Meiji Era Kimono Restoration: The Materials

Project 1, part 2 – the Materials and Plan (part 1 here)

Welcome back to the Meiji Era kimono restoration project! Today in part 2 I wanted to share the materials I’ve obtained to complete the restoration.

I already have plenty of thread; I have some vintage green and red cotton threads in the right colors. I’ve heard that one should mend with a weaker thread than the base material (to allow the mended seam to break at the thread, rather than ripping more of the material), but I’ve also heard that one should match the thread to the material, or always use silk thread so it’s less visible… I’m going to be honest, I have a lot of thread, and since I had it in the right shade I’m going with what I have. Japanese silk didn’t tend to be weighted like Victorian-era silks from the US or Europe, so there’s a much lower risk of shatter or other damage due to using modern materials here.

I did, however, need replacement silk. So I headed to Shinei, one of my favorite sources for vintage and antique kimono and related accessories, and searched for red kimono silk. Lucky me! Only 500 yen (approximately $5 USD) for a small bolt of antique scarlet silk. I fired up Zen Market, my trusty shopping service, and they were able to acquire it for me in short order.

(Not familiar with shopping services? They allow you to purchase things from another country that don’t ship outside that country. I give Zen Market the link to the item I want, and they purchase it on my behalf and have it shipped to their warehouse. I pay them for the item, domestic shipping, a small service fee, and then the international shipping, and they send it to me – usually by DHL these days, since EMS is currently not operating due to COVID-19 limiting international flights. I use Zen Market for commercial transactions, and TenshiShop for person-to-person or in-store transactions!)

The silk is a really close match. It’s even a little closer in person, but I’m still getting the hang of using Lightroom and my husband’s camera so the picture doesn’t quite do it justice. More importantly than the color, actually, is the weight – it’s an almost perfect match for the weight and drape of the extant silk lining in my kimono. This means it won’t feel weird when I wear it, and the sleeve will drape correctly rather than being weighed down by something that’s too heavy or stiff.

The next step will be to patch the sleeve, and perform all the other outstanding mending needs, so look forward to the next stage of this project!