This was my first lined men’s kimono. I found a bolt of blue-black cotton fabric that was fairly thick and robust with the iconic seigaiha pattern on it executed in tiny dots.
Even though I found this fabric at an incredibly reasonable price – just 6 Euros per meter, it had the look and feel of something very traditional, so I decided to line it in an elegant, high quality sand coloured cotton batiste. The aim was to create a masculine, formal look, with a luxurious feeling when worn.
I made a lot of mistakes on this garment and it took much stitch-ripping and resewing to get it right. I was lazy in my measuring and the lining was significantly wider than the outer garment, so I had to unpick a lot of my work and resew, giving the lining more generous seam allowances. Also, I had not yet learned the lesson that would serve me well later: never try to machine stitch the collar onto a lined kimono. There are just too many layers to get a beautiful seam where the collar meets the garment. No matter how I adjusted my machine, I was getting ripples. You will see, in subsequent projects, that I didn’t learn this lesson for many months. My insecurity with using a sewing machine after so many years of not using one led me to believe that it must be my lack of skill with the machine settings that was causing the problem, but it wasn’t.
So, I can’t beat myself up. As a first try at a lined kimono, I was very pleased with my choice of fabric and lining. The sand-coloured lining gives it the feel of something old and formal. It drapes well and feels wonderful to slip on. But a close look at the collar seams shows my lack of expertise. Luckily, my partner, Don, is not obsessionally observant, and thinks it’s wonderful.