Skills & Techniques

Resources for Hanten Construction

Madeleine — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 08:37:52 +0000

There is a charming video on the entire process from weaving to finished hanten at a factory in Japan, and it is kind of worth watching to get a solid idea of the construction process. This other video shows a smaller production establishment, but as you can see, they are using a very specific kind of fluffy cotton wadding that, I suspect, is not easy to get outside Asia. Here is a Japanese…

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Cutting plan for Kimono

Madeleine — Sat, 17 May 2025 16:22:03 +0000

In Japan, kimonos were traditionally made from narrow bolts of fabric called tanmono. These were more than 12 meters long and wide enough for a generous 1/2 yuki. What is brilliant about these bolts, is that you get selvage on both sides of almost all the largest seams, so finishing the raw edges was almost a breeze. Also, the selvages of a tanmono might easily be considered to have a kind of wabi…

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Kimono Measurements

Madeleine — Sat, 17 May 2025 14:24:02 +0000

The prime reason you won’t find a legitimate kimono paper pattern is because you don’t need one. As there are only really two measurements you will need in order to calculate all the rectangular pieces that make up a kimono or a haori. The single most important one – the one that determines how you will measure everything else – is the yuki. This is the length from the middle of the nape of…

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A Simple Haori Pattern

Madeleine — Sat, 17 May 2025 09:33:42 +0000

This is just a simple PDF you can download and use. But first, you will need to measure your yuki and decide how long you’d like the haori to be. I strongly advise you to choose a fairly wide fabric, as this will allow for you to cut the body piece alongside the collar (which needs to be 15cm wide and the length of the body piece plus about 20 cm). As long as you don’t have to match any patterns…

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The Elements of a Kimono

Madeleine — Sat, 17 May 2025 09:24:36 +0000

Like any kind of craftsmanship that’s been around for centuries, kimono-making has built up an enormous vocabulary to refer to the various parts of a kimono, the various types of kimono, and the techniques used for creating them. I do not want to overload you with new terms in a language you may not speak that are so hyper specific. That being said, I found it was helpful to learn some of the…

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