Ornate Florals Vintage Kimono Chirimen Intense Hand-Painted Crepe Silk from Japan By the Yard #848

Faux patchwork of studies of botany, with lots of orange flowers on dark indigo backgrounds, with greens, golds, ochre, brown, and maybe black.  The artwork is quite detailed and the colors are hand-dyed, which must have taken an enormous amount of time. The silk itself is intensely textured with perhaps the strongest, thickest, most pebbled, deepest chirimen weave we've ever seen; almost 'fluffy' and layered like a waffle weave. (But not at all a waffle weave).  It might be rare; we've not run across a silk like this. It's a bit heavier than most chirimen, too. For how chubby the crepe weave makes it, it's got drape, and probably started out thin but is now thick, with no shine and lots of texture. Some of the hand painting got a bit muddy and imperfect as you can probably tell.  The last photos show the wiggly, intense crepe weave better than through the busy artwork.  14" wide and sold by the full yard; we'll cut yours in one piece from the never-used, excellent condition vintage bolt. 100% Silk. Japan.