In addition to my deep love of traditional Japanese clothing and textiles - I also adore Victorian era clothing and accessories. I had been wondering how I could combine my two loves into one for quite some time and I decided to give it a go:



It is made from three different fabrics - two obi brocades and the brown rinzu which dates back to late Meiji / early Taisho era. The lace is vintage and it is accented by faux pearl strings.

I'm quite happy with the look of this - I think we'll be seeing some of these popping up on PuchiMaiko very soon!

I made a few more kimono fabric necklaces and updated the store with them. I used the same concept as before - but I experimented a little bit with the style of them. I'm very happy with these.


Flat View Close Up


Flat View Close Up


Flat View Close Up


Flat View Close Up


Flat View Close Up



Flat View Close Up



Flat View Close Up

I finally got around to taking photographs of my scarves and listing them on PuchiMaiko.

I love how these scarves came out - I need to make more!

Pink and Red Scarf:

Close-up 1 Close-up 2

Autumn Shibori Scarf:

Close-up 1

Fire Orange Scarf:

Close-up 1 Close-up 1

Smaller Blue Scarf:

A few weeks ago I participated in a taiko concert. I only had a small walk-on appearance in the finale - but the costume was spectacular!

I was told often during the night that I looked like a Japanese doll. Such a flattering compliment!

I must say - wearing uchikake tires you out. It is amazingly heavy and hard to "carry" about between shows.

In the dressing room - I have the uchikake tied up with a koshi himo so it was easier to walk in until the concert.


Striking a pose backstage


With the koto player, Yoshiko-san (she purchased the uchikake for use in taiko concert). Isn't her kimono beautiful? On the front it has Murisaki Shikibu, and on the back is Prince Genji.

I made clutch purses today. The first bag is made from vintage kimono fabric for the handle (the fabric dates back to early Taisho era!), beautiful soft juban fabric for the lining and obi fabric for the outside.

Bag One Front:


Bag One Lining


The second bag is made from a mix of new and vintage fabric - the handle, front and lining is new fabric and the back is vintage. This time my sewing machine behaved!

Bag Two Front:


Bag Two Back:


Bag Two Front Pattern (cute!):

I've been on a bag making spree - which is probably obvious by now :]


Bag One Front is made from obi fabric:



Bag One Back is a cute deep red rinzu kimono fabric:


Bag One Lining soft juban fabric with chrysanthemum patterns:




Bag Two Front is made from faux woven shibori fabric with faux pearls hand stitched:


Bag Two Back is a gorgeous blue rinzu:


Bag Two Lining is a fantastic soft silk with wild floral patterns on it:



Bag Three Front fabric has rinzu pattern of waves and faux shibori chrysanthemum. The centre of two light chrysanthemums have been hand beaded with red seed beeds:


Bag Three Back is a woven faux kanoko shibori fabric in an orangey-red colour:


Bag Three Lining is stunning fabric with traditional motifs - dates back to early Taisho era:


Bag Three Beaded Detail:

For the first bag - I had these amazing vintage indigo kasuri pieces that I had been straining my brain trying to work out what to make with them. I never wear or use dark blues - so it was a challenge. It finally hit me that a hobo bag would be the pefect bag style to show off the fantastic fabric.



I used a beautiful soft vintage maroon cotton that used to be lining of a kimono as the lining. I thought the maroon complimented the indigo perfectly:




The second one I made was from indigo yukata cotton with Japanese style butterflies:



The lining is a peachy-orange vintage cotton - previously the lining of a kimono:



The third one I made has five different juban (under-kimono) fabrics in pinks and blues:

Front:


Back:


The lining is a vibrant vintage pink cotton:

It was my niece's 3rd birthday today and I decided to make her a gift with PuchiMaiko flair!

I decided not to make her an outfit using vintage kimono fabric because as we all know - 3 year old kids like to play and get dirty, so I used contempoary fabric. I wanted cute, but "adult" type fabric so I purchased some beautiful green suiting that had tuffs of yellow, pink and blue scattered through-out. Because I only had her waist measurement, I decided to make her a skirt and a matching bag. I had some lace that was in excellent condition, so I hemmed the skirt and bag with it. I did use juban fabric to line the bag though - I figured it would be safe there!

Skirt:


The Bag:


Lining of the Bag: