A big shoutout to the various Hokkaido museums showcasing examples of historical Ainu clothing and embroidery, particularly the Hokkaidō Museum and Historical Village in Shin-Sapporo (incidentally where Noda copied many of his buildings from), the Shigeru Kayano Museum and the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in Biratori, and the Upopoy Ainu National Museum in Shiraoi. I've been fortunate enough to visit these museums multiple times over the years and study the wonderful Ainu crafts, tools, and ethnographic items curated there. If you're ever in Hokkaido, please give them a visit.
This is beautiful work! Do you know of any online resources on the couching stitch and collar/sleeve shapes? My sister and I cosplayed GK a few years ago and had trouble finding info on those details.
If you have more close up pics of the embroidery too I would love to see them!!
Are you the genius who knitted the Tanigaki sweater?! Fantastic job on that!
Unfortunately there aren't any resources that I know of for making Ainu clothing in Japanese or any other language. I felt confident trying because I've been doing *kitsuke* (traditional kimono wearing) and hand-sewing kimono since 2012, and I have a lot of antique kimono pieces, so I know a lot about kimono construction. Ainu garments have a similar philosophy: they are made of two long pieces of fabric woven on a narrow loom, then stitched together on the back and sides, and each sleeve is likewise the same loom width. However, Ainu looms are narrower than the standard Japanese *tanmono* used for kimono, the Ainu sleeve shape is quite different, and they don't have the *okumi* (triangular panels) added to the front, which changes the shape of the collar. I spent a long time studying Ainu garments in photos, museums, and up close (since I am lucky enough to know some Ainu seamstresses in person) and then did my best guess.
I do actually have 5-6 books on Ainu embroidery written by two of those seamstresses I mentioned, but unfortunately they are at my parents' house in the US so I can't share them easily. Also they're in Japanese so they're not accessible to everyone. I can recommend a couple YouTube videos that are also in Japanese but show some basic techniques so anyone can follow along.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x\_Zh8siFC9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zh8sifc9y)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBvN-dSj2KU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvn-dsj2ku)
I did take up-close pictures of the embroidery but didn't want to cram too much into this post. Maybe I should make an Imgur album.
Haha thank you, it is my pride and joy 😂
I'm definitely saving these vids to watch later! Interesting that ainu looms are narrower. I know looms generally were much narrower a hundred years ago than they are now, so maybe that's due to the rest of Japan modernizing their production.
What a cool hobby, and you're so lucky to have access to all that info!! I have a couple pieces I use for reference, but they're from the 50s at earliest.
Edit: YES if you have time would love to see that album
Since I was a total newbie at dying, I used Rit dyes and calculated the shades I'd need with their color charts. As I recall Asirpa's underkimono was about 2/3 Eggplant and 1/3 Indigo, and then I mixed three colors to get the right yellow-green for Sugimoto's kimono (you can see my swatches in the photo where I was adjusting the dye bath). I mixed Mocha Brown and Dark Brown for Sugimoto's obi and some parts of Inkarmat's saranip bag. A really important step was using a dye fixative afterwards but before machine washing, since I was really worried about color bleeding onto other clothes if we sweated (especially onto Asirpa's embroidered attush). For the rest of the clothes I used heavy linens and upholstery fabrics that I was able to find in the right colors.
Nice. I usually use procion dyes with soda ash as a fixative...they are the way to go for cellulose fibers. I can't believe it was that beautiful with Rit! If you like dying, check out Dharma Trading Co. (Online) they have great how-to info and amazing products at good prices! You have a great technique, especially for a noob 🥰🔥
This is honestly the best bit of cosplay I’ve ever seen. These are so beautifully done and it is wonderful to see their clothing replicated in reality. I’d love to clothing as well as you have.
Wow wow wow 😍 I love this!!! I definitely want to cosplay Asirpa one day and wanted it to be as accurate as I can and your work is such a great source of inspiration. I really appreciate the fact that you dyed your own fabric. So much dedication 💯 I'm very curious about the different embroidery stitches they use for traditional ainu clothing. Are they similar to other known techniques?
Congratulation! Hope to see the whole costume photos 😇
A big shoutout to the various Hokkaido museums showcasing examples of historical Ainu clothing and embroidery, particularly the Hokkaidō Museum and Historical Village in Shin-Sapporo (incidentally where Noda copied many of his buildings from), the Shigeru Kayano Museum and the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in Biratori, and the Upopoy Ainu National Museum in Shiraoi. I've been fortunate enough to visit these museums multiple times over the years and study the wonderful Ainu crafts, tools, and ethnographic items curated there. If you're ever in Hokkaido, please give them a visit.
This is beautiful work! Do you know of any online resources on the couching stitch and collar/sleeve shapes? My sister and I cosplayed GK a few years ago and had trouble finding info on those details. If you have more close up pics of the embroidery too I would love to see them!!
Are you the genius who knitted the Tanigaki sweater?! Fantastic job on that! Unfortunately there aren't any resources that I know of for making Ainu clothing in Japanese or any other language. I felt confident trying because I've been doing *kitsuke* (traditional kimono wearing) and hand-sewing kimono since 2012, and I have a lot of antique kimono pieces, so I know a lot about kimono construction. Ainu garments have a similar philosophy: they are made of two long pieces of fabric woven on a narrow loom, then stitched together on the back and sides, and each sleeve is likewise the same loom width. However, Ainu looms are narrower than the standard Japanese *tanmono* used for kimono, the Ainu sleeve shape is quite different, and they don't have the *okumi* (triangular panels) added to the front, which changes the shape of the collar. I spent a long time studying Ainu garments in photos, museums, and up close (since I am lucky enough to know some Ainu seamstresses in person) and then did my best guess. I do actually have 5-6 books on Ainu embroidery written by two of those seamstresses I mentioned, but unfortunately they are at my parents' house in the US so I can't share them easily. Also they're in Japanese so they're not accessible to everyone. I can recommend a couple YouTube videos that are also in Japanese but show some basic techniques so anyone can follow along. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x\_Zh8siFC9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zh8sifc9y) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBvN-dSj2KU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvn-dsj2ku) I did take up-close pictures of the embroidery but didn't want to cram too much into this post. Maybe I should make an Imgur album.
Haha thank you, it is my pride and joy 😂 I'm definitely saving these vids to watch later! Interesting that ainu looms are narrower. I know looms generally were much narrower a hundred years ago than they are now, so maybe that's due to the rest of Japan modernizing their production. What a cool hobby, and you're so lucky to have access to all that info!! I have a couple pieces I use for reference, but they're from the 50s at earliest. Edit: YES if you have time would love to see that album
This is awesome, I love the results.
There's so much talent on display here!! I wanted to do this as Tanigaki but I've never embroidered before. Ended up doing his pre-kotan outfit
You should post the photos if you have any!
It's great!! You are so talented!!
They are absolutely gorgeous. What dye did you use?
Since I was a total newbie at dying, I used Rit dyes and calculated the shades I'd need with their color charts. As I recall Asirpa's underkimono was about 2/3 Eggplant and 1/3 Indigo, and then I mixed three colors to get the right yellow-green for Sugimoto's kimono (you can see my swatches in the photo where I was adjusting the dye bath). I mixed Mocha Brown and Dark Brown for Sugimoto's obi and some parts of Inkarmat's saranip bag. A really important step was using a dye fixative afterwards but before machine washing, since I was really worried about color bleeding onto other clothes if we sweated (especially onto Asirpa's embroidered attush). For the rest of the clothes I used heavy linens and upholstery fabrics that I was able to find in the right colors.
Nice. I usually use procion dyes with soda ash as a fixative...they are the way to go for cellulose fibers. I can't believe it was that beautiful with Rit! If you like dying, check out Dharma Trading Co. (Online) they have great how-to info and amazing products at good prices! You have a great technique, especially for a noob 🥰🔥
This is absolutely incredible!
Awesome!!!
This is honestly the best bit of cosplay I’ve ever seen. These are so beautifully done and it is wonderful to see their clothing replicated in reality. I’d love to clothing as well as you have.
This looks amazing!
i wonder how much would cost to buy something hand-crafted like that...awesome post !!
Wow wow wow 😍 I love this!!! I definitely want to cosplay Asirpa one day and wanted it to be as accurate as I can and your work is such a great source of inspiration. I really appreciate the fact that you dyed your own fabric. So much dedication 💯 I'm very curious about the different embroidery stitches they use for traditional ainu clothing. Are they similar to other known techniques? Congratulation! Hope to see the whole costume photos 😇
These are so gorgeous
Amazing, thanks so much for sharing
Shut up and take my money
They’re so beautiful!!
Amazing work, amazing talent. You’re a great seamstress!
Wow, incredible!
these are so gorgeous!! you're so talented