daniel

A very long time ago, just over a decade, I was able to get bundles of Nishijin embroidery silk. It has been a Very Long Time. Back then, Sou Japan was called Shinei (and had a third name, I think.) I sold almost everything for as long as I could. Things got pretty bad until ~2018, and I couldn't eat silk.

Nishijin is like a capital for silk embroidery and weaving. The best production comes out of Nishijin, and likely still does. Thing is, embroidery isn't exactly something most people ever did, and fewer still do it well today. Embroidery is an extraordinary luxury: it is difficult and time-consuming to do, easily damaged, and basically cannot be cleaned. Many Japanese dyes are not colourfast and some fabrics are very delicate. There are specialist cleaners. None of them are in America (as far as I know.)

This kimono is an antique, as late as pre-war 1930s. The kimono is completely urushi fabric with gleaming threads woven in a base pattern of black-on-black and brown-on-black kikyo and other floral motifs. Over that is an embroidered pattern of streams, with chrysanthemums and leaves in white, yellow, green, and orange.

Being an antique, it does need repairs. I am always lucky when a kimono this old is in this condition. I also acknowledge that many items I purchase, new or old, will most always need repairs because of the nature of purchasing secondhand kimono. See my rant on this, but tl;dr: in Japan, it is often expected that secondhand kimono are sold for fabrics or are expected to be 'damaged goods.' If it's wearable, great! If not, well... that depends on most wearers, I suppose. I've definitely worn very damaged pieces as yokai or obake (like demons or spirits) costumes. The more expensive an item is, the higher the expectations of quality.

This one was a bit more expensive than what I can usually afford. It is *fantastic.* Overall, it is in amazing condition. I think there is an internal split in threads, which can be fixed. The embroidery in this photo is not actually meant to 'fade' as I thought, like a hazy aspect to the motif. Like a heat mirage, with the black fabric being a colour of summer and rivers as coolness. The other colours are ones of changing momiji, which I typically associate with late July and early August, but the kimono is awase (lined) and should be worn in Autumn. This, then, is likely for late September, before the leaves fully change colour. Chrysanthemums are the flower of September as modern Choyo no Sekku, Chrysanthemum Festival, is on 9/9. Typically I think hitoe (unlined) kimono would be worn until nearly October, but the motif and colours fit September. Plus, Choyo no Sekku was once on the "old calendar," which IS in October. So- likely October, then? Just no longer now that Japan is using the Gregorian solar calendar.


In any event, the embroidery is actually worn away. Either from storage or just time. Kimono with embroidery like this typically has paper in between layers to prevent them from rubbing against each other, causing damage. Silk is also a protein fiber so it breaks down differently than cotton or linen. It's very soft and fluffy when used as embroidery thread so it's fragile and easy to damage.

I did not own this kimono when I owned all those bundles of embroidery silk or I would have kept back some similar colours of thread. I've never actually embroidered before. Chinese/Japanese-style embroidery is nothing like the relatively simplistic embroidery popularised in America. It'll be a new skill to learn. In any event, I would need to GET the thread to fix any of this. THEN I would need to take apart the kimono enough to repair the outer fabric and sew it back accurately and with skill. And do all of this with chronic fatigue from ehlers-danlos syndrome while trying to manage "daily life stuff," which I'm no longer doing well at all. Sure! The irony: I *finally* have time to do these things and it's because I'm too disabled to work even 4 hours a day, on someone else's clock. Cool, cool. Awesome.

A friend has done finer Italian-style medieval and Tudor embroidery before and has a lot of equipment for goldwork and other things. I can borrow some of those items and take time to embroider things. I do still need to buy a kakehari (a "third hand) to help keep tension on fabric while resewing the seams. I need to figure out how to fix a broken section of lining seam without the whole thing as it is. ::sighs::

But where do I get those threads? They haven't appeared on Ebay shops I've looked at in quite some time, nor have they shown up on searches. I've found tiny little skeins, the kind of paper bobbin used for DMC floss, for ~$8 each. It doesn't have the same look at the 'old kind', either. Absolutely impossible. Etsy is a better bet for some of these finer things. The few shops that do have small bundles of silk thread (rightfully) charge a premium for them, considering the fiber, quality, rarity, and sheer amount of material for the money.

One shop I recognise is still open, though! I'd had items saved for YEARS from Zelkova. I mean, obviously, all of those had long ago sold out. I closed my Etsy shop in 2020. I think I'd opened it ~2009. She carries piles and piles of vintage silk embroidery threads and real kinran(!) for dirt-cheap. OMG. I don't know how she's doing it but sure, okay. I messaged her immediately to ask advice about items I needed to repair; particularly the kinran, gold couching threads on some of my kurotomesode, an antique haneri collar, some of my obi, etc. There are different widths of kinran and I can't see anything in person, so it's better to ask. Takumi-san responded within hours. Night here is day there, ~13 hours apart. I racked up some various items and needed to wait to have money to spend and then... Etsy did what Etsy does these days and randomly suspended her shop. For "identity verification." lol k, actual factories are selling Dove soap and knockoff Hello Kitty *everywhere,* but the lone Japanese woman with an embroidery shop is the real problem here. K. That's alright though. I'd rather go through her actual website anyways.

Etsy gets $0 from me if I can help it. If you don't understand why, look up Youtube videos of creators having their money stolen and shops shut down. Our dollars should go to the small businesses and artists we want to support, not to the ex-CEO of Ebay who chopped all staff + forces users to link to payment processors that steal financial info, an actual previous lawsuit against that company. oy. It used to be a great site.

ZelkovaJapan.com has piles and piles of embroidery thread skeins, more than enough for full projects and more, for $8USD a colour, average of $20 for gold threads. I ... got more than I actually needed. Worth it. And the skein of kinran is much more than I needed. I could have easily done with a quarter of that amount.

The other embroidery thread is gorgeous. I'm almost afraid that my fingers are too callused and nails are so torn up, I might damage the thread while working with it. I do want to get proper bobbins before I start undoing any skeins, for sure! I also have enough fabric, I kind of want to make storage bags for individual colours to protect them against dust, cat fur, and any accidentally damage or tangling. Seriously, how am I going to be so fortunate again? I need to thank her for her help. And then figure out how to repair this kimono without having to take it apart (or how to do it with as little deconstruction as possible.)

If you intend to do your own Japanese embroidery, repairs, or any embroidery where silks are required, try ZelkovaJapan. I used Etsy to send messages but purchased through Takumi-san's standalone site. I hope you will be quite happy.