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Cosplay WIP - Garfit (with bonus fabric porn)

I got this komon bolt from Ichiroya for like $50, and there had been a note about about the pattern being divided into different parts, but I didn’t realize until I’d unrolled the whole thing that the pattern had been laid out in distinct pieces, so that the wave pattern would be right-side-up on both the front and the back, with a really smooth transition at the shoulder. So once I noticed that I couldn’t bear to cut it into smaller pieces, so the sleeveless robe for Garfit is the two body pieces with the excess folded up to double as a self-lining. That way I still have the option of making it into an actual kimono in the future.

It’s going to have a dark purple collar, but I’m still waiting on my order from Dharma to ship.

Japan Shopping - Crafting Supplies

…Okay, this is where most of my money went. This and tasty food. The three bolts at the top are kimono-related - the embroidered one is an unfinished obi bolt, and then the other two are undyed kimono bolts. I got the obi bolt and the plain kimono bolt for 1000¥ each at the Toji temple market, and then the fancy kimono bolt was probably my most expensive single item at 2800¥ (which honestly is still really inexpensive for something that lovely).

The burgandy sakura print is a polyester chirimen which was 1900¥ or so a meter, and the navy is either cotton or linen, and was 1440¥/m - it has images from a famous Japanese hand scroll I studied in art history, and I couldn’t resist it. Both were from Nomura Tailor in Kyoto, which I could have stayed at forever, basically. Amazing selection, decent prices, notions like crazy. I also got all the needlefelting supplies and the kanzashi templates (the little plastic things) in the bottom photo there.

The green stripe (pictured with my narrower green stripe to show off the color matching) is a cotton knit I got for 600¥/m at Nagato’s second shop in Nippori Fabric Town. Which is basically heaven on earth if you’re me - I would have picked up more if I had costumes planned or space in my luggage, but in the end it was mostly browsing. Of note - Okuyama had a ton of stuff in traditional Japanese weaving patterns in very affordable polyesters, as well as some well-priced silk-brocades, and Tomato Arch-Kan had some crazy-cheap staples as well as some fancy polyester brocades.

Most of the rest of my notions are from Toraya in Osaka, which also had a pretty great selection, though I kept it to just kimono-making stuff because ahaha money. A couple places in Nippori had the same stuff, but I was in Osaka first. And then the sashiko pattern book was from Kinokuniya.