Summer Totes

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Silk Kimono Scarves

Recently, I’ve really been enjoying making scarves with pieces of silk kimonos. This came about during my search for interesting scraps of silk that I could combine with hand-dyed pieces to make one-of-a-kind scarves.

As I used the kimono pieces more and more, I became very interested in the history and process. Do they all come from Japan? How are they constructed?

Here are a few neat facts I found in my studies:

– The Japanese save and pass down their kimonos through generations of women, often making the pieces very old.

– Traditionally Japanese women did not wear jewelry, so kimonos were often collected and gifted in that manner.

– All kimonos are the same size.

– Kimonos are constructed of 14″ wide panels. They are sewn together with a small running stitch, which makes it easy to deconstruct them. In fact, the kimonos are taken apart to be cleaned.

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Japanese fabric

Large tote in Japanese lightweight cotton canvas

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