Rachel the Cow

Here is another snapshot in the Sewing Adventures of Rachel. 

Rachel (loving cows as she does) decided she'd like to go to the school bush dance as a cow so I suggested she make a onesie herself. (She has made a jumpsuit before, so this didn't seem like too much of a next step.) I strategically suggested a fabric birthday present for her which her godparents obligingly provided, much to Rachel's delight. 

We traced a jumper and pair of jeans and did a rough draft out of a doona cover. Rachel was pretty good at sewing the draft version, even though it wasn't as fun as the final fabric. We did a fitting and tweaked a few things before cutting out the real deal. Rachel herself suggested the udder and had the idea to make it a functional pocket, which I thought was just hilarious. 

Then we scheduled some serious sewing time together. Having already sewn the draft, she was pretty clued on as to how it would go together, but still needed some reminders about how the flat pieces would go together to cover a 3D body. 

I was very impressed at her fortitude with sewing a pretty tricky fabric, including giving the zip a good go.  In the end, I did have to get that in for her, since all the layers of fabric (including the udder!) there were very bulky, but that was all I sewed. While I did that, she worked on ear placement for the hood and then finished it off. The zip, btw was salvaged from an art case that was broken and not working. It was pink, still functional and very long so it worked a treat! 

The delight that Rachel had when she finished sewing the hood on was catching. This cow onesie is the most outrageous thing ever. Rachel wore it and won best dressed on the night of the bush dance. 

Japanese Kimono Haul

I was fairly restrained in Japan when I was buying kimono related things, given that I already have quite a sizeable collection, but here are some of the things I did get! Not sure I'd really call it a haul as such, but I will say that I'm really pleased with all of what I got, since I've worn everything a number of times this year already. 

This new obi matches the yukata I made nearly 18 years ago so perfectly!

For those interested, in the winter months of the year, I tend to dress in Japanese traditional clothes most work days and then some other days just for fun too. Since I'm now working a four day week, it means I'm actually in Japanese style more than western. Have to say, I love it, since kimono are comfy, warm and surprisingly easy to layer so I can adjust things as the day heats up. 

This obi is a different style, but is so versatile that I wear it all the time. 

First up I bought three obi (waist tie/belt things). The top one was such a fun sashiko design that I was in love with it instantly, even though it was a more maroon-red colour that I wasn't sure would go with many of my yukata. It has surprisingly matched way more of my kimono collection than I thought it would and I have worn it a stack. Especially since it's reversible with a different pattern on the other side. 

This bright yellow and orange one is also so fun. Can't get enough of the dual colours and I love to mix up how I wear it too. 

Same obi as above, but looking completely different! So cool!

The light is bad, but the yukata really is more a white than yellow. This is the other side of the first obi from above. 

I also bought two yukata, a white one with sunflowers and a white with blue and purple stripes. I felt these were different to what I already have (which, to be honest, is a lot of shades of blue with flowers) so I was happy with them. 

New yukata with this obi (that I made) and a new obijime (tie).

I got one haori, which is a jacket to wear with kimono.  Again, I looked at so many of these, since they are really common in the second hand shops and the size on them can be quite forgiving, unlike a vintage kimono, which is almost always going to be on the too small size. I found this one on our day in Shinjuku and I really love it. Most of my other haori are dark, so it's nice to have a lighter choice. 

Lastly, I bought my very first hakama! This is a skirt (or pants) that you can wear with your kimono. They were worn by loads of people, notably samurai, and also used to be part of the school uniform back in the day, because it means you can run and move really easily in your kimono without and fear of things falling open when they shouldn't. This hakama took a while to find since I wanted one made out of natural fibres rather than polyester. I got a 100% wool one, which means it's pretty much only going to be worn in winter, but I love it. 

First real outing for the hakama here, with my sunflower yukata on. I'm still working on tying it at a good length, and it def looks better with boots since it's shorter. 

I was a bit disappointed when I put it on the first time, since I had been expecting it to be a bit longer and found it short, but I've made my peace with it and I have been wearing it a stack in the last few weeks at school. Since it is short, it actually looks really good with a pair of boots, so winning there. 

I did get three new obijime (obi ties), one of which I wear all the time, but the two others not so much. Still, very satisfied with the new additions to my collection. Since I've been wearing kimono pretty much non-stop for the last three months, I've also gotten my dressing time down to about 15mins for a full kimono, which is pretty dang good. I was wondering last week if it was worth it, but then on Thursday I had a stack of students tell me they loved what I was wearing or commented on a previous days dress, so I guess they are noticing after all. 

Farewell to Single Digits

Just like that, Rachel is 10. 

As with Sophie, we celebrated with a room make over for the birthday girl. Rachel is a bit of a hoarder of the most random stuff, so I was honestly pretty stoked to have a reason to completely empty her room and start with a clean slate. She had a lot of random boxes that she often just piled things into that I was resolute were not returning. We emptied it all out into the living room and I began painting.

Thankfully, Rachel did come to the party and the clean out was not too painful. I think it helped that a couple of weeks earlier, Maria had done a sewing machine upgrade and given her old one to Rachel. Within half an hour of having it, the sewing machine was set up and making heat packs, which was great, but Rachel did notice that it was tricky with all the other stuff on her desk. 

The colour chosen for the feature wall (done with much less deliberation than Sophie) was Hot Pop Blue. I was a little dubious, but on the wall it just looks bright and fresh. Also a bit Greek Island holiday. She used birthday money to buy her desk and is planning on a cow-themed chair or curtains too. 

Rachel has been leaning hard into her love of cows for at least the last twelve months. She's had her beloved cow Moo-Moo since Christmas of 2019 and Mini Moo-Moo since January last year. Maybe it was Mini Moo-Moo that really increased her interest in these funny animals. In any case, when it came to her birthday cake, she asked for a cow. 

And I delivered. 

We had a family afternoon tea with onigiri, cheese twists, fruit, pumpkin scones and a cheese board. All easy fare and enough kids among all the cousins and family friends to keep everyone occupied for a couple of hours of eating and playing. 

Happy birthday Rachel. We love you; crazy, cows, double digits and all. 

Sashiko

Knowing that our travel around Japan for two weeks in April would involve lots of train rides (not to mention the plane rides!) I wanted to pack something that I could easily stitch when we had a bit of time to keep my hands busy. My current project at the time was a hand-sewn kimono, which I guess would fit the bill, but was also a little bulky for our travel. 

I had borrowed a book from the library on sashiko, which is a style of Japanese and stitching that is becoming popular as a way to mend or repurpose clothes, and I wanted to give that a go. Two days before we were due to leave, I grabbed out some fabric from my stash and prepped with with four different designs to try out. 

There was a lot of prep work for this. You have to sew the fabric into a bit of a loop and then draw up a grid so you can trace your designs evenly. I ended up with four different designs, in what I hoped was going to be progressively challenging but not too far into the deep end for me. The girls were really keen on a tortoise shell design that was just a bit too much at first. 

You can see all the grid lines and the rough outline of the design I wanted to do here. 

I read all the rules on taking sewing things on planes and was fairly confident that I could get my housewife on board, but I did pack a spare set of everything, just in case. I also pre-cut a bunch of thread so if they took the scissors off me at security but left the needles, I could still get work done. 

As luck would have it, I didn't have any troubles getting the scissors through security, though they did tell me that if I flew out of Sydney or Melbourne it would be a different story. I started stitching the first one on the plane over - please excuse the photo in the cramped seats of economy and with the bad plane lighting. :P 

My guide lines are on the other side, but this was starting to look good!

I took these with us when we went to Hakone and sewed them on the pirate ship on Lake Ashi, and also on the shinkansen to and from Tokyo. They were perfect. I did a bit of experimenting with different colours for the boarders and in the designs as I got more confident too. 

I'm pretty dang proud of how they turned out, though I'm not sure what exactly to do with them now. Possibly turn them into featured sides of a reusable bag? Or make a zippered pouch out of them? The cool thing is they are very reversible, but I'm not sure how the stitching will hold up if being attacked by pencils all day, so I feel I'd have to line it with something anyway. 

That however is a problem for another day. For now, these are done and were the perfect thing to travel Japan with us.