Customer Reviews

Make Your Own Japanese Clothes: Patterns and Ideas for Modern Wear

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, so the line illustrations are a little funky, you're not using this book to learn figure drawing; you're using it to learn how kimono and other Japanese clothing is made. And for that, it's unsurpassed! The fabric layouts are crystal-clear, and the instructions take even the timid novice through step-by-step procedures for getting everything just right, from linings to special sleeve finishes, things you'll never find on a kimono pattern. How do you get those sleeve corners to hang right? This book tells you. Want to know the correct hand-stitching techniques for the different parts of the garment? You'll find it here. I also recommend it to friends who are taking apart vintage kimono for laundering (as the Japanese did), because it tells you all the steps and the proper order for re-assembly. It even tells you how to fold the garments when you're done. For reference purposes, it starts with one of the best quick overviews of historical Japanese clothing I've seen, including those in the more historically-oriented books! Anyone who is costuming and needs historical accuracy should refer to this section. And so you can wear these garments, it also gives simple instructions for such necessities as tying an obi and tying back your sleeves to do work. I might want more instructions for different obi tyings, but that's not the focus of the book, just a bonus. As befits a book that refers to its subject as "clothing," rather than "costumes," it assumes you will actually be wearing these garments, and treats the subject accordingly. And, just so you can see what you might be able to create, the book includes a section of photos of lucious finished garments, from kicky happi-coats to a wonderful uchikake (over-robe) made from two obi!

Beginning sewers intimidated by fancy tissue patterns are warned away from this. It requires you draft your own square-cut patterns from measurements and the instructions sometimes take rereading for me to figure out (a 20-year career as a pro costumer and a dresser for Kabuki Hawaii trained by experts from the National Theatre of Japan, so I am am very familiar with both seamstry and Japanese costumes of many sorts). The tissue patterns have much clearer instructions and diagrams. You need self-confidence and some moderate skill with the usual sewing to jump over to this.

First, Marshall assumes you also own The Book of Kimono by Norio Yamanaka. While Marshall will tell you how to draft patterns for the kimono, he tells you to go to the other book to find out how to =wear= the garments. Yamanaka's is a wonderful book, but I consider this sales-racketeering by the editors, allowing author sloth to force another book in the line. If you don't already know how to wear kimono, get Yamanaka first so you can even decide if you want to wear it, let alone sew it.

The section on Japanese sewing tools was interesting, but time might have been spent addressing how to do these jobs with tools you could find in ordinary Western sewing stores, and how to select Western fabrics (like don't use slinky for an uchikage), since so much time is spent on making Westernized/modernized variants on the trad kimono. 4ex, you can make a 3rd hand out of a strong little coffee bag clip, a length of cord, and a necklace hook rather than paying $8 + S&H on-line.

The largest flaw is the structuring of ideas. Marshall first tells you how to do each Japanese sewing technique (how to turn a hem corner, how to sew on a sleeve, how to put in a lining, how to pad a garment) in a separate section before ever getting to describing the garments or giving their layouts. All this means is anyone not already completely familiar with the garments skips this and maybe comes back later to it. The book would be improved by giving the garments with sewing techniques particular to it included at the garment. 4ex., explaining how to sewn on a collar guard particularly for a vest belongs with making the vests, not broken out 57 pages earlier with other collar guard techniques. Explaining how to put in a lining should be with the first garment that can be lined. As it is, you go to the garment, draft it, cut it, then skip back and forth between the garment and the different technique sections as you sew on a collar or sew on a sleeve. Keep plenty of bookmarks handy.

It is good that Marshall gives the standard kimono, and especially the uchikage (female formal overkimono) with padded hem, as well as various jackets (haori, hanten, hippari), modern and trad vests, and the monpei trousers. It is a distinct lack that he did not give directions for hakama, the Japanese trousers everyone wants for male dress, but only the sloppy field pants. The drafting instructions are very good, but as an Old Guard of the fibre arts the selection of garments gave me severe deja vu. In fact, except for the uchikage, this could be described as "do all your own drafting work to wind up with the Folkwear Japanese patterns." Which do you have more of, time or money? Do you really want to learn the particularly Japanese method of wearing a thimble or finishing a seam?

The section on making your own tabi (split-toed cloth socks) is excellent and detailed. Drafting this pattern is not at all simple, as it is fitted footwear. If you can't find tabi cheap on line, I recommend getting the Folkwear pattern for them to save a day or more of your life with fussing these to fit, unless you have very unusual feet.

In short, while the book will remain in my library and will be useful for drafting scale patterns for dolls, when I sew for full-size people I will use the available patterns using authentic techniques. What were you planning to use this for?

John Marshall's MAKE YOUR OWN JAPANESE CLOTHES is a boon to the sewing world for anyone interested in creating asian-styled kimono, jackets, pants, and even socks. For people familiar with the Folkwear pattern line, John Marshall helped them design the hakama (long pants) pattern. The book includes a wonderful overview of Japanese clothing, full of useful information.

For anyone in historical re-enactment societies like the Society for Creative Anachronism, by all means purchase this book, but don't expect to be making pre-1600s accurate clothing with it. You'll not be that far off, but little things, like sleeve attachments, will make all the difference between a modern kimono and "period" kataginu. The book is an excellent place to start, but you'll need to search elsewhere for the details to make it accurate for classical Japan.

The instructions may seem a little daunting at first, certainly to the inexperienced sewer. If you're used to making clothes from modern tissue or paper patterns, this book may challenge you initially. The biggest bonus of this book is that the patterns for each of the items are designed to be made specifically from measurements you take. No more fussing with fitting and sizing after the garment is sewn together. With a little patient reading, the trick of creating outfits from measurements as they do in this book may actually become your preferred way of making clothes. You'll wonder why more companies don't make instructions this way, especially if you're a novice.

In addition to very good fabric layouts (described for modern fabric widths as well as traditional ~14-inch-wide), the book in unsurpassed in describing the finishing techniques for modern kimono. Sleeves, sleeve attachment to kimono, seams, embroidery, embellishment, and even how to construct a kimono and other clothing bits using all hand-sewing techniques are covered in this book. There's even a good focus on how you can "modernize" some of the clothing items for western wear (not that I would use them, because the originals are just stunning).

Despite the ease I had using this book once I sat down and read it carefully, there were a few problems I had with it. First, there's no good summary for any of item construction. I was hoping for something that said "to construct this garment, you'll need to do X, Y, and Z general things." This kind of summary would have helped tremendously with the construction of a kimono because each part of the kimono had a separate chapter and you didn't construct the kimono in the same order as the chapters were layed out in the book.

My second issue is the brevity and direction of some of the instructions. In many cases, the instructions simply said "go to this part of the book, do the steps listed there but with a certain change if you're making X version, but if you're making Y version go to this other part and then come back here and finish the steps here." Therein proceeded a romp through that book that had me flipping from front to back and anywhere in between to finish the single portion of the garment I was working on. Confused? So was I. It's possible to follow the instructions, but you do have to read the steps very carefully. Multiple bookmarks will help you.

My third problem with the book was the size and the binding. Perhaps the publishers were trying to make the book smaller to save money. I felt, however, that if the book had been printed in, say 8-1/2x11 or A4 size, the step-by-step instructions would have gone from slightly acrobatic to crystal clear by allowing more room for description. Sometimes the text describing certain steps is many pages before or after the actual line drawing of the portion of the pattern on which you should be working. I think this is a direct result of the page size. The binding was wholly in appropriate for how this book was to be used. Most people will find themselves setting things on the pages to keep the book open while they're working on it. A better solution would have been spiral or hidden-spiral binding. Don't be suprised of the perfect binding on this book breaks after the workout you give it flipping back and forth while making your garments.

Despite my problems with this book, it was a solid read and well worth the price. I wouldn't call it stellar, which is why I gave it only 3 of 5 stars, but I liked it enough that I'd buy it again if I ever lost or destroyed my current well-dog-eared copy.

The book outlines how to make different styles of Japanese garments for both men and women. It also provides instructions on lining and padding garments, and types of stitches used. The author often gives both the traditional method of making a garment and modern alternatives to make life easier.

The author provides short instructions and diagrams to instruct you how to make your chosen garment. At first glance I found the instructions could sometimes seem unclear (and I am a fairly experienced with sewing!). This is not a book for someone who wants an "easy sew" 1 hour project. However I usually found that once I read over the instructions a few times they made sense. You will have to flip back and fourth between pages in the book (once section for lining, once for making outer garment...). I just had to have a little patience, since I am not as familiar with sewing Kimono. Anyone can make these garments with a little patience. These garments are made from very simple pattern, and basic sewing skills, but yield beautiful results! The main thing to remember is that it may take some time to go through the book and really make certain you understand all the steps in the proper order.

The book is a wonderful reference because you can make all these garments without buying patterns from the store but just using grid paper and taking your own measurements. At its most basic, a Kimono is essentially made by sewing different size rectangles together. So the basic pattern is very simple to draw. I did find it helpful to practice making a miniature version of the kimono out of inexpensive cotton fabric and lining to practice some of the techniques the book describes, before actually making a kimono out of expensive fabric.

www.ichiroya.com is a wonderful source for relatively inexpensive kimono fabric and other Japanese fabrics by the bolt (1 bolt=1 garment). They also have partially finished, and finished garments as well that can be helpful to look at.

You should note that this book does not provide much instruction on how to wear kimono. Formal Kimono dress can be very complicated, for example in Japan they offer classes in how to wear kimono, and many people are assisted by licensed kimono dressers for formal events! You can buy a book on how to wear Kimono or use one of the many websites which can provide you with instructions on how to wear basic cotton kimono called yukata and even simple formal Kimono and Obi.
One helpful example for Women's Formal Kimono http://japan-cc.com/kimofaq3.htm and Obi http://japan-cc.com/kimofaq4.htm

I recommend this book very highly to anyone really interested in learning more about or making Japanese garments. Especially since comparatively this is one of the better resource books on sewing japanese garments available at the moment! :-)

An excellent book for someone with previous sewing experience, especially hand sewing. (You don't need a machine to make these garments, in fact, it's better to do it by hand.) I very much appreciated the background on Japanese sewing, however, the stitches are not as clearly illustrated as they could be, and would probably be very difficult to understand for a beginning sewer. As for the other illustrations, arm yourself with patience and re-read the explanations several times through.

Overall I'm happy with this book after looking everywhere for traditional Japanese kimono patterns. I was able to successfully complete a kurotomesode (formal black kimono) thanks to it.

Just glancing at some of the previous reviews, I can see this wonderful book is not receiving the respect it deserves. Since it is one of my bibles of garment design, I choose to write a review in its defense.

If you want easy pre-fab Japanese clothing, buy it from an import store or make it from the myriad patterns commercially available. Some of those patterns were created by the author of this book, but others come with all the cheater Western shortcuts, for people in a hurry to waste a lot of time and money. If you want to understand how to make custom Japanese clothing using authentic sewing techniques, this book will show you the way in the most economical fashion. Commercial patterns of all the garments in this book would run over $100. The book includes history and illustrations to fuel your creativity with potential design and fabric choices.

Give this book a chance to impress you. It's a bargain at any price.

I would like to start by letting all who got here by looking for a hakama pattern know that they have not found one. The first review of this book is a tad misleading in that respect. What they have found is a valuable resource for making a kimono. I bought this book looking for a hakama pattern and was sorely disappointed, but enjoyed the detail on technique so much I cannot bring myself to return it. I am an experienced sewer, though I do not design my own patterns. And I am looking forward to my first attempt at creating one of the pieces described in the book. But the 3 rating I gave it is because of the complicated descriptions. If you have no patience with detailed instructions, do not buy this book. If you are looking for a more authentic kimono pattern than is commercially available, you found it. Good luck! If you try any of these patterns, I think you'll be pleased with the result.

Yeah, the cover is funky, and there are a few "huh?" photos in the middle, but this really is a serious book about making kimono. As mentioned by someone else, there is almost no direct information about wearing a kimono in this book, just making them. The only direct wearing information you get is how to tie a helper chord to pull the sleeves back when you are working, how to tuck the kimono hem up when you are traveling or working, and how to tie the men's basic obi.

An average or beginning sewer is going to be intimidated and overwhelmed by the detail of information in the book. As already mentioned, there are no patterns in the book per se, but that's because the Japanese have a set pattern that they work with. The book describes the pattern and has drawings to help you mark out your own. It talks about how to cut cloth from the traditional Japanese bolt, or how to work with the bolts of cloth that you might find in Europe or America which are a different width. If you are actually making a kimono, I suggest you read through the entire instructions, mark the parts you need, and before you so much as touch a needle and thread or scissors, read those parts *again* to make sure you have all the information in mind. It's easy to accidentally miss some rather important bit of information.

This book has information on making all of the parts of the kimono (though, I agree with a previous reviewer that some of the organization is ... interesting), including how to make obi and tabi (the socks). It does not show how to make hakama *HOWEVER* it does show how to make mompe - which are very similar to hakama, just shorter and gathered at knees or ankles instead of full length and full cuff.

There are several suggestions tucked in random locations about how to make more modern versions - how to add pockets to the mompe for instance - but you do sort of have to hunt for them and all of them are for making a new outfit, not updating an older one.

I mostly used this book for information on how to *repair* my kimono, and this book had all the information I needed. It showed me how to do the hand sewing (in an easier way than *I* was trying to do it), and how to do the special knots and double-backs needed for the kimono to lay properly and stay in place. The book made it so clear for me that once I matched up the styles in the book with my kimono, I redid all of the stitching on my kimono in less time than I had expected just the sectional repairs to take.

The book is well written and very complete in the detailing of Japanese clothes. The title is a bit misleading though. It implies that there are patterns in the book although this is not the case. There are instructions on how to create your own patterns. While this may not be too difficult for an experienced seamstress it may be a bit disconcerting for a beginner.

I read other's comments about this book,I suppose mine will perhaps make someone else buy it,and maybe be annoyed with me if they wish they paid attention to the "nay" reveiws...
No, the book has no patterns.
You have to pay attention to the fact that fabric comes in standard widths.The diagrams,are exactly all that a person needs....it so simple,really.This book shows you approximate yardage lengths,and where to fold those lengths, and what straight lines go where in making a robe, trousers, whatever.
I found it a great book,when I looked at the diagrams, it was a bit like the most basic geometry,made even easier by the "Ah-haas,that the diagrams seemed to do for me.
If I were an instructor in fiber arts and wearable artmaking, I would strongly recommend this book to any student who wanted the most basic and straightforeward information in simple garment construction.