Update on Coronavirus in Japan

Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested that all elementary schools, middle schools and high schools close down for two weeks from March 2, to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.  This actually means that all schools will be closed throughout the month of March as the school year ends in the middle of March and spring vacation goes until the beginning of April.

I went to the crosswalk again this morning expecting the news of the school closure and the school principal was there already and bowed low to me.

"I am sorry so say that this school year ends today and that I will not be seeing you again.  It has been a very pleasant three years to greet you at the crosswalk every morning.  There will likely be no graduation ceremony this year and I will be retiring at the end of March.  Thank you for your all your help."

Nikko city's decision to comply with the Prime Minister's request, and for that matter all of Japan, puts everyone into a quandary.  Children will stay home.  But parents have to work.  Public school will be closed but so far pre-schools and kindergartens will still have classes (this is probably because the younger children wouldn't be able to be left at home as preschools care for babies.)  Graduation ceremonies will be limited or cancelled while graduating students in middle school and high schools are supposed to have testing next month for entrance acceptance into either high school or college.  I wonder how the country will handle that issue.

The circus that had come to town earlier in February closed their doors and left after not even halfway into their two months' stay, the tax season is upon us but those departments are extending the deadlines so that people won't be in lines at the tax office.  The media encourages residents to reduce activities that require meeting with people...

Today's photos are of a couple of pieces of artwork that the school principal had made for talking to the children this past year.  He said he liked to keep the children interested with illustrations rather than just talk to them.   I will miss my nice principal's smiling face every morning!  I wonder who the new principal will be from April.

The other pictures are of the lonely walk to school that some of the kids were taking.  Usually I have 100 or more children using the crosswalk daily.  Today I had only 25.  (Some came by car.)

The school looks lonely already.
 

Mother-of-the-Groom dress

Last week, Mrs. Waki, Marlene's neighbor and the friend who offered to help me make a Mother-of-the Groom dress, texted me saying that she was ready to work on the next step of the dress making. 

Yesterday was good for both of us and also for Marlene and so I hurried over to Marlene's house after a morning English class.  I texted Mrs. Waki to say that I had arrived and ask if she wanted me at HER house or at Marlene's.

"I'll come over there.  I also have a professional fitter with me to help."

WHAT!?  Mrs. Waki herself is about as professional as I'd ever hope to get as she sews dresses for a living!  I didn't even know there could be anybody that might have more knowledge about dressmaking!

Mrs. Waki and Mrs. I showed up a few minutes later with pins and a paper pattern and a test dress to work with.  It seems that Mrs. Waki consulted with her friend and employer, Mrs. I, and told her she was helping me to make a dress ("helping" is soooo the wrong word!).  And Mrs. I said that no, Mrs. Waki couldn't just start cutting into the kimono with the pattern pieces she'd made.  She strongly advised making a test dress with some of Mrs. I's fabric she had laying around and then Mrs. I decided to come and make sure that the dress fit me and to make adjustments where necessary!  I am getting the royal treatment!!!!

So here is what shape the dress is going to be. 

I should have taken a close-up of the hand basting Mrs. Waki did throughout this whole test dress.  I was just too flabbergasted to see all the markings and all the stitching on this test piece!   Maybe you can see some of the stitches marking the seam line on the collar and the hand basting of the sleeves.

"Okay, the seams should be taken in.  Do you think it is better to take in the extra from the center seams or from the sides?"

"Tanya, tell me now what how you want the collar.  I can still make changes at this stage."

"Okay, if we adjust the center seam then the extra has to be made up at the shoulders so the pattern needs to be be changed here, and here."

Mrs. Waki and Mrs. I were now speaking the language of seamstresses that neither Marlene and I understood (and we have enough trouble with just the Japanese!)

Finally the adjustments to the test dress were noted and Mrs. Waki seemed to understand what needed to be done.  Now for the fun part.  The placing of the kimono embroidery pattern on the dress.

"Do we want this longer or shorter?  Should the embroidery be placed higher or lower?"

Pins, pins, pins and the kimono pieces got pinned to the test dress.

 "Now for the back.  The embroidery should flow into each other from the two panels..."

My job was to stand still.  Marlene's was to photograph.  Mrs. Waki and Mrs. I did all the work and seemed to have fun doing it.

I sure had fun!!!  The plan is for me to sew the dress at Mrs. Waki's house when she gets the pieces cut out and ready.  She thinks we can have a dress for me by the end of March!

I never dreamed what a project this was going to become, nor did I have any inkling on what-all is necessary to do to sew a fancy dress.  Whatever would I do without such great friends!?

Bank frustrations!

Last week I had another frustrating time with the financial world.  I am still trying to transfer money to Takumi for his wedding but NO-CAN-DO!  The Japanese post office didn't work for me last month and the American bank doesn't work for me this month!
 
I knew before I started that I was going to have a dilly of a time.  I despise getting on the Internet trying to do online banking or whatever because I'd already determined that I was going to have to speak with someone in customer service.  My bank seems to have strengthened their security again and I can no longer make a transfer without a reconfirmation on my passwords.  And they want to reconfirm through my cell phone but they refused to accept my Japanese telephone number.  SO... that means I have to talk with someone.

Long story short.  No.  My bank will not accept a Japanese cell phone.  Nor will it allow me to download their bank app onto the foreign account.  I have done this in the past tens of times (when I paid tuition for my kids in college) but it is not allowed anymore.  I spent an hour on the line internationally while the girl at the other end consulted and checked while we tried numerous ways to get around the problem but NO.  Her final advice was to have Takumi contact them (his name is on the account) and he can probably move money as he likes.  IF he can convince them that he is not some scam artist trying to get into some old lady's (me!) account.  When I finished, my blood pressure was soaring and I slumped into my armchair ready to give up on the whole day.  Tetsu convinced me to go to the pool for some exercise to clear my head.

I also pigged out on CHOCOLATE!

And at the pool I made a splurge purchase when I walked by the little clothing booth outside of the pool and saw a cute blouse.

"I want that and I'm not going to think about it!  Here is my money!" 

This is very unlike me as I don't often buy clothes and certainly not without giving it a lot of consideration.

Tetsu was still tip-toeing around me the next morning and offered to take me out to breakfast.  My yummy breakfast of avocado toast!

It was nice just enjoying the quiet atmosphere and read my Kindle and enjoy a mug of coffee after breakfast.  Isn't that a nice wall in the background?

And here I am in my splurge purchase blouse.  Cats, cats, and more cats!

I don't know yet if Takumi has had any success or not but the bank problem is out of my hands!
 

Outbreak in Japan

This is not a cheerful subject but I thought I'd record some of the Coronavirus situation going on here in Japan.  Everyone is aware of the Coronavirus that started in China and is reaching into other parts of the world?  Here in Japan we actually don't get too much news about how other countries are being affected except for maybe updates on China and recently South Korea, mainly because the virus in Japan takes up the majority of news time.  I'm not really sure if the situation is the same all over the world or not.

(Photo from the Internet)

Unique to Japan however was the quarantining of the Diamond Princess luxury liner which docked in Yokohama.  One guest, who disembarked in Hong Kong, was diagnosed a few days later with the virus but by the time the ship entered Japanese waters there were 10 guests who tested positive for the virus and were removed for hospitalization.  In the meantime, the rest of the 3000 some passengers and crew were quarantined and were instructed to remain in their cabins with meals being brought to them throughout the next two weeks.  It seems that the virus is now spreading through the ship with more than 500 persons testing positive and each time someone new is diagnosed they are removed to a hospital that can handle the situation and the quarantine date is pushed forward.  There may soon come a time when the hospitals can't handle the quarantine situation.  Hotels have been pressed into quarantine emergency centers, with people being housed there until they have gone two weeks without displaying any symptoms.  But symptoms go unnoticed, delayed timing on testing turns up more cases that were previously tested negative and the virus is quietly spreading to hospital staff and then to the staff's families.

All over Japan people have flocked to drugstores to buy hand sanitizer and face masks.  Those products can no longer be purchased.  (I tried.)  My friends and I have a rather philosophical outlook that sooner or later the virus will be so widespread that it can no longer be contained.  And here in Nikko, we are a rather tourist friendly town what with the many shrines and temples and waterfalls and so we accept the idea that the virus may well be carried to us quickly.  Schools have been alerted that at the first case of the virus classes will no longer be able to continue.

One of my patchwork friends who lives in Tokyo, decided NOT to visit us last week because she had recently been through the International airport (and on an enclosed airplane for several hours!) and she didn't want to risk bringing the virus to our group.

Another friend went to a concert in Tokyo a week or so ago and she felt concerned about airborne viruses while on the subway.

My vet had made a reservation for a seminar to be held in Tokyo today and she was still trying to decide yesterday if it would be safe to go... and travel around Tokyo... and be with a crowd in a seminar etc. etc.  The Japanese government has not yet officially directed events to be cancelled but they are strongly recommending postponing any event where a lot of people may attend...

Another friend was off for the weekend skiing and she reported that the hotel staff pointedly mentioned quietly that other guests at the hotel who were speaking Chinese were from Taiwan NOT from China, so to not be concerned.

This is another horrid example of how panic and prejudice can set in.  Anyone who is speaking Chinese is looked at with alarm.  Anyone who is coughing and NOT wearing a mask is treated like a pariah.  People who have been quarantined and are cleared still feel unaccepted by their community when they return home.

Tetsu and I sort of wonder when and if a time will come when it will just be better to hole up in our house and stay away from people for a couple of weeks.  We have bought up a supply of canned and dried goods in case that actually ever happens.  And Tetsu is very relieved he isn't still working in elder care as the elderly fall victim to the virus quickly.  He is glad that he isn't responsible for elderly residents' care while worrying about staff innocently bringing the virus to the facility.   In past years, even the influenza season always kept him edgy.

Hopefully as the season warms, the virus will prove less virulent and the medical world may come up with treatment soon.  Is Japan the only country that seems to be on edge about the Coronavirus?  I'd be interested to know.

Flimsy finished

Puffy eye or not my sight hasn't been affected and I continue to sew when I find a few minutes.   My New Year's resolution (inspired by blog friend, Shasta) is to sew at least 15 minutes a day and sometimes the 15 minutes are done at my armchair hand quilting and sometimes upstairs in the sewing room on the sewing machine.

The upstairs sewing has resulted in a finished flimsy called Over and Down Under.  I purchased the whole kit from Keepsake Quilting sometime in November because it was on sale and because I'd admired the quilt for years.  It was my Christmas present to myself!

Kits make life easy because I don't have to think about what fabrics go with what and I can just follow the directions much like figuring out a puzzle.  The challenge is in if I can follow the directions completely.  I usually won't go for a kit unless I absolutely love the fabrics as I have so much stash fabric that I really should be using up some of that.  With the Over and Down Under kit I was drawn to the flannel fabric jelly roll that I have wanted to try.  Once I'm done with a kit I always feel rather apologetic because so little of myself (except for my time) has gone into making the quilt.  No originality whatsoever!

Though this quilt looks like a simple weaving of vertical and horizontal strips, it actually took a bit of concentration to sew the squares in the right order but it was a very fun quilt to make.  Someday in my own fabrics?  

Now this flimsy has to "marinate" for awhile while I consider how to quilt it...  Probably it will have to be machine quilted because all that flannel is rather thick to quilt through...  This is when a long-arm machine that can do an overall pattern would be nice!  Hmm...  Freehand Baptist Fans?  A bunch of arcs in the grid? 

I am on to cutting up fabric already for a log-cabin quilt.  I already cut one set of the squares TOO SMALL!!!  2 and 3/4 of an inch isn't the same as 2 and 7/8 of an inch, Tanya!!!  My brain wasn't in gear and I am now pawing through my stash to find more fabric to make 184 more 2 and 7/8 inch squares!
 

Puffy

It seems like I plan to start out all my posts with the sentence "Life is quiet around here."  which I suppose is a good thing.

It is cold, it is quiet in my part of the world.  We haven't had any real snow this year though the mountains near us get it and there are sometimes a few flurries in the morning.  I have a beautiful view of the mountains from my bedroom window now that the forest is gone but unfortunately we get so much condensation on the window that we can't really see out!  The window sills are usually sopping wet which means that if we aren't careful there will be mold later...

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I have had a minor "health" problem the past month.  Ugh.  I don't really want to show you what I look like...

Nearly a month ago I noticed the bag under one of my eye was baggier and redder and itchy.  My eye bags have tried my vanity in the last years but this was going too far!  Did I get bit by a bug?

Tetsu looked at me and consoled that what with my already occurring eye bags due to age, that the puffy red one wasn't that noticeable.  Thank you very much, Tetsu!  That is a great consolation for someone my age!!!

I went a few days and then mentioned it to my doctor when I went for a regular blood test.  He barely looked at me and prescribed some mild ointment.  The next week when I went back for the blood test results I mentioned that the medicine hadn't helped a lot but he said to give it some time...

So three weeks have passed and my eye bag is still swollen and red and itchy and it was moving into my upper eyelid too so I went back to the doctor.  He looked at me more closely.

"Is it hay fever?"

We live in high hay fever country and the sufferers begin suffering about now.  I have never been bothered by hay fever but I guess it starts suddenly...  My doctor didn't think so because only one eye was affected (and the eye itself isn't itchy).

"Is it a food allergy?"

I was sort of resigned to having to go back to the Whole 30 diet to figure out what might have caused a reaction like this but again the doctor said no because only one eye was affected.  He prescribed some allergy tablets for me to take as well as stronger ointment. 

The tablets seem to take down the swelling but not the redness so I am doing my best to cover up with make-up when I go out (I got the okay on makeup from the doctor).   This is today on my way back from crosswalk duty. 

A puffy red eye is a minor annoyance though some people ask about it and some people politely ignore it until I explain my predicament.  Hopefully I will go back to having normal puffy eye bags only due to age in a week or so...

I'd better leave you with something beautiful...

 The view from my bedroom window WITHOUT the condensation!
 

A Tochigi specialty, Shimotsukare

Life is quiet around here. 

I took John to the vet for a vaccination and he growled at the vet's wife!  Such a surprise because he practically lived with them for a year (albeit in the clinic!)  John hid behind my legs and definitely didn't want the wife to come closer to him.  Of course he had just gotten his vaccination (by her husband) so he wasn't in the mood for chatting with anyone.  My vet's daughter who is also a vet (it is a family business... three vets!) and also John's main medical caregiver, tried to give John some snacks for being a good dog on the examination table but he would have none of it!  John!  Who lives for food!  He wouldn't take the treat from her hand nor when she put it on the floor in front of him.  BUT!!!  when I tried and offered him the treat he carefully took it without looking at any of us!  Wow!  It made me feel like I'd really graduated to being John's owner!  He still growls at me too though when something doesn't suit him so I wouldn't say we've got a lovey-dovey relationship yet.  Making progress?

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A friend of mine sent me a surprise package this week...  She lives about 20 minutes away so she could have just called and told me to come and get it.  We opened it and were surprised to find homemade pickles and a prefecture specialty called Shimotsukare.

"Get that away from me!" said Tetsu.  He hates Shimotsukare.

I think my friend is under the mistaken impression that Tetsu is the one who likes it but he never has and he never will.

I, on the other hand appreciate Shimotsukare though I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say I like it.  Let's say, I would never buy it myself in the supermarket but I will eat it with gusto when a farmer friend tells me I should try her family recipe of Shimotsukare.  It is a purely Tochigi Prefecture dish and you meet anyone that comes from outside of the prefecture and their reaction will be like Tetsu's.

I have never questioned the ingredients too closely nor have I ever asked to be taught exactly HOW Shimotsukare is made because I probably would never be able to eat it again...  I know the main ingredients are icicle radish, carrots, soy beans, deep fried tofu and salmon.

It is the salmon that is a bit scary because I understand that it is used bones, skin, head, eyeballs and whatever else is in the head and all.  It is all boiled down until it disintegrates into a bubbling mass and then I guess the grated radish, carrots and all else is added.  I have a feeling that the pulp from making osake, mashed fermented rice, is used too but I may be mistaken.

All this mashed glop looks just like that...  glop or as Tetsu puts it, up-chuck, and Japanese are traditionally not too accepting of mixed foods...  If you look at traditional Japanese food, everything is always separated into separate DISHES thus the many small dishes and bowls at a person's seating place.  Westerners put main dish, side dishes, vegetables on big dish but Japanese wouldn't think of it...

And by the way, most Japanese will never have heard of or eaten a CASSEROLE!  That is too much mixing of ingredients in one place for one thing, for another, most Japanese housewives don't have ovens.  And lastly, not many Japanese like cheese very much...

Oh well... back to my Shimotsukare.  One baggy full of Shimotsukare lasted me a week with me doling out two tablespoons of cold Shimotsukare at a time to myself.  I am sure it is EXTREMELY healthy and that is why I will eat it and it actually doesn't taste too bad.  Fresh.  I keep my glasses off while eating though because I don't want to find an eyeball looking at me though I'm sure that those have all boiled down to nothing.  Still, too many unidentifiable things in the glop for me to peer at if I had my glasses on.

And ending on a more eye-pleasing note, I had lunch with my patchwork friends yesterday and we ordered obento from a former kindergarten mother/friend.  Yum!  Yes, all the foods were in the same box but notice that they are all in their separate little wrappers/cups.  Two rice balls, a cutlet, grilled chicken, a potato with cheese, a slice of sweet egg omelet, tofu and taro potato in sweet miso sauce, greens and carrots in soy sauce, and a pickled radish salad.  It was delicious and our friend was careful to transport the boxes so that all the dishes wouldn't get jostled and mixed up!  No Shimotsukare or anything like it here!

Women's Conference

I've been gone for a few days again, to spend time with Julie!  I just got to spend a day with Julie (and Carin, and Cynthia) at the Tokyo Quilt Festival and here the two of us got to be roommates for three days at the Asian Rural Institute for a Christian Women's Conference.  I attended last year also so this is my second year of participation.

Asian Rural Institute is fairly close to where I live, about an hour away and so Tetsu offered to drive me there and then come again to pick me up.  The three days were spent with 50 some Christian women from all over the Japan and maybe 80% were foreign.  The conference was all held in English and had originally been for missionary wives living in Japan.  This was the 63 annual conference and over the years, not only missionaries but other foreign women and also Japanese women have joined.

The ARI itself is an English speaking community with participants and staff and volunteers from all over the world.  The focus is on training participants in leadership in order for them to return to their countries to lead villages in agriculture and community outreach.  In the month of February the participants have graduated and returned to their countries and thus the month is relatively slow for ARI... thus our women's group could be accommodated in the dormitories and dining room.

Last year also I enjoyed waking up and doing some token farm work...  Stomping wheat...  and this year a group of us went out again and stomped the wheat fields.  I am a veteran wheat stomper!

Stomping wheat (stressing the plants) encourages the roots to thicken and grow deeper making for stronger plants when spring arrives.

We all went up and down the field rows stepping on the plants.

Most of the other crops are in "hibernation" and so there wasn't much growing besides Chinese cabbage, cabbage, radish and broccoli.  ARI is nearly self-sustainable raising their own chickens, goats and pigs but we were asked to stay away from the livestock to prevent introducing viruses to the area.

Because the crops are rather restricted, the menu for the weekend was all along the same lines too.  Simmered vegetables, simple curries, pickles.  The dorms were only basic also.  Kerosene space heaters in the rooms (which Julie and I shunned the first night because we don't like the kerosene but finally used the second night because we practically got frostbite!)  Also no running hot water though one of our group finally figured out how to turn on a water heater to wash our faces.  ANYWAY, basics!

During the weekend we had a speaker and also numerous "workshops".  As I did last year, I helped Julie with her patchwork workshop.

There were three "shops" set up in the snack room (lots and lots of snacks!!!  I ate too much!), and at one, the ARI produce shop, the staff was selling beans and eggs and soy sauce and jam and cookies.  I bought soy sauce and free range eggs.

I also bought a pretty bag from one of the ARI staff from Cameroon.  She spends her free time knitting and making goods with fabric from Cameroon in order to send money back to her village.  I used my bag throughout the weekend to carry around my camera, pen, workbook etc.

I was so happy to find the Megumi Project booth again at the Women's conference!  Megumi Project is run by a group of women in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture which was destroyed in the March 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster.  The women make shawls and bags from old kimonos to raise money for their community and last year I bought a shawl/bolero.  This year my eyes fell immediately on a bright red neck warmer that I snatched up and wore all weekend.  I so love the idea of making beautiful things from something old or broken and ready for the trash heap and I came back over and over to the Megumi Project table...   (There is also a sister group called Nozomi Project, which makes jewelry from broken Japanese pottery.)

The last day there I lit upon the idea that I could buy something for Julieta's mother and so I messaged Julieta and sent her a few pictures of the booth's wares asking what I could buy for her mother.  Julieta responded immediately and I bought her mother a lovely brown kimono shawl/bolero.

Okay...  I'm going to buy something more...  I also bought a beautiful silk scarf made of variegated kimono for Tony's mother.  She likes purple and it is not often I find lots of things for people that will support another group that I care for.

I didn't just shop while I was at the women's conference.  In the evening different people were asked to speak and Julie was one of the people who told about the connections that we have with people we don't even know.  She had been asked to bring her quilts (as she had done last year) and Julie asked me to bring my Selah quilt so that she could illustrate how we had become connected by patchwork.  I took this as an opportunity to bring one of the many Bible quilts that I have made as another illustration of connections we are unaware of.

I first heard of Bible quilts when a missionary friend attended this same Women's Conference 40 years ago.  Although my friend was not a quilter, there had been a workshop at this conference and Sandra Shigeno had taught Bible patchwork blocks.  My friend brought home Sandra's address for me and an outline of the Bible quilt and later I contacted Sandra and asked if she would share all her block patterns with me.  This must have been in the early 80s.

We haven't been able to set down the exact conference, but Julie also attended a Women's Conference, maybe the same one as my friend (though they don't seem to have met) and she too brought home Sandra's patterns.  I, living in northern Japan, used the blocks to make a variation of New Testament quilts and I taught Bible and quilting with those block patterns for many years making the New Testament quilt 6 or 7 times.  Julie went home to make her first Cathedral Window quilt taught by Sandra and then she made many variations of the Bible quilt interpreting it in her own way.  Then nearly 35 years later Julie and I get acquainted through blogging and finally meet at the Tolyo quilt show and now make it a yearly event! 

Here is Julie talking about quilting and wearing her sewing stole that holds scissors, thread and needles.   My Selah quilt got to hang somewhere other than my living room and many people admired it to my great joy and embarrassment.  The long quilt on the left is a Psalms quilt with printed Psalms surrounded by blocks and Julie's original applique.  The quilt on the right is the Bible Quilt that Julie was talking about with blocks from Sandra's Bible pattern collection.  Julie added the applique center.  On the far right using a few of the same blocks and separated by nearly 40 years and hundreds of miles distance, is my New Testament quilt.  I had resized the blocks to fit a smaller wall but you might be able to pick out the Hosanna block, the Crown of Thorns block, the Resurrection block, and the Worlds Without Ends block in both of the quilts.

My weekend ended with a walk around the prayer labyrinth set up in the ARI chapel.

I so enjoyed meeting new people, talking to friends I made last year, supporting different groups with their fundraising, rooming with Julie and drawing closer to God.

Sewing a dress

I think I mentioned that Takumi and Julieta have set the date for their wedding and also that it will be held in Mexico!  Julieta is originally from Mexico and she has many relatives living there.  I think she has always wanted to have her wedding at the church in a nearby town and thus we have the excitement of going to Puebla, Mexico for the upcoming wedding!  We are VERY excited!

As my blog readers know, I had the dickens of a time trying to decide what to wear to Leiya's wedding last year, and I'm starting again.  I can't understand why this should be a big issue for me.  It is not MY wedding. No one is going to care what I wear.  But at the same time I want to get it right.  Even before Julieta had figured out her own wedding dress I was asking her what she thought I should wear.  I pinned her down a bit.

Wedding formal.  (Which actually wasn't a helpful suggestion because wedding formal in Japan and wedding formal in the States and probably in Mexico, is different.)

It will be hot in May in Mexico.  Try for cool.

Long or short is okay.  Remember to try for cool.

Lighter colors.  No black.  Remember to try for cool.

I did give a run through the department store.  I tried on a couple of dresses that didn't thrill me and even showing pictures I'd taken, Leiya and Marlene tossed those attempts out.  I went over to Marlene's and tried on a couple of very nice dresses that she had.  Gorgeous (she sings on stage) but I felt very out of my element with beading and sequins.  My last resort was to make a dress or skirt from old kimono.  Julieta appreciates kimono, it brings something of the Japanese culture to the wedding.  But sewing a dress is far out of my range of abilities though in my closets I have quite a few beautiful old kimonos.

My rescue came from Marlene's neighbor Mrs. Waki!

Quite often Mrs. Waki and Marlene and I have coffee together or go out to lunch and she is a good non-English speaking friend who probably finds the foreigners' thought processes and outlandish ideas as rather humorous.  And Mrs. Waki happens to be a seamstress!  She makes order-made clothing with special fabrics and lace etc for a high end women's dress shop.  I know she isn't thrilled to be asked to sew things for her friends so I hesitated asking her for advice but I did pose my problem to her.

"I sort of want to make a skirt.  That's probably the limit of my sewing abilities.  I have some kimonos but I can't really imagine how they would look as skirts and I'm sort of afraid to start cutting into them unless I have a plan.  I bought a sewing book with skirts and dresses for remaking kimono but the Japanese has me stumped.  Could you tell me if it is at all possible and maybe lay out some steps for me?"

Mrs. Waki agreed to look at my kimonos and my book.  She probably sighed inside and could predict how this might end for her sewing schedule.  Yesterday I arrived at Marlene's house with four or five kimonos and my sewing book.

The three of us quickly decided on which kimono to use, a BEAUTIFUL silk kimono with hand embroidered flowers and leaves along the hem and on the long sleeves.  It was a Furisode kimono which means that it was made for a young girl depicted by the sleeves that hang almost to the ground.  After a certain age, a woman cannot wear a Furisode kimono but I guess making it into a dress the rules can be broken.  (Formal wedding wear in Japan for Mother-of-the-Groom would be a black silk kimono with shorter waist length sleeves and gorgeous embroidery along the hem.  I could have made a dress from a beautiful black kimono that I have but Julieta had said to avoid black...  Just saying.)

"It's so beautiful though.  And gorgeous.  I hate to cut it up but I also wonder if it is going to be too glamorous for this wedding."

Marlene didn't think "too glamorous" would be a problem...

Mrs. Waki thought a dress would show off the embroidery better than a skirt and there was a simple dress in the book that I liked.  The dress pattern that I couldn't decipher seemed to give Mrs. Waki no problems at all and she thought it would be a simple matter to make a sturdy paper pattern for cutting pieces.  She also came with her tape measure and was ready to adjust the pattern to my size.  She thinks it can be done!!!

"I've never made clothing from kimono though, so you have to remember that.  But how hard can it be.  Once the kimono is torn apart it is just a matter of cutting it up like regular fabric.  Let's get started."

So Marlene (who also hadn't expected to get drawn into this project) and Mrs. Waki and I spent the next two hours ripping apart a kimono.  Ripping isn't exactly the word because although I used a seam ripper, we painstakingly cut through all the stitches in the very delicate silk.  No pulling!!!

All kimono are made from the same width of fabric and in a long roll.  One size fits all where fabric is concerned and silk kimonos are completely made by hand.  No sewing machines!  I suppose the seam widths are different depending on whom the kimono is made for and while I undid seams I noticed some places that had at least two inches of seam on each side of the stitch.  The embroidery is all done BEFORE the kimono is made as I could tell when taking the seams apart and finding the intricate, detailed embroidery even on the insides of the seams.  (I also noticed that depending on the color of the fabric or embroidery that the color of the thread was different in the seams.  White thread throughout most but at an embroidery section red or pink thread was used.  Such care!)

At the end of two hours we had a small pile of silk thread snippets and the Furisode kimono in many different pieces.  I was ready to take everything home to iron and set out for the next step but Mrs. Waki said she would do that and also make a paper pattern and also cut out the pieces (all the while styling the dress to make the best use of the embroidery) and also baste the pieces so that she could put it on me and make adjustments at a later date.  THEN she will give me instructions on sewing the dress together!

I am reminded of when I helped the carpenter who plastered our house's walls.  I wanted to help and save money and he did all the hard primer work.  I just got to put on the decorative final layer and say that I had plastered the walls myself when actually the carpenter had done all the hard work.

So!!!!  A beautiful dress for me to wear at Takumi's wedding is in the making! (thanks to Mrs. Waki).  Whether it will be cool or not I'm not sure, but it will definitely reflect the Japanese culture!