A Child's Padded Kasuri and Plaid Kimono: Repurposed Cottons

late nineteenth century
38" x 41", 96.5 cm x 104 cm

This is a fairly heavily padded child's kimono that has been beautifully hand stitched from leftover cotton fabric.

It shows good age, good wear and a lot of soulfulness in its presentation.

The exterior of the kimono is of a fairly heavy weight hand woven, indigo dyed kasuri.

The top and sleeves of the kimono are of cloth that depict folding fans and leaf forms.

The bottom of the kimono shows indigo dyed cotton kasuri that depicts images that are hard to decipher, perhaps birds, flowers, shamisen, bows and others.

The lining of this old kimono is hand pieced and hand stitched from plaid cotton that is clearly dyed in botanical dyes. The brown and grey-blue colors are soft and rich and the cloth was clearly taken from either another garment or bedding of some sort.

The collar part of this kimono is made of a cotton velour or velvet. The judicious use of this material can be found applied on other garments from the Meji era (1868-1912) in a similar way. It seems to have been a trend during Meiji which was a time when imported cloth--as this might have been--was treasured and used sparingly in many cases.

This is a really wonderfully "authentic" old kimono from the 19th century and one whose condition, materials and presence make it a desirable thing to own.

Recommended.