Welcome to the KimoYes Blog. This blog has been a long time coming and this has been "the week" to grapple with another side of Kimoyes vintage Japanese fabrics. Hopefully this blog with allow KimoYes customers and others to find out more about Japanese textiles, how they can be used creatively and what KimoYes has to offer.


After several short trips to Kyoto, we decided to extend our visit to this beautiful city to explore more buying opportunities and to come to a deeper understanding of the complex world of Japanese textiles. My husband John and I have been in Kyoto for the past week and have had a great time. Besides seeing the sites of Kyoto, we have had lots of "textile experiences".

We came across this weaving machine outside a clothing shop in Teramachi. It has been used to weave kasuri fabric and it was fascinating to see the pre-dyed threads still in the loom.

Our visit to the widely popular Handicrafts Centre was disappointing. It is a large retail space and the advertised demonstrations of doll making and print making were not apparent. Our visit to the Nishijin Textile Centre later on that day, however, was far more rewarding. We saw lots of weaving in action, kimono fashion parades and most of all, I had the chance to do a little bit of yuzen dying. Although this is a dying process with which I am familiar and I've handled many yuzen dyed silk bolts, I gained a greater appreciation of the time taken to perfect this painstaking process.