Los Angeles, CA — We are excited to share a re-stock of our much-requested vintage quilt collection. Our vintage quilt jackets have been a best-seller for several years. Now available in a kimono silhouette, each one-of-a-kind Vintage Quilt Kimono, Vintage Quilt Long Kimono, and Vintage Quilt Kimono Jacket is handmade from genuine Pennsylvania Amish-made quilt remnants, and sewn in our Marrakech atelier. We also repurpose vintage kantha quilt fabrics into our Kantha Quilt Kimono and Kantha Quilt Jacket.
We love quilts for many reasons. We love the challenge of making vibrant new things from cherished old things. Quilt-making is a global tradition that encompasses Indian kantha, Japanese boro-mending and sashiko, and the American colonial and frontier eras. Quilts are not only a way to re-use household textiles to make something beautiful and lasting, they have also been used in the fight for change, equality and remembrance. The AIDS Memorial Quilt, first displayed in 1987, remains one of the world’s largest community craft projects to this day.
It is fitting that we honor these vintage quilt remnants by repurposing them into functional, cool outerwear. Our kimono design blends American quilting techniques and Japanese culture, where kimonos are closely linked with manners and can reflect the formality of an occasion. Read on for more on our zero-waste quilt collection.
Did You Know about the origins of American quilt-making?
Our quilt collection is rooted in American tradition. In its early days in the 17th and 18th centuries, quilt making was actually reserved for only the wealthiest in American society who had the time for the practice. These quilts were decorative needlework.
Around the middle 19th century during abolition and leading up to the Civil War, as well as from technological progress made during the industrial revolution (hint: the sewing machine), quilt making and makers shifted. Many others entered the quilt making space. At this time, patchwork and piece quilting took hold and often families pieced together scraps of fabric into quality, handmade quilts for warmth in their homes/for soldiers, for sale at craft fairs to raise money for the abolitionist movements, and even as messages signaling for safety and safe travels along the Underground Railroad.
Repurposing is our passion. We love telling the story of breathing new life into old things. From our kilim loafers to our babouche slippers to our vintage 501s, we believe transforming interesting fabrics and classic pieces into timeless collections is not only fun but important to continue driving the sustainable fashion movement forward. Some call it slow fashion. Whatever its name, it is a slow, creative, and a zero-waste process that brings us a lot of joy.
Today as a doubly-sustainable practice, we repurpose vintage quilts into functional, cool outerwear as well as repair vintage denim.
Res Ipsa Vintage 501 Denim Collection
While our quilt jackets feature a boxy fit and slight-off-center placket inspired by the shape of an American military removable quilted liner that would button into a coat issued to GI's, our quilt kimono jackets are inspired by traditional Japanese kimonos which feature a wrapped-front with square sleeves and a boxy shape.
Our vintage quilt fabrics we repurposed in other collections, including repairs to our vintage 501 denim collection (pictured above).
Each jacket is handsewn from a vintage American quilt. Because we use vintage materials, you may find slight "imperfections" in the quilt. Each quilt is unique and carries the beauty from decades of patina. This is a not a flaw--it is a feature.
Shop our Vintage Quilt Kimono Jackets online and in our retail stores in Aspen, Vail, Malibu, Culver City, and Larchmont Village.
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