Ichi-wa

So, my iromuji and one obi came in the mail a few days ago, but I'm still awaiting my juban and a few other accessories before I can actually wear it.

Happily, my yukata and hanhaba obi also came that day, so I took the time to try those on!

Important note here is that I have a massive chest (34G) and my fibro makes it so that I can't squish them down too much without horrific pain. So I'm still looking into different binding techniques so that I can avoid the dreaded Kimonoboob! 

Also, I wasn't sure at the time if I would need an obiita with yukata, but apparently I very much do. Please excuse the wrinkly obi, as I lacked the proper stiffening and probably should have padded my waist out more.

 

My musubi there is a little weird, yeah? I guess it's because I'm a fair deal larger than the normal Japanese woman, so I need a longer obi to work with for traditional knots. My bow would have been tiny, so I wrapped the obi one less time and kind of jury-rigged it. 

I'm pretty chuffed that I got my ohashori so level my first time, even if it was kind of poofing out right under the obi (more waist padding will take care of that?)

Also, I need to get my darling BFF a gift certificate for photography classes or something. Dear boy had to take almost 70 shots to get a tiny handful that I was even starting to be okay with (no small part due to the fact that I completely forwent makeup that day!). 

Question for any experiened kitsuke fans out there: are cotton yukata supposed to feel so stiff? I'm wondering if mine still has sizing on it or something that I should be washing out...on the other hand, I've read some discussion about the best starch to use on them, so...Thoughts on the matter?