Hinagata doll kimono kits

After four years, numerous prototypes and much procrastination, I have finally finished a basic kit for hinagata (“miniature”) kimono. When I set out to complete a kit myself and document each step, I found it easier than I remembered to sew everything together! Maybe the fabric choice made a difference. Previously I’ve used vintage kimono fabrics (typically acrylic) with bold designs, but this time I used a cotton fabric with a small repeating print, which was easy to match up and sew together.

Peanut, my long-time hinagata model, approves.

The kit features pre-cut fabric and instructions for making a mini yukata that will fit many different Beanie Baby toys such as teddy bears, Swinger the monkey (that’s Peanut), and some of the jointed animals as well. All you need to complete the look is two feet of one inch-wide ribbon, available at any craft store. A contrasting color works best.

One of the benefits of this kit is that you will learn the basics of how a kimono or yukata is sewn. The design is close to the real thing, with some variation for the smaller scale of the piece.

I will be releasing a limited number of kits each month with a particular fabric suited for the season. For September I have chosen a deep rust red with green, yellow and orange pine trees and tiny cranes. There are gold accents that lend an autumnal shimmer to the fabric as well.

The kit can be completed in an afternoon if you are a careful stitcher, perhaps longer for a beginner or child. It is small enough that you can easily take it with you, just pack needle, thread and scissors.

creative people are everywhere

You amaze me. You really do. All those crazy, wonderful, beautiful projects you create out of just about anything. And if you made something special out of materials from my shop or somehow include me in your creation, then you are definitely special in my book.

Barb’s Blue Willow Apron is one of those special items.

Mary Kay at Geneva Designs makes simply amazing aprons, including this custom order using one of the Kona Bay cottons in my shop. I am the sort of cook who never thinks about using an apron until I’ve ruined a silk blouse with spattered grease, so maybe one of these days I ought to get one for myself! Either that, or stop wearing nice clothes while I cook… like that’s ever going to happen. You should see what I’ve been known to wear while pulling weeds in the garden. Crazy.

The sparklingly creative Marilyn utilized green floral kimono silk from my shop to produce a lovely little quilted wall hanging.

My mother was particularly fond of hummingbirds, so seeing this little gem certainly made me smile. Thanks for sharing, Marilyn!

This last creative effort, or perhaps labor of love, is one I stumbled onto today while checking out my Etsy stats. I noticed traffic coming from a site I’d never heard of, so imagine my surprise and joy when I clicked through and discovered morecloth.com, a sort of digital color wheel showcasing fabric sellers on Etsy. And there I was! In among the indigos I found a few of my fabrics, along with many other beautiful fabrics from the Etsy community. I’m sure with a bit more digging I’ll find more of my listings. Many thanks to the digital mastery of Catherine, the site’s creator. Brava!

If you would like to share some of your creations, please let me know and I’ll include you in a future posting.

here we go again

I wanted to explain why my postings have been so sporadic again. Last autumn my family and I were dealing with moving out of state and losing my mother to Pancreatic cancer. Since July we’ve been dealing once again with the very wonderful folks at our local hospice group as my father is now dealing with his own cancer (he’s been treated for four different types in the past 12 years or so). If you’ve ever lost a family member to cancer and/or helped a love one through end of life care as I know some of you have, then you know what we’re dealing with here. Finding focus has been a bit… difficult, but I’m working on it.

The photo of my parents is from 2001, back when things were a little closer to “normal” for all of us. The vest my mother is wearing is one of her own creations. She loved to sew.

And the winner is…

Congratulations to Karen of Mystic Wynd for winning the Doll Kimono Kit giveaway!

More information on the kits will be forthcoming very soon. Thanks for your patience while I work the kinks out of the design.

Mini Poll #2 – Doll Kimono Kit Giveaway

More freebies!

Going back to a project I started years ago, I’ve been playing around with beautiful fabrics and dolls this weekend to come up with a kit that you can do at home. Used for decades in Japanese schools to teach children how to sew, these doll-sized kimono make wonderfully portable projects you can take with you just about anywhere and will teach you a little about actual kimono construction. I am considering offering this kit in two different options:

• a basic pre-cut, ready to assemble fabric kit with instructions

• a full kit including paper pattern, fabric panel, matching thread, needle, instructions (everything but scissors!)

Having previously offered these as part of a hands-on workshop, I am having fun putting these together but want to make sure I include everything a crafter would need or want in a kit. You can help by giving me your input on what you consider necessary in a kit, what you would like to see, as well as what you don’t need. This will help me custom tailor the kits to be more user-friendly and enjoyable.

Which would you prefer? A Basic, or Full kit? Or do you have a suggestion to improve either of them? Reply here to let me know and I will choose one poster at random to receive a free Doll Kimono kit. Drawing will be on Sunday, August 23 and I will post the winner on Monday, August 24, 2009.

The pattern in these kits will make a kimono that will fit many TY Beanie Baby toys. I designed them this way because the prototypes I had to work with were roughly the right size, and as a parent of small children, I had plenty of Beanie Babies around the house to work with. I can adapt the pattern to fit other dolls, please inquire if you are interested.

Japanese yuzen

After listing two new panels of kimono silk recently, I realized I’ve never posted about yuzen. Yuzen as a technique was first developed by Miyazaki Yuzensai, a fan maker in Kyoto in the early part of the Edo period (1603 – 1867). Yuzen is still a very popular kimono dyeing technique today, one that enables the dyer to imbue the silk with subtle variations of color and create shades that make a flower petal shine with dew and sunlight, all with the sweep of a paintbrush.

Starting with a concept sketch and an undyed bolt of silk stretched on springy bow-shaped bamboo frames, the artist applies a paste resist made from rice starch to the fabric using a tube with a fine point, not unlike decorating a cake. Once the work is completed and the reisist washed away, these white lines will give the completed design visual pop.

Once the resist has been applied, detail colors are added. Typical yuzen designs include plant motifs, as careful brushwork can produce very lifelike foliage and visual depth. Traditional stylized motifs are rendered with incredibly delicate detail. The resist allows many different colors to be applied in a small area without bleeding into each other. This requires a high level of skill and craftsmanship. Heaters are used to help the dye set faster, even in summertime.

After the details are completed, the background is filled in. Color is applied with a broad brush, quickly and evenly, allowing the details to stand out over the solid background. Once the bolt is completely dyed, it is steamed to set the dye and layed out–all twelve meters of it–in a river or custom built bath to rinse.

As a final decorative touch, gold leaf or embroidery may be added, or the artist may prefer to keep the overall design very subtle and sedate, depending on the taste of the client who will be wearing the finished kimono. If the kimono is for formal wear, family crests will be carefully dyed by artisans who specialize in such work.

Over all, it may take between seven and ten craftsmen at least twelve different steps to create a yuzen dyed kimono.

To see this process in action, simply search for “yuzen” on YouTube. There are several short videos both in Japanese and English that will give you a glimpse inside working yuzen studios in Japan. To learn gutta, a similar resist-dye technique, check out Silk Painting With Jill Kennedy in my Etsy shop.

And the verdict is…

Cut, by a vote of 7 to 3.

Thanks all for participating in the mini poll! The winner of the fabric pack is Lauren of ABC Rags. Congratulations, Lauren, let me know where you’d like me to send your fabrics and they will be on their way post haste.

It’s been a year or so since I last did a giveaway, but I’d like to do more. I’ll be brainstorming ideas this week to see what I can come up with, and hope you’ll keep reading and giving me your input.

In the meantime, we have many new vintage kimono silk bundles and panels in the shop, just listed within the last 24 hours.

Kimono Silk Fabric Assortment #19

Pink Sakura Kimono Silk Panel

This little number might look familiar:

Pinwheel Meisen Silk

More shop listings to come Tuesday. I have another challenge posed by a friend, this time to reach 150 listings by Thursday. Think I can do it?

short informal poll

Just curious… before I take my seam ripper to these two silk meisen kimono, do you think I ought to keep them intact, or cut up to sell in pieces? They have been sitting on the shelf just a little too long for my liking and I’d like to move them, one way or another.

As an incentive, I’ll send a vintage kimono fabric pack to one random poster in this thread. Winner will be chosen on Sunday, July 26.

So, keep, or cut?

Pinwheel kimono

Checkerboard Kimono

Challenged

Earlier today a friend challenged me to stock a specific number of items in my shop by 2 a.m. (it’s after midnight as I write this). Occasionally I get stuck in a rut and crawl into a corner with a book and a pot of tea, getting absolutely nothing done for days on end. This is not a good thing to when there are bills to be paid and customers to contend with. However, my friend lured me out of my hideaway with the promise of sushi, on the one condition that I bump up production and actually get some work done.

So here it is, for you and for my gracious friend, a sampling of tonight’s bounty:

Kimono silk scrap bundle #12

Red Chrysanthemum Kimono Panel

Kimono silk scrap bundle #16

More to come. I still have an hour left to work!

hot ‘n spicy

It was 100 F in the shade today, but I braved the sun and took a few dozen photos of new items before hunting down a cold cup of tea and a cozy tile floor to lay down on while spraying myself with Tumalo Lavender water.

Kimono silk fabric scrap pack #11

Only two new items listed so far: new kimono scrap packs! Oddly enough, I picked out the hottest colors I could find. I must be losing my mind in the heat.

The rest will be a surprise for later, pending the finishing touches of measuring, photo editing and listing. Yes, I have more kimono. Really pretty ones, mostly iromuji (solid color) with some other beauties mixed in. I love photographing in full spectrum daylight, but I’m not enjoying the sunburn and heatstroke I get while doing it…