- I’ve been playing with different patten drafting ideas for short kimonos and looking for kimono inspiration.
- It’s been a while since I posted one of my inspiration pin boards from Polyvore. I make them but I’m not part of the community over there.
- I love the idea of a structured kimono like the denim one from Jigsaw, above. Wouldn’t it be great in that yarn-dyed check cotton?
- Sous Sous never fails to give me wonderful ideas. I love their fabric prints! They are very oversized; the yellow item below is a dress, rather than a T-shirt.
- I particularly like the kimono-inspired T-shirt below. I want to try a collar like that in one of my future jersey projects.
- They also do a turtle necked version which is interesting.
- I love the way they style contrasting coloured and printed trousers with colour blocked tunics.
- I don’t know if I can make this work for me, the way Sonya Phillip’s does, but I want to try to find a way.
- I’ve been trying to decide whether the collar band for my kimono should be shaped or if it should be a triple folded strip of cloth, as is traditional in kimonos.
Last week, Esme Young on the Great British Sewing Bee, pointed out that traditional kimono collars stood away from the nape of the neck because it was an erogenous zone for display. I hadn’t realised that. I’m going to make mine with a fitted neck. No sexy back of neck action for me.
The best store ever!!! All those kimono-inspired pieces are such great canvases for print/pattern mixing and look great on a multitude of body shapes. Are you going to buy new fabric or shop out of your stash? Looking forward to seeing what you make!
I’m working on Toiles at the moment and I’m using a drape fabric from my stash. Once I have got it hanging the way I like, I’ll move on to fabric choices.
Really inspired by both the denim kimono jacket and the Sou Sou colour blocked dresses. Love the scale of the prints and colours, and it’s a great way to use up smaller pieces of fabric! I made a Tessuti Kyoto jacket in a vintage Japanese rayon, but would love to try it in light-weight-ish denim to make a casual/workwear type version. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
I hadn’t noticed the Kyoto jacket before. It looks nice. It fits my bill of not being too oversized.