Wednesday 16 December 2009

Exciting Delivery from Japan


This is what arrived for me this morning, it looks exciting doesn't it?  I placed an order with Ichiro and Yuka Wada at Kimono Flea Market in Osaka, Japan a little while ago and my goodies arrived today.  Ichiro and Yuka deal in used and vintage Japanese clothing.  Just looking at their website is a fascinating experience, they add new items to their lists daily and these include kimono, obi (belts), haori (jackets), michiyuki (coats) and even jyuban (undies).  There are also wonderful bolts of kimono fabrics and samples for sale.  Prices vary from about $20 (US) to thousands of dollars for museum quality items.  Every item is photographed in detail and all areas of staining or wear are clearly highlighted.

I was very pleased with the service I received - the day after completing my order I saw another item I fancied and put an order in for it.  I immediately received an email from Yuka asking whether I wanted to combine the two orders, thereby saving on postage costs.  The items arrived well packed in tissue, and included a little sampler pack of the various fabrics used for kimono.  I will certainly be using Kimono Flea Market again.  My original thought was that if the items were disappointing  at least I'd have an amount of silk that I could cut up and use in quilting projects.  In fact they are even better than they appeared on the website and I will be wearing the haori and expecting a lot of appreciative comments.

So, this is what I bought.  Firstly, length of silk dyed in the traditional shibori method, listed as

Exotic Shibori Seigaiha Pattern Vintage Kimono Fabric


Item
Fabric
History
vintage
Fabric
silk
Price
$18.00

This is a fabric of a kimono from pre WWII. It has exotic 'seigaiha'(wave) pattern, which is dyed with shibori technique.
Textile is rinzu silk and has soft touch.
There are some flaws as in the photos. 






The fabric measures 35cm x 125cm and here's a close up of the design:





I also bought two haori - jackets.  This is the first which is silk and very soft, it was $18 and its condition described as "very good".




Here's a close up of the lovely fabric and you can see the colours more clearly:




and here's a close up of the front and the fastening and you can see the interesting lining:




The second haori, is in gorgeous autumnal colours and was listed as:

Contemporary Haori Charming Dyed Pattern
Item No
#172664
Item
Haori
History
quite new
Condition
excellent
Fabric
silk
Technique
dyed
Price
$20.00

This is a contemporary haori and has charming dyed pattern. Textile is exquisite silk, and has very soft touch.
It is in excellent condition.





Here's a close up of the fabric:




And as an extra bonus the thank you slip in with the parcel had been personalised, so here's my name in Japanese:



1 comment:

  1. These are absolutely stunning! I'll definately visit the website - thanks for pointing me to is Lis, much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete

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