Dear Customers,

Two of my favourite vintage Japanese fabrics are Japanese war propaganda fabrics and vintage woven and stencilled indigo cottons. Even though both of these categories of fabrics are becoming difficult to find, especially in reasonable condition, I have some on offer which may be of interest to you. They can be framed, added to sewing projects or simply admired. Please read on to learn about our August promotion...

From 1931 to 1945 (and even a bit beyond to the cold war), the Japanese produced textiles depicting images of war. Australia, the US and England also did this but on a less grandiose and confronting scale. Knowledge of these textiles is far from complete and it is reported that the US destroyed about 90% of them during the Occupation of Japan in 1945.

The war images are usually found on the linings of men's haori, boy's kimono, and some obi. They are rarely seen on women's garments. You will find some of these pieces under the specialty pieces heading on the website. Because of their age and the nature of some of the fibres, some of the precious pieces have signs of wear, holes, stains and so on. Each piece is described.

We have a diverse supply of vintage Japanese indigo cottons in our Canberra shop and are pleased to be able to add more to our website. Most of the cottons are hand spun and hand indigo dyed. Some have been hand stencilled using the katazome method.

Because of their age, these cottons may be patched which lends them to boro work and other projects. They make beautiful quilts and I have recently seen some stunning face masks made from these vintage masks. You will find a growing range in the vintage cottons section on the KimoYes website and also some interesting vintage cotton packs in the bundle pack section.

Our Give-Away this promotion is a pack of yukata cottons, complimentary cottons and elastics to make two face masks. We are not supplying a pattern as most people seem to have their favourites and there are many free downloads and tutorials on the internet. We have had a run on yukata in the shop and have sold a lot of yukata to supply "face mask parties". 

Canberra has run out of elastic, but we will supply you with 4 large, thin hair elastics (without metal) which we believe work well. We have also been told that dried-out hand and baby wipes and paper serviettes work well as a disposable layer in a 3-layer mask. Yukata cotton is soft when washed and machine washes well. Anyway, each to his own. Whilst handmade masks are not fully effective, they do give some protection when out and about. Please note the images below are only representative of the mask packs that you will receive.

If we are shipping your order to Victoria, we will send you two different packs ( to make 4 masks). Our thoughts are with you!

All orders, regardless of their value and placed before midnight on Monday, August 10 will receive a mask pack with their order.

We have added a lot of new stock to the KimoYes website and our Phillip shop over the past few weeks and it is certainly worth having a look at both.  Take care and stay safe.