Michiyuki means 'goes over everything'. Since at this time I was aiming in my collection to have an example of every type of kimono, I bought this one, attracted by its busy floral print of stylised chrysanthemums and its gorgeous water-colour dyed lining. However, I wasn't sure the shape would suit me. 

  Although the outer silk is dyed, it copies a Yuzen technique in leaving white areas around the motifs and also has applied gold surihaku dots in the middle of the flowers, while the lining is a startling rainbow of yellow, jade and salmon pink dyed in a gradated technique.

On arrival, I simply loved the print and the gorgeous figured Rinzu silk, as well as the lining (also Rinzu) but oh - the style. It was awful. I am quite a busty girl and when closed this garment looked terribly frumpy. The depth of the neckline is huge, because it's designed to go over a full kimono and juban, and show the han-eri.

  I decided to salvage it if I could. Firstly I took off the front overlap, stitched the side sections closed and made a long collar out of the front section. This didn't work. The garment was still too narrow at hip level. So I opened up the seams and created side vents. Sadly, this didn't work either, so I decided to take the garment apart for the fabric.

It proved to render up quite a lot of fabric, because michiyuki's are self-lined to the shoulder, and the fabric simply wraps around the bottom hem and straight back up.

A couple of years later I used the fabric to make a lovely neck scarf, which remains one of my favourites, and a lingerie top cut on the bias. I also used the lining fabric to make a similar top. Michiyukis are cheap and plentiful but I won't, obviously, be buying one again except for the fabric.

I was feeling rather disillusioned by my recent failture with kimono number 5, but my next kimono was a resounding success. This pink Rinzu kimono uses three separate techniques - Bokashi watercolour dyeing to give the background silk a shimmer, plus kanoko shibori and boshi shibori to create the pattern.

I fell in love with the sugar-pink colour of this kimono and didn't know at the time that it was Rinzu. It was also my first purchase from a new vendor, Ryujapan. When it arrived, I realised it was the 'feel' of kimono I'd been searching for - very negligee like and feminine. The lining was also beautiful, with the hakkake (bottom section) dyed in an ombre style. 

Kanoko (deer-dot) shibori is a technique in which small sections of fabric are looped with threads and pulled tight, which acts as a resist. It produces a white ring on the fabric similar to the markings on a young fawn.  Boshi shibori uses an item such as a cork or a coin to provide an area of resist or which can be dipped into dye - in this kimono, this is how the red 'flowers' are created. 

It is part of the Japanese aesthetic that the design of the Rinzu should oppose the pattern applied to it - hence leaves and streams in the silk itself, and flowers applied on top.  

I shortened this kimono to ankle-length and took up the ombre lining from the doura (top lining) rather than the hakkake (bottom lining) in order to preserve the ombre shading. I find this kimono very pleasing and feminine to wear.

This haori was my first purchase after deciding to start collecting kimono in 2005.

It is a silk haori from Yamatoku which I bought for both its beautiful lining, and its urushi outer layer.

Urushi is brocade weaving with lacquered threads and is my favourite technique in kimono. Sometimes the lacquered threads are coloured, but most often they are in shades of gold, copper and silver. In older kimono they are made of actual metal wrapped around a core thread of linen, but in this more modern garment, they are simply lame.

The black background silk is rinzu - a kind of silk damask used only for women's kimono. Here it is woven with a background pattern of waves. The urushi appears in 'karabana' - Chinese flower-shaped rondels, which are further enhanced with landscape motifs in black, gold and copper lamé. These landscape motifs are called Chaya-Tsuji and date from Heian court literature or Japanese Noh plays.

  The lining of this haori is particularly beautiful and when it was for sale, it was photographed mainly inside-out. It is a yellow print silk with applied gold paint, with a design of maple leaves in red and brown. I wanted a black haori and it was very nice to get such a beautiful example, especially as my first online purchase.

On arrival, the haori was quite different from what I was expecting. I had expected more texture in the urushi and a matter, crepe-like fabric, but this haori was very fine and silky, and the urushi was not very prominent. However once over the surprise, I began to appreciate that it was very beautiful. The rinzu silk is fine quality with a beautiful drape, and the flowers in the rondels are copper-coloured, not red, as I had thought.

Because I had never seen a haori before, I also didn't expect the lower back of the garment to be lined, which haoris always are unless otherwise indicated - this gives the garment better weight and drape. Because it is rinzu, this haori is light weight and is very softly ‘tailored', so it is very comfortable to wear - a great contrast with hitokoshi chirimen haoris, as I would later discover. The lining glimpsed through the sleeve openings is very enticing and when wearing a haori of this type, you feel that it is definitely the equivalent of the Western black evening jacket.

The first time I wore this haori was for Scrabble night at friends and I hardly knew I had it on - this is one of the characteristics of Japanese clothing - because it wraps, it is incredibly comfortable. One of my friends said I looked like I should be wearing a mortar board, but I remained undeterred. The second time I wore it was to a party at a restaurant and I felt equally comfortable and was more heartened by several people commenting how pretty it was.

Over the past few years I've worn this haori a lot for evening, mainly over black knitted pants, black silk pants or a long black velvet skirt. It remains one of my favourites.