Japanese Sunbonnet Sue
The best thing about the internet is that you can find anything . The worst thing about the internet is that you try to find everything.
I have some wonderful oriental fabrics and a large collection of vintage brocades. I thought these would make up into a wonderful Sunbonnet Sue-like blocks of Geishas. Face it, this is a natural. The Kimono and Obi lend themselves to the use of fantastic fabrics, and the face can be hidden behind a fan, umbrella or a hairdo. 
I liked the figures in bonnetgirls.com, mentioned in the last blog, but they are more complex than I wanted to try.
So I thought I’d find a few pictures of Geisha in Google and get some ideas.
Phew. After 2 hours , I still had not found the image I was looking for, but I did learn more than I ever thougt I’d need to know. ImmortalGeisha, link below, has tons of information and pictures. I found sites on how to put on a Kimono, an apparently time consuming and complex process. It’s not as simple as putting on a bathrobe. There are bustle things to pad out the shoulders and the small of the back for example, and under kimono and, well, an extensive under wardrobe.
http://www.immortalgeisha.com/faq_geisha.php
Now better informed than ever , I was still far from my goal. And then this morning , on a new site, I found a lovely picture of a Japanese quilt. The blocks were horizontally set diamonds housing the front and back images of toddlers in kimonos. They looked very much like paper dolls.
Each pair had their arms held at shoulder level, displaying the sleeves. The front facing girl had bangs, the back facing one had a knot in the obi.
The whole thing was as charming as a Sunbonnet Sue from the 1930’s.the link below should get you to the image.
http://www.viq.com/gallery/01/08.html
I decided to try my hand at this. My daughter suggested the proportions should match a Chibby, a child character in Japanese comics. The head is half the body size. This seemed like exactly what I wanted. 
This and the image above are my first attempts at a reinterpretation of the Sunbonnet Sue, transplanted a world away. Note the crayon colors and large ruled paper from my nephew’s last visit!
Again, please respect the copyright holders of the images and the designers of quilts that inspire us all.
Sunbonnet Sue, Geisha, patch blocks, applique blocks, oriental fabrics, japanese quilts, chibby
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