I have already alluded to the fact that, inspired by my visit to the Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk exhibition at the Victoria & Album museum, I have been thinking about how I could incorporate a kimono based project into your learning. Well, here it is! I thought it would be fun to have a go designing your own kimono. This project is going to appear on Pelham’s Easter home-learning page, but I thought I would give you guys a sneak peek because we (or rather, I) have been talking about it for a while.
In the early 1600s, everyone in Japan wore a kimono, regardless of their gender or social status, with individual designs often reflecting a variety of different things. Sometimes, they incorporated items that were of particular importance and interest to the wearer, such as the one on the left below, which was designed for a child to mark the first flight from Japan to America.
Some used simple patterns or designs
Others, more intricate patterns (as you can see, blue seems to be quite a popular colour choice)
Some included images resembling photographs
Yet more reflected the wearer’s favourite story (this one is also unusual because it has a hood)
The designs of each of these kimonos relate to different places
Have a think about what you would like to include in your design: I would suggest that you sketch a few possibilities before making your final decision, including deciding on whether you want your kimono to have long or short sleeves. You can see some of the ideas from my sketchbook, and will probably notice that not only did I think about the motifs I wanted to incorporate, but I also experimented with colours.
In the end, I decided to use a simple design, because I only had a piece of A4 paper, but if you have access to a larger piece, you might want to have a more elaborate design in your final piece, because you will have more space.
This is what my kimono looked like after I had finished painting it with water colours.
In this final image, I have embellished my design by adding some stitching on the sleeves, and a little bit of glitter on the butterfly.
I would love to see your kimono designs once you have finished them, so please make sure that you send a photograph of your creative project to us at homelearning@pelham.merton.sch.uk, marked for my attention. Have fun!
