Kitsuke of the Month: February 2013

Only wore a kimono once this month but it seemed to be good luck since that package from Shinei with that gorgeous Taisho era kimono showed up the same day!

I went for Valentine's colors, sorta. I figured this would be the most optimal time to wear that pink obi which is what I worked this whole outfit around. The only kimono I have that goes with it is my grey hitoe but it was just the right weight since honestly our February has been half omg cold and half ridiculously warm. The han eri is a navy blue with cream and aqua accents which mirror the cream and aqua in the obi and the obijime is aqua to bring more of that out. I still lack an aqua obiage so I just used my black and grey scarf.

I also managed to do an otaiko musubi all by my lonesome too, it only took an hour an a half *cries*. But I am steadily improving in terms of being able to put things on. This is very clearly another case of practice being key.

What did I do while kimono'd up? Errands, dropped off the rent check and groceries specifically. I managed to catch the drum part of the musubi on something in the check out line so there was a brief rush to get everything on the conveyor belt so I could shove my obi back into a drum. But I was able to so not big deal. The bagger asked why I was wearing a kimono and I've found my default answer is that it would just sit in my closet so why not wear it grocery shopping/wherever? I got asked the same thing by the exterminator (I moved my grocery day in hopes of not being home for inspection since it's just weird) and I gave him the same answer. Then I did all sorts of fancy cooking and tied back my obi sleeves/put on an apron to be totes domestic and have a lovely dinner prepared for a friend that was coming over.

I didn't quite have dinner done by the time she got here but she was just tickled pink to see me in a kimono and making dinner. I had taken my apron off by then since I was just waiting for the lamb burgers to finish cooking and then assembling everything (and putting in a second loaf of bread once the dough finished rising). We had lamb burgers with tomatoes and fresh from my garden lettuce on home baked wheat bread and roasted asparagus. It was totes delish.

I'm getting more comfortable with fluttering about daily life in a kimono, it tires me out about as much as my Transformers costumes actually but that's just because I'm not used to so much weight and structural bits being situated on my waist/ribcage so those muscles tire quicker.

Kitsuke of the Month: January 2012

I don't foresee this feature ever having more than a few coords per post since it takes so long for me to get dressed (about an hour, not including hair and make-up) and it isn't something I can wear to work. But! I still want a record of my coords, so years from now I can look back and lol at myself, something I can't do with lolita.

Wool~!

 Okay so my next goal (since this month I've remedied a serious lack of obijime and such) is to learn how to pose for pics while wearing kimono (and remember left over right for my collar before I get the obi on)! I didn't realize how odd it is until I tried. :x Also I kind of fudged on a proper musubi (that's the obi bow) for two reasons: I was getting tired of getting dressed, had the obi on but had yet to tie the bow and I realized I was going to be running a ton of errands so lots of driving so I didn't reaaaally want to an obimakura (the pillow to give body to the musubi). So I just twisted it once then pulled it around, half square knotted it and tucked it in like an obi-age. I think I need to pad my waist more so my ohashori will be more flat and crisp, what's larger than a hand towel but smaller than a bath towel?

Kimono: Vintage wool hitoe, geometric motif

Obi: Vintage purple "combined fiber", yabane and stripe motif.

Han-Eri: Quilter's cotton, homemade.

What does "combined fiber even mean, Shinei?!

As for adventuring I did in this... I really did just go run errands. Joann's, grocery store, Target, nothing special. The employees at my Joann's here in podunk absolutely ADORED this. Then the next time I went when I was checking out the one who has declared I'm her favorite told me that she always looks forward to me coming in because I'm always dressed so extravagantly. It all made up for the fact that there were a few other customers at Joann's especially who were "discreetly" giggling and pointing. I'm used to occasionally getting that in lolita (though here in podunk people normally think it's just cute) but it was a bit more embarrassing while in kimono. I think part of it is just that I'm new to kimono and afraid of making mistakes. And I watched the entire series of Bartender (so good). Laying down in a kimono is odd but comfortably doable. I debated going to the pub but it was my first time going to that pub so I decided to go incognito in a pair of jeans and my Card Playing Kitty hoodie. :)

Wardrobe Post: Kimono

One day I'll have a tansu just like one day I'll have a garage but as it stands my kimono live in a canvas box. I went a bit crazy with my kimono storage since I can't just throw it all on hangers in my closet (it'd ruin the fold lines and cause terrible stress on the shoulders). What kind of crazy? Curatorial crazy. I realized that I'm drawn almost exclusively to vintage and antique kimono, stuff that's got some years on it and I liked the idea of making sure that long after I'm gone someone else could possibly wear or display these. I'm going to do a full post on curatorial level storage for kimono next month, so you can look forward to it! I'll also be doing one for storage of delicate lolita items because some older brand is getting to the point where it's a bit more delicate (my favorite green Victorian Maiden skirt being a good example). I'm mostly going to use the seller's pictures for these since I don't have any good kimono display stuff.

As of right now my kimono live in an underbed zip up canvas... box thing. It's softsided and not quite the right dimensions so I put a piece of acid free foam board in the bottom to force the right dimensions. The top is plastic so I'm actually a bit worried about offgassing but for right now it was the best I could do (breathable, mostly non-reactive canvas, should still be fairly secure against my main pest concern of crickets). Everything is individually wrapped in unbleached muslin except the obijime. I was too lazy to iron the muslin right out of the wash but I figure on a boring day I'll iron it all out like a good little curator.

Yukata

When I saw this yukata I fell head over heels in love. It is this that I can fully blame for me getting so hard into kimono. I spent far more than I wanted to on it but it was one of those where I was absolutely in love. I've never seen a yukata I've loved before so I'm very happy to finally have such a staple piece. I also had quite an adventure in washing it as it was stiff as a board and stank of storage. It went alright though.

Kimono

This grey hitoe (komon?) is one of those things where I was completely "Well I'm already buying stuff from this seller and it's a $1 so why not?" The bidding stopped short of $10 but the seller was great about shipping so including shipping it only cost me about $15. I wore it at Ikkicon since the wool hitoe I ordered from Shinei hadn't arrived yet (it got there hours after I left for the con lol).

This wool hitoe was my second choice actually, I was settled on only buying one because Shinei's shipping is so outrageous and I wasn't sure if I'd like wool kimono but by the time I went to buy my first choice that one had sold so I got this one (which I'd wanted also). I really do like it a lot though, the green is delicious and the pattern is very mature and great for running errands around town. I also really like the wool itself, it is soft and substantial and doesn't have the same slip annoyance that silk does.

This was my first kimono purchase ever. I got it in high school, off the eBay and wore it along with a homemade obi (and no other proper accessories) for a birthday dinner. We went to Benihana. I've held onto it all these years despite not liking it all that much and only wearing it that one time. I'm really hoping to find an obi that goes with it and I'm totes for sure going to rock it this fall. Even though I am hardly in love with it. It's more sentimental now, especially since I'm proud of the fact I did a good job of buying a decent kimono off ebay despite being kind of young and stupid.

Obi

I tossed my homemade obi early in 2012 since I had never liked it. I bought two deconstructed obi, both gold maru ones with plans to sew them together to make an obi suitable for the turning leaf kimono but I'd read the auction wrong that they were only a third of each obi which really is a shame since the fabric was in great condition and the guy sold all three parts for each. I'm hoping to finagle a tsuke obi out of them.

This is the first real, in one piece, obi I got. It matched nothing I had at the time but was a good deal and just so cute. I'm thinking I'll pair it with my grey hitoe for my february outfit. It's a nagoya obi and it feels... strange. But a strange I've felt before in really old fabric (which makes me think it might be Taisho era since it had a similar feel to some garments I handled from that time period). I'm having trouble finding an obijime to go with this sucker. It may not happen until I one day visit Japan since I'll probably need to match the blues in person.

My second obi purchase and I had hoped that it would pair well with my falling leaves kimono but it honestly doesn't quite. That kimono is like a spectre of Goes With Nothing. The cool thing about this obi is that it is reversable!

I have discovered I have a sincere love of yabane. Also with only that red and black obi and my pink obi I needed something that would pair better with my green wool hitoe and purposely made sure to not check out til I had an obi to go with it. I've learned!

Haori

I used to have this cool blue haori that I found in a thrift shop in high school. I know right! There was a ton of Japanese stuff during that one run to the thrift shop. It would look stunning with that pink obi and grey hitoe and man I'm kicking myself for giving it away.

I saw this and was like, that'd look cool with my yukata, like storm clouds over the ocean. Then I ended up spending like $50 more than I planned to on it. But luckily it goes with just about everything!

Obijime

I bought all of these because I'd already bought the haori so why not just add onto that shipping? That was also the reasoning behind the grey hitoe. I need so many obijime I don't have. Gonna keep trawling the Eebs.

In Transit!

This is all the same Shinei order... Which I sent via Sea Mail. I expect it late February/early March. But even with Sea Mail shipping was $50. That's the one sucky thing about Shinei (other than their sort by low price suckiness).

Isn't that material just divine? OMG. Even though it's going to be so short I probably won't be able to do an ohashori I don't even care.

This will be the base of a kimono where I'll be painting motorcycles racing around the border/up the sleeve like a houmongi. I'm nervous but stoked since I hope to wear this to the first MotoGP race at Circuit of the Americas. I'd wanted something sky blue or with bluebells ('cause Texas) but no luck on that front. This is a bit more sheer than I wanted but I think will still be cute and work. I hope.

I love sayagata and I figure a silver obi will really stretch my wardrobe/go well with my MotoGP kimono.

My first true obiage instead of just using a scarf. It has that pattern I love so much. :D

Homemade Han Eri

It was made from this fabric, I forgot to take a picture. I also bought a ton more of those fabric quarters to make more han eri. They're like $2 and you just cut in half then sew together to make them longer and iron into a collar. Super simple and super fun!