It was a little after I got the dress,I made a a purse of the remaining kimono
material for Aunt Chiyoko on her birthday. That made her extremely happy and
praised the workmanship. She expressed her appreciation to the extent that she
had never been given such a wonderful birthday present. She gave me many small
pieces of silk crepe material that she held dear.
When I was young.I used to sew clothes for myself and my friends as well. I
made small skirts or pants one after another for my little children. But around
the time I got busy with my job and housework I becamecompletely kept away from sewing.
However,with these silk crepe pieces as a new start,I began to sew again.
By managing to find time, I sat before a material, cut it quietly and started
to work with my sewing machine. I would
make many kinds of bags then. Around that time, I don乫t know why, old kimonos came to gether about me by chance.
No collar like that could be found in any stylebook. But no difference could be found either between the collar of this jacket and e sober and usual one.If asked, I could answer that the collar was designed with no seam from the back. 乬By folding the front collar, you can enjoy the
variation,too乭 Although the jacket
had little novelty worthwhile to look at, I really wanted to design the
jacket like that. I thought it was fascinating.
I got a formal kimono. It was made of silk crepe finely woven,close to a smooth, glassy silk cloth called 乬habutae乭. I undid its seams with the utmost care,washed,shade-dried, ironed it, and after this long succession of labor I could at last obtain dress material.For the lining I used the patterned side of an old sash,less than half in regular length,which the lady at the market said might be charming as a tablecloth.I wanted to make a reversible jacket, but the sash cloth was too short to line the jacket fully, so different cloth had to be used for both sleeves.If it were now, I could have managed to make it a real reversible jacket, but at that time I had neither a smart idea nor technique. So I could not wear it inside out.
The jacket was the first kimono material clothes I made. I put on the
jacket when I had lunch with my friendsin a hotel in Ginza but nobody noticed
that I was wearing 乬special乭 clothes. I wore the jacket with the collar turned up
and put together tightly as if I was afraid of being noticed and said something
about the new jacket and tried to look wearing a common black suit.
I had a feeling that the jacket turned out to be somewhat different than I
aimed. It had some kind of stoic and lonesome air like a bonze wear.
However, when I recall it now, this first work represented my inclinations
plainly. I hid even buttons to make it
as simple as possible, but I
wanted to wear the reverse side of it. Some of the clothes I have been making for myself often
has the tendency to look like a bonze wear. I also want to stick to
reversibles.
