14 March 2007

A Kimono For You

I know I told you I couldn't tell you about this next thing I was making but I just finished it this morning and it's so stinking cool I can't wait for you to see it! These pictures hardly do it justice. Plus, a red-headed white girl just doesn't look the part very well. I'd like to get a proper stand for it or a proper doll for it and then mail it to you. Unless you think the fabric selections are ugly then I'd make another one in fabric you liked. I was thinking of making one for your mom, too. It was so much fun to make. The only thing about it is the sash. It ties around back. You can't believe how much research I did on kimono to find out what in the heck Ms. Sudo was talking about for the sash direction. As far as I can tell all obi should wrap around the front, over top of the whole kimono. From directions I found on tying obi you wrap and wrap and wrap then tie it in front and then move the tie to the back, unless someone is tying it for you. Either way you should see obi in the front. I thought maybe that this particular pattern was for a man's kimono because of the "obi situation" but it is definitely a woman's! A man's sleeves are completely different. Anyway, I want to come up with an obi myself. I think the current sash works fine as an undersash like there are for kimono but a genuine obi would complete the look in my humble opinion. Either way I just am tickled pink with it! With all the work that went into this tiny 6" kimono I can just imagine how long it would take to hand sew a full size kimono and how much money they cost is, uh...completely justified. Wow! Really fascinating and fun work! I thought of making it out of the red Japanese cat material you sent but there is only a fat quarter of it so I decided to use something I had more of in case I totally messed this one up. And I can't decide if it would be an insult to the kimono to use such a playful fabric for it; doesn't it seem like kimono should be made of really elegantly printed fabric? This second picture I loaded large so you can click on it and get a better look at it. Maybe I should have posted a picture of the back side.

3 comments:

Joanna said...

aaaahhhh! why can't i click on the picture so it's bigger. argh!

Marie said...

wow! it's really amazing! i really like the material, where is it from?

Joanna said...

joann's. i got it last year 40% off. 'cause i'm cheap like that. but it's normally something like $7.99 a yard.