New stuff

Hello Everyone,

This week I got another package from Japan. I'm starting to think that I need to do a striped kimono exhibition.

I love how this kimono has stripes in several shades. It will make the coordination so much easier because of many possibilities.

Another girl's kimono set. I couldn't pass it up because of its bright color. And because of the bright green juban, how much fun is that?

For some reason blogger turns the picture sideways. 

Have you gotten anything new in lately?

~ Lyuba

Strawberries, Kimono, and Mittens

Hello Everyone,

Last week was pretty FUGLY here in UK, with lots of rain, so I didn't end up wearing kimono at all. Actually, on Sunday it was pretty, but I had zero motivation to do anything, so this week I'll have to wear kimono twice to make up for last week.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a photo with one of my cats, Mittens. She is such a nice kimono accessory, and she matches my overall outfit too! Too bad that Mittens has her own thoughts about being a kimono accessory :) At least she stays still enough to take a good photo (unlike some other kitties I have.... not going point fingers at anyone, Echo!).

I'm wearing one of my latest kimono again, which turned out so much brighter and prettier in real life than I thought it would. Immediately I knew that I needs some bold obi to go with it, and originally I was going to wear my Union Jack with it but then changed my mind in favor of this strawberry tsuke obi. It is the latest tsuke obi I've made, and I wanted to try it out so bad, so I'll know how it behaves. Well it behaves very well, except that I am not really good at tying those stupid tsuke obi!!!!! But I'm learning :)

Haneri is handmade from cotton and lace. My collar keeps riding up in the back, even if it still looks pretty good up front. I even have fansy-shmancy ties on my juban to make sure that collar is down, but for some reason they don't work as well as I was hoping.

I'm in love with this strawberry pattern! Finally Strawberry Kimono has a strawberry item! Below you can see that I've used regular belt instead of obijime, and I think it works very well to add that modern touch to the outfit. The obiage is one of my favorite ones, and also balances the white of kimono and obi nicely together.

My every-present red boots are present here again!

As you can see, my juban sleeves are much shorter than kimono sleeves, but I didn't want to search for another juban in my uber mess aka kimono room, so I decided not to worry about it too much. Plus, it already had haneri sewn on it.

What do you think about this coordination? Let me know :) And as always, more photos are in my FB group.

~ Lyuba

Tsuke obi gallore

Hello Everyone,

For the past couple of weeks I've been on a serious reversible tsuke obi kick. It all started with this obi right here, which April gave me last year because she would never wear it. It is a reversible tsuke obi, the other side is identical in design, except the fabric is a brighter/darker red. The moment I saw it, I had the wheels turning in my head about making one of these myself. Of course, that's easier said than done, because it took me over a year to actually do anything!

The first obi I've made is the one I wore to October's Anniversary Kimono de Jack (Bad, bad Lyuba didn't update her own blog, but you can see more photos at the official KDJ blog).

Below you can see two sides of the obi. While making tsuke obi is not exactly a rocket science, I still had to figure out the best way to do things at this point, and let's just say this obi left a LOT to be desired. Thankfully, you can't really tell when it's worn, but I KNOW it and it bothers me.

Few weeks ago I've decided that  I need to have an obi with strawberries in honor of my blog's name, Strawberry Kimono. Here is the result:

Next, I've been quietly obsessing over the Union Jack obi that I've seen in Kimono Hime #10. The actual obi is made by Modern Antenna (the brand that makes me re-think my love for Mamechiyo Modern. While I still love the style of Mamechiyo, I much prefer the actual kimono and obi from Modern Antenna). Well, the original obi is sold out now, but it cost 58,800 yen when it was on sale, or $760 according to my handy-dandy currency converter. Yeah, so NOT happening no matter how much I love the obi.

Instead, I've decided that I can make my own version of the obi and set out to search for the appropriate fabric. I didn't actually find any fabric online, but I did came across jut the perfect size Union Jack fabric at one of my local stores! I went  home and made two obi which you can see below (only three photos, because Union Jack is on both of them).

I tried to make the obi as close to the "original" as I could, but I will probably not do it again. Instead I will just use the Union Jack fabric all the way, unless I find red fabric that matches the red on the Union Jack perfectly. The problem I have with this obi is that reds don't match. It's not a big deal in the long run, but it bothers me because I know it doesn't match. On the bright side, I've finally figured out the perfect amount of interfacing to use!

Here is this obi in action.

And here is a sneak peak of two obi that I've made in the past 2 days. I'm not showing the whole thing because I will put these up in my Etsy store next week! You're right, one of them is a Valentine's Day themed obi!

What do you think about my tsuke obi ideas? I would love to know what you think about fabric combos too.

~ Lyuba

Cambridge in Kimono January 2012

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday I went to Cambridge with my husband and friends. We didn't do much, other than walking around and enjoying the nice crisp weather. One good thing about UK is the weather, which most of the time is perfect for kimono wearing! I'm dreading the time when we get back to US and get something like.... NEW MEXICO or VEGAS! (Ok, maybe not, and I'm thinking the worst case scenario, but I really don't want to go to a place where it's HOT all the time).

The central element of this coordination was my reversible nagoya tsuke obi. I wore the bunny side not long ago, so yesterday I wanted to wear the Union Jack side. Originally I was going to pair it up with a different kimono, but, as it turned out, the juban sleeves were too long and so instead of changing the juban, I changed the kimono! :)

This vintage blue kimono is interesting because the lining of the sleeves is red, but lining at the bottom of kimono is yellow. Talk about fun. In order to play up the lining color at the bottom, I choose a mustard yellow obiage. The obijime are pretty plain, one is light pink, and another is off-white, but they are the ones I use when I want to put an obidome-brooch on, because once crisscrossed, they hold the brooch pretty well in place. I wish this shot was taken from the other side, because this obiage has some gorgeous embroidery, but it's not visible in this shot.

I also wore my favorite red boots which matched my new red gloves perfectly. I could have worn a red hat too (and I only have like 5 of them, if not more), but I felt that blue will be a better choice. The only thing I didn't want to really think about was the haneri, because I kept the same one. Maybe it could be better, but it also mean that I would need to sew on a new one. I kinda like this haneri, and want to wear it some more before I change it, so for now it will match everything, because I said so! :)

We came across this cute sofa in one of the dressing rooms, so of course I had to take photos! :)

My faithful pink Harajuku Lovers bag, which goes with me everywhere, because it has kimono girls on it! I don't even care if the color doesn't match. Kimono girls design matches EVERYTHING!

EPIC kimono shot! :)

I'm thinking I'll wear this obi again, with the kimono I originally intended to wear it, before sending it off to Florida. What do you think?

~ Lyuba

P.S. If you want to see all the photos from the day, like my Facebook page. I will be posting all of my kimono photos there from now on.

Happy mailbox again.

Hello everyone,

While my internet was down, I've received more stuff that I ordered a while back. I actually have two more packages to receive, and then I'll go on hiatus.

More stripes. Of course :) 

This shade of mustard yellow is simply gorgeous in real life. 

I bought this obi because I wanted to have a very vintage looking piece, but it turned out much prettier in person. 

Positively in love with this ro obi. 

Wedding accessories. 

I these will go very well with my wedding furisode. 

 I now have 5 boy's kimono/hakama sets! (one is not shown). Sadly I only have 1 set of little accessories and zori, but that's no big deal.

I can't tell you how long I've been looking for this red juban that would be large enough to fit me. Most of them are so tiny.

You can't tell in the photo, but the sleeves are very long. Probably the longest out of all my non-furisode jubans. 

More vintage kimono! 

Seriously gorgeous nagoya obi. 

Have you mailbox been happy lately? If yes, I would love to see!

~ Lyuba