Hello again!

Here's the whole story...Ok, It all started with Megan and I one day at my place last summer. We wanted to start some kind of craft project, we also wanted to try something different. We'd always been huge fans of different cultured clothing. Whenever we got together, we would make or plan random cosplay costumes, as well as do some research on japanese style clothing
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One day we came across your site, and Megan decided to order a box to see if she could start getting some craft ideas. On your site, we were under the impression they'd be in a bit worse condition than we found. Instead we seemed to be finding a collection of lovely pieces. So those we could bear to tear apart, we did. (Though some are still in pieces lying around for quilts and such. Work and other day to day responsibilities have kept us from finishing so much.) We were really planning on starting a booth at a local Anime convention. We chose Yaoi-con because
a) they were always holding panels on how to wear Kimono, the origin of the kimono etc.
b) It was an audience which would appriciate Japanese clothing, and,
c) Sakuracon and Japan Expo were too far away for any of us to consider it. This wasn't something just the two of us could handle though, and Christine was often in on some of our mischief. She will be Graduating next year with a Marketing major.She has the right kind of knowledge to get us started. This experience has seriously influenced us so much, but none as much as her....

Julie casually joined in on the fun, and finally Erin. Who is a darling with so much creativity flowing out of her.
So Julie, Megan, Christine, Erin and Panda and of course, Jimmy (started a group); Jimmy enjoys Chinese clothing equally as much as kimono.So, if you scramble the first parts of our names we came up with "Jupa Meche" the name of our group. I do the majority of the sewing for the group, Megan does all of the cleaning, seam ripping, Christine handles management, Julies our model I suppose, and Erin comes up with designs as well as our mascot which is in the back of our group picture.

We thought about it a lot, but weren't solid on it until this summer. We wanted to do a booth on behalf of our group. Once Hurricane Katrina hit, I was extremely devastated. My family lost so much, my neighbors and childhood friends, my favorite places growing up...most of them are all gone or just rubble now. We all decided that a good percentage of what we made would go to the Hurricane fund. What was left over went back to those who paid for the booth space and boxes.

So what our biggest reward was, we came out helping others as well as having a wonderful weekend at Yaoi-con 2005 - San Francisco area. It's a two and a half day con(vention). Dealers' room is only open 2 days. So even in such a short time, we were able to raise a good few hundred. I was very pleased. It was touching that people wanted to donate to our special raffle (which sold a display haori and a kimono) to go to Red Cross. It raised even more to go towards the same cause. Each ticket was $2. Some people wouldn't even take their ticket and just wanted to donate. It was wonderful.

Attached are some pictures taken by Christine. The man in the second picture was our first sale. He was very happy to be our first customer. The others include pictures of a lady who returned 4 times for any purple pieces we had. The others had actual 35mm film cameras and I have no idea weather they've even been developed or not yet. I would be delighted to send you more as soon as I am able.... So thats our story....Sincerely,
Panda Ivy (for Jupa Meche)

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We tip our hats to you Jupa Meche! Yoko & Yoko