a visit from textile design students from Prestatyn High School. Thanks for the photo!

Sister's Choice challenge - Quiltfest 2008

This is the first year that Quiltfest, the annual quilting exhibition at the Royal International Pavilion, Llangollen, has had a themed competition http://www.quiltfest.org.uk/ . The exhibition is in it's seventh year and displays quilts in an art gallery, rather differently from most quilt shows. (Double left click any photos to see them in more detail).

Here's what I wrote for my entry -

Overlapping one block with another produced an interesting pattern, as the triangle square pairs from one block can become part of another. They also looked like butterfly wings in my sketch, so I decided to go for Japanese prints, with a panel of Kyoto’s Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) that I was given as a present. “Onēsan” (oh – nee – san) is the name given to an elder geisha or older maiko by her apprentice (a more junior maiko).

Val Shields gave me a kinkakuji panel as an "omiyage" present from her trip to Quilts in the Garden exhibition at Trentham last year, and I wanted to use it in my Sister's Choice hanging. Naturally, I couldn't find where I'd stashed that fat quarter, so I had to buy it again... I compensated for that by managing to make the rest of the quilt largely from my scrap box, using a scrap strip from the "geisha & waterfall" panels I sold last year for the sakura cherry blossom squares and dark green squares, plus those with the golden moon segments.

There wasn't much time to quilt it, so I did one of my variable grid machine quilting designs. I started by quilting the top and bottom sections (the kinkakuji panel) with parallel lines, a quarter inch apart, using a varigated "King Tut" cotton thread (blue, purple, turquoise and green). Then I quilted a water swirl through the centre, using one of Madeira's metallic shaded threads (gold & copper twist on a black base). I added a second set of lines in the King Tut thread, crossing over the metallic quilting. This gives an ever changing grid all over the quilt - like engraved cross hatching - and a sense of movement, hinting at swirling blossoms. Here are some details (slightly over exposed).

The grid gives a net-like effect over the fish pond, which reminds me of the anti-heron netting my kimono sewing teacher, Sachiko, had over the pond in her front garden !

The quilt is just 30in x 18in.

Kimono Dreams (Friday), home (Saturday), Nantwich (Sunday)

Friday at the gallery was quiet, more like the first week. I stitched the side seams and okumi (front overlap panels) on the pink hemp kimono and helped Maureen alter a wool hitoe (unlined) haori, taking off the sleeves and side panels, and resewing to fit. She is quite a lot taller than the original wearer, so we will resew the sleeves to the body with minimal seam allowances. As I usually suggest for an alteration, she unpicked the sleeves first, then unpicked and resewed one side of the haori at a time - that way you can use the original side for reference re stitches used, finishing etc. It is best to remove the sleeves while you deal with side seams on both kimono and haori, as you don't risk pulling at and tearing the sleeve seams.


Half way through the afternoon, a beautifully dressed lady came in - wearing kimono! I didn't recognise her, and she was so perfectly dressed, she looked very authentic. It was shira from the Immortal Geisha forums. Here we are with the ship hikizuri. Shira's kimono is wool hitoe, and she accessorised it with a white obi with a floral motif in sumi-e (ink painting) style, a black obiage sash and a pink & black obijime.

Saturday was spent working on my entry for the Quiltfest 2008 challenge - the block is "Sister's Choice". I'll post a pic of the results in a few days' time. I used a Kona Bay panel from the Emperor Collection - the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto - and there are only six fabrics in the quilt. I've machine quilted it, using shaded and metallic threads, in intersecting grids.

Sunday (today) was the day of the quilt fabric sale at Nantwich, held annually in January. I was there demonstrating sashiko - stitching komezashi (rice stitch) variation on a panel made from two checked fabrics. My editors at David & Charles sent me an extra advance copy of "Japanese Sashiko Inspirations" for the door raffle, and Marian (pictured below) was the lucky winner. She will be able to read her copy of the book 2 months in advance of the publication date!

I put up a display of several items from the new book, plus my Kurume Kasuri sampler quilt from "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match" and a few bags from "The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook" (I was using these for my workbag and to carry the sample books). We gave away dozens of postcards featuring the new book cover and had a sample copy for people to see. There was a lot of interest in the new projects and the concept for the book - each chapter has a small "taster" project as well as a main project to stretch your talents, and every project's design is inspired by vintage Japanese design sources.

I also spotted this version of my rice sack bag #4 - by Vicky ? (Sorry, I have suddenly got a block on your name - please remind me!) She used red and cream sashiko thread on brown sashiko fabric to stitch a larger variation of the patterns on my bag - a variation on ganzezashi (sea urchin stitch), also called hishi shippou (diamond seven treasures).

A great day out (even though I overslept this morning and we didn't arrive till 9.30 a.m.) I got some more Gutermann silk threads from the Contented Cat and some black & white fabrics for a future project. But the best thing about a day like this is meeting so many other quilters!

Kimono Dreams - exhibition slide shows

As you may be reading this blog but unable to visit the exhibition yourself, here are links to some slideshows of the exhibits - please enjoy!

kimono dreams 1 - some 1950s & 1930s kimono

kimono dreams 2 - furisode & kakeshita

Man's kimono conversion - finished!

I finished remaking the woman's wool hitoe kimono as a man's kimono yesterday - see the sleeve difference? The first photo shows the original sleeve sewing, the second one the alteration. The sleeves are now sewn further down the body, there's no gap under the sleeves in the side seam and the back of the sleeves is sewn closed. I managed to gain about 1 1/2ins extra on the "yuki" measurement (from centre back seam to cuff) too. Approx 12cm of sleeve is left free from the side seam - I didn't want to go for any less, as that would have meant unpicking more of the side seam.

Over the last couple of days, we have had a few visitors dressed up in wool hitoe, and they had fun posing - following some of the ideas from Mamechiyo's "Kimono Modern" book! Margaret's sparkly black and burgundy wool blend kimono didn't need any further treatment - as soon as she put it on, it made the perfect evening coat, and it went home with her.

My current sewing is a reddish pink hemp and polyester blend summer kimono, made from a bolt I bought in Sakata in 1992. About time I sewed it! It is, of course, hitoe. I managed to squeeze 59cm long sleeves out of the 12metre bolt, so it will have a slightly retro Taisho era feeling to it. I plan to wear it with the accessories I bought with the bolt - a straw coloured fukuro obi in an open mesh summer weave and peach obijime cord & obiage sash. Finally finding an openweave "ro" bolt for the juban (to wear under the kimono) helped.

I'm surprised I've got so much done, as the number of visitors increases daily! The exhibition is open until January 25th (weekdays only).

"Kyoto Dreams" quilt finished

Finished and posted today!

There was a small glitch with the "binding" - I left the rest of the Kona bay "Tsuki no Hana - sakura" fabric at the gallery on Friday afternoon. So no binding fabric. Luckily the quilt is backed in the same fabric, so I did a wrapped edge, with the backing fabric brought over to the front and hemmed down. Hopefully the quilt qill still hang OK, but I prefer to use a double straight grain binding for wallhangings, as it keeps the edges nice and straight. I put an extra line of quilting just inside the "binding" on the two long edges, to try and head off any wrinkles.

Most of the hand quilting is just in the ditch (seamlines) so you don't see it. I didn't want to overdo the quilting on many areas (like the geisha's face). The ridges on the tatami mats worked out as planned and I had just enough time to add gladd beads to the centres of all the applique cherry blossoms plus a handful in the borders.

Resewing a woman's kimono for a man

Today's sewing demonstration at the exhibition involved remaking an unlined (hitoe) woman's kimono to fit a man. The main difference between men's and women's kimono, apart from the fabrics, is in the sleeves. Women's sleeves, whatever the length, are sewn with the back of the sleeve (the part towards the body) left open, and the sleeve is only attached about two fifths of the way down from the shoulder. The body side seam is left open immediately under the sleeve/body seam for about 5ins. You can see these features in the photo. Men's kimono sleeves are attached to the body for about four fifths of their length, and the back of the sleeve is sewn closed. The corner of the sleeve, just under the wrist opening, is squarer than women's kimono - I'm hoping to get away without altering the very small curve here!

Why do this kind of alteration? It is quite hard to find second hand kimono that will fit Western men, as the kimono are usually too short, even though men's kimono are about 25cm shorter than their height. Women's kimono are an ideal source for remaking, because they are much longer - approximately the same length as the woman's height - so a 175cm man could wear a remade woman's 150cm kimono.

My sale kimono have a good selection of patterns similar to Western men's shirting and suiting fabric patterns - stripes, checks, small patterns etc. Although these were informal women's kimono in Japan and some of the fabrics, for example a bold red and black check, would look more like women's patterns in a Japanese context, they make great men's kimono for casual wear over here.

You are probably thinking that the kimono shown above is quite a wild pattern to be made into a man's kimono - so it needs to be for a man who likes bright, bold patterns - the "balloon" design perhaps for someone connected with the performing arts or festivals? You'd be right!

I'll post a photo of the alteration when I finish it (tomorrow?) and hopefully a photo next week showing the lucky recipient wearing it. Today I unpicked the sleeves and the seam allowances, pressed out the existing seam creases and reattached the sleeves to the body, with a minimal seam allowance at the shoulder to gain more "wingspan" width for the sleeves.

New fabrics from Oakshott

No kimono photos today, as the exhibition is closed for the weekend and I have been quilting my "Land of the Rising Sun" entry. A big bag of fabrics and sample cards arrived in the post, from Oakshott, the people who make the lovely Indian shot cotton fabrics. I am working on a special project for them which will be available as a pattern (from Oakshott) to use with their fabrics. It will be part of a series of patchwork designs using their fabrics by popular quilt designers and will be a bag.


Oakshott's fabrics are the most gorgeous, glowing colours, thanks partly to their fantastic colour combinations, with different colours for the warp and weft, with a subtle sheen. They are a nice fine quality too, so they are easy to use with other patchwork fabrics. Their "Colourshott" range is perfect for use in place of plains, they add a wonderful depth of colour to any patchwork design. I used them for a number of blocks in "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match", mostly for the mid blues in the kasuri style blocks and for the meisen silk designs, as well as some of the kimono block backgrounds. It would have been very difficult to achieve the look I wanted for the kasuri blocks without these fabrics, as I needed some comaratively vibrant blues to contrast with the dark blue tsumugi cotton from Euro Japan Links Limited.

Subtle transitions from one colour to another are easy to achieve with Oakshott's fabrics.

Great for contrast for this kimono block.

To make it even easier to colourscheme your project, they have produced fat eighth packs with around a dozen fabrics in each (some slightly more, some less), themed around the seasons. I think I'll use the "winter" colourscheme for the bag - icy blues, lilacs and pinks that have a hint of vintage kimono fabrics.

They are hand woven too!

"Wrexham Leader" photo

Our local paper, The Wrexham Leader, included a good photo of one of my wedding kakeshita (above). This kimono was the first one I bought, at a kimono sale at Shimizuya department store, Sakata City, in Autumn 1991. It has dyed and stencilled clouds on silk rinzu damask fabric and the flower cart motifs are machine embroidered. The lining is synthetic. It is, of course, ex rental. I can remember selecting it from a great heap of kakeshita and uchikake heaped up on the temporary tatami mat floor laid down in Shimizuya's gallery space on the top floor. Most of the other garments had very bad snags in the embroidery or dye migrations. It was a choice between this one and another that had a pair of golden pheasants (?), but I chose this because I preferred the red background to the more orangey vermilion. It used to hang in the tokonuma alcove in my house in Yuza-machi.

We had lots of visitors today Dot Sherlock brought her "Quilters' Needs" travelling quilt shop today, and demonstrated machine patchwork. If you didn't catch Dot today, she will also be at the Nantwich fabric sale at the Civic Hall on Sunday 20th January, and at the Quiltfest Trading Day on Sunday 10th February. She is having a special sale on her Kona Bay fabrics, at 20% off in January. Perfect for some Japanese style quilts!

Gresford quilter Maureen Poole helped me cope with the rush!

How to cut out kimono and other things

Today we had several groups of visitors who are all very interested in textile design, so it was really enjoyable to show them around. I hope everyone drew some inspiration from the displays.

At the end of the afternoon, the lady above (Hilary?) arrived with her husband and several very lovely kimono bolts she had been sent by a Japanese friend. She is wearing one of my sale wool kimono above. Her friend obviously has very good taste, as the bolts included a pretty silk tsumugi (pongee) bolt with a rather 1930s feel to the design, a chirimen (crepe) komon (allover small pattern) bolt that almost glowed with rich gold and green tones and a nikko nikko kasuri (print kasuri, or double ikat) bolt for yukata (summer cotton) kimono. I explained how to cut them out - if you have a real kimono bolt or tanmono, it will measure about 14 - 141/2in wide and cutting out is quite easy. You need to know only one basic measurement - your height.

First cut off the label section at the end of the bolt. Assuming you are going to wear the kimono in a conventional women's style, with the ohashori fold at the waist, lay the fabric on a flat surface and run out a length that is the same as your height measurement plus 8 cm (2cm for the hem, an extra 4cm to get a decent length for your height and an extra 2cm - to allow for the horizontal sewn tuck across the back). Fold the fabric back on itself, pinning at the fold, and run it up to the cut end, and pin again. Repeat. You have set out the two body panels. Now set out the piece for the collar, collar cover and okumi overlap panels, by running out another length, 15cm shorter than the body, doing the fold again, and back to the cut end. Pin this too. The remaining fabric will make the sleeves - run it out on top of the body panels and fold it back on itself, so almost no fabric remains, to find out the maximum sleeve measurements that you can use, marking the fold with a pin, then use that pin marker to run out the two sleeves like you did for the body panel. You will have 10 layer of fabric set out at one end of the roll, and four at the other. Cut across the fabric at the end with the original cut end, and you have the main pieces for your kimono. Of course, you will need to cut the length for the collar, collar cover and okumi in half lengthwise (if you are making a larger width kimono you might want to cut the collar part slightly narrower), but basically the kimono is now cut out.

It is a good idea to check the length before you start - some older bolts are only about 11.5 metres long, whereas modern bolts are typically about 12metres. I cut out a pink komon asa (hemp) and polyester summer bolt on Sunday, which measured 12 metres, and have managed to make the sleeves around 60cm long, more like Taisho kimono than modern komon length - the body panels were 162cm long for me.

The sleeves will be more like those on the yellow and purple 1920s komon kimono (left in last photo & detail below) - longer length.

"Daily Post" article & photo re "Kimono Dreams"

First newspaper feature! (left click photo to make it large enough to read the text).

Sashiko, applique and a new projects

Predictably, today was much quieter at the exhibition than yesterday, so I was able to get on with a quilt project when there weren't any visitors about. I am finishing the applique on a small quilt called "Kyoto Dreams", for the "Land of the Rising Sun" Kona bay fabrics challenge at Grosvenor Exhibition's spring quilt shows. Deadline for delivery is next week, so not much time. Luckily, the set size is only 30in x 24in, so it isn't too big. I couldn't resist making a wallhanging for this themed competition, as I like using Kona Bay fabrics in many of my quilting projects. Many of the Kona Bay fabrics are large scale prints and, compared with some Japanese quilt fabric brands, they look quite bright, but there are plenty of more subtle fabrics, including tone-on-tone prints and even plains in their range. They also produced some excellent panels recently, including a selection from Utamaro ukiyo-e prints and some panels from kimono designers in Kyoto - beautiful quality prints. The large butterflies and "geisha" are broderie perse applique by hand (sorry for lack of accents on the words!) Minimum amount of Kona Bay fabric has to be 75%, so I am on target. My "other" fabric allowance is taken up with the ombre shaded pink/burgundy for the beams, shoji and fusuma frames and tracks, and the stripes for the tatami mats. The photo shows work in progress, with the first arrangement of butterfly and flower appliques - these have been changed slightly. I am planning to hand quilt it, although this might not be as dense as I would like. I really need 48 hours in the day.

I will be demonstrating sashiko at the Nantwich fabric sale at the Civic Hall, Nantwich, on Sunday, January 20th. Hopefully the new projects will be back from David & Charles in time for my display. I will have the new book for visitors to preview and will be giving away free postcards of the book cover. There's more event information here - http://www.thequiltingweb.com/Whats%20on.htm

My other new projects, which I will only be hinting at for now, are new things on the book front... so keep checking the blog for updates from time to time! Suffice to say that bags are involved!

Kimono sewing demonstrations at Llangollen are going to include resewing a woman's wool hitoe (unlined) kimono as a man's, changing the sleeve details. I hope to post a photo of this when it is finished.

Sunday at Llangollen - kimono kitsuke

Today was the only Sunday opening, as the monthly antiques fair was in the main hall. We had a total of 65 visitors! I don't expect that will be beaten for the rest of the exhibition's opening.


I was delighted that two other members of the wonderful Immortal Geisha internet forum http://www.immortalgeisha.com/ig_bb/index.php could attend - shigatsuhana (left) and rubyminky (right). They brought kimono and changed in less than ideal conditions (the kitchen & the ladies loo!) They both wore hanhaba obi in red and white (nice celebration touch there) with wool kimono (shigatsuhana) and silk komon (rubyminky). This photo was taken towards the end of the afternoon, so we look a bit tired. Shigatsuhana has some better photos on her flickr pages http://www.flickr.com/photos/shigatsuhana/

I went with the shaded blue wool kimono, with a silk tsumugi obi tied in the otaiko style (finally taught myself to tie it behind my back yesterday afternoon, so I could get the bow nice and tight). The obijime and obiage are a newish set, with a pale blue shaded obijime cord and a light grey obiage with little cherry blossoms on it - slightly early I know, but the colour just looked right with the obi. The obijime has a nice stretch to it, just like hand braided ones, although it must be machine made.

The matching light purple kimono above are just two of a set, mentioned here - www.immortalgeisha.com/ig_bb/viewtopic.php?t=6679&highlight=hikizuri+ship Mine and shigatsuhana's were probably the two that were the best buys at online auction - mine via Yahoo! Japan Auctions and shigatsuhana's on eBay. Some of the other kimono in the set are onsale up to $600 USD. I think there are around 8 of these worldwide?

It was really interesting to be able to see shigatsuhana's ship hiki and mine side by side. There is a difference in the purple background - mine is reddish, shigatsuhana's is slightly bluish purple - which I hadn't realised from the photos I'd seen. Also mine has "extra" fabric added across the back and front, although it is the same rinzu weave as the main kimono and lengthwise both hiki are about the same - shigatsuhana's doesn't have an extra panel for length. I think a hiki detail comparison might be on the cards for these kimono.

We would love to know what they were originally made for - presumably an ensemble dance performance? Perhaps the black ships festival in shimoda, as suggested on IG? If you know, please send me a message!

Hatsuyuki - first snow

Woke up to the first snow of 2008 today. Luckily it was more decorative than inconvenient - I took a photo of the back garden with a light dusting of snow (above). It looks more attractive with a light snow covering than without!

Twice yesterday's visitor numbers today at Llangollen, plus a couple of guest demonstrators/stewards, Dot Sherlock (Quilters' Needs) and Maureen Poole. Both had Japanese-themed patchwork projects with them. Dot brought a selection of her small quilts with Japanese patchwork fabrics, including a couple of versions of my "Japanese Circles and Squares" quilt (below), while Maureen was sewing some Japanese Folded Patchwork, as Sachiko Mukari's "Unit Patchwork" is usually known in the West.

To celebrate 20 years in the patchwork fabric business, Dot is putting some of her fabrics on sale at 20% off and this month's is Kona Bay's oriental range. She will be back at Llangollen next Friday, and at Wrexham Quilting Circle at Greaford Memorial Hall on Wednesday night.

I almost finished the alterations to the blue wool tsumugi in my last post. I had planned to widen the okumi panels slightly, but having dealt with the side seam alterations I tried it on, and it seems to fit just fine, so not altering the okumi at this stage will save me some time.

Last night, I tried my "kogin" nagoya obi, which is another candidate for Saturday. It really looks like hand stitched kogin, but it must be woven, as I just don't see how such a densely stitched kogin obi could have been that affordable. The background colour is a warm dark brown, so I will have to rethink my obijime & obiage choices if I go for that. I had a brainwave last night too - if I tie can the obi without the obi makura pad firmly held in place and secure the top of the musubi with a spare koshihimo narrow sash, I should be able to slip the makura out and replace it when I get out of the car. That would mean the back of the obi would be quite flat and wouldn't make driving awkward, and I have more options than my small selection of tsuke (ready tied) obi. I think the kimono deserves at least new faux juban sleeves, if not a new susoyoke as well. The new hadajuban arrived in time and I've tried that on too, so just have to sew the han eri (collar) to it tomorrow. Almost there!

(Seem to have got my paragraphs sorted out today, but can't work out how I did it !)

Altering hitoe kimono

As the weather is colder than I expected, I've had a change of plan re Sunday's kimono possibility - wool should be cosier! The wool hitoe (unlined) kimono above is halfway through alteration to fit. I love the shaded effect, but there are marks on the right front "skirt" section, just about visible in the photo, so I need to make sure the front overlaps well, so these are hidden when I wear it.

Refitting wool kimono is easier than silk and should, in theory, be quicker as there's no lining to resew, but there's more neatening off of seams inside, so it works out about the same. I unpicked one side seam, unpicked the sleeve (sode) from the body (undoing the hem at the back of the sleeve first) and restitched that side seam before doing the same with the other side. This kimono is handsewn (some modern wool kimono are machined, for the seams anyway) so unpicking was easy and I salvaged the silk threads to reuse. I will also move the front overlaps (okumi) a little - although they are sewn in the right place, they ought to be about 1cm wider, and it will make enough of a difference to bother doing it! Once I've dealt with those, unpicking just enough of the collar to move the overlaps, I'll resew the collar and the collar cover. Then I'll replace the sleeves. Adding width makes the kimono fit better and the sleeves won't look like they are only 3/4 length.

I'd like to wear it with this tsuke (i.e. cut) obi, a great Bingata stencilled design on heavy chirmen crepe. The idea with the tsuke obi is the doumawari (waist section) wraps around like a belt and ties with tapes, then the otaiko (drum) bow hooks onto the back. Everything is held in place securely by the obijime and obiage cord and sash. The advantage for me is I can tie the doumawari and hook the otaiko in place once I arrive at the gallery, or even drive wearing the doumawari only. I find the otaiko is awkward when I drive, as it's like having a cushion in the driver's seat. The obi is brand new, and doesn't have the wire "hook" normally used to attach the otaiko (in the photo) to the back, so I will have to improvise with some coathanger wire and pliers, wrapping the wire in bias binding. If I don't have time to do this, I can always wear a hanhaba obi tied in a flatter style.

I've looked out a deep salmon pink obiage and a shaded red and pink obijime to go with it. The obiage is from my very first kimono esemble. If the red & pink obijime doesn't look right, I have couple of other pink obijime that might work better. The other option, a blue set, was a bit too close to the kimono, for the obiage anyway, although the obijime might be a possibility. Most of my other better obijime and obiage are in the exhibition cases...

Although you might think an exhibition needs something a bit more formal, I decided to go for a less formal look to contrast with the kimono on show!

(Still having formatting problems - why no paragraph breaks? Must read up on writing HTML!)

"Kimono Dreams" opening day

There's still a bit of final tweaking for tomorrow, but it is more or less done, and we opened today. Here are a few photos to give you an impression of what's on display - first, a late twentieth century uchikake wedding robe, with metallic embroidery (machined) over silk rinzu damask. It was a present from my quilting and sashiko friends Reiko and Chie. It is the star of the show and almost glows!

The kuro tomesode on the left above was also a present from Reiko. It has a similar bold floral motif to the furisode on the right, which is 1950s. The tomesode is in wonderful condition, with no fading on the black, a common problem with vintage tomesode. Alas, the furisode is not in great condition, but the design has the wow factor! And they look great displayed together.

Kuro tomesode feature at the other end of the gallery, with a selection of four, starting from the early twentieth century. Although all have various degrees of fading in the black section, the yuzen designs are still beautiful. It's a shame that there are so few occasions when kuro tomesode can be worn - only at a close relative's wedding really. The kimono on the left is ro, an openweave silk, rarely seen for modern tomesode, which are nearly all chirmen crepe. It is highlighted with hand embroidery.

In the centre (above), a fantastic bird's eye view of scenes from Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) - like looking into a Heian era dollshouse!

Below are some of the kimono from the "bridal" section - a mid twentieth century kakeshita, a wedding furisode, with cranes and waves with an Art Deco feeling. Unfortunately it couldn't be displayed with the left front crane showing, as I had to overlap the kimono in this section due to an electricity distribution box at the top left of the gallery wall... The centre "kimono" is just fabric from a Taisho uchikake, really incredible hand painted yuzen and hand embroidery. Technically, I think this is the best piece of yuzen dyeing in the whole exhibition. A complete uchikake of this type would be out of my price range, so I was lucky to have a chance for the fabric alone. Someday I would like to remake it.

Two of my favourites from the furisode section follow. The chūburisode (mid sleeved furisode) on the left has a bingata design, a dyeing style from Okinawa that has had several waves of popularity for kimono since the 1960s. I like the very fresh look of bingata and find it irresistable! The design style is eba-komon, unlike the eba-tsuke style of the kimono on the right - the pattern goes in bands across the kimono, rather than flowing across the seams. The hōmongi on the right was once a furisode, but has had its sleeves shortened, presumbaly after the owner married (the shop where I bought it told me this). It reminds me of a fantastic furisode ensemble I saw in Tokyo on seijin no hi (coming-of-age day), January 2002, the first furisode I saw that day, on my way into the railway station - although I saw lots more during the day, that was the most gorgeous, IMHO!

Finally, here are a few items from the "Kimono Curiousities" section - one of the infamous "black ship hikizuri", an unusual bridal hikizuri spotted on eBay earlier this year and a furisode that shows you how not to assemble your karinui fabric (the front has been sewn as the back and vice versa...)
Sales area and a view of the display cases (although it is hard to see what's inside!) - my vintage sewing boxes, heradai marking board and other small items.

This is just a small taste of what's on display. I hope you enjoyed your preview!