Puchi Heko Obi Problems

I'm trying to figure out a way to use this puchi heko obi with a tsuke obi. Whenever I tie it in front and turn it to the back, the bow gets all messed up:

Here's what it was supposed to look like:
Tied on top of my baggy pajamas! It's kind of cute, girly. Though I worry that it looks sort of like a wedding veil.
Side view, tied on top of my pajamas. I have to make the "tails" of the bow really long, otherwise they stick straight outwards and look terrible, because it is so light and fluffy.

I sort of wanted to try wearing the puchi heko obi to the festival in Seattle this weekend, but I don't know if I can get it to stay straight after turning it to my back, or the long drive to Seattle. I might have to convince my husband to tie my obi for me..

Recent Crafts, and Baby kimono

It's been a while since I was able to write on my blog. Here's some things I've been up to recently.

Randomly, I decided to try this old boy's kimono on my son, Bryan. I could only get a picture of him from behind. This is the Momotarou kimono I have displayed for Kodomo no Hi. This kimono is too damaged to wear, because the fabric is disintegrating, but when it was worn the damage was not seen. The arm length fits, but the sleeves are too long, they drag on the floor. I think it may be a kimono for hatsu-miyamairi, though I've never seen a noshime kimono, I imagine the sleeve might be open in the front, as that is the case with this kimono.
Either way, Bryan had fun playing with the sleeves!

Bryan likes wearing kimono, yay! My nieces want to go to the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend, and they asked if they can wear yukata. I don't know if the weather will cooperate, but I decided to get my yukata collection ready just in case. As I was showing the yukata to my nieces, Bryan decided he wanted to play dress-up too. He got into the bin of yukata and put on his daddy's yukata all by himself.

He walked around the house for part of the day with daddy's yukata dragging behind him.

I did some sewing these last two weeks, in preparation for yukata season. I'm making some plastic mesh obi-ita for my nieces to use. This is an easy DIY kimono accessory you can make in an evening while watching TV shows. This one I cut to the shape as my other obi-ita, but the next few I will make just a solid rectangle the full length of the plastic mesh and then round the corners. I used the stiffest plastic mesh canvas I could find in the needlepoint section of my local craft store. It is Darica, 7 mesh, Ultra Stiff Plastic Canvas #33106, 12x18in (30.5x45.7cm). You can make 2 obi-ita from a 12x18in sheet of plastic canvas and one package of 4 yard bias tape. Simply cut it out to shape (about 5-6in x 9-12in, with rounded corners) and hand-sew double-fold bias tape around the cut edges, stitching through the holes in the canvas.

You can make an eri-shin the same was, with the same materials. The make an eri-shin, cut two 14x1.5in pieces of plastic canvas, and bond them together to make a 28in long piece - to do this you can "sew" the two pieces together, or bond with a glue that is appropriate for plastic. Then round the outside ends and sew the double-fold bias tape around the outside.

I also finished my apple green tsuke obi I wanted to go with this yukata. I didn't think to take photos of the process for writing a tutorial, but I can share some of my tips when I make obi. For the fabric on this one, I had a hard time finding the right color in polyester fabrics, and I wanted to keep the cost down so I used the cheapest thing I could find: satin! I didn't want the gaudy super-shiny look of satin, so I used the reverse side of the fabric. The reverse side looks like plain polyester fabric!
The stiffener core of the obi is a stiffener you can buy in the interfacing section of the fabric store, it is sold by the yard from a bolt just like regular fabric. I use the stiffest stuff I can find, called Peltex Extra Firm Sew-in for Crafts #70. I used the same stuff when I turned my peacock nagoya obi into a tsuke obi. The stiffener is *really* stiff, and that means the bow won't loose its shape, and I won't need to wear an obi-ita with it! Only down-side to the tsuke obi is that it looks like a tsuke obi, but it sits high on my back and I suppose that is sort of the look lately. If only I looked good with a puchi-heko obi on top - I tried, it isn't all that flattering on me.

The reverse side of the bow, the center part is roughly sewn, but it isn't seen when worn. The hook is made from a corner of a cheap wire hanger, the kind you get from the dry cleaners. The himo I used is temporary, until I can sew a better one (this one is just the sewn end cut off the end of bed sheets, so it has fraying) but the himo isn't seen either when worn.

That's it for now! Hope everyone gets to enjoy going to your local Sakura festivals, or at least see the blossoms before they fall. Many of the trees in my neighborhood have bloomed, so we went out to see them this last Easter weekend.
I hope the cherry blossoms in Seattle will still be in bloom this weekend during the festival (and I hope it is warm and dry!)

Magazine Scan: Cawaii, Aug. 2007

These are just the pages scanned from the Aug. 2007 issue of Cawaii that have pictures of yukata. Years ago when I purchased this at the bookstore, I had to get the Chinese version because the Japanese version was sold out. So, no translations this time.

I love the sheerness of her yukata.

Book Scan: Nezumi no Yomeiri

Here is the second children's book I have from the Hikari no Kuni, Koe no Ehon series. This one is the folk tale - Nezumi no Yomeiri. The mice are adorably drawn. For some reason, I am enchanted by the mother mouse in the drawings. The daughter mouse is very cute and I love her kimono, but the mother mouse seems to have a fun personality. Especially in the first picture that you see the mother mouse, she looks to be telling gossip to father mouse!

There is a song, I was not able to find any examples of the song on the internet. I don't know if this is a traditional song or if it is a song composed for this record book. I will, however include the romanized lyrics, for anyone who can read music and would like to sing along.
Click on the images to view them larger.

Audio Picture Book #38
The Mouse's Marriage

Here are the lyrics to the song. I will give the translation here, and the romaji lyrics below.

The Mouse's Marriage
A mouse ready to marry, is looking for a husband
They have searched all over, but surely it will be a mouse
Squeak squeak squeak
Squeak squeak squeak
The mice all congratulate

If the bride is a mouse
The best choice of husband is surely a mouse
Squeak squeak squeak
Squeak squeak squeak
The mice all congratulate

Yomeiri nezumi no, muko sagashi
Sagashi mawatta, mita keredo
Yappari nezumi de gozaimasu
Chu' chu' chu'
Chu' chu' chu'
Nezumi doushi de omedetou

Hanayome-sama ga, nezumi nara
Sangokuichi no omuko-sama
Yappari nezumi de gozaimasu
Chu' chu' chu'
Chu' chu' chu'
Nezumi doushi de omedetou

There once was a wealthy mouse family. The daughter was very lovely, and had many offers for marriage.
"I want my daughter to marry the greatest person in the world."
Just who could be the greatest person in the world?

"It is Mr. Sun, of course."
"I see! Because it is Mr. Sun that lights up the entire world."
So then the mice went to Mr. Sun and said,
"Mr. Sun, will you please marry our daughter?"
"Hoho, I'm sorry. Actually, there is someone who is much greater than I am."
"And who could that be?"
"The Cloud. Even if I am shining bright, I can be completely covered up by the fluffy Cloud."
"I see."

The mice went to the Cloud and said,
"You are the greatest Cloud in the world, will you please marry my daughter?"
"Impossible. I am not the greatest in the world. There is one who is greater than I am."
"Who could that be?"
"Mr. Wind. Even if I try my best to blanket the sky, I am blown away by Mr. Wind."
"Squeak squeak squeak, therefore Mr. Wind is the greatest in the world."
"Then let's give our daughter to Mr. Wind."

"Mr. Wind, will you accept my daughter?"
"I am grateful, but there is one who is stronger than me. Mr. Wall. Even if I blow with all my might, he won't budge at all."
The mice pleaded with the wall,
"Mr. Wall, Mr. Wall, Please accept our daughter."

Nevertheless, the wall also refused.
"Mr. Mouse, there is something that can defeat me."
"Now, who could that be?"
"It is mice. When you chew on me I become full of holes."
"I see. Therefore, the greatest in the world are mice after all."
"Then, father, lets have our daughter marry a mouse."
Therefore, the mouse father and mother decided on the mouse that lived next door.
Come, tonight is a joyous wedding ceremony.
The mouse daughter and the mouse husband lived happily ever after.


I find the image on the back of the book absolutely adorable. She looks like a little mouse maiko-san!

You can read the other children's book I have from this series here.

My son's heko obi!

My son's heko obi arrived in the mail yesterday! The color is a little darker than I thought it would be, but that makes it better! That means it coordinates well with other fabrics I plan to make into yukata for my son.
The dark color also helps it looks a bit more masculine, in my opinion. I was worried that daddy wouldn't like it because of the flowers (and I admit, kimono is sort of dress-like to some men), but daddy likes it a lot.

The color looks good with his yukata.

I played dress up with my son, to see how the heko obi looked with his yukata.
A victory pose? He was having fun making a mess in his room. He doesn't know that kimono is different from other clothes ^_^
He likes playing with the sleeves. I sort of like longer sleeves, even on boys, but this yukata looks cute on him.

Baby boy, where is your neck??

The length is still too long. I still need to shorten it, but I am waiting until closer to matsuri time. He is growing very fast...
He is so little, the obi bow looks very big for him!

Big bow on his back! Now I just need to buy some cute sandals for him. He likes to wear my geta around the house, and we giggle over him stumbling around. I have a pair of old children's geta that are almost small enough for his feet, but they are hard for him to walk in and clunky, and the straps and pink and black. Just regular sandals for him, I think.


Dancing! I will probably tie his obi more narrow on his waist, and try better to center the shibori on the front. But I tied it wide to hide the temporary (and pink) koshihimo that was holding up the extra length of his yukata!

And it looks like the heko obi will look good with the fabric I am going to use to make another yukata for my son. Dinosaurs!! It is actually a bed sheet, but I liked the pattern very much and thought it would make a cute yukata.

Papercrafts and slight hiatus

I haven't had much time for kimono related activities lately. I've been concentrating on papercrafts and taking care of my kitty cat. I've actually downsized my collection, so I have few coordinations to work with anymore, and what I do have needs alterations. Honestly, it is starting matsuri season here in the Seattle area, so mostly I've been working on getting my yukata collection ready. I know many kimono lovers don't care much for yukata, but for some reason the opportunities to wear yukata far outweigh opportunities for other types of kimono in Seattle. Strange, since the weather generally isn't as nice here as it is in other areas of the world. And my family will agree to wear yukata with me!

Anyways, the only kimono item I've been working on is a yukata tsuke obi. I have plenty of yukata, but a lack of yukata obi. If my sister and nieces decide they want to wear yukata to a matsuri this year, I need to make sure I have enough of everything. The obi I am making is to go with this yukata:
The obi I am making is the same color as what is pictured, apple green. The obi I used in the picture is actually a nagoya obi tied so that the design of the obi does not show. I like the green color with this yukata. I've tried it with a red obi as well, since I usually see similar orangy-yellow yukata with red obi, but I did not like the look of it at all.

The Seattle Cherry Blossom festival is this April, but I don't know if me or my family will dress up. My family likes to wear yukata, but the weather has been so yucky (it snowed earlier this week!). I suppose I am going to have to decide when it gets closer to festival time.

Anyways, I am still rather excited for Kodomo no Hi, and have been working on more toys and papercrafts for Kodomo no Hi. Here is what I've done so far:
I wanted to make some more toys for my son to play with. First I made a den den daiko.
I made it out of cardstock, using this pattern. It sounds great! And it is fairly sturdy. My husband was playing with it, more vigorously than I liked, but the paper held up just fine. I think my toddler will be able to play with it without breaking it too quickly.

Then I made a tiger pop-up toy:
You press it flat and press down on it's body and it pops up using a rubber band strung through it's body. It doesn't always work, and the printer ink is rubbing off, but oh well. The pattern printout makes two tigers, one slightly smaller than the other. They are both rather small and surprisingly not as easy to make as it looks.

Another tiger:
I sometimes see toy tigers as Kodomo no Hi (Tango no Sekku) decorations, and my son was born in the year of the tiger, so making tiger toys made sense to me.

A kazaguruma!
It turns really well, maybe better than plastic windmill toys I remember having as a child.

A taketombo!
I remember playing with a taketombo when exchange students visited my Japanese class. I remember the taketombo being temperamental, but this flies very well, and high! I can make it fly everytime. Maybe because it is so light because it is made of cardstock paper. I think my son will love this one!

Flash Cards
Ok, this isn't related to Kodomo no Hi or Japanese toys, but my son is at the age that he might like playing with flash cards.

I've already made one koinobori toy for my son to play with, here are some more I've done in the last few days:
You can't see the whole thing, but this is just a single paper koinobori tied with string to a large cooking chopstick. I printed the koinobori from this site, but I enlarged it so that it would print larger. The cooking chopsticks already have a hole through it because the two sticks were originally tied together. My son has already played with this one and he loves it! It reminds him of a cat toy, so he immediately waves it around and chases after the cat with it! I also practiced making origami kabuto.

A miniature koinobori set with origami koi. I like the look of the Japanese paper toys next to the bright colored retro looking toys. Maybe if I do a display I will include some of my son's toys.

This is my favorite miniature koinobori I've made so far. It is so cute! The pattern is here. I have a pattern for one other koinobori papercraft, but I don't think I will make it, since this one I have is very nice. Here is the link for the other one if anyone else would like to make it.

Collection of paper toys so far!
I also made some paper airplanes. My son (and my cat) had fun playing with paper airplanes this week, and I love the retro patterns on these ones.

I mentioned my kitty cat, Matrix. My cat had to go in for surgery, again. Months ago he got a hematoma on his ear, from having an ear infection. He never showed any signs that his ears were bothering him, so the hematoma caught us by surprise. He had two surgeries then and got better, but now he got another hematoma on his other ear. This time the vet can not figure out what caused it. She said it is rare for cats to get repeat hematomas, and thinks he may have a rare skin condition or allergies.
My cat's new hematoma is larger than the last one, but the vet still said it was very small. I guess they can swell up and cover the whole ear.
You can see his left ear is bent down at the tip, from the weight of the hematoma. His right ear has a wrinkle in it from the last hematoma.
Matrix is doing just fine. His ears look a little funny. He's dealing with the cone around his neck, and he has been enjoying lots of attention.