One of the creative decisions you can make with kimono is how to approach the collar. The structure is pretty much a fixed thing, but if you’re lining the garment, you can decide whether to make the collar from the outer fabric, or the lining.
I wanted to make something quite informal and cosy for my brother. He wanted something to wear instead of his bathrobe or a sweater on chilly mornings while working at home. So we went to the fabric store together, and he picked out a ballet pink double gauze for the outside, and we decided on a lining with a quiet print that would harmonise.
I wasn’t certain that the gauze he chose would have enough structure to act well as a collar. I feared it might fold and puddle around the neck area. So there were two options: to use some light interfacing that would give the collar structure, or use the lining as the fabric for the collar. While it was a fairly soft cotton poplin, it did have enough thickness to stand up if doubled.
This is rarely a worry with making yukata or kimono, because in that garment, the front side panels are folded like a fan and become an interior part of the collar. Plus, a kimono has a tomo eri (the collar’s friend) which is a shorter piece of fabric that lays over the collar around the neckline and, when worn or too stained, can be removed to reveal a pristine collar beneath. I have made a haori with a tomo eri for myself, but traditionally, they don’t have one.
In this case, using the lining as the fabric for the collar was a choice I’m very happy with. It’s visually pleasing, and gives the garment a touch of formality. However, while I love the feeling of the double gauze, it really doesn’t appreciate being ironed. And that is something we need to do, over and over, as we construct the garment. The ironing flattens out the fabric, which significantly broadens it and makes a nonsense of one’s measurements. The nature of the gauze’s wrinkled quality also doesn’t make for nice neat seams. On the bright side, my brother will never iron anything, so the practical part of this haori is that it can be thrown into the washing machine and dried out on the line.
As you can see from the two close-ups, I had a problem with the lining ‘leaking’ out beyond the sleeve. This is because I ironed both pieces very well before joining them. Once the moisture in the air ‘fluffed’ the gauze back up, it contracted. The other close-up shows a similar problem with the collar. In this case, because I joined the collar to the body after a good ironing which flattened out the gauze, in a couple of hours, it stitching that joins the collar to the body began to ripple. Here is an excellent reason to hand-sew. Had I been a little less diligent with my ironing before attaching the collar, I could have had a far neater join as hand-stitching allows for the variance of fabrics in a way that a machine stitch cannot.
So, yes, all in all, it looks a little… sloppy. But I’m confident that with wear and wash and time, this garment will find its groove, keeping my brother cozy on chilly mornings drinking coffee on the balcony.