Break time

Taking a break from sewing. No, not anything new, just some fixes on my Heian ensemble. This morning I shortened  the sleeves on my hitoe so that they do not cascade from my kasane like lettuce squirting out of a sandwich with too much mayo.

I have never been 100% happy with my uwagi either. I ripped the okumi panels and the collar off. The okumi edges now have an extra line of stitching to give them a little more crispness and make the lining lie flat.  Next up, shorten the body panels (and lining) front and back by a few inches, re-attach the okumi/lining to the body, re-set the collar.

In the meantime, a pretty for you to enjoy. Meet Kobo Daishi. He's kneeling upon a lotus looking holy because when he grows up, he's going to found the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddism. Did he look like this? We-e-ll, the portrait was painted about four hundred years after he died. Which doesn't mean it's not a charming picture.

Compromise.

Funniest thing I've read today. Funnier even than the Passover plague toys.
"If the Shogun weren't wearing cotton..you probably wouldn't be" was just quoted to me. (Attributable to
kass_rants. On a web page that currently has a dead link, which means I have to take it OUT of my CC26 class handout, DAMMIT!)

By someone who wants to make a fencing "doublet" for a rapier fighter with a Japanese persona, who lives in a kingdom with long, hot, humid summers.

She doesn't have a problem with the fact that the garments I suggested would have to be seriously tweaked to make them safe to fence in. (I suggested either suikan or hitatare, with the side seams and sleeve backs sewn shut. Possibly sewn directly onto a kosode underlayer.  Both these garments have drawstrings in the sleeves, which would allow them to be tied closed for fighting)

She doesn't have a problem with suggesting the voluminous sleeves be cut down to less than authentic dimensions that will be easier to fight in.

She doesn't have a problem with using linen.

But she reached for that cotton mantra like someone had beaten it into her.

I'm not going to pooh pooh the use of cotton. I can't. That uwagi I was working on today has a cotton lining, as do the sleeves of the rest of the kasane. (Some of my older closest-to-skin-layer kosode are also made from cotton in sturdy weights.) That was a compromise I was ready to make in terms of budget and wearability.

Sometimes in our game, we have to compromise. Her entire project screams it. She's making something that will have to (a)meet safety requirements, (b)not bake the wearer at the same time, and hopefully not end up looking totally wrong and un-Japanese while doing (a) and (b).

Silk is strong, and light, and authentic for Japan. It is a natural insulator: there's a reason they make long underwear out of it. It will also rot from frequent and constant exposure to human sweat and we're talking about a fencing jacket here.

Linen is NOT authentic for Japan, however, many of us use it as a compromise, because it has similar properties to hemp and ramie, which were available.

(As for cotton? There was an article in Tournaments Illuminated a couple of seasons back about cotton production in 16th century Japan......)