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…
Tag: textiles
An experiment in washing vintage indigo kasuri, part 2
(Continued from yesterday’s post, as promised) So how did it fare after the second wash? The blue background color is sharper and clearer, but the splash areas that were once light blue are now white. This does not diminish its attractiveness in my opinion, but I had been hoping to retain the light blue on…
An experiment in washing vintage indigo kasuri, part 1
Along with shibori and sashiko, I am a sucker for kasuri (絣). Popular in Japan since the Edo era, kasuri (or gasuri) is a double woven ikat, meaning the threads are dyed prior to weaving and the design is in both the warp and weft threads. Machine woven Bingo kasuri, which constitutes the bulk of…
Clearance sale on fabric yardage
Please do me a kindness and snap up these fabrics before new ones arrive as I’ll have no place to put them! These are out of print bolts from Kona Bay, In The Beginning and Marcus Brothers, all with Asian/Japanese themed prints. Beautiful stuff, just yearning to be put to creative use. As it is…
get ’em while they’re here
First, some not-so-good news: I put in a call yesterday to reorder some of my best selling fabric bolts from Alexander Henry, only to hear that the bolts I want are no longer available. Despite being good sellers, some bolts just don’t have quite enough demand for reprints, which means the warehouse won’t restock them…
a little house cleaning
I am finding so many good things while getting ready to have the studio painted. When the physical part of cleaning and sorting gets tedious, I take a break and clean out old files from the KimonoMomo website. Among them I found this, a shot from several years ago when I dressed the staff of…
A Closer Look at Yukata fabrics
After handling these fabrics for several years, I often forget that many people have never seen a bolt (called a tan) of Japanese fabric, much less a kimono. Here are my thoughts on a question I am often asked: Why is the fabric so narrow? This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg question, as I’m…
Home again, bearing gifts
Slowly getting back on track, planning new classes and ordering more beautiful fabrics. Several times it has been said to me “you really need an assistant” and I know it’s true. Not sure how to go about this other than posting an ad on craigslist–which has worked in the past (thank you, Jacob!)–but I certainly…
Focus on Indigo part IV, Katazome
Today I present two katazome items, one from the SFAPA show and one from my personal collection. Click on the images to get a closer look. The first is from the Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York. It’s a stunning katabira (帷), an unlined (hitoe 単衣) ramie (jofu 上布) kimono for summer wear. This would have…
Focus on Indigo part III, tsutsugaki kimono
I met Vicki Shiba of Mill Valley, CA last year during my first visit to the Arts of Pacific Asia Show in SF. She’s a soft spoken woman with a sharp intellect and a dazzling collection of antiques. She had several pieces worthy of mention in her booth, and I have chosen two that I…
Feeling a tad overwhelmed
After two weekends spent surrounded by the sort of beautiful textiles and antiques you’d expect to find in a museum or private collection and being able to not only photograph them, but actually touch them, I find myself with pages of handwritten notes and innumerable photographs to sort through (I stopped counting and just try…
New feature – Indigo
Starting next week I will be writing an ongoing feature about indigo, including vintage dyed textiles, indigo dye and supplies, and indigo’s use through history. To start, I will feature several galleries and dealers I’ve been meeting at the Arts of Pacific Asia and Tribal & Textile Arts Shows this February at Fort Mason in…
A love for both the common fiber and the extraordinary textile @KimonoMomo 