An Unusual Cotton Country Kimono: Katazome Dyeing Over Checked Cotton

ca. mid twentieth century
49" x 48", 124.5 cm x 122 cm

This is a very interesting, rustic, indigo dyed cotton kimono. 

What adds to the interest, aside from the very nice contrast of the two different cloths that are sewn together to create the exterior of the piece, is the katazome dyed cloth used on the upper half of the garment.

In this case, a small, checked cotton fabric was used as a base.  This base cloth was overdyed in the katazome method, which uses a stencil as a guide for resisting fabric with rice paste.

Have a look at  the accompanying detail photographs.  You can see the checked base cloth under the resist dyed images on the top half of this kimono--tortoises, pine trees, cranes.

The bottom half of the kimono is sewn from indigo dyed kasuri or ikat cloth, and the garment is lined in nicely faded, indigo dyed cotton.

A really lovely piece with some curious details--and it is still very wearable.

Recommended.