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.

Houmongi - literally 'visiting dress' - are the most flamboyant kimono permitted for a married woman. They can also be worn by unmarried women, though most prefer to carry on wearing the longer-sleeved furisode while they still can. However, this houmongi has more rounded sleeves than the tomesode above, and the sleeves are quite long at 24 inches, which may mean it was indeed worn by an unmarried woman. 

Houmongi are considered suitable for almost every occasion - visiting friends, going about town, and performing traditional arts such as ikebana. On this houmongi, the pale mint-green silk ground is woven with a design of streams, then multicoloured flowers are painted on top using the Yuzen technique. I was attracted to this kimono mainly for its lovely colours, especially the the background green, but also because of its distinctively Japanese appearance. 

On arrival, to be honest, I was slightly disappointed in it. Although the silk was beautiful and very textured - it may in fact be fukuro-ori - it was as stiff as a board with size and the synthetic lining stiffened it further. Because it was also lightweight, the garment didn't hang nicely. The colour that I had thought was red turned out to be a dull rust and the pattern that had appeared so pretty at a distance was coarser in close-up - in fact I took it to be a print. Once again, the garment was enormously long (though very narrow), so I was learning that I needed to pay more attention to this aspect of kimono.

After humming and hawing for a while, I decided to take the garment apart completely and use the fabric. I checked it carefully before washing, by sponging it and using an iron and a white cloth. Nothing came off, so I was able to wash the silk, after which it was much softer and more pleasant on the skin. From it, I made a loose jacket about 30 inches long, with short sleeves like a happi coat and a narrow collar, which gave me several pieces left over for scarves.

It was, in fact, only when I dissassembled this kimono that I realised it was Yuzen. The technique hadn't been described by the vendor Yamatoku and I hadn't realised the background silk was actually cream and only painted green where it was visible. The colour runs out at the fold lines, which makes sections of the silk impossible to use. However, I've now got a lovely summer jacket out of it, so I'm happy.