Vintage Japanese Kimono Fabrics by Pieces: Japanese Textile Fabric Swatches

7982:1980s Japanese Tsumugi Black Silk,Peonies-other Flowers,Pixelated, 59in.Piece

7982:1980s Japanese Tsumugi Black Silk, 59in. Peonies-other Flowers,Pixelated

Traditional Japanese Textiles:

1980's Japanese Tsumugi (Pongee) Silk Fabric
Pixelated Designs-Peonies, Smaller Floral Motif

Catalog# 7982

Width:14.5 inches / 36.83 cm
Length: 59 inches / 149.86 cm

US$20.00 per piece

Fabric History/Pedigree: Pieces received from a traditional Japanese kimono cleaner/reconstructor called Arai-Hari -- see an excellent explanation of traditional Arai Hari by textile expert John Marshall,by clicking HERE;

For an excellent 'how-to' do Arai-Hari oneself, we highly recommend Kae Warnock's Blog, Chocolate Factotum:

Fabric Description Details:

This is a lightweight 1980s tsumugi silk, derived from a kimono by an Arai-Hari cleaner in Japan; fabric is slightly textured, no sheen and is minimally translucent, with a black to indigo color background, but designs are fully pixelated using various shapes and sizes of pixels to render the full floral motif; Motif is rendered by use of mostly silver-white pixels, with designs in iron-red, dark-blue, and moss-green; Note the predominance of classical peonies, with varying smaller flowers - including cherry blossoms and other small blossoms: this style of 1980s and later pixelation is common in Tsumugi due to the weaving methods (please see closeups); We are not sure if this is from Amami Ohshima, but it shares many of the same characteristics.

Colors: Please use our text color descriptions to complement your sense of the fabric due to differences in contrast and color on different devices.

Condition: EXCELLENT,

Recommended for making scarf/accessories.

Cultural Background Information:

Details on this part of Japan's special pongee silk-making process can be found on the National Foundation for Promoting the National Costume of Japan website, which explains the natural plant dyes and mud etc. used in making Tsumugi, quoted here:

Characteristics: A plain woven silk fabric with pre-dyed scoured threads both for warp and weft. The color is refined and calm and the fabric is soft and difficult to wrinkle. Threads are dyed with plant dyes such as "Techiki" (Raphilolepis umbellata) and indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) with a technique, peculiar only to "Oshima Tsumugi," called "Ori Jime." As a variety, an additional treatment is made to the dyed thread by dipping them in muddy water. It is "Doro(mud) Zome(dyeing)." There are several kinds of "Oshima Tsumugi":"Doro Oshima," "Ai(indigo) Oshima," "Doro Ai Oshima," "Iro(color) Oshima" and "Natsu(summer) Oshima."

Popular with our antique Japanese textile aficionados and collectors.