How to make a Tsuke Obi

Someone asked for a tutorial on how I made my tsuke obi so here it is!

Here is the list of things you will need.

Two lots of 2 metres of fabric your choice (for reversible obi)
2 metres of stiff interface
4 metres of ribbon
Sewing Machine
Thread
Pins

Of course if you do not want to make a reversible obi then you just need 4 metres of one type of fabric.

Instructions

Step one
Take your fabric and place it so the right sides are touching.  Now we need to mark the pieces!

Here is the basis pattern that I used.

To lay out the pattern I would recommend the following.

This way you are using the fabric economically so you can use the remaining fabric for other projects like making more obi!

As the pattern is basically rectangles you can lay the pieces so they are edge to edge.

Step two

For the interface, you will need to cut the same shapes as above except the measurements are as follows.

Again lay them out on your interface like the fabric.

Step three

You now have all your pieces at hand.  If you have not ironed the fabric and interface beforehand, give them a quick once over.

Step Four

We will sew the tare part first.

Take your tare fabric pieces and line them up with the right side facing each other and sew.

Snip the corners like below and then turn it inside out.

Now iron your tare and then insert your interface. 

You have not completed your first part!

Step five

Take your ribbon and cut it into 1 metre lengths and then singe the edges if you have synthetic ribbon.  If you have natural ribbon then turn the end of each piece on one end only leaving the other end raw.

Now take your waist pieces and two ribbon pieces and lay out as follows.

  Making sure that the long edge of the ribbon is 1cm away from the edge of the fabric.

Now pin the edge or baste the fabric together and sew!

Make sure you don't catch the ribbon when you sew the thing together and also don't forget to leave a gap of 30cm to allow you to turn the waist band inside out.

Snip the 4 corners just like you did for the tare, turn it inside out and iron flat.

Time to insert your interface, this can be a little tricky but if you have left a 30cm gap there should be enough space for you to push your arm into the waist band and position the interface correct.

Once you are happy the interface is in the correct position, sew the opening closed as neat and as close to the edge as possible.  If you are worried that your ribbons will rip off from all the tugging then you can sew over the fabric and ribbon to give it extra strength.

 Your waist band of your tsuke obi is complete.

Step Six

I left the otaiko part the last because it is the trickiest if you are a beginner.

Take one piece of your otaiko and lay it out so the right side is facing up.

Now take your completed tare piece and your two remaining pieces of ribbon and layout as follow.  You will want the open end of the tare to be on the left hand side.

To make sure you have place the tare piece the correct way round, the matching colours should be touching.

Fold up the ribbon and tare piece so they are within the fabric boundary and lay the second fabric piece of otaiko on top.  Pin/baste the pieces together and sew.

Snip the top two corners, turn it inside out and iron it flat.

Now insert your interface and sew the opening closed.

And volia you have a tsuke obi.

What have I been up to for the last couple of days?

You may be wondering why I have not posted something on my blog?

Well here is the reason!

My friend and I have finally got moving and made our first kimono videos where we show you how to wear kimono on your own.

There is plenty of kitsuke videos but they are either they are in Japanese or do not show you clearly how to do things.  In our videos, we intend to address these two issues.

The first two videos are just plain videos with no subtitles or voices because it seem perfectly clear what we are doing!  They are video on how to tie there Kamifusen or "Paper Balloon" musubi on your own and it is a very cute and comfortable musubi to wear.

Kamifusen Musubi Obi Part One

Kamifusen Musubi Obi Part 2

I hope you enjoy them!

Tsuke Obi Construction time!

I have so many things on my To Do list that this got pushed to the last minute.

I own two tsuke obi and they are a great thing to have in your kimono wardrobe because they are easy to put on. However they are a pain to buy because they don't exist on the internet unless you know how to read Japanese (which I don't). Therefore the solution to all clothing issue is to make it.

Here is my fabric brought from Ikea. Yes you read right, Ikea! Not only it is a great place to waste your life in but also a great place to buy some funky fabric cheaply.

So using this tsuke obi as a guide, I took the plunge and cut the fabric!

There are three bits. The right piece is for the waist part, middle part is the otaiko musubi part and then the left part is the tare of the otaiko musubi that you pass through. Don't worry it will all become clear!

All that is left to cut is the ties. For my first time I used some grey grosgrain ribbon and I cut 4 pieces of 60 cms in length. The ribbon is much longer then necessary but it is better to be safe then sorry.

The first bit I sewed is the tare bit of the otaiko that is threaded through the musubi. This is pretty easy, sew three sides but leave one end opened so you can turn it out.

The second part I tackled is the waist part. The sewing here is pretty much the same as above except this time the opening is on the long side because I had to sew in the ribbons.

Finally the third and most complicated part, the otaiko bit. Taking the very first piece you sewed up and turning it inside out and the ribbon, you now need to arranged the piece as follows.

First align the ribbon where you want the makura to be situated and pin the ribbon in place.

Now you need to place the tare. DO NOT I repeat, DO NOT do what I did here.

If you do this then when you turn it inside out, the tare will not face the right way.

Anyway after I corrected my mistake this is the result.

Time to turn everything inside out.

Here is a closeup shots of the otaiko part.

And here is a closeup of the end of the waist band.

Of course all of this needs a good iron! This is also the time to iron the openings up so that they are ready to be sewed up.

Finally to complete your obi, you sew up the openings and voilà! Your obi is complete.

Here is the black side all nicely folded up, ready for you to pin your badges.

Would people be interested in a detailed tutorial?

And this is the flower side which is nice to wear with a casual komon.