Things Japanese

">Link Because of the bounty I received earlier in the week:Kimonos and offcuts from a Japanese oriented store in Melbourne, a friend and I have been doing a little research.
Primarily because we were surprised at seeing a colour combination of red with white in a rather small sized Japanese "dress".

Why do I say "dress"?
Because one of the first things I learned was that " the term kimono means nothing more and nothing less than clothes!

I won't bore you with details,except to add go visit http://www.yoshinoantiques.com/kimono.html
to learn more than I can fit in here.
One thing I did learn was that the combination of white with red is a seasonal theme relating to Autumn.

And another question answered for me was:Why are these garments stitched together with a running stitch?
A: Unless they are woolen,the garments are taken apart to be washed;block dried then sewn back together.

And on another note,because we've been given a severe weather/storm warning, I must go batten down the hatches!

Stylish in black

Two kimonos with differing treatments:One has a gorgeous metallic looking fabric on yoke and sleeves externally;
The other has plain black external and burgundy,cream and blue/green linings across yoke and sleeves.
Probably for a man. 

Is a puzzlement!

As Yul Brynner declaimed in "The King and I"
This is the little kimono I wondered about:
WHY the combination of Red with White,two colours normally at opposite ends of the traditional Japanese spectrum 

Stash enhancer

Monday and Tuesday's mail had me fairly beside myself in raptures.
A very dear friend down Melbourne way went shopping for me at Kazari. ......this is some of the beautiful fabrics now in my hot little hands:
aren't they super!
G included a couple of kimonos and Haori and one in particular intrigued me: A little white kimono.........it's size would fit a small 5 year old,but the intriguing thing about it,is that the sleeves are lined in red!
Now traditionally white is the colour for mourning,and RED is for joy/marriage.
The white fabric is patterened with the 16 petalled imperial chrysanthemum, and the red fabric is patterned with cranes.So we have a conundrum:WHY the combination of red with white? 

Cat-a-tonic

The completed mad cats: As I said earlier,not my usual choice of fabric or theme,but I needed something "different" to relieve frustration over a more "arty quilt not going to plan. 

Cat (a) Tonic

Because my "planned" Journal quilt for February was giving me the ***,
I decided on a no-brainer.......well, that's what I thought!

After making a fabric PC first to see the effect,
I fiddled with composition over the weekend.
This is the result,vlisoflexed,satin stitched and quilted in position.
So cats,I got news for you---

You're STUCK! you aint going nowhere!

Regards this quilt:
apart from the feline content,colour and cartoon shapes aren't normally my choice but it was a fun thing,that helped reduce stress levels.............
I now have LONGER to come to terms with my original February project!

And,when it's completed: bindings,etc,I'll "treat" you to a photo rather than a scan.

Ciao