Adventures In Doll Kimonos

Had a very nice weekend. It was beautiful on Saturday. We'd had a couple days of rain so all the pine pollen was washed away. I was able to open the doors and windows and let the breeze go through the house.

Earlier last week 2 kimono patterns I'd ordered for dolls arrived, so I decided to get started on making a kimono for Asa. The patterns were difficult to understand without knowing something about kimonos, like how they're worn, why they were worn, etc. So I spent the morning googling kimonos. I learned quite a bit. The Japanese culture is so full of ritual. It fascinates me. Anyway, I could understand the patterns much better. I decided to make the kimono from a pattern designed for Ellowyne Wilde I bought from the Etsy shop DGRequim because it was the easiest looking.

Asa is just a bit bigger than Ellowyne, but kimonos usually fit loose. I took careful measurements and it looked like it was going to fit Asa.

There are actually 2 kimonos worn together. An under kimono with narrower sleeves is worn that is usually white, though any solid color can be used. The thing about this particular pattern is that she's designed it so it looks like there's an under kimono, but there isn't. However, the option to make one is in the pattern. I opted to make one. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. However, it's just a tad too small for Asa. It fits Ellowyne perfectly.

The second pattern I have is a little larger than the first one, so I am going to try it out. It's from Doll Pattern Bazaar on Etsy. The first pattern above actually has some waist shaping in it, which is not put in a regular kimono. This pattern here doesn't have it. It should fit Asa fine width-wise. I just need to add some length to the body. I hope to work on this next weekend.

I am currently working with cotton fabric on this project. I want to know what I'm doing before I get into something fancier. In the meantime, I found a very reasonably priced piece of embroidered silk on Ebay that I've bought for the fancier kimono, when I'm ready.

While I was sewing for my dolls, my husband was working on the hot tub. If you'll remember, it developed a serious leak last fall. He thought he'd work on it during the winter, but that didn't happen. He finally started working on it a few weeks ago, mostly cuz I was whining about it. (Heh heh). He's been working on it for several weekends rebuilding the inner workings, as well as the skirting around it. He wanted to finish it and get it out of his hair (as he put it) this last weekend. It's been a big project. He got it done and set it up back where it belongs beside the deck. On Monday I cleaned it out thoroughly because it had pollen, dust, dead bugs, sand, and all manner of icky stuff in it. Then I filled it with clean water. I couldn't get it to turn on though. So I had to wait until Sweet Hubby was home from work. He said the pump needed to be primed. He did that for me and got everything working.

On Tuesday morning I finally got to sit in the hot tub for a good soak again. My back is so happy.

Live long and prosper. \\//