New obi for furisode musubi playtime.

So I have begun playing with musubi that are normally tied for furisode at Coming of Age day.

However the obi I have at the moment are not suitable.

They are heavily woven with metallic thread which makes them perfect for a formal otaiko but rubbish for those fancy musubi.

So it was time to do a little bit of hunting.

I asked a friend what would be a good search term for these special obi and she recommended I search for "furisode obi" so off to the internet.

First stop Rakuten, and although I found what I was looking for, they were pretty expensive so I went back to my usual shopping channel eBay.

There is one seller who I thought would have what I wanted and sure enough I was lucky to find them.

Here is the one I chose.

Front

Underside

It is a pretty rainbow obi which should be okay with some of my more fancy kimono but it is very soft and flexible.  Perfect!

However while I was browsing, something caught my eye.

Front

Isn't it pretty!

Blank part of the fukuro obi

At first glance it looks like a standard fukuro obi but!!!

It is split into two at one end!

Underside 

 This is the underside of the obi but in between the split is this orange part.

How weird is this obi?  So of course I brought it and now I am thinking of musubi to tie with it.

Musubi Time - Beginning

As a kimono enthusiast, I love looking at furisode musubi.

As such I have two books.

First book is this one which we will call book A

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0-%E8%8F%AF%E3%82%84%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA%E5%B8%AF%E7%B5%90%E3%81%B3207-TODAY%E3%83%A0%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF-%E4%B8%BB%E5%A9%A6%E3%81%A8%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB%E7%A4%BE/dp/4391636905

And second book is this one which we will call Book B

https://www.amazon.com/Band-style-Techniques-version-Oversized/dp/433151501X?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

They are all very fancy and very pretty.  Unfortunately there isn't much occasion to wear them so I though wouldn't it be good to tie them using a hanhaba obi?

So from Book A,

And from Book B,

Lets see how far I can get through the books.

Commission update!

Work has been a bit busy of late so my weekends are getting very precious.

However I managed to complete one commission for one customer who wanted a lined lolita hakama skirt.

And now I am on my second commission.

This time an unlined one but in a cotton/linen fabric.  She wanted a skirt that was suitable for hot weather hence the fabric choice.

Just before I started ironing the pleats.

And after ironing, this is only the front panel and the most complicated one.

Look at the crisp pleat!

Tomorrow I will cut the remaining panels and being sewing!