Just Another Kimono Blog

Every month a kimono - January

2012-01-29T20:32:00.005+01:00

A resolution for this year I hope to complete, is to wear a kimono at lease every month. And on one of the last days of January, I had time to do some kitsuke.

For myself the choice was made very quickly to combine my green iromuji with a bright blue nagoya obi with irisses (?) on it. Funny detail is that Misuchi has a twin obi, a black version!

My kitsuke wasn't the best, and I forgot to do some padding, but it looked okay-ish.

On my dummy I put the beautiful kimono I bought from Ume Bloom. It's a deep purple and has a lovely all over golden pattern. I combined it with a fukuro obi which has fans and other embroidery on it.

The musubi I wanted to try, is a bunko. It's from a Japanese book with all sorts of musubi, mostly for furisode.

It took me 3 times to figure out that this obi is very stiff, maybe too stiff for bunko (next time I'll try a fukura suzume). And even on the 3rd time it still wasn't good. You can't really see it proberly, but underneath the musubi it's too loose. In order to keep the end-piece of the obi in place, I had to work with 2 obiage, a bit strange...

Hope you like it!

The perfect kimono dummy

2011-12-31T15:25:00.004+01:00

It has been a while since I did some kitsuke, but last thursday I happen to came across a dummy perfect for kimono.

Why perfect?? It has a little waist and... a perfect flat chest! No more padding, yeay!

So on the last day of 2011 I did some kitsuke on it, with a kimono I haven't worn yet. I bought this from Ryujiro almost a year ago, and yes I am very much ashamed to say that ;-)

The kimono has a red pattern of wheels on it, some of which are colored gold, purple and the same red as the pattern. So I thought of combining it with my new red and black hakata nagoya obi. I'm so glad to have this obi, it's my first hakata obi!

Obiage is a 'standard' red shibori one, the obijime was a present from Misuchi (thank you!).

When I was finished, the white collar looked a bit dull/bleak (don't know how you call it). Guess what's used as a date eri?? A black obiage I also got from Misuchi! And it looks much better with that touch of black!

Happy New Year!!

PS, I think there has to be a better obi for this kimono in my collection... Comments are welcome!

Japan Tag - Düsseldorf

2011-10-18T19:04:00.001+02:00

Last weekend my boyfriend and I had the luck to go to Düsseldorf, Germany to visit Japan Tag (Japan Day)!

We already made reservations for Hotel Nikko (very good, and in style!) which is perfectly situated in Düsseldorf's city centre. And as it turned out, we got ourselves a suite instead of a normal room without paying for the upgrade. All I did was ask if we could check-in early 'cause I wanted to change into my kimono for Japan Tag... Maybe that did the trick, don't know for sure though...

Anyway, we had a blast! Didn't take any pictures, sorry, we were too busy enjoying ourselves haha. The weather was absolutely perfect, nice and sunny, not too cold and not too warm.

Of course I stopped at the booth where women and children could try on kimono, but only to see if I could see some kitsuke-tricks... But it was very crowdy and to each woman/girl they dressed were 2 or 3 women doing the kitsuke. I do have to say that there was one Japanese lady in that booth who looked very very sophisticated in her dark kimono, obi in tsunodashi musubi, and hair in an immaculate updo. So pretty!

We also had drinks with a Japanese colleague of my boyfriend, who lives and works in Düsseldorf, and gave us tips to do in the city. We met with him and his wife, and have a lovely chat. This picture was made by him (sorry for the difficult looks, we stared straight into the sun). And, always nice to hear.... they (and some more people) complemented me on my kimono and kitsuke!

At the end of Japan Tag we saw the most amazing fireworks ever! 20-25 minutes of the best professional fireworks, with 4 scenes and many ohhs and ahhhs.

On Sunday we wanted to visit the EKO-haus, but we were way too early! We'll go there another time...

Almost forgot... Worn kimono and obi :-)

Finally Hakata!

2011-08-10T21:38:00.007+02:00

Finally I'm the happy owner of a beautiful red & black hakata nagoya obi! It has to arrive, but I hope it will look as good as it does on Ichiroya's photo's.

It's been a little while since I bought a kimono. The last kimono I bought was from Ume Bloom's blogsale, this very pretty purple & gold komon kimono. Just found out that I didn't even made a blogpost for this kimono! I'm very ashamed of this, I will do this soon, it's so pretty.

And there was more I liked, way more than my wallet can handle! But eventually I chose an extra long black & purple yukata with a bolder pattern than I usually wear. Linda also has this yukata, and it looked so pretty on her, I hope she doesn't mind I got the same.

And to complete the order I got me a bundle of iromuji kimono. I do hope they're long enough, otherwise those will be my first project to lengthen them... But they had really nice colors (a pink iromuji is almost a necessity in your tansu I think) and fabric/patterns, and the bundle wasn't that expensive.

Let's hope this all will arrive very soon :-D

Tea

2011-07-26T08:06:00.000+02:00

Last friday, after a very long time from our first date to do have this evening, my boyfriend and I were invited to participate in a private tea ceremony with a couple we know. It was absolutely wonderful!

At their house, their diningroom flows into a beautiful Japanese tatami room with shoji (paper) panels, closets and room for an ikebana-piece with a scroll (can't remember the specific name for it right now). The shoji panels can be opened to look at their small but very nice Japanese garden, and they can even open the garden doors so that Japanese outside is flowing into Japanese inside. Very beautiful. And our hosts both wore kimono!

Our hostess performed the ceremony and her husband explained what she was doing. I had trouble sitting on my knees and feet for long... Next time I have to bring a little cushion to put under my feet ;-) (we were already had cushions under our knees).

We had lots of fun and talked about a lot and very different topics. It was a very nice and entertaining evening.

I wore my peacock-kimono and obi, and tried a bit of padding on my belly with an obi makura. But if it was successfull??? So if anyone has suggestions for padding, please let me know :-)

Kimono de Jack Leiden

2011-07-12T07:59:00.002+02:00

Last saturday Holland had it's first Kimono de Jack, at the Sieboldhuis in Leiden!
You can see photo's and more at the blog of the Kimono Club or on Linda's weblog.

We had lot's of fun and it was so nice to see other kimono fanatics!
Kimono de Jack Holland is here to stay :-)

Oh, almost forgot... When I was deciding what to wear to KdJ, I got to the conclusion that I need more obi and lots more accessoires like obijime and obiage. Luckily for me I'm going to Japanday in Düsseldorf! Any tips for that event (where to buy etc) are most welcome!

Yamato!

2011-04-25T17:06:00.002+02:00

It's been a very, very, very long time since I did some kitsuke, with a big renovation-project, but yesterday I had a good reason for wearing a kimono again. We went to see the taiko-group Yamato.

I can never get enough of hearing and feeling those big taiko drums, and I thought this show was very nice. Especially hearing 2 koto, I've never heard those 'live'.

After the show my bf made a photo (indoors and cellphone, so sorry for the not so good quality!) of me and a member of Yamato, Marika Nito.

It was the first time I wore this pink kimono and black-with-rose obi, but it was a very good match, and a very nice evening!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T12:45:00.001+01:00

And be careful in the snow (if you have any)!

Christmas shopping???

2010-12-05T17:31:00.003+01:00

Last week I was looking on eBay again since a very long time, and I saw some very beautiful kimono listed... And I couldn't resist to do some bidding :-) Unfortunately some of the kimono I bid on slipped right through my fingers, but I did win 3 pretty kimono and 1 obi.

Hopefully they will arrive soon...

(the pictures link to my flickr-page where you can find more pictures of these kimono and obi)

Long time...

2010-08-09T12:53:00.019+02:00

So... it's been a long time since I've worn kimono. And unfortunately it will take another few month before I can find some time to do kitsuke. We're in the middle of some renovating of the house and even if I have spare time, it's nice to do nothing or just relax a bit. But because of the renovating, I'll have more space and better lighting when I'm doing kitsuke!

However, there is a 'huge' project that I am working on every day that has something to do with kimono... I've been busy with a cross-stitch embroidery-piece. It's not a han-eri or any other kitsuke item, it's a bell-pull. It has a Japanese setting and 3 lovely geisha on it, Mount Fuji (?), some lanterns. It's not finished yet, but I'm almost there (more detailed pictures below).

Fantasy

2010-04-28T20:45:00.004+02:00

It's been a (very) long time since I made a post on this blog...

Unfortunately there haven't been many kimono or kitsuke days these past few months. Actually, to be exactly, there was only 1 event worth wearing kimono. In march Rota and I, together with our boyfriends, went to the theater to see Osaka Dadadadan Tenko and we had a wonderful time. You can see pics on Rota's blog (those were the only pics taken).

Last weekend (april 24) a colleague and I went to the annual Elf Fantasy Fair. This is one of the best known fairs on elfs and fantasy in Europe, so a lot of non-Dutchies come to see and participate in this. It was fun to see all those costumes! Some were good, some were less, and some were just awesome! There was also a stand with kimono and taiko workshops, but unfortunately I missed those...

I've uploaded a batch of pictures taken on the fair, so you can see for yourself.

In the upcoming months I won't be able to wear kimono :-(
Our roof needs reconstruction, and if I have to choose between these two...

I hope you will have a lot of opportunities to wear kimono, and please post!

Blue with fans

2010-02-09T07:56:00.009+01:00

Last weekend I finally had some time to do kitsuke. But as it was a little cold, my dummy was dressed and not me.

This kimono was from the last eBay-spree. I don't really have a good matching set of obiage and obijime, but I guess this works, although a different colour green would be nicer.

And I really think this green obi works well with the kimono! What do you think?

Waiting for new arrivals...

2010-01-31T11:22:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since my last post.... Well, lets just say that the economic-crisis has reached me also haha. Nothing bad of course, but I do had to refrain myself from buying kimono.

Until 2 weeks ago! I was looking on eBay and saw that Ryu had listed some very nice things. After bidding on a few obi and lost those, I tried again and I won 4 obi and 2 kimono (some for a very low price, I've never had that yeay!). This pink kimono is one of the 2.

I was hoping that the package arrived yesterday, but alas.... So maybe in the next couple of days. And I'll try to do some kitsuke next sunday. Don't know yet if it'll be on the dummy or on me... ;-)

Purple-blue komon

2009-10-18T11:57:00.005+02:00

Today I decided to skip my classes at the gym and do some kitsuke again, and it was about time ^_^

This is my latest komon, and it's the perfect size for me. I actually don't know if it's dark blue or dark purple, hence the purple-blue... The hanhaba obi I paired it with has a yellow/light brownish color with purple outlined flowers on it. Doesn't it combine nicely?

I've also got 1 purple obi jime and 2 purple obi age, but what do you think is best? The dark or lighter obi age?

Or leave the obi age and just use the obi jime?

Last New-Zealand post...

2009-09-07T21:51:00.002+02:00

And then no more!
I just wanted you to know, if you do want to see some of my photo's taken in New-Zealand, they're on Flickr.

And now back to kimono!

Scans musubi book

2009-08-23T17:12:00.002+02:00

It took a while, but all relevant pages of the musubi-book I have are on Flickr!

If you know the title of the book or the name of a musubi, please let me know and I'll put it in the title/description.

Enjoy!

Pollie

2009-08-12T19:11:00.004+02:00

Today we had to put our eldest dog Pollie to sleep.

12,5 years old, she had a very happy doglife, having 10 acres to hunt on rabbits, hares and other small animals.
Mother of Fox and grandmother of Dizzy.

She will be missed.

Musubi Book

2009-08-03T07:46:00.002+02:00

Just wanted to share that some scans of the musubi book are already on my Flickr-account.

Not everything is there yet, but I'll add when I can.

Happy kitsuke ^_^

Sweet Yuka and Ichiro

2009-07-31T07:34:00.005+02:00

When I got home yesterday I was very surprised when I saw the mail...

There was a beautiful card of an onnagata (actor who playes female roles in theatre/kabuki plays) on top of our mail. It wasn't just beautiful, it was a gorgeous picture.

Turning it around, I saw that it was from Yuka and Ichiro from Ichiroya, one of my favorite kimono-stores!

Thank you Yuka and Ichiro!

Musubi

2009-07-19T18:19:00.013+02:00

Friday we had friends over for dinner who hadn't seen any of my kimono, so I showed them a few. That evening I didn't have time to fold them up again so when I came back from the gym this morning, I decided to do some kitsuke on my 2 dolly's.

A few weeks ago when Rota was over, she showed me a book on musubi she bought on eBay, and I got a copy of that as well.

The musubi I tried today are from that book, but I really have no clue what they are called...

(above are the examples from the book)

Shopping!

2009-07-14T21:24:00.006+02:00

It took a while, but within the next few weeks hopefully my new synthetic komon kimono will arrive. It was listed on eBay, in Ryu's shop. I was also bidding on another peach colored iromuji with a little pattern in the fabric (don't know if it's iromuji then), but unfortunately I lost that one :-(

But this is the one that I did win! Like I said, it's synthetic. There is one stain on the sleeve, and I hope that I can get it out.

Because I don't want to pay shipping for just 1 kimono, I bought a pair of geta, a pair of black zori and 2 hanhaba obi that I want to combine with the kimono. Can't wait to see them in the mail ^_^

Norway

2009-06-23T23:01:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we came back from a 10 day holiday in Norway. What a beautiful country!

We stayed a couple of days in Geilo, then we went to Voss and then back to Geilo for our last days. More photo's to come, but here's a nice teaser :-)

Biyosugata!

2009-06-03T22:22:00.003+02:00

Finally the biyosugata arrived a week ago! Unfortunately customs had gotten a hold of it, but most important is that it's here!

After a week of having no time to try it on, tonight I had some time. I had 2 manuals to make the bow, the one that came with the biyosugata and the one in The Book of Kimono. I have to say that the manual that came with it is a bit easier than that of The Book, but putting it on is easier with The Book and some help from the IG-forums ^_^

The hardest bit is to put it on. But as these pictures show, I got it on! My kitsuke is messed up, but hey, at least I've nailed it haha.

Yamato

2009-05-11T07:45:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we went to see Yamato at the theatre. They were very good, very different from Tenko, but oh so very good. And of course I went in kimono!

We had a great time. Too bad the group didn't sign because they had to pack, but at least I got 2 compliments about my outfit, and a lot of stares haha.

This time I went in my furisode because it had a little taiko on it, and after wearing it the whole evening, I must say that this furisode may be the most comfortable kimono I have. It's perfect, doesn't flap open when walking, perfect height and width, very nice to wear again.

Unfortunately my biyosugata hasn't arrived (yet), but I wanted the fukura suzume on my back. So I tried to tie it on my belly and turn it around, and it actually worked! It wasn't as high as it should have been, but I thought it was acceptable ^_^

But of course after 2 carrides nothing was left of it...

My (very) little... Hanami

2009-05-04T09:00:00.001+02:00

Still small but hopefully big one day...

Amsterdam

2009-05-03T16:17:00.005+02:00

A week ago, Rota and I were supposed to see a tea ceremony demonstration. Rota came to my house so she could see Wolfje and that I could help her with kitsuke.

The plan was good, but we had a good time chatting along and because of that we already were late starting kitsuke. Although we did it quite fast, and we didn't get in a lot of traffic on our way to Amsterdam, we were too late... But we still had a lot of fun and had a nice talk with to the Tea Master before we went home.

One thing I learned that day: driving a car in kimono isn't that bad :-)

Fukura suzume

2009-05-01T11:30:00.003+02:00

Ha, thanks to Yuka & Ichiro's dvd I managed to make a better fukura suzume musubi than the first time...

A couple of days ago I finally found a site where I bought a biyosugata, and that ships outside of Japan! They use EMS shipping, but because of Golden Week in Japan the package will be posted next week, let's hope on monday. Hopefully it'll arrive before sunday next week. We're going to a show of Yamato in the theatre, and I want to wear this furisode. I might be a little too old for a furisode, but heck, at least I'm not married ^_^ And this furisode had a nice drum embroidered on it.

Singapore

2009-04-15T08:07:00.004+02:00

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
Originally uploaded by annebyebye

When we went to New-Zealand, we had a stop of 16 hours in Singapore. Because our stop took this long, we went off the airport and into the city and saw some beautiful temples.

You can find more pictures on Flickr!

Finally finished!

2009-04-07T14:54:00.006+02:00

After days and evenings of puzzling and looking for just the right picture to put on that page, finally my photobook of our fantastic New-Zealand trip is finished and delivered!

For printing I chose Blurb, which I stumbled upon on Melissa's blog, and I must say that the book is very nice. Working in the graphic industry, so I know my printing options, this book has been professionally printed, and it looks very... well, professional. I did make the layout in Indesign and not in BookSmart, the software you have to download.

When I want to make another photobook, Blurb will definitely be one, or maybe the only, supplier I'll use.

Nice to know, you can also sell your book to others, and you can publish a 15-page preview. You can have a look at mine if you will.

Finally I can spend some time on kitsuke again ^_^

Real Geisha Real Women

2009-04-05T20:18:00.002+02:00

As of yesterday I've got the dvd "Real Geisha Real Women", directed by Peter MacIntosh.

It's a very good documentary that gives us a glimpse of the life of geiko and maiko these days. You get to see interviews with different maiko and geiko, with friends and family.

I'm very happy that I bought it, and because I was one of the first 500 people that ordered it, it's signed by Miehina, John Wells (director of photography) and Peter MacIntosh, and there were 2 name-stickers of Miehina with it ^_^

© Photo: Peter MacIntosh

Wolfje!

2009-03-10T20:42:00.003+01:00

Since saterday afternoon our dog Pollie has got a new playmate: Wolfje (or in English Wolfy). Just like Pollie she's a typical farmdog you see on farms in the south of our country. She's very playful, and has only 1 thing on her mind... How to get out of my dogpenn!

But it's very lovely to see how both Pollie and Wolfje are getting along after a few days, and how they get more and more playful with each other.

Fox & Dizzy

2009-01-21T21:15:00.004+01:00

This is a bit of a sentimental post...

When we came back of our vacation in New-Zealand, we got welcomed by 1 dog instead of 2. In the second week of our vacation our dog Fox (after Fox Mulder) had too many internal bleedings, and my parents-in-law had to put her to sleep. They didn't tell us on the phone, because there was nothing we could do about it. But it was strange getting home and not knowing yet.

When we called for her she didn't come, but hey, she had a mind of her own and if she didn't wanted to come and greet us, too bad for us. So we thought this was just one of those days. But when we got indoors, my parents-in-law told us. And then you notice that in front of them and the friend who picked you up at the airport, your behaviour is different then if you are alone...

With Fox gone, last year ended with a loss, but it also started with one. We lost our youngest dog Dizzy in January. The hard part of losing Dizzy is that we (still) don't know what happened to her. Now I have to explain something. We live on a farm and we (I actually have to say my parents-i-l) have some acres of ground, and our dogs live freely on that property. They don't wear collars, only if they have lots of flees, they don't get out on a leech, sometimes they don't even listen, but they can go wherever they want to. Go and pursue some hares, rabbits or mice. They live in dogparadise.

And Dizzy just didn't came home one day in January. We called for her, we drove a couple of blocks in our neighbourhood at night, looked and called for her days after that, made posters, etc etc. She probably got stuck in a rabbit hole and couldn't come out, but we don't know that for sure. And that's the hard part, not knowing.

So this post is for those 2 sweet doggies.

After-holiday fun

2009-01-14T07:35:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I posted, and this one isn't kimono-related either!

Well, the reason is that I've been to New-Zealand the last month for a holiday. And now that I'm back there are lots of after-holiday things to do... I've kept a traveljournal and made loads of pictures. The pictures will be added to my Flickr-account, and the journal has to be copied to my mac, which takes a lot of time.

If you're interested in reading the journal, it's in Dutch now, you can use Google Translate to translate the whole page, otherwise please let me know. I can also translate it myself, but that may take a while..

Kimono day

2008-11-22T15:44:00.000+01:00

Today I decided to have a kimono-day. Didn't have much to do for a change, and it could be that some friends might visite to browse through some vinyl we're selling, so I thought, why not. Good opportunity to practise some kitsuke, and I wanted to see if the brown woven obi Misuchi gave me would match with my black and brown striped komon.

And it is a perfect match! As for obiage and obijime I choose my green set. It may not be the right set, but I think it looks okay. I do have a black obiage, and I thought about pairing it with a silvery-looking obijime, but green looked better. And finally a flat obijime-knot!

One thing did I found out today was that doing laundry can be done in kimono! But lets face it, that is just putting your laundy in the washer and later putting it in the drier. Nothing difficult about that, even when you're dressed in kimono ^_~

Still, I got some cold feet, so I changed my tabi for some socks and warm slippers (sorry, but I don't know the english word for pantoffels). Charming isn't it ;-)

Kimono & obi collection

2008-11-18T13:06:00.001+01:00

Navy blue irotomesode
Originally uploaded by annebyebye

Maybe a year now I'm also on Flickr, and a few weeks ago I had the idea to but my kimono and obi collection in there. Easy to see the kimono and obi I own.

Not all pictures have a decent description but I'm working on that. Always fun to do, especially when suddenly, after a few pictures done, you decide to mention if it's hitoe, awase, etc... ^_^

My first... yukata

2008-10-28T08:10:00.000+01:00

Yep, together with the shibori set my first yukata arrived. I hope I will be wearing this a lot at home, since it can be very warm inside our house. We do have central heating, but we don't really use it. Instead we have 2 fireplaces/stoves, which gives a much nicer warmth than central heating. But because of the stoves it tends to get hotter than in an average house, a bit like summer ^_^
So I'm going to try and wear this one more often than I do with kimono.

Nice thing about the yukata is that I'm a pisces... And there are also little ones on the hanhaba obi.

Shibori at last

2008-10-27T16:41:00.000+01:00

Finally, after 3 weeks of waiting my shibori kimono set has arrived!

Ever since I saw Sumire from the IG-forums wearing her purple shibori houmongi I wanted a shibori kimono. And now I finally have her!

This is a set I bought from Ichiroya (they have very nicely priced kimono sets!), and it contains the kimono, juban, fukuru obi, obiage and obijime. First thing I noticed wearing it, is that it feels very thick. If you'll wear it in winter you won't get cold haha!

To be honest, it's the first time since I own an obi-clip, that I didn't use it! I did my kitsuke by looking at the 'manual' that comes with the kitsuke-dvd of Ichiroya. So no obi-clip and no knot on my back, but simply a koshihimo that temporarily holds the starter-end of the obi in place. And I made the musubi on my back, so it didn't shift while turning.

I really really like this set, it's so chic and sophisticated. Very nice to wear when you're going to the theatre for example.

Doggies

2008-10-06T23:08:00.000+02:00

As promised to Rota and Misuchi, here are some pictures of our dogs in their favorite vehicle, my father-in-law's tractor. When they have the chance they jump in and guard our property...

Actually, they just doze away in the sun and sometimes they open their eyes to see if everything is allright. But what they really love is when my father-in-law has to work on our lands and they can join him. Driving is the best!

And I added one picture to show you that they can pose also... Even when they're really filthy!

Collar

2008-09-18T17:59:00.000+02:00

Lately I've haven't been doing kitsuke that much, but I have been making pictures for my photography-course.

This one I had to post. It's (still) Red on one of my dummies.

Red tsukesage combo 2 & 3

2008-08-28T07:58:00.000+02:00

This weekend I tried my red tsukesage with the black & white obi Misuchi gave me. It could work, but I think the kikko hanhaba works better. And what works even better than the kikko hanhaba, is the reverse side of that same hanhaba! That has a light brown color. not the same as the flowers, but a bit darker. After I had Red (that's an easy nickname!) on, I dressed my dummy in it with the reverse side of the hanhaba, and that is a perfect combination.

One thing I also noticed is that the tsukesage is a bit too small width-wise. I don't know if you can see, but the back seam is too far to the left. I did this because otherwise the frontpanel ends at the middle, and I find it prettier when it's more to the right.

All I need now is a trick to keep the frontpanel more to the right when you have no ohashori. I have to keep pulling it to the right. But I really do love the kimono!

Finally a kimono closet

2008-08-21T18:00:00.000+02:00

Long live IKEA!!

Finally I've got a kimono closet. Not a real tansu unfortunately, we don't have the space and I don't have the money yet, but probably in the future there will be one...

Because I have a few days off, and so does my boyfriend, and the weather wasn't good enough to tour in our cabriolet, we decided to take a trip to IKEA. Yesterday I went throught the catalog a final time to see if there actually were drawer-closet that had the size of a tatoshi, and there actually were a few.

It has 4 drawers.
The bottom one now holds my kimono...

The middle one holds my juban, zori, hanhaba obi, purse and a few more kitsuke items...

And these 2 little drawers both hold obi. The left drawer also has my obiage, obijime, haneri and a towel for padding...

and the right drawer has, beside obi, the rest you need at kitsuke (obi makura, obi clips, koshihimo etc.).

And here it is with my kimono/kitsuke books on top of it.

I'm sure I will re-arrange it very soon, but now I just wanted to store all my kimono-goods in it.

Accessoires

2008-08-07T21:15:00.000+02:00

Things you can never have enough when you're 'into' kimono, are obijime (obi-cords) and obiage (obi-sashes). And again Misuchi 'supplied' me with a few more ^_^
Although I've been able to use my green and darkpink obijime/obiage sets, with almost all my kimono surprisingly, she gave me 6 obijime and 3 obiage.

She also gave me 3 obi; 1 black & white of which I think may be a good combo with the red tsukesage, 1 bright blue obi with red flowers (Misuch got the same obi but that black instead of blue, of which she said we both just have to wear it at the same time) and a beautiful brown woven obi also with flowers. This last one has a very rustic look, very pretty and it will look perfect on my black & brown kimono.

With these last 2 kimono I've come to a humble collection of 9 kimono. And I have to say that I really need a kimonocloset. Unfortunately it will not be a real tansu (maybe in the future when I have more money and very important, more space), but there will come a nice closet with drawers especially for my kimono!

Red with golden-ish flowers

2008-08-06T21:03:00.000+02:00

This red tsukesage, also awase or lined, with golden-ish flowers I also got from Misuchi. The color is such a beautiful red, almost bloedrood as we say in Dutch, which translates as as red as blood. Personally that's one of my favorite colors.

And... it's the first kimono that combines with my kikko hanhaba obi! I've had that obi for I think almost a year now? No, since just before Christmas last year. But I haven't been able to wear it with a kimono because it didn't match any. I almost thought about trading it... luckily I didn't!

I tied the clamshell musubi, but unfortunately the back of my kimono is a bit wrinkled. But still, I like this kimono also very much.

Do you think this hanhaba obi is a good combination?

Frontpage!

2008-08-05T22:04:00.000+02:00

Something very different and not kimono... Last week I made a pretty picture of a lily that we have in our garden. The photo turned out to be very good.

On a mac-oriented Dutch forum you can send in pictures for their homepage, that changes every 2 weeks. And this week that picture is my lily!

Olivegreen kimono

2008-08-04T20:10:00.000+02:00

2 Saturdays ago I went to visit Misuchi, and had a great time. We talked about kimono and other things, and we also visited the Japanese antique-shops where she works. It was very hot and sunny that day, but it didn't interfere with us having fun! Because I did some things for Misuchi's art-site she gave me this beautiful olivegreen kimono, a tsukesage if I am right (still struggling with kimono and kitsuke glossary), with little carts on it.

She knew that I had an orange nagoya obi with a (royal) cart on it, and hoped that it would match this kimono. And guess what? It's a perfect match!! It's even a bit too long. The first time I had it on, my ohashori was actually too long! These pictures I made the second time. To make a shorter ohashori I tied the koshihimo not just above the hips but more on my waist.

I am so happy with it, it's just a gorgeous kimono.

Thank you Misuchi!

Homemade suso

2008-07-15T18:27:00.001+02:00

Last weekend I made my first kitsuke-item myself! My mom has 2 sewingmachines, an old one she has since forever, and a new one she recently bought because it had features her one one doesn't. So now I'm eyeing on her old sewingmachine ^_~

But because I have no sewing skills I decided to do a test run at my mom's and make a suso. My juban is a bit short so I thought about making a suso that I can wear underneath my juban!

And there she is, my very own handmade suso! Have to say that it was a piece of cake, just a big square piece of poly. The fabric was 1.40m, therefor I didn't need 2 pieces of 70 cm. And the sewing was aslo very easy, mostly making seams...

In the second and third picture you can see the trick I use to create a perfect collar. I use a kohrinbelt to close my juban, and then a velcro datejime to fasten and thighten everything, that I pull through the loop just below the jubancollar. It's just perfect!

With kimono on it looks like pictures 4 to 6. As you can see (I saw it when I was editing the pictures) I need to wear the suso a bit higher. You can see a glimpse of it just underneath the hem of the kimono. But that's for next time!

Close-up

2008-07-14T20:44:00.002+02:00

As promised, but a bit later... Here is a close-up of my 'new' orange nagoya obi that I'm wearing in my previous post. I don't know if it's a royal cart, but I like even so.

Purple bamboo komom

2008-06-13T00:27:00.000+02:00

This is the other kimono that was delivered yesterday, or actually the day before yesterday. It's a synthetic bamboo hitoe ur unlined komon, and this one also feels very comfy.

It matched it with a beautiful silver, purple and pink fukuro obi. I don't know how the pattern is called, but colorwise it's a perfect match. Unfortunately the obi too formal for the komon, but I simply couldn't resist buying it. It's too pretty a combination.

And for this komon I also found a second obi, and this one is a bit more appropriate, since it's a nagoya obi. If it was a hitoe nagoya obi, it would be completely perfect. This one has a peachy color with a cart on the musubi. I'll post a close up of these two obi later, so you can see them better.

For now if I'm buying kimono, I rather look if the color combination is good, than look if it has to have a hitoe obi. But if I choose my obi on color, than I have to practice more on my kitsuke and make that perfect instead of having the perfect obi ^_^

Black & Brown

2008-06-12T08:01:00.001+02:00

Finally my 2 new kimono and 4 obi arrived yesterday!
Time to do some kitsuke again. On the IG-forums I read that someone uses a kohrinbelt also on their nayajuban, to keep the collar back. I tried ties and I must say that it works really good! So now I use 2 kohrinbelts in my kitsuke, and less koshihimo.

This komon is a unlined or hitoe synthetic komon, and it feels really nice. And I have a proper ohashori! Thanks to Misuchi's tip on how to give your kimono the right lenght, this is also good in my kitsuke. I can really feel the difference.

The first obi gives the kimono a really chic look. The obi itself very light/thin, not so stiff as some obi can be.

The hanhaba obi gives the kimono a more casual appearance. And hanhaba can be tied in so many fun ways, so I tried this one. Do'n know what the name is of this musubi, but it's very simple and looks nice!

Wool kimono with haori

2008-05-04T22:29:00.000+02:00

Two weekends ago I had a kitsuke-practice, just for fun and to test my camera with remote control and the tripod. I put on my wool kimono and then my hoari, which was a present from Misuchi.

What I really have to do next time, is try to make the kimono a bit longer. And most important: smile more ^_^

Pretty peacock

2008-04-25T07:39:00.000+02:00

Now some proper kitsuke for my peacock houmongi on one of my dummies.
I really like the pattern of the peacock on this kimono. The close-up of the front shows the peacock itself, of which the feathers go on onto the back of the kimono. On the left sleeve and shoulder there are also some feathers, really pretty.

And for this kimono I got the perfect nagoya obi, that also goes well with my blue iro-tomesode. I could say that this is one of my favorite obi, but I only have 4 (5 actually, but 1 I haven't tried on yet).

Sakura!

2008-04-22T21:32:00.000+02:00

Since last year we have a very little sakura, or Japanese cherry, tree.
Last week we had our own cherry blossoms, so sweet. I hope the tree will grow nice and big, and that I can use it as a background in my kimono pictures. If I want to do that now, I will either have to lie on the ground or do some serious Photoshop haha.

Shibori haori

2008-04-15T07:44:00.000+02:00

When we went to the theatre to see Dadada-Dan Tenko, Misuchi gave me a really pretty shibori haori. It's a beautiful deeper red that normal red, and the pattern is very nice. I just love it.

Thank you so much Misuchi!

My poor wallet...

2008-04-09T21:19:00.001+02:00

After a few months of asking friends if they had a DSLR-camera, and if so, which DSLR-camera. After a few months of researching the web and reading reviews, I finally bought me a Pentax K10D camera! My poor wallet...

To make it all complete, I also bought a lightweight tripod, a remote control so I can be able to make selfportraits (I got the idea from Misuchi), a second lens (18-200 mm) for New-Zealand...

And a Lowepro Slingshot bag. Really nifty this one...

Hopefully I can post my first DSLR picture soon :-)

Dadada-Dan Tenko!

2008-03-29T11:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the first time I went out in kimono in public! Very exciting, but luckily Misuchi went with us, so it wasn't scary at all. We went to a concert of Dadada-Dan Tenko in the theatre, and if you have the chance, go and see them!

The show was beautiful and breathtaking. Those big Japanese drums are so.... big! They have 3 really big drums, about 1 metre high, and other drums that vary from big to small, to drums that they have hanging in from of them. And the sound of the drums, especially the 3 big ones, you can just feel them when they were played! The drummers were really good and you could see they had lots of fun. They also did funny acts, like 2 drummers who played one at a time and the other trying to interrupt the first, or, after the break, you only saw 2 hands with drumsticks from under the curtain. The 2 hands played, but a few seconds later they went apart further than a set of hands from 1 person could!

And what we didn't expect at all, but silently hoped for came true: dancer and choreographer Isaya Mondori, also the creator of Dadada-Dan, came on stage with another dancer and performed 2 dances. The first time they were on stage they danced a story of a man who tried to cut a tree, but the heart of the tree was a beautiful tayu who tried to stop him. And the second time only the other dancer came on stage and did a dance with a Japanese umbrella (and I am trying hard to remember if Isaya Mondori also performed in this dance). The costumes and susohiki were gorgeous, and the musubi of the tayu was really pretty.

It was a really good show and we had lots of fun. Misuchi and I were the only one in kimono, there were very few Japanese, and I think that the few that were there were family or crewmembers. Everyone was staring at us or asking questions why we were dressed in kimono.

And we had some pictures taken with 2 members of Dadada-Dan Tenko:
This picture is with Misuchi and Mihoko Umemura.
She said how nice it was that we were in kimono (and did we do it ourselves?) and that she could not put on a kimono by herself.

And this one is with Misuchi and Katsuyoshi Kojima.

Pictures and clips you can find here (although in dutch, but it's really clear on what's what).

Misuchi, thank you for coming and for the beautiful haori! I tried it on yesterday when we got home, and it's perfect!

Kitsuke practice

2008-03-18T23:45:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I had a day off, so I did a little kitsuke practice.

First I tried blue iro-tomesode with peacock feather-obi, because that's what I'm going to wear to the theatre next week. I used 2 towels for padding and I watched the kitsuke-dvd by Ichiroya (pressing play, pause, go to mirror, go back to tv, press play again, and so on...), which helped a lot.

Then I tried the black-pink komon with my new juban. It's a perfect match sleevewise, I'm so happy that I got it. And I also got my pink obijime and obiage.

Next time I'll use a trick Misuchi mailed me for a perfect collar, hopefully it will go well.

Waiting...

2008-03-04T19:58:00.000+01:00

Finally I've found a juban with sleeves long enough for my black-pink komon!

And I've also bought some more accessoires:
2 Hakata silk datejime

an eri sugata collar, or easy collar

an obi-clip, always handy

a set of 2 eri shin, 3 koshi himo, an obi-makura, an obi-ita with straps and a kohrin-belt

and last but not least a pink obiage & obijime set to go with the same black-pink komon.

New musubi: Tsunodashi

2008-02-08T22:12:00.000+01:00

But with a hanhaba obi instead of a 'normal' obi.

It took a couple of times to get the length of the tesaki, or the beginning of the obi, right. At least 3 times I had the obi wrapped around the dummy's body and make the actual knot, and when I wanted to make the tsunedashi I came to the conclusion that the end of my obi, or the tare, was to short to finish the tsunedashi.
But, practice makes perfect, or almost, so after a few times I got the right length on both the tesaki and tare so I could finish this musubi.

The result is a very cute tsunedashi musubi :-)

Dummy duet

2008-02-04T12:34:00.000+01:00

Finally I dressed both my dummies with kimono. Because I have just one accessoires-set, I dressed one of my dummies with my wintery komon and hanhaba obi, and one with my pretty orange furisode. For the komon I tied the obi with a clamshell musubi, but when I already dressed them I found some other musubi for hanhaba obi on the IG-forums. Maybe I will try one these musubi later this week. We have a party later this week, and one of our friends gave me the second dummy, that's why I dressed them.

On the furisode I tried to make a fukura suzume, or mandarine duck, musubi. I figured out that it's really difficult even on a dummy, so it must be really hard doing this musubi on yourself (and yes, there are people who can!). So for a first try I think it's not thàt bad, but the wings of the musubi are a bit big, and they remind me a bit of Mickey Mouse's ears haha...

(very late edit: on this link you can see how it this musubi should be)

iro-tomesode with peacock obi

2008-01-27T15:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I changed the komon my dummy wore the last 2 or 3 weeks into my blue iro-tomesode because I wanted to know how it would look if I combined it with my orange peacock nagoya obi. Oh, and I had my first try at padding! Because these dummies have a very small waist, I had to use 2(!) towels to pad out the waist.

Do you think this is a good combination (colorwise, themewise, seasonwise) or do you think this combination is better?

I also wanted to dress my second dummy, but I realized that I only have 1 accessoires-set for kitsuke! So now I have to try and look for a juban (but first measure the sleeve length), obiage/obijime-set and an accessoires-set that I can order at 1 seller, to save money and shipping costs.

Dummy number 2

2008-01-23T21:21:00.000+01:00

Today finally my second dummy arrived at her new home ^_^
Hopefully I will have enough time this weekend to do some kitsuke on her, so my first dummy might not feel so lonely haha. I want to try if my blue irotomesode matches with my orange peacockfeather obi. I'll try to post some pictures!

This new dummy I got from a friend who temporarily stalled some of her stuff at our place, and also this dummy. So when she came to get all her stuff I already said to her, if you don't use the dummy anymore I would love to have it... And here she is at last!

Zori

2008-01-06T19:02:00.000+01:00

The last year and 4 months my boyfriend worked at a firm that also had offices in America, Isreal and Tokyo. And a few months ago one of his Japanese colleagues came to one of the offices here in Holland. So my boyfriend knew this colleague and asked him a favour. He asked him if he could take a pair of zori with him...

And here they are!

Proper kitsuke ^_^

2008-01-05T15:31:00.002+01:00

Weekend!

Don't you agree that when the holidays fall in the middle of a week, and you get a few days off, the first week is a bit of a mess, and hard to get back in your normal rhythym?
O well, the first week is over, on to the second week of 2008! But now it's weekend!

My dummy is dressed in my first wool kimono, the one I posed in in front of our Chrismastree (which I'm going to clear off today or tomorrow). But then I was almost ashamed when I saw the pictures I posted them. So now some proper kitsuke on my dummy!
The hanhaba obi is tied in the clamshell musubi, very easy, but I still have to tie it while having it on my back.

Happy New Year everyone!

2008-01-05T15:31:00.001+01:00

May all your dreams and wishes for 2008 come true.

Just testing...

2008-01-03T19:47:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post to see it this works... I'm writing this post not online but in my Blogger widget for Mac OSX's Dashboard.

And as far as kimono... In the weekend before New Year we bought some new cupboards for our bedroom, and reorganised our bedroom, so now it looks more spacious with actually less room. And now my dummy/mannequin has a really nice spot against the wall, so if I have time this weekend I'll dress her in a nice wintery kimono with hanhaba obi.

Wool wintery komon

2007-12-27T14:40:00.000+01:00

The last kimono from the package is this wool kimono, which was one of the wool-sale on Ryu's sale. This hanhaba obi is the first hanhaba I've bought. I also got another one with a kikko-pattern, but it didn't match as good as this one.

Because it's my first hanhaba obi, it was also the first time I tied a clamshell musubi, which isn't difficult. But I must confess that I tied it the easy way, on my belly and then turned it around, hence a not so good kitsuke.

One thing I really need to learn is to tie my musubi on my back :)

Black-pink komon

2007-12-25T13:33:00.000+01:00

This is the second kimono from the package I got a couple of days ago.
It's a black and pink komon, a black base with tiny pink flowers. The obi I bought to go with this komon is a black nagoya obi with one big rose and two smaller roses for the front of the obi. It turned out to be a perfect combination!

The only thing I figured out is that I have to buy a pink obijime/obiage set (but I already knew that) and a juban with longer sleeves.

Peacock Houmongi

2007-12-25T12:10:00.000+01:00

2 weeks ago finally my package with new kimono arrived, and unpacking your package is always fun :-)
Pardon the kitsuke, but here are pictures of the peacock houmongi with the peacock obi. A perfect combination!

New resolutions

2007-12-11T07:41:00.000+01:00

As it's almost the holidays, let make a newyear's resolution.
I've already translated posts I made on another blog and posted these on this blog, so now my new resolution will be....
To make a nice layout for this blog!

Attempt number 2

2007-10-31T20:16:00.000+01:00

After putting on my new kimono, of course I had to ask for feedback from other kimono-lovers. Was my kitsuke good, or what are things that could improve....?
They gave me some tips and tricks, and the result you can see in the pictures .

Just to be sure, 'cause people who don't know a thing about kimono might will think that there's no difference in these pictures and the ones I posted earlier..., the obi musubi, or obi knot, is better, the green scarf (obiage) on top of the obi is more visile and the collar is better.

But still there's much to learn...

New arrival!

2007-10-05T21:14:00.000+02:00

Looking forward to your reactions :-)

Me in furisode

2007-07-21T20:56:00.000+02:00

Me in what?
Furisode. That is a kimono, officially for a young, unmarried woman. Gosh, and I am both :-)

Today I went to Amsterdam, to someone I got to know a couple of weeks ago. She's got a lot of kimono, and no, a kimono is not a bathrobe, and she dressed me in my very own furisode. Exactly, this furisode is mine! A while ago I bought it on eBay in Japan, together with the obi, and a few more accessoires. The only thing I didn't have and that I did need was an underkimono, or (naga)juban , a datejime ( a sort of belt that goes over the underkimono en that smoothes out your waist) and zori, kimono-slippers. But, and my gratitude is everlasting!, the underkimono I got from my friend! Together with a green extra collar, or date-eri, and a tatoshi, that's a paper envelop to store kimono in.

It was the first time I wore my kimono, and I have to say that it's very comfy. It's real tight around your waist, but if you like that it's really nice. Kind of corset-like. But the result is good, isn't it?

So now all I have to do is practice a lot on kitsuke. What???
Kitsuke, dressing in kimono.