Oosterse Dagen in Asten

So... It has been a very long while since I posted something on my kimonoblog! A lot has happened since February last year, and it had very little to do with kimono. I just didn't wear kimono much last year. But, the last weekend of August made up for it big time.

That last weekend of August (30 and 31 of August to be exact) I participated at a museum (Klok & Peel Museum in Asten) which held an event called 'Oosterse Dagen', or Asian Days. A few weeks before the event, my boyfriend and I went to the museum to meet with the organisers and see where 'my spot' would be. That's when we dediced that I would hang a few kimono on a wall, and that I would have a 3 or 5 dummies that I could do kitsuke on. That way I would be busy during the day (instead of standing still and watching time going by) and the visitors could see what you're actually wearing when wearing a kimono.

We didn't know what to expect, but we had a lot of fun! Dressing the dummies during the days was a hit. People stopped to see what I was doing and asking a lot of questions, which I tried to answer as best as I could. And the questions were so various!

Some couldn't understand that the kimono that hung on the wall had the same model as the kimono I was working with. Or they didn't know that wearing kimono meant wearing 3 layers at the least (except for wearing yukata). Does the backpack, and they meant the musubi, have a function? People couldn't believe that an obi was that long! And many, many more questions!

But... the best of both days came on Sunday. I was finally eating a sandwich when a small Japanese lady looked at the kimono I was wearing and started pointing and talking. Since I don't understand Japanese I was didn't knew what to do, so I stood up. Luckily my bf saw his Japanese colleague come in and she was able to translate for me. Pfew!

The lady was from Kyoto and was visiting her daughter. And... she used to be a kitsuke-teacher! So then she started tugging my obiage (it was too loose) and telling/showing the right way to tie it. The same with the obijime (and yes, I've written down how it's done know and practised at home). She also said something about the collar and if I did wear it like this it looks more straight (don't know that tip exactly). And while saying that, she had her hand in my kimono, straightening it out haha.
She was very glad that I wore kimono, and I guess for a non-Japanese I did good.

We were beat when we were back home, but had 2 great days. Meeting new people, maybe some new friends...

More pictures!

PS, the paintings hanging next to my kimono are from Eric Snijders of Tsuru Art Studio

New kimono cupboards!

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I had the idea to move the desk that's on our first floor landing, to our open attic kind of space. Which meant a lot of space for my kimono, yay!

Curious about what the best Ikea cupboard would be for kimono, I asked around on facebook (thank you Lyuba for your SK-post!). A few days later we went to Ikea in search of those Malm-cupboards, or chest of drawers. Almost next to the Malm cupboards stood a Hemnes-cupboard, the one Lyuba mentioned....

My original idea was to buy 2 or 3 Malm's with 6 drawers (123 cm high). They would fit perfectly underneath our tilted roof and we could place them right next to each other, so it would look like one very big Malm.

But... my boyfriend thought they were just to modern for our house (we live in a farm). So we went to look for other cupboards and there was Hemnes! A bit higher that the 3 drawer Malm and a bit wider but perfect for kimono! There was just one thing about them... Because the top of the cupboard sticks out on both side, they can't be put next to each other without space between them. We thought deeply about it and evenually bought 2 blackbrown Hemnes cupboards!

After clearing the landing and assembling the cupboards, it looks very very neat! Because we have only 1 light on our landing, it got a little dark at the far corner of the landing and cupboards. And that's where my sweet bf got the brilliant idea to hang a string of Christmas-light in the nook of a big wooden beam of our roof. And it's perfect!

It took me a few days to get to the organizing part of my kimono, how and where do I store what? See for yourself, this is the result ^_~

All pics are taken with my phone, quality can be dodgy...

Sorry for the flurry bright spot, that's because there's a very big window just above the cupboards.

A bit tricky to see, but this is in evening with the Christmas-lights on. Sweet don't you think?

Left cupboard, bottom drawer.
I was a but stunned that all my obi could fit this drawer, since previously they were in 2 roll-containers. Together with my 3 pairs of geta and zori.
In total there are 7 hanhaba, 13 nagoya and 10 fukuro obi in this drawer.

Left cupboard, middle drawer holds 3 yukata, 4 hitoe (unlined) kimono, 4 juban and a box with little pieces of fabric of which I want to make han eri or obiage of.

Left cupboard, top drawer holds my underwear, socks and a few more non-kitsuke things :-)

Right cupboard, bottom drawer.
This drawer holds my haori, 6 iromuji (all awase, lined) and my other awase kimono.

Right cupboard, middle drawer.
This is my 'special' drawer. In here are my 2 beautiful furisode, 3 awase pre-WWII kimono (at least I think they are, since they have red lining, which mostly indicated pre-WWII) and some kimono I like very much.





  

Right cupboard, top drawer.
All my komono nicely separated in boxes. Finally some order for all these things!

On top of the right cupboard are all my kimono-related books/dvd's and a box of ribbons.

Now I've also got perfect spots for 2 of my dummies.

The third dummy may get a place in our living room, but I have to get her dressed for that :-)

And finally, after 1,5/2 years standing in a little corner of our living room, a nice place to hang my embroidered Japanese scene.

I am a very happy girl!

A new year, a fresh start???

 It has been a very very long time since I've worn kimono! The last time was to the Floriade with 3 other members of Kimono de Jack NL last September. That means I can honestly say last years resolution of Every month a kimono didn't last... It went well until July, August didn't happen 'cause of my summer holiday, September was KdJ and that was the last of it.
Let's hope 2013 will get better kimono-wise :-)

At least I've made a good start! Last Friday at a comicbookshop there was a booksigning by the French artist HUB. He's the artist and writer of the comic-series Okko, a ronin in a land that is a combination of ancient Japan and fantasy (because of all the demons). His drawings are very beautiful and I think very accurate (but I don't know that much about Japanese history).
So I decided to go in kimono. Unfortunately I don't have any photo's, but I wore my olivegreen houmongi with the orange/peach obi with (royal) cart on it. I chose this kimono because it's of perfect lenght and nice and warm. Of course because of the cold weather here, I wore lots of layers and luckily didn't feel cold.

So today I decided to do some more kitsuke. Not on me, but on one of my dummies. And I totally forgot how difficult it can be do put a kimono on a dummy. Putting the obi on took me 3 tries before it was on, and whèn it was on, it was way too low... Grrr... So now I will show pictures of a kimono on a dummy without an obi!

This kimono was previously owned by the lovely Lyuba of Strawberry Kimono. Together with this beautiful juban (with cure haneri fastened on it) and 4 obi they are the first kimono-purchases this year. I still have to take pictures of the obi, but once that's done I'll share them.

Kimono challenge 4 - Your least used kimono item(s)

It's been a while, and I don't know if September will see kimono in my house...

The last time I wore kimono was at the Floriade (see previous post). Since then it was mostly things that had to be done in the garden and around the house, the usual days at work and other things. You might have read on facebook, but since the beginning of this year there's a little piece of garden just for myself. I'm a real newbie with gardening, so this is a big experiment for me. If you're interested you can read my (dutch) blog about it, or see some pictures on flickr.

But for now, because I didn't do kimono for about 2 months, I thought about the kimono challenge!

1. How did you discover and get into kimono?
2. Your dearest kimono item(s).
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.).
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
5. Your favourite coordination(s) so far.
6. What do you like and don’t like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that…
8. Your dream kitsuke items (or at least items you really really want but can’t get for whatever reason).
9. Your biggest kimono fears.
10. Your biggest kimono inspiration.
11. Your kimono collection.
12. The evolution of your kitsuke.
13. Your special kimono memory.

My least used kimono-items
Actually, there are a lot of kimono and obi that I haven't worn yet:

This obi was a gift from Misuchi, but I'm very much ashamed to say that I haven't worn it yet

This hanhaba I bought with my first yukata, which is a very playful blue with pink fish. Haven't worn it (yet).







Haven't worn this one either. But my guess is, this obi has to have some work done, to make it more stiff.











These are kimono I haven't worn, or worn just at home. There are more kimono that I haven't catalogued yet, so here are a few...

Floriade with Kimono de Jack

Last Friday (August 3rd) a little group of KdJ visited the Floriade in Holland, a world-horticultural expo that's held every 10 years.

You can find more photo's on my Flickr-page!

Once a month a kimono - July

Finally I was able to do some kitsuke, and with a reason... Together find some fellow-Kimono de Jack NL 'members' I'm going to the Floriade. Floriade is a World Horticultural Expo, held once every 10 years. And this year it's held from April until October.

Participating countries each have their own stand, so does Japan. That's why we're going in kimono!

Of course I had to practive my kitsuke before going, and see that the outfit I wanted to wear looked good. It's the same yukata Linda has, the first kimono I have in a TL-size, and it's very comfy! Combined with a tsuke eri and a beige/purple hanhaba obi, purple obi age and purple/lightbrown obijime ^_^

And just before the end of July!

July...

It's been a while since my last post... That's because of vacation and other things to do here at home. But maybe I'll wear kimono again soon!

Vacation was 2 weeks in Italy, in the regions Tuscany and Umbria. So now I have to get the pictures organised, converted (all photo's were shot in RAW-format), and the photo-album has to be made. Another thing I have to do, is to turn my traveljournal into a digital journal. It's written in a school notebook, so now I have to type it all over in a Word document. Which is nice, because I can relive the vacation all over again ^_^

Another thing I've done, was last week. I've told you about the sewing maching my mother gave my on New Years Day. Well, I've finally made my first item on the machine! It's not a big thing, but a little apron for a handpuppet made after a model in white fabric.

Now I got to know the sewing machine a little, I want to try and make a tsuke eri (or maybe more) with velcro, and lots of han eri for it.


And last week we went to the lovely city of Gent in Belgium for the Gentse Feesten (a free festival with lots of music all over the city). On Sunday we stumbled upon a secondhand bookmarket where I found 2 books that were meant to be mine:

I'll keep you posted!

Combined: Once a month a kimono - May / Kimono challenge 3

Unfortunately I didn't wear kimono anymore after my last post about my new yukata on International Kimono Day...

And since the summer holidays are coming up, I doubt if I can wear kimono this month. But I'll try and do my best!














So, on to the Kimono Challenge!

1. How did you discover and get into kimono?
2. Your dearest kimono item(s).
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.).
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
5. Your favourite coordination(s) so far.
6. What do you like and don’t like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that…
8. Your dream kitsuke items (or at least items you really really want but can’t get for whatever reason).
9. Your biggest kimono fears.
10. Your biggest kimono inspiration.
11. Your kimono collection.
12. The evolution of your kitsuke.
13. Your special kimono memory.

My most used kimono item(s)...

I don't know if accessoires also count, so I'll share a few items.

What I need most now, and I'm thinking about making them myself, are obiages! At the moment I've got 4 shibori obiage: standard red and black and 2 kinds of pink, and 4 'normal' silk obiage: black, pink, purple and green. Of my accessoires the green obiage is the most used item.

Another accessoire I have more of are zori/geta. Well more.... I've got 1 pair of geta and 2 pairs of zori, and the pair I use most are my golden zori. A former colleague of my boyfriend came from Japan and asked if I needed anything for kitsuke. So I asked for zori in my size (they are 25 of 27 cm). He did some searching and found me my golden zori. They're a perfect fit, and that's why I wear them a lot. And gold matches almost everything ^_^.
I have to say though, the other zori I'm wearing more and more...

As for kimono and obi being most used, I don't really have one. If I have to guess, I think my most used kimono and obi are those who make my Peacock outfit. Just because they are such a perfect combination I've worn them a couple of times (to an exhibition with Rota and Misuchi, a private tea ceremony, at home and I've dressed my sister in them).

(I'll add the pictures of the obiage and zori tomorrow or Sunday!)

Happy International Kimono Day!

Today is International Kimono Day, so I've decided to do some kitsuke and wear the yukata I bought from Bangasa Kimono! The obi musubi is the Multi-leaf Carolien and I tried 2 weeks ago

  

Cotton is so different from silk, which flows and folds so easily. But then again, if something goes wrong and you get a (little) stain on the yukata, you can just throw it in the washer ^_^

And since I was in yukata anyway, I also put my 'new' furisode on one of my dummies. This beautiful furisode with shibori, embroidery, lovely stylized cranes woven into the fabric and an extra soft pink haneri sewn in, was also previously owned by the lovely Bangasa Kimono.

  

Ever since I saw a white/creamy furisode with red shibori when Misuchi, Rota and I visited an exposition at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, I've wanted one. And now I have!!!

Finding a right obi (in my current collection) was a bit difficult, but this blue nagoya obi is a good match. Nice to know, Misuchi has a twin of this obi, but in black. We still have to wear them together someday...

Musubi practice

Last Sunday, Carolien came over to take a peek at my kimono-collection. She is one of few who lives in the south of our little country, and is the one who lives nearest of me of our Kimono de Jack-members.

Of course all my kimono got out of my little Ikea-'tansu' (which is getting pretty full) and my obi out of their container (which I can't close without a big bump in it's cover)! It's nice to show them to someone who loves kimono and obi, and it even helps making new kimono-obi combinations.

After lunch we put the kimono and obi back in their 'tansu' and container and decided to practice some musubi for hanhaba (over our normal clothes). Hanhaba are so much fun and easy to wear, and you don't really have to be afraid to damage them, at least not mine since they are all synthetic.

Our first try was the 'ballon flower' (according to Google Translate). Carolien's version wasn't exactly like the photo's, but way better than mine!















Next one: multi-leaf (again, Google Translate...). We both got this one quite good, and it was really easy. The only tricky thing is to get the start-lenght right, to make sure the bottom two 'leaves' are bigger than the two upper 'leaves'.

The last musubi we tried was the weeping cherry tree (GT again). My version was a disaster, Carolien's wasn't that bad, except that the end of the obi was a bit too long.




We had fun trying and tying these musubi! But sometimes it was hard figuring out what the next step was... with some instructions we just needed an extra picture.

Kimono Challenge #2 - Your dearest kimono item(s)

The kimono challenge:

1. How did you discover and get into kimono?
2. Your dearest kimono item(s).
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.).
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
5. Your favourite coordination(s) so far.
6. What do you like and don’t like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that…
8. Your dream kitsuke items (or at least items you really really want but can’t get for whatever reason).
9. Your biggest kimono fears.
10. Your biggest kimono inspiration.
11. Your kimono collection.
12. The evolution of your kitsuke.
13. Your special kimono memory.

Your dearest kimono item(s)

Pfff, that's a tough question... One of my dearest kimono items would be my orange furisode.

It's the first kimono I ever bought, and it's given me my new and dear friend Misuchi.

I also love my hitoe peacock kimono (don't really know if it's a tsukesage or a houmongi), together with my peacock-feather obi. Just because it's such a perfect match!

The last one I'll post, is an olivegreen houmongi (I guess, really terrible at this) I got from Misuchi, for helping with her website. She saw I had an orange obi with carts on it, and this kimono also has little carts on it. And this is also a perfect match.

 

Starter of the challenge: Kira Kira Kimono

Other bloggers doing the challenge:

• AF’s Japan Now & Then
• Along The Silk Road; Adventures With(in) Kimono
• BebeTaian
• Geishaface
• HikariKimono
• KimonoAi
• Kitty Kanzashi
• Kyoto RedBird
• My Kimono
• Naomi no Kimono Asobi
• SilberRegen
• Strawberry Kimono
• Takoya-Kimono

Once a month a kimono - April

Yesterday (April 20th) my boyfriend and I had some very nice company over... He works at a Japanese firm you'll probably know, FUJIFILM. And yesterday a Japanese colleague and her friend came to see my kimono collection!

It was so much fun and we had a great evening. The only time they saw so many kimono was when they were at a shop/store to choose which furisode to wear on their Coming of Age Day in Japan! The biggest compliment I got, was that they told me I looked so comfortable wearing kimono.

Those two women were really sweet. We talked about a lot, my boyfriend and his colleague talked a little about work, and her friend and me talked about movies and books (we both like fantasy). And they liked my cooking, yay :-)

And of course... I just had to wear kimono!
  
The obi is a hakata obi I bought from a fellow kimono-lover in the UK, Bangasa Kimono. She's selling some of her kimono and obi, and when I saw she was selling a few hakata obi, I saw my name all over them! And this purple one was one of them ^_^

It's a perfect match for my pink houmongi, don't you think? With this houmongi I now have at least 2 obi to match it with, this purple hakata and the black with pink rose. I read in the book 'The new kimono', and have heard the saying 1 kimono, 3 obi. Maybe I will start a new challenge, finding 3 obi to match 1 kimono...

Kimono Challenge! #1 - How did you discover and get into kimono?

Some may have seen this challenge on other kimono/kitsuke blogs, and now I'm starting it too ^_^

The kimono challenge questions are:

1. How did you discover and get into kimono?
2. Your dearest kimono item(s).
3. Your most used kimono item(s) (not counting jubans, datejimes etc.).
4. Your least used kimono item(s).
5. Your favourite coordination(s) so far.
6. What do you like and don’t like about kimono.
7. Kimono confessions. Did you know that…
8. Your dream kitsuke items (or at least items you really really want but can’t get for whatever reason).
9. Your biggest kimono fears.
10. Your biggest kimono inspiration.
11. Your kimono collection.
12. The evolution of your kitsuke.
13. Your special kimono memory.

How did I get the kimono-bug...? Well, I guess it's been slumbering since I was young, always finding kimono pretty but not that into it (yet). Until I got a book-giftcard from an aunt, of which I got a copy of Mineko Iwasaki's autobiography.

From that moment on it started to get me thinking of kimono. This resulted of getting my first kimono in 2007, the bright orange furisode, and meeting Misuchi for the first time!

And now it's 5 years, 23 kimono, 2 yukata, 4 juban, 26 obi (7 hanhaba, 8 fukuro, 11 nagoya) and some komono later....

Starter of the challenge: Kira Kira Kimono

Other bloggers doing the challenge:

• AF’s Japan Now & Then
• Along The Silk Road; Adventures With(in) Kimono
• BebeTaian
• Geishaface
• HikariKimono
• KimonoAi
• Kitty Kanzashi
• Kyoto RedBird
• My Kimono
• Naomi no Kimono Asobi
• SilberRegen
• Strawberry Kimono
• Takoya-Kimono

Spring is here?

Let's hope snow stays away and the sun will shine more and more...

Once a month a kimono - March

This month has been a busy kimono month for me! I've worn 4 kimono this month:

  
  
Seeing these outfits together makes it difficult to choose a favorite of these 4...

The light purple iromuji with peach hakata obi I think is very classy and good if you go to a tea ceremony.

The same light purple iromuji with a different obi. Fun to see how lighting makes colors different ^_^.

Crème komon with colored cartwheels and a black-red hakata obi. This kimono feels great and is a good size for me.

The orange furisode will always be one of my favorites, simply because it's the first kimono I ever bought, and through it I've met Misuchi.

I guess my winner for this month is number 3! What do you think?