There are so many new fabrics in the shop to play with, and I’m a mother, so… coupons codes for you! Use the code MOTHERSDAY14 at checkout for 15% off your purchase at my Kimonomomo Etsy shop from now until midnight on Mother’s Day, which is May 11, 2014 in the USA. Share the code,…
Author: The Ardent Thread
This is the blog for KimonoMomo, an online business selling new and vintage textiles, thread, and notions from Japan.
This week in the Kimonomomo design studio…
Today I had a visitor to the studio this weekend who asked me to show her how I do my sashiko. Helen was a lovely guest (who bought some of my favorite fabrics) and we chatted for a few hours while I stitched away. She likes to plan out her sewing projects, “obsessing” about them…
Kimono Tuesday is now the Weekly Kimono
… Mainly because Tuesdays don’t always work for me, but I do enjoy wearing kimono at least once a week. So! Let’s catch up. Springtime in Northern California is back-and-forth, warm then cold again, rainy and cool, rainy and warm, dry and warm, dry and cold, and we all get confused. The sun is shining,…
Fujix Persimmon dyed threads Kakishibu – 柿渋
I’m a huge fan of natural indigo, but sometimes a different color can be refreshing. Kakishibu (柿渋) is a tannin made from shredded and fermented green persimmons. If you’ve ever tasted an unripe persimmon then you are familiar with the astringency it can have! Aside from giving you a puckery mouth, this astringency has some…
Kimono Tuesdays
For some reason rainy spring days make me want to wear kimono. I wore kimono more frequently when I lived in Oregon (mostly in the high desert, not the rainy valley), but since moving back to California several years ago I haven’t put in the effort. On Monday, while rain clouds moved in over the…
Sashiko boro quilt
If you’ve seen me at a show or come to the Kimonomomo studio in the last few months, you’ve probably seen the quilt I’ve been working on. Pieced from Alexander Henry, Moda, Olympus, and Kona Bay prints, plus a few 19th century katazome cottons, it’s coming together nicely. Piecing took two days using a 1959 Singer…
Washing shibori yukata cotton
Textile junkies love color and texture, and shibori has both in spades. When it comes to using these fabrics and not just collecting them (as my mother so often did), we take a step back and ask, “What is going to happen if I wash this? What if I don’t wash it? Will washing make…
Kogin – yet another diversion to keep my hands happy
You know, because I obviously have WAY too much free time. Koginzashi こぎん刺し (or according to various online translations, “concentrated silver stab”) is a regional stitch technique that evolved out of its plain but fascinating older sister, sashiko刺し子. By carefully counting the warp and weft threads of a piece of cloth, a pattern could be devised…
Kimonomomo Shop Updates for March 2014
February blew through the studio, bringing with it two shows (AQS Phoenix AZ & San Mateo, CA), many orders, and several new projects. Between keeping up with the shop and the garden–a lack of rain here meant daily watering so our winter vegetables wouldn’t die–I fell behind on my writing. To catch up, here is…
Swimming in Sateen, and a bit of Tsujigahana
Kona Bay Fabrics have offered Japanese cotton sateens for many years now, but I’ve not ordered any until this month. Why oh why did I wait so long? These are gorgeous! Photos don’t do them justice. The metallic gold is beautifully incorporated into the print, which means it doesn’t stand out as much as it…
Ringing in the New Year with a pile of old indigo
I spent New Years Eve picking apart two vintage cotton kasuri kimono, stitch by stitch. The one on the right with the cypress fence design (numazugaki 沼津垣) was so carefully sewn that it was a terror to disassemble. However, I wasn’t the first one to have taken this kimono apart, as evidenced by how it had…
Product Review: KARISMA Washable Fabric Pencil
Among the goodies I picked up at the Houston International Quilt Market this year was a selection of KARISMA pencils. I’ve been a fan of mechanical pencils since the mid-1980s when my friend and artist Kristine Schramer introduced me to them. The ease with which I could draw a fine line and erase any mistakes…
A love for both the common fiber and the extraordinary textile @KimonoMomo 