Small Sewing and the Soran Bushi Outfits

I am honestly missing my sewing machine more and more as the weeks go on. Maybe as the weeks tick by and we are closer to coming home it feels so close and making me long for it more. Or possibly more for the creative sewing outlet, and also for the speed at which you can make a thing. Even so, I'm continually surprised by how quickly I can hand sew something when needs must, so here are some small things I've done in the last couple of months. 

Our home in Yotsugi had only shoji screens, and no curtains, so the morning sun in our room was quite bright. Steve picked up an eye mask from the 100yen store, but it turned out to be polyester which is essentially plastic. Not fun to have on your face in the summer. 

I took it apart to salvage the elastic and made a reversible one out of some leftover fabric from the girls' school bags. It was quick and effective. I wonder if it counts as zero waste if I use every part of the fabric I bought, even if it ends up being on different projects? Maybe, or maybe it's just "sewing my stash". 

I also patched a pocket of Steve's pants with the cat fabric. You can see in the picture it's already been patched back in Australia using some leftover fabric from my dad's Christmas shirt. I'm glad to be extending the life of the shorts, though I don't know how much longer they will take. 

For Steve's trip up Fuji-san, he needed to carry everything in the backpack and the big jacket was not fitting. So I suggested adding some elastic strapping to the front of the bag to stuff it in/hang it off. 

I made small loops with some leftovers from the Red Yukata, and then threaded some elastic through. The end result was exactly what Steve needed it to be. 

The  last bit of sewing I did in Yotsugi was to prepare some happi type garments for the girls. Happi are a Japanese jacket that are worn for festivals. They are often costumes for things like dances. Sometimes they have sleeves similar to a kimono or yukata, sometimes they are shorter, more modern looking, and other times they don't have sleeves at all.  They are always made with the same rectangular body shape with a standard long Japanese collar attached. 

These are Zero Waste because the fabric cut for the collar part is just folded into the collar to reinforce it, and everything is rectangles. Any extra length is generally tucked in for extra strength. 

It started like this (below). The slit up the middle is also cut about 8cm into the shoulders on each side, and then the collar is sewn around, just like a yukata. Then it's just side seams and hems. So easy. 

I also made the girls each a hachimaki (headband) out of the blue fabric to match. The reason they needed these was to submitt their entry into the school talent show (in Australia). They decided to dance the soran bushi which Rachel learnt for Japanese school sports day. They worked really hard perfecting the dance and I made the costumes. 

We actually filmed their audition video when we had left Tokyo and were staying at the seaside in Shodoshima. It was perfect to do this traditional fisherman dance by the ocean and we are really proud of the girls. Hopefully they get to the finals!