Reverse Kitsuke

Hello Everyone,

Lately I haven't been feeling like doing kitsuke much. Last week I went to London to help Hong with her pre-wedding photo shoot where I dressed her up in kimono, so does it count as once a week kimono? This was about the extent of my kimono adventures in August, and I just couldn't bring myself to go anywhere. Sometimes I get tired of going places alone. Yes, I know that I constantly go on and on about not waiting for anyone and just wearing kimono and go for it, but even I get fed up with being the only one in my area. "My area" being the keyword, as I can always count on Hong but that would mean either going to London or her coming to me, which is a whole day thing. Sometimes I want a two hour thing instead.

Anyway, rant over. Today I've decided that enough is enough, and I NEED to wear kimono. My husband had his much dreaded eye contacts appointment, which went MUCH better than we thought it would, and it wasn't raining. So kimono day it was.

I've wanted to wear this kimono and obi combo for a while, but the last time I wore this same kimono, I went with the other side of the obi. Yup, essentially it's a reverse kitsuke. I went pretty low key with the obiage, picking ones that will compliment the colors of my ensemble vs. ones that stand out. Actually... don't I always pick ones that complement the colors of my ensembles? I guess this time I just felt like using obiage that will "blend in" a little more. The idea was to play off the colors in my new Irregular Choice shoes (so comfy too!!!) and a little bit from the haneri.

Everything was going pretty well until I got out of the car and realized that I've gotten car sick. Seriously, that haven't happened to me like... ever! I was the one driving! I think I got overheated (I get motion sick when I'm hot), which was hard to believe since I usually tolerate heat very well. Plus, I wore this kimono to London, on the tube, in the same temperature, with the same obi, and was fine before. So what was different today? I'm thinking it's the combination of humidity, lack of ANY wind, and lack of AC in every place we went to today. I just couldn't cool down no matter what, so I was very thankful that our trip was going to be pretty short to begin with.

The moment we got to the car I took off the obi and untied kimono as much as it was possible without flashing anyone. It seemed to help a little, but I was still feeling pretty wonky for half a day. Seriously though, today just didn't help me get out of my kimono wearing funk at all!

~ Lyuba

What I Wore for Travelling Kimono - London

Hello Everyone, 

While I didn't wear the Travelling Kimono this time, I was there in the role of a photographer. The weather was uncharacteristically nice (for the first half of the day) so of course I had to wear kimono.

I didn't wear my usual stripes, but instead went with one of my newest kimono, a summer weight purple hitoe kimono. I paired it up with my handmade reversible tsuke obi because the roses on the obi match kimono exactly. The blue and white obiage play off my haneri quite nicely, and the white belt as obijime seems to bring the whole look together. I actually  had a little trouble picking out the accessories, and I even posted about it the evening before, but I guess I always knew that I will go with my favorite white belt. On the morning of, the rest of the accessories sort of fell in place too.    

You can't see the shoes very well, but they have a plaid pattern too, similar to the obi. 

Hong and I went to the Westfield Stratford Centre to watch Magic Mike, and while waiting for our showing time, we also took cable cars over the river. I'm not going to post a lot of photos of her because I want to give her a chance to write up about the day, but here is a teaser photos. You can also see more photos here and here.

Overall, it was a great day. We watched the movie, we had fresh pretzels, we had lunch at Yo Sushi and took the cable cars for the first time ever. It did start raining right after our movie, and I had to get an emergency outfit to wear so I can hide my kimono in my bag, but Hong let me borrow her umbrella so I didn't get too wet during my 15min walk to my car. 

I'm hoping there will be more non-rainy days from now on, so I can wear kimono more often! 

~ Lyuba

Sale stuff added

Hello Everyone, 

Today I've added more stuff to my SALE folder, please check it out! All of these items will be going with me to the London EXPO in October, but I'm making them available right now to anyone who is interested. 

Reversible Cotton Chuya Obi

Hello Everyone, 

This weekend I've tackled making a reversible chuya obi. I found I like them the best, but since there are not that many of them online, and even then they are selling out like hotcakes, I figured making my own is the way to go. 

I had this red polka dot fabric laying around for a LONG time, but never really did anything with it. Silly me. The flowers side was a chunk of vintage cotton I got off ebay, so I don't have as much of it as I would have liked. I do love it though. I was hoping there will be enough to make 2 chuya obi, but alas. I do have enough for hanhabla, so whee!!

So making obi is not exactly a rocket science, it's just a reaaaaaaally long rectangle but dang let me tell you by the end I was ready to throw it across the room! Imagine sitting there with 4 meters/13 feet of fabric full of pins on your lap, which constantly freaking pin you? And then trying to sew through 4 meters of fabric at one time, keeping a straight line? Or measuring it... Yup, suddenly making obi is not so easy, at least for me. Ok, so it's not really hard either, more like annoying since there is so MUCH of fabric! 

I've actually messed up on the bottom with measuring, that's why it's not really straight. I measured and double measured, but it still came out slightly different on each side. I'm actually not THAT bothered by it, because I know that when worn it won't be visible much, and if it is, I can just say I tied it uneven like that on purpose! 


I've also wanted to have some decorations on it, but since it's a chuya obi, I wasn't going to mess with it too much. So I opted for decorating the bottom part only, since it will be nicely visible when worn, and I didn't have to guess where to put the decorations to make sure it was visible. I had some vintage lace I bought a while back, so I set out to find the perfect one. For the flowered side I choose a thinner lace and just arranged it my favorite way, the striped of course. For the red polka dot side, I wanted some more ooomph since it's kinda plain on it's own, so I choose some hand crocheted lace there. I imagine it will stand out quite nicely when worn. 



I can't wait to wear these!
~ Lyuba