care and feeding of hakama
So, about a year ago, I bought a pair of hakama from a kimono dealer at a con. They were marked vintage, but were pretty cheap because of some brown staining which the dealer scrupulously pointed out to me. Didn't really care, cos I reckoned I could wash it out, and even if not, WOO REAL HAKAMA. Wore them to a couple of cons, each time packing them back in my suitcase and leaving them until next convention.
This week, since I'm planning to wear them to International Cosplay Day, I decided it behooved me to take them out and try to put their pleats back in order. Having never done that, I checked out some martial arts forums, and found the usual advice for hakama care beginners is to wash them and lay them out flat to dry, pressing the creases into place by hand, then ironing them in later. 'Kay, we can do that. I ran a cool bathtub, poured in a little Woolite and put them in. Brown coloring immediately began to seep into the water, and within three minutes I had what looked like a bathtub full of Pepsi. Pepsi that stank of mothballs, to boot.
--Eugh. Cringing at the thought that I'd ever worn them, I washed them again, then ran them through three rinses, each time getting lighter shades of brown till I reached an acceptable ginger-ale shade. I bundled them in a towel, took them out onto the balcony and laid them out as advised, turning them over in 12 hours. Next morning they were still a bit damp around the waistband, so I draped them over a plant stand and left them out in the sun and fresh air for another day, figuring it might help the smell as well as the drying process.
And that's where we are now. Tomorrow I get to iron them. In the meantime, I have learned that the waistbands of old hakama are padded with newspaper, and I'm greatly relieved that I'm no longer carrying around whatever stinky mixture of old dye and Meiji-era crud was soaked into my vintage trou.
This week, since I'm planning to wear them to International Cosplay Day, I decided it behooved me to take them out and try to put their pleats back in order. Having never done that, I checked out some martial arts forums, and found the usual advice for hakama care beginners is to wash them and lay them out flat to dry, pressing the creases into place by hand, then ironing them in later. 'Kay, we can do that. I ran a cool bathtub, poured in a little Woolite and put them in. Brown coloring immediately began to seep into the water, and within three minutes I had what looked like a bathtub full of Pepsi. Pepsi that stank of mothballs, to boot.
--Eugh. Cringing at the thought that I'd ever worn them, I washed them again, then ran them through three rinses, each time getting lighter shades of brown till I reached an acceptable ginger-ale shade. I bundled them in a towel, took them out onto the balcony and laid them out as advised, turning them over in 12 hours. Next morning they were still a bit damp around the waistband, so I draped them over a plant stand and left them out in the sun and fresh air for another day, figuring it might help the smell as well as the drying process.
And that's where we are now. Tomorrow I get to iron them. In the meantime, I have learned that the waistbands of old hakama are padded with newspaper, and I'm greatly relieved that I'm no longer carrying around whatever stinky mixture of old dye and Meiji-era crud was soaked into my vintage trou.