Current Project

I actually started this project before Thanksgiving, but put it aside out of lack of motivation. I decided that I want to resew a few of my kimono so that they fit me better. I started with a kasuri kimono that was given to me, which has always been too small for me to wear comfortably.

I've worn it once, last year:

I only wore it for pictures, so the fit didn't matter much, but I'd like to be able to wear it out around town comfortably. So I decided to take it apart. I knew that it had some tears in the fabric, such as a really bad one near the hem, but when taking it apart I found many more tears hidden in the seams. Some were hastily repaired by the previous owner (she told me this) but I didn't think there was so many tears!

There are long tears like this that were hidden inside the front sewn parts of both sleeves under the wrist openings.

Here is the repaired tear. Not bad!! I can still see where the tear was, but it is sturdy now and the hole is closed, and it will not be seen since it is right where the seam will be sewn. Some of the tears are in visible areas that will be seen on the outside of the kimono, but I am fine with that, since it is an old kimono, and a dark color so it won't be seen easily. I will be happy to have this be a functioning garment. I'm still only working on the sleeves right now. On the first sleeve I've repaired a total of 9 tears, and have 5 to repair on the other sleeve. I haven't even looked at the body of the kimono yet to see how bad the damage is!

And as always, whenever I have kimono around my son, he wants to wear it:

He wrapped himself up in the kasuri fabric and marched around the house like a prince. I need to find the motivation to sew a lined kimono/haori set for him. I'd really like to have one for New Years!
I have some wool for making a wool set for him, but I don't know how well black and red would look on a child, hmn. So much sewing to do!!

I'm still here!!

Hi, just a quick message to let everyone know I'm still here! I've been terribly busy lately. I had a temp job recently that had me working extremely long hours (7am to midnight, woo hoo!). That temp job is now finished, but now I am trying to play catch up on everything, as well as busy with holiday things. I hope to get back to kimono-related stuff soon, I have a kasuri kimono I need to finish repairing.

One new thing I can share, is a sewing box I made recently. A Victorian Needlebox, the kit is from Needleboxes Etc. Not really kimono-related, except that the cotton fabric I used looks like chiyogami paper.

The box opens up like petals, the walls of the box hold needles, or I can tuck sewing tools in the straps, like little scissors. There is a smaller box in the center to hold sewing notions, and the lid of the little box is a pin cushion.

The box cinches closed with a drawstring. I sewed fabric beads on the ends of the kumihimo drawstring to act as stoppers, so the ends of the drawstring don't slip out of the drawstring guides.