Kimono

Our Materials (per kimono):
4-5 yards of black fabric
Measuring tape
Lots of straight pins
Sewing Machine
Black Thread
1 yard white fabric
Chalk for marking the fabric
Fabric scissors
Folkware Pattern #113 (I think that was the number...)

I used a pattern for the Kimono. I bought a Folkware Pattern and it wasn’t too bad, though a couple parts were really confusing, but I’ll get to that. Let me start at the beginning.

We (my friend and I, I didn’t do this alone) were both going as Bleach shinigami (she went as Renji) so we needed black fabric. We’re not sewing experts, and frankly, the guide on the back of the pattern was confusing us as to how much fabric to buy. I’m super tall, she’s not, but for both of us we were going to modify the pattern (which is for long yukata-style kimonos) to be shorter, ending just below our waists, so we knew we’d need less fabric than the pattern said, but how much we weren’t sure–and we had to buy for the hakama, too–we ended up buying around a dozen yards each of simple black cotton-polyester. Nothing fancy at all: absolute basic black fabric.

I estimate that for each of us, we used four or five yards for our kimonos.

We made some major changes to the pattern instructions.

Cutting out the fabric was fine, by cutting the pattern out first, laying it on the fabric, and then trimming around it. I however, misread part of the instructions, and cut the front and back panels separately from each other. They were supposed to be contiguous over the shoulder, so we had to stitch them back together. I fixed my mistake when making the second kimono.

The first part of the instructions we followed, but then we got to the part about the “Overband.” Theoretically, this is a piece of a fabric that reinforces the neck band, but the instructions so confused us that we decided to ditch the Overband altogether.

Next, sewing on the Neckband. This nearly drove us crazy. It was really hard for us when following the pattern’s instructions. We improvised. Instead of doing it the way the pattern said, we barrel-folded the neckband first, pressed it with an iron, and then stretched out the semi-completed kimono as straight as we could get it, and pinned the neckband on. Then we sewed, and it still took two tries, but it came out good in the end.

The termination of the neckband down the front of the kimono displeased us. Maybe it’s traditional the way the pattern shows it, but we didn’t like it, so we trimmed the extra, squared-off bit that stuck out, tucked the remainder underneath, and sewed it down.

The pattern provided for the sleeves was not suitable for shinigami, who have much longer than traditional sleeves (though sometimes it seems, watching the anime, like the length of the sleeves varies from scene to scene). We lengthened the sleeves (shoulder to hand measurement) by a fair bit, up to ten inches depending on our arm lengths.

Next, the shinigami wear an (for lack of better term) under-kimono, a white kimono under their black kimono. Make a second kimono? Are you kidding me? And suffer through that collar-from-Hell procedure again? We decided to fake it. We got some white fabric and (do this before finishing the sleeves!) added a white sleeve inside the black sleeve, stitched into the same shoulder hem. We also added some white edging along the front of the crossed lapels of the kimono.

But here’s a trick: to make the fake white edging on the front cross properly, leave the bottom end of the edging on the left hand lapel loose, then tuck it between the black and white parts of the right-hand lapel. Secure it inside with some velcro. This will make it look like the white kimono is really there, and crossing properly, under the black kimono. Otherwise, the white edging on the left side will cross over the black of the right side. (scroll down to see a diagram)

We also decided to add an inner pocket to the kimono for things like car keys, ID, and cash. The pocket opening was also secured with velcro. I hand-stitched in the little pockets along seams that already existed so there would be no unsightly stitching in the smooth fabric areas. In practice the pockets worked moderately well, but weren’t very easy to get into. I did store my contact case and cash in one, however.

The day of, wearing the kimonos went fine, and they were pretty comfy. The trailing sleeves did manage to get in the way, however, including catching on the butt of my sword several times. Since the kimono doesn’t have to be pulled on over the head, I recommend doing makeup and hair before putting on the kimono.