Have a Merry Chirimen Christmas

Wow! What a year! It was a big one with even bigger changes to our lives for both of the Kimono Reincarnate team.

In March I got married and then a week later packed up my life and my new husband and moved to Japan. We both started new jobs, caught up with old friends, made some new friends and basically started a whole new life. My husband has taken to this country like a duck to water and I swear he was Japanese in a former life.

Around the time of my wedding, the other Mel was pregnant, though she didn't know it yet. Much of the year saw her belly grow gradually, until out came her gorgeous little boy, Ryder.




After a life time of sweltering hot Christmases, it feels strange that Christmas is only a few days away and it is so cold! My husband and I will be having a white Christmas as we are heading up to Nagano later tonight for a 3 day snowboarding trip with cousins and friends.

I thought I should add something a little Christmassy to the blog. The little Santa is made from Chirimen, Japanese crepe, and was a gift from a friend who went to Kyoto recently.

The pine cone is one of my own creations. All the fabric in it is also Chirimen, but can easily be done with any fabric. I've seen some amazing ones done with kimono fabric, and that will be my project for next Christmas, I just need to get started a little earlier.

To make the pine cone, circles are cut out of the fabric. The edge of that circle is then baste stitched, a small piece of stuffing put in the middle and then the cotton is pulled tight to create a ball. The ball is placed edge into the cone. If it is tight, it can simply be stuffed in, but if it's a little loose, a tiny bit of glue is useful.

I recently picked up some lotus pods to make a simular decoration out of.

This will most likely be our last post for the year, so we'd love to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with love and laughter and of course, some sumptious fabrics!

Another Tomesode Dress - I just love them!

We've just sold our first Tomesode kimono on our eBay store! Personally, I love them as the designs are so striking and elegant. We bought the first Tomesode as an experiment and to see if others felt the same way.

This dress is actually from one of our main competitors in bidding for certain kimonos....

Next year, we plan to buy some more stunning kimonos and see if we can also get some of the more difficult to buy Iro Tomesode, or colour Tomesode (most are on black) like the one this dress has been made from.

Personally, I have finally got my little sewing machine working again and have been making my own stuff. I finished a skirt last week and have to say - I'm pretty proud of it. I'll try to photograph it this weekend and put it up on the blog.

Wedding Ideas

Now, I do actually practice what I preach - I have to confess, I'm obsessed with the richness and versatility of kimono fabrics.

Don't tell my new hubby this, but I did have ideas about my wedding dress before I even met him... I always knew it was going to be red (I look awful in white and I can never keep it clean) and I always knew that it would have a piece of an old wedding kimono with a crane on it.

When we did get married though, the kimono had even more significance than purely my obsession, the wedding was to be our big farewell party to our friends and family before we came to live in Japan together.

My wonderful friend and business partner, Mel (the other Mel) bought the Uchikake (wedding kimono) for me as a wedding present. Tears came to my eyes when she said that it was so there was a "piece of her" at the wedding in case she and her husband couldn't make it to Australia for the wedding (they did!).

A panel from the kimono with two cranes flying was chosen for the front of my dress and then a panel with a wing for Wayne's wedding shirt.

We had our fabulous designer make corsages with pieces of the fabric and with the red silk from my dress for my parents, grandmother and Wayne's mother. They did an amazing job and each corsage was different - they worked with the original embroidery on the fabric. You can see my dad wearing one in the picture.

It didn't stop there either, there were still some stunning panels left, so I sewed three of them into panels, had an ironmonger make some rods for the tops and bottoms and had scrolls made. I gave one to my parents to thank them for their support, one to my business partner and kept one for us.

Due to the weight, variety and expense, we haven't started stocking uchikake in our eBay store, which seems a bit of a shame as we see some amazing ones for sale. If anyone is interested though, please feel free to contact us and we're more than happy to go shopping for you!