February was a busy month, and between four different conferences (only two of which had anything to do with textiles), I didn’t get around to posting. To make up for the time I took off, I will be posting more frequently about the amazing textiles I viewed last month, and trying out my skills at [...]
Posts Tagged ‘weaving’
A Danish textile, and updates for spring
Posted in textiles, vintage, tagged antique, California, history, news, San Francisco, textile, vintage, weaving on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Tsuzure Ori
Posted in book reviews, tagged books, Japan, Kyoto, obi, textiles, tsuzuri ori, weaving on July 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I was warned years ago that if I started studying Japanese and didn’t have many opportunities to speak the language, I’d lose it. This has sadly come to pass. Taking a few steps away from my kimono-focused business over the past few months, the words have been gradually slipping away from me. Conversational Japanese went [...]
Book reviews: ancient textile construction
Posted in book reviews, tagged bast fiber, books, fabric, history, textiles, weaving on May 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Every morning after the dog has been fed and the kids shuttled off to school, I sit down at the kitchen table with a plate of last night’s leftovers, a pot of tea and a book or two. On occasion this leads to a loss of appetite, especially when dye techniques that involve dung or [...]
Awa Shijira-ori
Posted in indigo, kimono, tutorials, tagged cotton, history, indigo, Japan, textiles, weaving, yukata on February 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Known for its distinctive crinkled, crepe-like texture, Awa Shijira-ori* is a cotton fabric ideal for making summertime yukata. The texture, similar to seersucker, does not stick to the skin in Japan’s hot, humid summers, and the openness of the weave allows for good airflow. Originating in the Tokushima Prefecture during the Meiji era (1868-1889), it [...]
Sakiori obi
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged boro, ranru, recycling, sakiori, textiles, vintage, weaving on June 29, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Sakiori (saki=rag, oru=weaving) is one technique among the fine arts of resourcefulness and reuse. A worn out, damaged or otherwise ruined garment is torn to shreds and woven over a new warp to find another useful life. I know people who cringe when I tell them that I tear kimono apart, but this is something [...]
A little something to keep you warm
Posted in indigo, tagged boro, cotton, indigo, ranru, vintage, weaving, zanshi ori on January 15, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Digging through boxes in the garage today I came aross a few more vintage boro blankets I’ve had stashed for nearly two years now. I blogged about our family’s favorite last January, but this one has not been in use as it has only one layer with no backing or batting. The weave technique used [...]
Bast again
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bast fiber, mystery, textiles, vintage, weaving on January 18, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Ah, those wonderful mystery fibers. Gotta love ‘em. It’s funny, but to the modern eye, “vintage” Japanese fibers tend to be either brightly colored silks or indigo blue and white cottons, but historically this was not so. Prior to the mechanization of weaving in the mid 19th century, a great deal of weaving was still [...]
Hello world!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bast fiber, history, Japan, mystery, obi, silk, textiles, vintage, weaving on January 1, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I’m starting the new year with a little mystery. I discovered this piece being used as the stiffener inside an old obi recently. The obi itself was quite old, but the fabric has been repurposed and is likely from the 19th century so far as I can tell. It’s not cotton, rayon, wool, or silk, [...]
