Margie’s kimono

A couple of months ago I received an email from my friend’s mum, Margie.  She said, and I quote,

“I have been having a clean up at home (mainly to save the kids if I die!) I have quite a lot of good fabric, no rubbish (Liberty etc) and if you could use it I would be delighted to give it to you.”

You can imagine my response (apart from snorting with laughter at her text!)  AHHHH, yes I would love it!  I have to show just a few pieces here.  Some really gorgeous fabric, and this is only some of it.

Once I had got over the shock of such a wonderful and generous gift, I started to think of a way to thank her.  I can say, Margie expected nothing from this but I really wanted to give her something so she would totally get my thrill at receiving such a stash.

I know Margie loves a bit of Japanese design, she has a very unique style herself and wears really beautiful clothes.  We had both done an amazing Shibori workshop and we were just about to embark on a Slow Stitching workshop so this was a good jumping off point.

I settled on a kimono.

I found a lovely tencel in Spotlight which was perfect for the project, it had a hint of Shibori about it with it’s random pattern and colour.  I used the pattern I had drafted for myself recently, see my punk kimono. We are similar in size so I knew it would fit.

Of course, I had to line it with some Liberty, it seemed fitting and the darker tones of the Liberty fabric worked really well with the tencel.

I added pockets too, who doesn’t love a pocket?

I love the randomness of the fabric here

The lining makes it look like a 1920’s smoking jacket

The most gorgeous pattern, I love it.

I had to try it on, of course!  I am really pleased with the result.  It’s a much lighter fabric than my denim version.  It sits a lot better for it.

I gave it to Margie yesterday at her granddaughters birthday party (of which I was running one of my sewing parties).  Over a glass of champers I handed it over, a little nervous to be honest. She told me that it was so unexpected and that it was very special to her because of the effort and thought that I had put into it (lump in throat).  Ah, that makes it worth every stitch, don’t you think?