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Documentation Revisited

I needed a low key day.

When I brought myself around to working on this project today, I wasn’t in the mood to sew. I decided to go over my research and documentation.

And I found purpose in my presentation script.

I intend to record a video, wearing the completed outfit, giving an overview of the project and how it was accomplished. A 3 minute overview. Or something like that. It’ll be part of my submission of things for A&S Champs in early January. It’s currently about 2 minutes, but we’re only on the second draft. Updating will need to happen as I move through the creation process. And it’s not like 3 minutes is something specific, I just figure I can get most of the information across in about 3 pages of text which works out to about 3 minutes of talking. I will limit myself to five minutes though.

I was taking note while writing out the script where I will need to insert citations for my final documentation. It’s going to be tedious to hunt down sources for some of the information. There are so many things that I know but have forgotten where I picked them up. Common knowledge things should be relatively easy to pin down. Just tedious.

This is me trying to put to good use the ideas presented in the class I took. And desperately trying to feel productive on a day when I could barely be bothered… I’ll try to spread out my documentation sessions and save them for when I’m unmotivated for sewing.

And no matter what else, it’s more progress than I had yesterday, and that’s a win.

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Kosode – Take 3!

I did it today! I actually cut it out!

This silk. Oh my. It’s so luxurious. Lucky me to get this as my next-to-skin layer! I’m so glad I didn’t have enough linen! It’s like a heavy habotai, but not quite as smooth. It has a distinct lined texture, very fine, ribbed? But it’s definitely a plain weave. It makes me think of tussah/wild silk. That may be what it is. It’s also just ever so lightly slubby. Not like those huge awful slubs in dupioni, they’re very fine, only noticeable with the fabric at less than 12 inches and more of a double thick thread in the weave than a slub.

White fabric with a subtle ribbed texture.
White silk for kosode

My cuts are not perfect. Hard to be perfect in the floor. But it’s my best effort and that’s what counts to me. I did not cut the eri, collar piece(s) individually, nor make the diagonal cuts for the okumi, overlap panels. Silk has a tendency to fray something awful, so I’ve left those cuts undone for now. I also haven’t made the cut to separate the migoro, body panels, from each other. I don’t plan to separate them fully. I intend to deploy a false seam for the back seam.

Here’s what I mean – I currently have the two migoro/body panels in one large rectangle. I’m going to fold it in half lengthwise along the “cut line”. I’ll then sew it up halfway with the normal seam allowance. After this seam is sewn I’ll cut on the line separating the non sewn half of the garment. This is the front opening of the garment, and the stitched part is the back seam which I don’t have to finish! It’s not historically accurate, but I already have to cut entire panels from larger cloth instead of cutting the right length panel off a narrow bolt. Finishing the seams wasn’t necessary in period because the edges were mostly selvage. The fewer seams I have to finish the better, and I’ll have a lot of really long seams.

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Kosode Day

It was late last night and I still needed to decide on the panel width… I resolved myself to pulling out my most recent kodode for an on the body decision. But in the morning.

The plan was the same as before – sweep and mop the floor, iron the silk, throw the silk in the floor, mark and cut. After the panel decision, of course.

About that. I pulled out my newest kosode and measured it. First, it’s a touch too long, so I’ll need to hem it at some point. Luckily, the amount it needs to be hemmed works out to what I decided as the body length of the garment. Yay! Second, the sleeves are actually shorter than I had drafted. Another tiny win! And the big deal, the panel width? This kosode is more than roomy enough, definitely gives the wide silhouette that Heian is all about, I know it looks great under all the layers, as I’ve worn it (once, maybe twice) and all with a panel width of 14.5 inches. Huzzah!

Now, I’m doing historical beginner for C3 and want to be as “historically accurate” as possible for Crowns A&S, so “looking right” only gets me so far. I know that I’ve read in many places that the panel width/loomed width of fabric within the Heian period was 16-18 inches. So I may cut at 16 inches to be more accurate and take a wider seam allowance. Even though I’d rather not. And I can document narrower looms. Hmm…

And, once again, other things got in the way, and I did not cut into the fabric. At least I’ve decided on a 16 inch panel width.

I also attended a class, Capturing Your A&S Process for Competition or Display. I hope to incorporate the concepts into my presentations of the completed travelling outfit.

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Finished in No Time

I really thought the flat braid would take a little longer to complete. I knew I’d finish it today, but I thought it would have taken another couple hours. Sometimes it’s pleasant to be wrong.

It finished out at 78 inches, so will need cutting down. You may notice that it looks a little bit like a shoelace.

A bundle of flat woven braid folded in half repeatedly The braid texture is similar to flat shoelace braid.
Finished flat braid

The components for the hat are now complete.

I need to fold over the top edge of the mushi no tareginu and stitch it. The kazari-himo (deocrative cords) need to be tidied up in length, though I could simply tie them up…

Next is whether or not to cut the slits to weave the flat braid through the “curtains.” I’m torn on this. As much as the idea of experimental archeology excites me, I’m just not convinced I have quite enough research to move forward. Research, ha! I have one highly zoomed in photo. I have no idea how it is secured on either end. I know something was woven through though, at least in this example. All of the other images have no indication of a flat braid, or anything for that matter, woven through. But they are all slightly later period (past 1200 or so).

After that difficult decision, the mushi no tareginu and kazari-himo will be attached to the hat. I’ll consult a Chinese decorative knot book and tie up the cords in the large loops shown in the Costume Museum image.

I’m going to sit on most of that though and let the question about the flat braid percolate. Maybe I’ll see if I can find any other images…

I’m currently satisfied with my progress.

Tomorrow is kososde day.

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Beginning the Flat Braid

8 tama are wound.

The math said I would need 100 inch strands to get 70 inches of braided cord. I only need 64 inches. I did the math twice more to be sure. And I still erred on the side of caution and set the sawhorses at 110 inches apart. I would rather cut the cord down than find I’m short of the mark.

I’m still a little conflicted about weaving this cord through the mushi no tareginu (hat curtains). Making those slits in the finished fabric wigs me out possibly more than the first snip into expensive fabric because these panels are now complete. If I mess them up, I have to start over, and I don’t have the time or money to do that.

Enough thinking. Now, we weave!

And there are early results.

A white braided cord runs top to bottom, bisecting the image. The cord is an 8 strand flat braid.
8 strand flat braid.

It’s a little too narrow. Only 1/4 inch, I had wanted 3/8. I wanted to increase the threads per strand as I was afraid it would be too narrow, but I did not have enough silk (or anything else for that matter). It doesn’t have the exact chevron pattern from the blown up image. It is however, the best I can do without further research. 17 inches and counting…

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Tension

One of the reasons I leapt into the Calontir Clothing Challenge was to give me something to focus on other than my grief. I had just lost my darling animal companion, a yellow fronted amazon parrot named Loretto. He was my world.

And now I find myself thrust into the position of shoving more grief onto this project. I’ve lost a job I love, the best I’ve ever had. My industry is dying. Theatre as we knew it is in a death scene. So I’m also mourning my career to some extent. Maybe things will be better after the pandemic. If theatre comes back, the job I love might be mine again. There is a tiny glimmer of hope.

And I’m going to cling to that and keep working on this project. I know it’s a lot to put on a project, but here we are.

I stayed up way too late last night weaving, so this morning I started at 83 inches. I’m not kidding around about throwing myself into this project.

I’ve been dealing with what seem to be more tension issues with individual threads within strands being off. The finished product doesn’t appear to have been affected. I did top out at a blazing 37 inches per hour. I certainly feel it in my shoulders.

I will need to trim up the kazari-himo, decorative cords. The first came in at 166 inches, second at 174, third at 172 and the fourth finished out at 181 inches. This last cord also finished a bit better than the rest. 4 of 8 strands terminated within an half inch of each other. My overall tension was better. How about that?

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The Last of the Thread

It arrived today! My last order of silk thread.

I was a little worried that it wouldn’t show up today and I would be forced to cut out the kosode to maintain daily tangible progress. Research is great, results count. I may be advancing some of my research as I go on this project, but as I said earlier this month, I did my research first.

8 fully wound tama are now sitting on the table next to my marudai.

I need to finish this last kazari-himo (decorative braid) and move on to the flat braid as quickly as I can. To keep up with the production schedule, I need to complete one project every three weeks. Hat, kosode, hitoe, and uwagi (lined, counts as 2). I don’t know if I’ll be entirely finished with the hat by Wednesday night, but I’m going to try.

Time to warp the marudai and set to weaving for a little while before bed…

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Curtains

I didn’t feel up to crawling around in the floor cutting up silk today, so I’ve been spending time staring at zoomed in images.

A flat braid with a chevron pattern is visible woven through the sheer fabric. I know that the sleeve ends of hitatare have a flat decorative braid run through them, using either tiny loops or slits in the fabric. Hitatare – a men’s upper body garment with decorative cords at sleeve ends and attached to the collar frequently worn with matching hakama (pleated pants) and one garment in my next big clothing project after C3 so stay tuned for that.

On the other side, still zoomed in, are what appear to be the kazari-himo tied off to the flat braid?

As in they don’t attach to the hat? Oh dear. This is what I get for saying I’m going to finish the accessory layer first. Looks like I need to stitch the individual panels to each other a bit further down as well.

It makes sense to have something hanging over the panels to help hold them down in a light breeze. A built in cord that the decorative cords hang from would absolutely do this well. I’m curious about the sheer fabric holding the weight of the kazari-himo from the flat braid. I have some scrap of the silk gazar I used for the mushi no tareginu. I could do a test. The slits in the fabric are only cut, and at that position would be through 2 layers of fabric, just above the fold over hem. I’d guess that the braid width is about 3/8 inch wide.

Do you know what this means? More silk thread. I can’t order any more, so I’ll have to make do with the extra spool I ordered this last time.

I wish I could just go to Kyoto and look at the thing in person! I may keep the kazari-himo (decorative cords) attached to the hat as the image is a little difficult to make out for sure. The flat braid though…that should happen. I’ve found a chevron braid in one of my kumihimo books already. It’s also an 8 strand. I’ll measure out the finished mushi no tareginu (hat curtains) width, double check it against my hat circumference, and use that as my cord length.

Good news. The completed panels are slightly smaller than the outer circumference of the hat. So they fit and I didn’t screw up when I cut my panels. Hooray! My flat braid needs to be 63 inches long. I’ll aim for 70 inches to be safe. I should have enough thread. I think. The math says I have enough. Fingers crossed.

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Avoiding the Kosode

I’m not really, but it feels that way. Okay. Maybe I am. A little.

I had intended to complete the kosode first. The kosode is the next to skin layer of the outfit. I wanted to work my way from inside to out. And then my linen thread was slightly delayed. Next I didn’t have enough linen in a solid piece. Luckily I seem to have exactly the right amount of silk. Even if it is slightly off white. And now…um, I just don’t want to cut into the silk, I guess?

It’s the one garment that I don’t have a period pattern for. I had to extrapolate the pattern from other garments. Can you tell my anxiety is playing up? I’m also worried that I may have measured something wrong or done a bit of faulty math.

Here’s the plan. Clear the floor of the dining and living rooms. Mop. Re-iron the silk. Throw the silk in the floor. Just kidding, kind of. I am putting the silk on the floor though. I’ll mark out the entire garment to be safe and then cut it out. That anxiety comes with paranoia. No, I don’t really trust the little paper layout I made.

I have one last decision to make before I mark out the kosode. What panel width? The men’s undergarments are cut from 50cm wide bolts. But a Laurel I know has explained that those garments were likely funerary and oversized. The women’s garments use 45cm – 17.7 inches. But women’s garments weren’t tailored to the body at all and those are outer garments. I’m very tempted to use the wingspan method. 14 inches would do nicely for me., though I may go with 15.

Got the floor prepped and then had a work meeting.

And now I don’t have work? My contract is not being extended with my employer. Last day is November 5th. I’m lucky to have had a job, especially in my industry, for this long. Not a great time to be a theatre kid. Stupid pandemic.

So I took the rest of the day off.

Tomorrow is another day.

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2 Weeks In

Tonight marks 2 weeks of the Calontir Clothing Challenge.

I’m almost done with my Accessory Layer for C3. I’ve finished up the stitching on the last mushi no tareginu (hat curtains) panel. The 4 panels are also now attached to each other. All that’s left is to fold the top over (potentially stitch it) and attach them to the hat… 3 of 4 decorative cords are complete. 4 tama are wound. More silk thread (a spool more than I need) is on the way.

The silk thread for the uwagi (uppermost garment) lining arrived from Britex. One of the colors will work beautifully. I’m relieved.

Has anyone else noticed that I have deviated from the production schedule? Eh. I can’t remember how in depth I got about it. Well, I’m revisiting that tonight as it is more than obvious that I chose to finish the accessory layer rather than undergarment layer first. Oh well.

Here’s a lovely inspiration image:

Woman in ichime gasa with mushi no tareginu. (A rush hat with a very large brim circumference that has sheer curtains and decorative cords hanging from it.) at the Jidai Matsuri 2009
Woman in ichime gasa with mushi no tareginu. (veiled hat) at the Jidai Matsuri 2009. Wikicommons

If you look over her shoulder, under the hat, you can see that the mushi no tareginu are folded over at the top. I’m uncertain if the fold over should be stitched down or not, but I don’t see visible stitching on the outside…

Close up image of a mannequin wearing traditional Japanese dress, a travelling outfit.
Travelling Outfit from the Kyoto Costume Museum

This image on the other hand, which is of my reference outfit at the Kyoto Costume Museum, appears to not only have the fold over stitched, but it almost looks like a channel with a cord running through it. But the decorative cords attach to the hat? Is it just a wide hem? Hmm. She’s also wearing one more layer than is labeled on the line drawing. See that cream colored collar? Things to ponder while I wait on supplies and move on to the kososde.

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