Frame to Dye Kimono

So I have, for about a year, been sitting on some bemberg rayon twill and dye from dharmatrading.com needing to get the stuff together to make a frame to dye said rayon before sewing it into a kimono. Another reason I have been holding off is that my sewing machine has been behaving very badly and making loops on the underside of my fabric even with my tension so high it breaks my thread.  Well, in February, my machine gave up the ghost and I just got both a new machine and the materials to make the frame to suspend the fabric panels so I can paint/dye them.
I was planning on buying am adjustable frame from Dharma Trading but their supplier was having manufacturing issues so I started researching how to make one. I went through several sites and forums before finding one that met my needs: http://dakini.ca/silk-painting-frame-tutorial-1.html
I did some calculations and was originally planning on making four frames to accommodate the four different panels that I would be making before my husband pointed out that I would be able to use the largest one for the smaller panels if I used more elastic so I am now making one frame that is 12' x 2'.
Next I was worried about how I was going to get two 12' pieces of wood into my 2007 Prius, but my friend for whom I am making this kimono (who has the patience of a saint and paid me for it right before I bought the fabric) suggested making it 6' and from that idea I decided to put hinges on it so my total area is still 12 x 2, but it will fold to 6 x 2 for transport, which is still unwieldy but not nearly as bad.
I have one half of the frame put together, screw eyes and all, and will hopefully get the other side together tonight and be ready to paint on it by the weekend.
^_^
I'm really excited!

Finished the Furisode

So, I managed to finish my furisode for Metrocon.  It came out very nice and I will be posting pictures as soon as I can (the ones that I took don't show the whole thing).

Later!

KristinsKimonos

More on the "Furisode Process"

Yay!  Sleeves are attached and underarm seams are sewn.  Encountered a problem when I flipped the furisode right side out and realized that I hadn't sewn up the side seams yet.  I spent about 15-20 minutes with the furisode on the back of the couch and me flipping and turning it before I got the bright idea of putting it on a hanger and then sitting on the floor and pinning it - which worked pretty well ^_^.

Here's a drawing of the cutting layout for my furisode ^_^



Pretty cool, no?

Till later!

Kristin

Working on Traditional Style Furisode ^_^

Well...traditional except that it is made out of quilter's cotton - it's full or prettiness though ^_^

So I found a super awesome link Making a Yukata which details in depth the steps to make a traditional yukata from a yukata roll. As I don't have a yukata roll, I had to make some adjustments, but overall it is coming along nicely.  The main area of my adjustment comes in the form of a lining...as yukata generally don't have one and my furisode will.  I was particularly worried about the sleeve area, but I am a sneaky Kristins and found my old Simplicity Kimono pattern which, while not very accurate, has great detail for sewing kimono sleeves with lining.

My main mistake was not having enough lining fabric, having bought the main fabric and the lining at different times and not knowing exactly how much I would need.  Because of this, I had to piece the top part of the sleeve lining, and the front panels are a bit short.

What I did to resolve this is cut the fold of my sleeve so that I could add pieces at the top, as that is far less likely to show.  It came out looking very nice after I pressed it.  For the front lining, I have just a bit over where the collar attaches, and the lining doesn't show above where the collar attaches, so that is take care of too!

I will definitely be more careful in my calculations next time though.  oI_Io

So I should have the kimono finished tonight, which would be awesome.

And I have the obi done as well for it (all 7 yards of it...)  what I did for the obi is get 3.5 yards of a pretty quilters cotton, cut it in half along the fold and then seamed it in the middle.  I then sewed the whole length of the obi (7 yards....) and up one of the short ends too.  Then I took heavy weight fusible interfacing and folded it in half and then cut it up the middle and then fused it to either side of the middle seam...cause it was left over from another project.  There is about a yard on each end that does not have interfacing, but I will be using those ends to tie it so I am not to worried (famous last words? ... we shall see).  I then flipped the tube inside out and then pressed the whole thing so that the fuse would stick (some pulled up when I was turning it).  It came out very nice too.

I am planning on making an obi makura by sewing a "pillow" and then filling it with fiber fill and sewing a tie to it.  That should save me about $26.

Not sure what to do for the obi ita...maybe a white fabric with lots of decor bond and a zig-zag stitch?

We shall see!