Finished Kimono - Part One

What have I been doing since my last post since 15th December?  Well the fabric that I brought arrived on 19th December and since then I have been busy making my kimono.

This was how the week progressed for me.

Day One - 19th December

Received fabric only to find that they sent me 5 yds rather then 5 ms of fabric.  Lucky I only needed 4.4 metres but it was annoying to receive goods that were not what you paid for.  Anyway there was no point in complaining but the next time I order from them which I might I will mention it.

All I did that day was go through the measurements, cut the fabric into 36 cms wide pieces and marked the body panels ready for sewing.

Day Two - 20th December

Got up a bit late and since I had a Christmas lunch to attend I only managed to sew the two rows of stitching for the back seam.

I said I was going to part machine and part hand sew this kimono but in the end I choose to sew it all by hand because I need the practice and to see how long it would take.

I tell you something, it is not easy sewing long straight and even running stitches.  I tried my method but it takes a long time to sew.  However when I tried the Japanese method it was quicker but harder to create even stitches.  I suppose with a bit more practice I will get the hang of it.

Day Three - 21th December

Taking things slowly, I sewed the horizontal back seams and for some reason I decided to make the sleeves.

The sleeves themselves were easy to make and the only thing that is complicated is the armhole.  I made a template for the kimono curve which was just the curve of a 8cm in diameter circle.  Not the correct curve but I had a used cardboard cylinder that was at hand so I thought why not use this cylinder to create the curve.  Later I will make proper card templates.

Again the problem of sewing straight and even running stitch is still troubling me and it is a running theme.

Day Four - 22th December

Now to tackle the side seams and arm holes on body panel.  

The challenge here was the arm holes because they needed to be as flat as possible to prevent any bulk fabric from showing.  

Also that night I cut out the okumi and collar panels and marked up the okumi panel ready for tomorrow works.

Day Five - 23rd December

I have heard attaching the okumi panels was tricky and although the first part of sewing the hem wasn't too bad, the rest of it was a bit of a pain.

There was a lot of fudging here because I wasn't sure what the diagrams were trying to say and how the markings I made earlier were used.  All I knew was the overall look that needed to be achieved so I went with my intuition here.

I hope it was good though.

Here is some dodgy sewing!