Postcard from Ginza, Tokyo

It’s been a whirlwind of a tour here in Japan. From the picturesque mountain countryside of Gunma, to a lakeside hotel in view of Mt. Fuji, to the packed city streets of Tokyo, every day has been an adventure.

I’ve been shopping at used kimono stores over the past few days, finding many treasures and selecting pieces for the shop, but yesterday was a special treat. Our friend and guide Megumi san took us to see new kimono shops and introduced us to the owners. We visited department stores, small shops in malls, and one very special high-end boutique, where we saw some exceptional pieces.

I’ve been selling used kimono since 2005, starting off with just the fabric bolts and eventually learning how to wear kimono and dress myself and others. The geometry of the garment is fairly simple; complexity comes in the execution of it. From design and embellishment to the wearing and accessorizing of it, a kimono can be as timeless as a Chanel suit or as tacky as a polyester leisure suit. A quality kimono is evident from a distance, but not by shouting. It expresses itself with a subtle but distinct voice. And it isn’t cheap.

Many of us who buy used kimono are accustomed to spending $100 or less for silk, and even less than that for cotton yukata. When new, a quality silk kimono can cost thousands of dollars, and yukata may cost hundreds. For example, the yukata in the above image are roughly US$320 apiece, and that was at a mid-range mall boutique. At a high end shop they may cost significantly more, depending on the material, weave, and artist.

Customer service is reflected in the price, too. At a bargain shop you may find busy ladies dressing their customers, matching up kimono and obi with obijime, zori, and other accessories. The space is cramped, the shelves crowded with layers of colorful chirimen, kasuri, meisen, ro, etc. the prices are decent and the quality is fair. These shops are fun and affordable for many young women who are learning to wear kimono and building a wardrobe. Higher upmarket you’ll find mall shops with clean and tidy displays of kimono waiting to be custom tailored, and bolts of silk waiting patiently in drawers and on shelves. Some stand-alone boutiques offer new and used kimono in an elegant setting, with sales people who will shadow the customer through the shop, offering suggestions and advice with patience and grace.

At the high end… That’s where things get really special. I’ll talk more about that later.

Kona Bay’s Hana Bashi Collection by Nobu Fujiyama

Kona Bay Fabrics is known for their wide selection of Japanese-themed fabrics, and two prints from Hana Bashi, the lastest collection from designer Nobu Fujiyama, are now in stock, ready for your spring projects. The colors are a bit darker than they appear on the images, and the metallic gold details are far nicer than they appear in a flat image. The blue swirls and waves will look gorgeous in summer projects, and the chrysanthemums will look great for autumn. The cool blues round out an elegant winter look, making this a four-season fabric.

I find the swirls especially appealing as they lend a feeling of movement. Rippling water with tiny chrysanthemums and leaves dance across sun-splashed tones of blue or teal. You can click on the images to see them in my shop.

I’ve also included the blue version in a fat quarter trio with two of Kona Bay’s Ginkgo Tonals (“sand” and “jute”). I think the grouping looks fresh, light, clean, and elegant. The group of three fat quarters is $7.50 plus shipping in the KimonoMomo Etsy shop. I offer several trios of fat quarters, and would be happy to make a custom listing just for you with any prints I have in stock. Just ask! 

Shop news and updates for April, 2013

I have no idea what happened to March. It was here, then it was gone.

April seems a little more grounded, rooted, and thriving. The shop is buzzing with sales (use the code SPRING at checkout for 15% off until May 1, 2013) and sashiko items have been flying out the door. Going through my stock this week I found notes and inventory lists from 2010, a year or so after I first starting selling sashiko supplies. Over the years I’ve taught myself sashiko, taught classes, written articles for Stitch Magazine, blogged about vintage pieces I found interesting, repaired my favorite pair of jeans with stray bits of sashiko thread, and generally allowed sashiko to take over a happy portion of my life.

*How has sashiko affected your life? Do you go crazy for colors, or do you seek out unusual fabrics for embellishing? Are you still getting by using embroidery floss for your projects? Post your experience here and I’ll pick my favorite for the sashiko sample pack above including needles, thread, and Wagara fabric. Deadline is Sunday, May 5, 2013. 

Tell your friends to get in on the giveaway! The bigger the response I have to these little freebies, the more of them I’ll do in the future. I’m heading to Japan in May and will be picking up loads of new goodies to share.

Book Review: Sashiko by Agnès Delage-Calvet

• Sashiko : japanisch sticken

• by Agnès Delage-Calvet with photographs by Frédéric Lucano

• 2007, Haupt Publishing. ISBN 978-3-258-07134-3

• Language: German

I stroll through Amazon from time to time seeking out new sashiko books to add to my library. It doesn’t matter what language they are in, all are welcome.

This slim volume starts off with a visual bang for me right on the cover with a cast iron teapot on top of a stack of sashiko textiles. It’s all blue and white from the start, and continues that way for the next 64 pages. There is a section in the beginning with the usual “do this, don’t do that” graphics, which are always a nice reminder that while sashiko is a technique with rustic roots, it still has rules.

Projects include a selection of traditional geometric designs, a few cranes and the like, and several florals. The florals are based on Japanese designs, but they appear more European to me, and I like the dichotomy. I think I actually squeed like a schoolgirl when I saw “Rechteckiges Kissen”, the large indigo pillow with a spider mum in white on page 16. Even better was “Betttuch und Kissenbezüge”, the lovely set of ivory bed linens with indigo flowers on page 12.

The photos are not unlike those of a Japanese craft book, but darker and moodier with a touch of hope, like a Nordic spring. I’m of Northern European roots, so the visuals really resonate for me. The colors are so cool, but the textiles so inviting, especially “Plaid”, the creamy white wool flannel blanket with indigo stitches on page 30. You won’t find that in any Japanese sashiko books, at least none that I’ve seen. I’d never thought of working with fuzzy or fluffy knits, either, which is exactly why I think this is a book worth having; it stretches the imagination to include a different view of what sashiko is. The Japanese do sashiko so well, and even Silvia Pippen with her tropical designs sheds a new light on this old task, but to take something traditional to one country and make it look like it naturally belongs in yours… that’s magical. I’m happy to see an artist do it so well.

If you already have a working understanding of how to do sashiko, this book will serve as delightful visual inspiration. If you are a beginner and only read English, it might be a nice book to have for later. If you read German, go for it. I took a year of German in high school and barely remember any of it, so I enjoy the pictures and leave it at that. Besides, my German language teacher was Austrian and the book publisher is Swiss, so there may be differences… Sadly, I confess I have no clue.

Olympus Wagara cotton sashiko sampler project part 3

After completing the Persimmon Flower background, I felt the coat needed something. Referencing vintage firemen’s coats I decided to go with a plain stitch, echoing the technique of stitching together multiple layers of cotton to make the coats very thick. Historically, the coat would be drenched in water before the firefighter went forth to battle a fire. The soaking wet layers of cotton would be very heavy, but also protective.

The printed design is of an open coat viewed from the back. With a real coat the back would be two panels of fabric wide, the front two more panels wide. I lined up the ruler along one of the imaginary seam lines between a front and back panel, and started stitching in the area with Indigo thread. Click on any of the images to get a closer view.

Here’s how the work is going so far. I’m rather pleased with the effect. It’s not noticeable at first, but it does help with the puckering caused by all the Persimmon Flower stitches by balancing things out.

My stitches may not be even and tidy, but I prefer the handmade look of this project over some of the more stiff and precise projects I’ve worked on before. The Olympus preprinted kits area a wonderful way to get a feel for sashiko, but there are times I find it more fun to play around with ideas and make a bit of a mess, especially when I have no idea how the project will look until I’m done with it.

Part 4 is coming up.

Olympus Wagara cotton sashiko sampler project part 2

Here we go, on to the fun stuff.

The magic of Persimmon Flower – Kaki no Hana (柿の花) — is how it evolves. Like an actual blossom, it starts off simple and innocuous, then blooms into something wonderful. And it’s all about the math; if you want the blossoms to be bigger or smaller, you adjust your lines accordingly. This is where graph paper comes in handy because you can plot out your design in advance. Obviously I didn’t, because I’m spontaneous like that. Some might say “headstrong”, “impatient”, or “sloppy”, but I like “spontaneous”.

Sewing a straight line on this fabric is easy. Unlike standard Western quilting cottons, the weave is open enough that you can follow the weft. If you’ve never sewn sashiko before and were considering using embroidery floss and Western fabrics, stop now. Nothing beats Japanese thread on Japanese fabrics. They’re made for each other. Literally.

Every sashiko book with tell you to allow enough slack in the thread so that the fabric won’t pucker, especially when turning corners. Do I listen? No. You should see how I knit, too. I’ve been told more than once that I could benefit from drinking a glass or two of wine before picking up my knitting needles because I knit like my project has to hold water. Tight tight tight. Be loose. Enjoy the flow. Be Zen.

Why did I start putting in my vertical lines before I’d finished the horizontal ones? Because I didn’t bother to measure in advance, of course. I could see my lines spreading out wider after I’d passed the sleeves, and I worried that by the time I came to the hem things wouldn’t balance out. And besides, I’m spontaneous. Yes I am. And honestly, I wanted to see how the blossom was going to look. Because I am impatient.

When I reached the hem area and could count the stitches to see they would not meet up as planned, I changed plans. This type of adaptation is evident on many vintage pieces, which gave me confidence to do what I knew had to be done. Persimmon Flower adapts to change so beautifully that it was almost a joy to revise my count and find that with just one altered vertical row I could make it work.


How did it turn out? Tune in tomorrow to find out… and see what I did next!

Olympus Wagara cotton sashiko sampler project part 1

Last year I stocked a single bolt of Wagara fabric. I wasn’t sure if it was worth the investment (they are pricey, even at wholesale!), but once I felt the fabric in my hands, I knew I’d made the right decision. Olympus, the Japanese company who makes all the sashiko supplies I carry in my Etsy shop, has been producing Wagara (traditional design) fabrics for some time now, and every year I see new patterns coming in while old ones disappear. It’s a case of get-it-while-you-can with these, and I will be snapping up several bolts this year.

I listed this fabric with Firemen’s Jackets earlier this month, and cut a panel for myself to experiment with. It sat on my desk, taunting me for some weeks, until I decided to cut it up and stitch away. I like to work late at night when the house is quiet and I can shut myself away in my office undisturbed, with only the dogs to keep me company. Laying out fabric, thread, and needle, I pulled a sashiko book from my library and looked for image inspiration.

The white and off-white Olympus sashiko threads were too bright for the creamy unbleached cotton color of the fabric, so I decided to go with a contrasting color instead. The fabric is indigo with the design printed on the surface, not resist-dyed as it might have been 100 years ago, but this does keep the cost down so I’m not complaining. It also means the fabric is not reversible, but it makes great decorator fabric for something like a pillow or a quilt.

I decided to use Cranberry Red in a persimmon flower motif as a background to the single jacket I’d selected. Persimmon flower looks complicated, but it isn’t really. If you can count to four, you can do this stitch. It starts with horizontal lines in alternating rows, like laying bricks. After the fourth row, you reverse and mirror the previous row. I counted my rows, “one-two-three-four, four-three-two-one” as I went. It may be difficult to see in the images, but that’s probably because my stitches were too small. I figured that out later.

Here is my progress and hour or two later (who’s counting anyway? Thomas was upstairs in bed with a cold and I couldn’t sleep. It might have been 45 minutes or 3 hours. I have no idea. I did spend a while just staring at the piece trying to figure out what I was going to do, but that’s part of the creative process, right?). At this stage it’s layers of horizontal lines, nothing special. But wait until tomorrow when we bring in the vertical lines… then it gets interesting.

Sashiko Patchwork Apron Pattern

If you’re looking for a fun little project you can make with recycled fabric, sashiko thread, and a little ingenuity, this Sashiko Patchwork Apron Pattern might tickle your fancy. I designed it for the Spring 2012 issue of Stitch and it’s now available for download. The pattern is $4.00, none of which comes to me, it all goes to the publisher, so (correction: apparently I do get a portion, but I didn’t know as it’s buried somewhere in my contract) this isn’t really a sales pitch so much as an FYI.

The point of the project is to really get a feel for sashiko. Play with the stitches, try something new, and learn as you go. I had a lot of fun working on the prototype, and I think you’ll enjoy it, too. It’s a great project if you’re the sort who uses an apron in your sewing room or have a child who would enjoy having a few extra pockets for bits of this and that.

Okay, here’s a sales pitch: I have tons of sashiko supplies in the Etsy store right now, and I’ve put in another order to replace all the stuff that sold the last time I restocked, just this month! I used a single 40 meter skein of Cranberry thread for this project, but you might want to mix it up a bit with other colors.

I’ll take some photos so you can get a better view of the project. There’s a lot going on that isn’t shown in the single picture they used for the magazine.

Did I mention the free stuff?

I noticed that my Facebook page followers were getting nearer to 200 (still small potatoes, but then again I haven’t exactly been posting much this year), so I devised a plan to pull in a few more and make it a nice round number. Once we reach the magic number (200!), I’ll give away a panel of Kona Bay’s Geisha Panel 6 to a random commenter on the Facebook page. Post on the page, share with friends, tell the world. If things go well, I’ll set up another giveaway for an even bigger number! 300 sounds nice.

But I don’t want my blog followers who aren’t Facebook followers feel left out, so I’ll give away a $10 credit (for any order exceeding $10 before shipping and discount are applied) to my KimonoMomo Etsy shop to one random poster on this or any other thread posted during December 2012 and the end of January 2013 (that includes the previous posts from this month). There may be a few other surprises for my Twitter followers as well…

Keep in touch and stay tuned! New items are arriving in the Etsy shop and will be listed over the next few weeks.

Octopus or Jewel?

Flipping through reference books while looking for examples of goldwork embroidery, I stumbled onto a page in Flowers, Dragons, & Pine Trees that made me pause, somewhat concerned, and turn the book upside-down. The image, plate 77 on page 234, is credited as an indigo dyed Kasuri Futonji from the 19th or 20th century. From the text, the design is identified as that of an octopus, probably originating from a workshop on the San’in coast. Click on the images below for a closer look.

Ikat Octopus?

The origin location makes it sound like an octopus is quite likely for this design. The main shape is round, and it has tentacle looking appendages.  But it isn’t an octopus. This is an octopus. A very clever, tsutsugaki-rendered octopus (currently hiding in storage at the Victoria and Albert Museum).

The image presented in plate 77 is (in my humble opinion) a houju (宝珠), or Buddhist sacred jewel. From JAANUS:

Also nousashou houju 能作性宝珠, mani houju 摩尼宝珠. A sacred jewel, said to remove suffering, and capable of granting every wish. Usually has a round base and pointed top, sometimes surrounded by flames. According to legend the nyoi houju is said to have emerged from the head of the dragon king ryuuou 竜王, or to be made out of eleven precious materials, including Buddha’s ashes, gold, silver and various aromatic woods. Found as an attribute *jimotsu 持物, held by Buddhist deities such as *Nyoirin Kannon 如意輪観音, *Jizou 地蔵, and *Kichijouten 吉祥天. A good example is the mid-9c Nyoirin Kannon in Kanshinji 観心寺, Osaka.

The indigo dyed kimono shown here courtesy of Vicki Shiba Antiques.

The sleeve shown here is part of a larger country-made textile. This men’s cotton kimono, dyed in indigo and decorated in the tsutsugaki technique with what were once more vivid colors, would have been worn during festivals or other times of celebration.

And that upside-down page? Here’s how it looks (as I believe to be) the right way.

Ikat Honju!

Aside from my disagreement with the author’s photo identification, I would highly recommend Flowers, Dragons, & Pine Trees; Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art by Mary M. Dusenbury for your reference library. It is image-dense, research-heavy, and covers several countries and regions of what we collectively refer to as Asia. Your local library may have a copy. If not, ask at the reference desk, visit your local bookseller, or check it out on Amazon.