Thursday, March 02, 2006

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!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

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. Posted by Picasa

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 Posted by Picasa

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? Posted by Picasa

Monday, February 27, 2006

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. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 26, 2006

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 Posted by Picasa