But I could not stop and this time I decided to challenge myself by making a lace kimono. I saw this lovely lace which had a scalloped edge which I thought would make a lovely edging on the kimono.
Lucky the scalloping was on both edges but it wasn't until I received the fabric that I realised that the pattern on the edge was not copied on the other side. Not a problem really but it would have looked good.
I followed the pattern of my previous kimono and cut 36 cm strip pieces and then draped the pieces on my Miffy to see how it might looked.
It looked promising I have to say from the draping.
Collar will need a bit of tidying to reduce the number of layers of fabric.
And the back with the non fancy scalloping didn't look bad either. Things are looking up!
Now the sewing.
I started with the sleeves and what made this easy was the fact I didn't have to create the curve. However hemming the edge was not easy because the lace was very light and stiff as it was synthetic and it occasional stretched because of the holes in the lace.
Anyway fast forwarding 4 days and I have reached this point!
The front didn't look as tidy as I hoped because of the vertical folds from joining the okumi panels and I am not sure I the stitching is straight or not as the lace as a slight stretch.
Time to sew on the sleeves which is were I decided to go freehand. I just sewed them on very simply rather then follow the method I used previously because I didn't want to have layers of fabric around the shoulder. I thought about french hemming but since the lace does not fray I thought why bother.
So after a couple of my hours of sewing this is the finished result! This lace kimono does not need to have an ohashiori because I used the scalloped edge to create the illusion of that fold.
You can see it more clearly on the back shot here!
The collar still looks a little bit messy but cutting of the excess lace helped with the appearance.
The front isn't as tidy as I hoped but the next time I make a kimono using lace, I will need to get some that is heavier because it was a pain not knowing if the stitching was straight.
Here is a closeup of the sleeves. They are 70 cm in length so they will be hang lower then all of my kimono sleeves which are around the 50 cm mark. I think I will wear it with my teal ro kimono or my green wool kimono however it doesn't look to bad on my pale green kimono.
I am going to have a break from making kimono now and start on another one of my to do things!
My next project will be a hanfu of this style!
I'll be using a pale yellow fabric with blue/green gridlines and it will hopefully be a wearable piece. I will probably need to make a plain top to calm the outfit but but first I need to make it!
Wish me luck!
3 comments:
Hi!
Do you have any tips on making kimono, or good tutorials? Finally I've gotten a sewing machine, and making my own kimono is a project I would like to do in future.
Other slightly different question... Do you hem a han-eri? I've got a bolt with 6 on it, and I don't know if they should have a hem as it makes the edge of the han-eri a bit thicker...
Love your blog and added it to my bloglist!
I made my kimono following the instructions from this book.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4522424078/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=AN1VRQENFRJN5&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0K19KQB9XHGDVSEKNH5T&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463376736&pf_rd_i=489986
Unfortunately the best kimono making books are in Japanese and this is no exception.
I do not think I will be creating a kimono tutorial because it is very complicated.
As for han-eri question, You do not need to hem them.
Thanks for the info, especially about the han-eri. Your lace kimono looks very pretty. And good luck with the hanfu!
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