Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 7

A couple of weeks ago, my friend was practising to put on a hakama on her dressform which made me think, why not try my plain navy blue hakama on the kimono?

The plain colouring of the hakama works well against the busy kimono.

It reminds me of the black trousers and colourful tops combo that I favour when I was working or going to a family occasion.

I teamed it with my lilac/pink hanhaba obi because the colour works well againts the navy blue and the subtle pinks on the kimono.

Of course we must not forget the rear view.

I like hakama because they can hide many kitsuke mistakes such as wonky hems and wrinkles around the bottom of the obi. Not to mention, you don't have to worry about your kimono flapping open and flashing your juban!

Due to the musubi you need to tie to secure the hakama, it does give you the big bum look which for some people is not attractive. However I like it because it creates a bustle effect which you see in Victorian attire and I love the Victorian era.

I would love to get a hakama with embroidery on the bottom but I'm worried that if I do then it wouldn't co-ordinated with my other items easily. Maybe I should just pin things on the bottom then.

Outfit

Obi - Lilac/Pink hanhaba obi

Hakama - Navy blue.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 6

Time to create a casual outfit.

So how is this casual you may ask? Well I haven't used a obi-makura and obi-jime so less complicated and rather then using an nagoya obi, I have used my pink hanahaba obi.

Also to make the outfit for fun, I have tied a bow with the obi-age.

And since I am using a hanahaba obi I can not tie the standard otaiko musubi so I opted for a musubi that I sort of made up.

It is very easy to tie this musubi and if you have an obi which is reversible (like the one I have) you can have the bow colour different to the rest of the musubi. This makes it super cute!

Obi - Lilac/Pink hanahaba obi

Obi-age - Bright pink-red

Han-eri - White and red flowers on grey

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 5

First off, I'm sorry for not posting anything for a long time but I have been very busy with exam revision, sorting out etsy store and generally keeping up with the admin side of my online presence.

Without further comment here is outfit 5.

These pictures are also the debut of my new dressmakers dummy! I have named her Miffy because she is silent. It was strangely hard to dress Miffy because she has a hard body however as she doesn't move I was able to get the collar nice and curved at the back!

So how have I accessories her then?

Obi - Black and red hakata obi

Obi-jime - Dusky pink

Obi-age - Bright pink-red

Han-eri - White and red flowers on grey.

This obi is actually a kid's obi but I love the colour and with a slight modification, I should be able to wear it.

And since I have Miffy to dress I can now show off the back.

Question, what do people think about a series of musubi step by step tutorial? I'm only asking because I would like to create some but what would people prefer to see? A) a video of the musubi being tied or B) a series of photos (with detail explanations) of musubi being tied?

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 3

Hmmm what other colour could I possibly use now?  How about bright yellow?

It is not too bad actually.  The feeling that I'm getting from yellow is neutral as it complements the mustard yellow on the kimono and the gold obi.  However it doesn't stand out too much unlike the red co-ordination.

The yellow obi-age is just a plain one with a woven hexagon pattern so there is no way I am going to be able to get photo of the pattern.  As for the obi-jime, it is a sparkly gold one and the other side is silver so when you tie the knot you will get two colours.  I can't decide if I like this obi-jime, don't get me wrong, I like metallic shiny stuff and this obi-jime tick those boxes.  However it is stiff so I am never sure if I have tie it enough.  One does not want their obi to fall apart when you are walking about in public.

Black and Mustard Yellow Sakura Kimono - Outfit 2

So yesterday's out was this one below.

This outfit consist of the a white han-eri, pastel blue obi-age and obi-jime.  There is a shibori fan pattern on the obi-age which you can't see very clearly on this picture but it is very pretty.  As for the obi-jime, it is just pure accident that I own a obi-jime which matches the obi-age so well.

Now outfit number two!

Here you see I keep the same obi and white han-eri but I changed the obi-age and obi-jime.  The obi-age is red and has a lot more shibori on it.  This time the pattern is kiru (I think) and you can see the pattern more easily because of the contrast.  The obi-jime is a dark pink and is one of my widest ones (1 inch) and it is lovely to use.  It is very soft, making it ideal to tie into a square know but it is stiff enough to retain its width so you have a huge knot at the front of your obi. 

This colour combo is more vibrant then the cool looking one of outfit number one.  It is amazing how a change of something so small creates a completely different feel.