Thursday, December 23, 2010

My friends' wedding

For the first time I attended my friends' wedding in kimono houmongi. 


My favorite fukuro obi with tsujigahana pattern. 

To minimize luggage, I used my pajama shirt and stockings as hosei (adjusting body shape by wrapping with towels, etc.). 

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Kimono lunch with my old friend

Lunch with my good old friend, K-chan, in Ginza.  First time in a few years. 
We were brave enough to have lunch at Toraji, Korean barbecue place, where there is a high risk of making stain on our kimono... 

K-chan


Me

Church obi for the first time, in time for Christmas




Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Rain coat

I bought a kimono rain coat at Rakuya on a kimono school student discount.  As advised by the teacher, I shortened the length as L size is a bit too long for me.  Her daughter is also 160+cm tall, and shortened her rain coat by 2cm. 

It was a litle more expensive than my budget.  But when I tried to undo the sewing of the hem, I noticed it's sewn very well.  The yarn is not seen as it is sewn inside.  Maybe the price was reasonable for this quality.  


Kimono life requires a lot of hand-sewing. 
I finished in a few hours.  I now feel safe for waring kimono on rainy days. 



Friday, December 10, 2010

"Usotsuki (Liars)"

One of my kimonos' sleeve length is not standard.  Normally it is 49cm, but this one is only 43cm long.  Since there was no juban exactly maching this size, I could not wear this kimono before. 
When I mentioned this problem to my ex-manager, who was also a kimono lover, she advised me to create a pair of "liars (usotsuki in Japanese)".  Usotsuki is a juban sleeve seperately prepared from the body of juban.  As usotsukis are detachable, I can attach whatever length of usotsukis to one juban body, according to the kimono sleeve length. 
So, I decided to create a pair for my irregular sized kimono. 

It was harder than I imagined to sew them...

Working for 3 whole days, I finally completed them.  Now I can wear my first tsumugi kimono.