#Kitsuke

[tanuki-kimono]

GREAT novelty knot for this obi shaped like a cute bat. The soft fabric must flutter a bit when you walk, making the bat wings move (LOVE!).

To shape this knot, OP used rubber bands and a sanjûihimo (3 straps elastic belt, Billy Matsunaga has a tutorial on sewing the 4 straps-variation + see how it’s used here).

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Oh, I completely forgot to post this during the con! I met the "cast" of Thunderbolt Fantasy up close (and shamelessly ogled/photographed the puppets' costumes, because that series has been on my to-cosplay list for the better part of a decade).

Also featuring my Friday kitsuke, which I guess I have a picture of after all (albeit in truly terrible lighting). This gorgeous metallic furisode was the first kimono I ever bought, kicking off yet another expensive new hobby that I probably didn't need. 😅

[prince-rosalium]

the whale yukata... lives.

my obi are still in storage, but for some reason i have a datejime.

seriously love this thing

[kimono-daisuki]

I recently saw this book on 100 kitsuke tips by Sunao on Amazon JP and thought to try it out, purely for this one page - tips for wearing kimono as a plus sized lady!

はじめてさんからベテランさんまで使える 楽しくなる着付け 100のコツ

ISBN 978-4046058850

Some very roughly translated kitsuke tips for the larger lady:

1) Wear your obi wider in the front. (Fold the tesaki to show more than half, if able)

2) Widening more of your juban collar (away from the neck) will make your face look narrower.

3) Taper your skirt to make your legs look slimmer.

4) Neaten the sides of your kimono so that there is no overhang above your obi - this has a slimming effect.

5) If your obijime is too short to wear normally, you can tie a knot in the middle of the obijime and then tie the rest behind like you would for obidome. (From the referred page, another alternative is to link two too-short obijime together and tie them together to get a longer obijime.)

6) Stripes make people look taller, but it can make us look wider if the stripes are unevenly matched up when worn.

7) Wear similar colours for kimono and obi to avoid a horizontal divider that makes us look larger.

8. Wear larger obidome to be more proportionate to size.

9) You can combine more than one too-short obi to add length!

I find this book quite useful, and hope sharing this review and table of contents will also be useful to others!

[himikochan]

Okay not going to lie you guys I’ve been spending time on Reddit lately and I made a post that was like “hey I know it’s less than ideal but I plan to store many kimono in vacuum bags and/or plastic bins, they’ve been living in suitcases for years and I really can’t stand it anymore, does anyone had advice for avoiding ‘storage smells’?” and the comments are all like YOU NEED TO WRAP THEM IN ACID FREE PAPER and YOU NEED TATOUSI and GET A CEDAR OR PAULOWNIA CHEST FROM AN ESTATE SALE and it’s like MOTHERFUCKERS I am a professional I know this is not the best way to store them but I’m currently unemployed and only have storage in my bedroom I fucking WISH I had $100-800 to spend on this project but I don’t!!!

[kanzashi-craft]

Butterfly and Wisteria. This hair ornament has five branches of silk wisteria flowers which create an elegant flow of cascading violet gradient petals. Each of the 97 petals is hand-painted using habutae silk, folded, and "pinched" in traditional tsumami method.

[kimonotsuki]

Classy and Creepy

Happy Halloween! An appropriate day to raise myself from the dead, I think. I've just been incredibly busy, travelling and working and whatnot, but I do have some stuff in the works for the next little while. I knew I had to get this one up today, though. The "obi" is too perfect for a classy and creepy outfit. Funny thing is, it's not an obi at all. It's two table runners from Target! One wrapped twice around the body, and one for the musubi. I wanted to keep the rest of the outfit subtle but still halloween-y so my bat menuki obidome and spiderweb haneri, and then remembered I had this lovely piece of soft spiderweb mesh I found in a remnant bin at the fabric store. It makes the perfect shawl, doesn't it? I love how this outfit feels seasonal and creepy but totally wearable, and I also love how the two star pieces are both found items that have nothing to do with kimono. The orange accessories were the finishing touch, and they add just the right amount of pop. Read the full article

[pkbth]

It's my Fox oc Suiren again

[spiralred]

NYE '23 Kitsuke

[laurelslegacy]

break in the nerdiness.... I'm on the left, my lifeline, my beautiful boy Kaien is at my feet. I practice kitsuke , or the art of wearing Kimono. the textures and the artistry poured into Kimono are just.... it's wonderful!

[tanuki-kimono]

Edo period women obi knots, fantastic reference chart by Edo lover Nadeshico Rin.

You can see here several obi musubi favored by city women, of all class and status. Novelty knots were a fashion statement, often lauched by star onnagata kabuki actors, and spread by iki fashionistas such as geisha.

For top to bottom, left to right, you can see here:

Chidori musubi (plover knot) ちどり結び

Shôryû musubi (little dragon knot) 小龍結び

Kichiya musubi (Kichiya knot) 吉弥 結び - named after onnagata actor Uemura Kichiya I in Genroku period, who single handedly launched a new type of knots and obi fashion

Koman musubi (Koman knot) 小万結び - named after a kabuki character in play Yakko no Koman

Nagoya obi (Nagoya belt) 名古屋帯 - Azuchi Momoyama/Early Edo era silk kumihimo tied in butterfly knot

Yanoji musubi (arrow knot) 矢の字結び - created by onnagata actor Segawa Kikunojo II. Also found under the name tateya musubi 立て矢結び (standing arrow knot)

Yoshio musubi (Yoshio knot) よしお結び

Mizuki musubi (Mizuki knot) 水木結び - onnagata actor Mizuki Tatsunosuke is said to have first worn this variation of the Kichiya musubi

Rokô musubi (rôkô knot) 路孝結び - created by onnagata actor Segawa Kikunojo II

Karuta musubi (card knot) カルタ結び - created in early Edo period, looking like 3 playing cards side by side

Hitotsu musubi (single knot) 一つ結び - during Edo, was also called darari musubi だらり結び. Note that it differs from is nowadays called darari obi (worn by maiko)

Tate musubi (standing knot) 立て結び - see yanoji/tateya musubi for variations

Bunko kuzushi (unbalanced knot) 文庫くずし

Heijûrô musubi (Heijûrô knot) 平十郎結び - created by actor Murayama Heijûrô III

Sageshita musubi (falling knot) さげ下結び

(by request of @fireflybettle, hope this will help you ^^)

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

First attempt at tying リボンむすび (ribbon musubi). It's not perfect, but not a total disaster! I used Billy Matsunaga's YouTube tutorial.

Considering that two days ago I had only the kimono and nagajuban, and I made the obi, obiage, and all the assorted ties and accessories in a mad overnight scramble, I think it came out pretty well! 😅

[drawart-ink]

[kimono-daisuki]

Felt like playing with kimono today, so I threw together a quick floordinate! The obi was a lucky find at a local secondhand kimono seller, but the condition is bad enough that it’s not wearable for formal occasions. Still makes for nice wearing around the house!

[bergquistsblvd]

Just a few of my other plushies that I have made and put up on my Etsy. I have a few more things I'm working on like a bat and probably going to make a mushroom man as well. The spider and kitsune are both about 16 inches at the longest points and i love being able to just squeeze them!

What other types of plushies should I make?

[kanzashi-craft]

Crane (鶴) flying over red peony branches.