Hakama Making

When we were in Japan in April, I picked up my first hakama. I gave you an introduction to it here, but it is honestly very quickly becoming a favourite addition to my kimono wardrobe. A hakama is a split side skirt (or pants) that you wear over your kimono. They honestly transform the kimono so much, from a rather slim-line dress to one that is flowy and free. 

The hakama I bought is 100% wool, so I'll be wearing it in the winter months, but I could see a light cotton one in my future to add to the spring/autumn kimono wearing. As it was, after wearing my purple hakama a few times, I was sure I could make my own. They are made from pleated rectangles of fabric with two waist ties, so very straight forward sewing. 

I did watch a handful of YouTube tutorials on hakama sewing to get a bit more of an idea about how to make them, though to be honest, what I was really after was a bit hard to find and a lot of the English tutorials were focused on cos-play versions, not authentic historical garment versions. Still good background knowledge to have. Everything else came from examining the hakama that I had on hand and trying to replicate it. 

I actually knew as soon as I decided I wanted to make one that I had the perfect fabric on hand already. From Ikea, of all places! I had bought two metres of this Japanese-looking maple print fabric a long time ago. It was so perfect for this project. I did some measuring though and found I would need at least another half a metre (for the ties), but I'd bought it so long ago it was no longer available! I did find it on the internet (Esty Canada) but paying what would work out to be $40 including shipping for a half a metre of material (that originally was $6/metre) just wasn't worth it. 

I ended up taking it to Spotlight and finding a matching plain fabric that worked for the ties. In the end, I actually think that was good anyway, since the hakama print combined with a yukata print can be a little overwhelming to look at; having the plain section in the middle to break it up is helpful. 

Deciding to just sew it on the machine, this was honestly the quickest article of Japanese clothing I've ever made. The pleats were the hardest thing, but otherwise, just so so straightforward, barely any seams (literally side seams, hem and then the ties - so minimal!) and all straight lines. If I ever need a quick palet cleanser again, this would be the garment to make!

I did about 80% of it (everything except the final sew of the ties) in a night and then left it with some heavy books on it to really help the pleats set in. It lay on the floor like that for a few days before I got around to finishing the ties. When it's all folded (in traditional origami-like Japanese style) it looks pretty dang cool. 

But even better wearing it to school. 

So hard to get a photo, so I waited until I came home and had these lovely girls help me. 

You can really see the split-side skirt nature of the hakama here. It was almost like having pockets to slide my hands into, and really, you could easily make some hidden ones to sit on the back of that front pannel with not a lot of hassle. 

I will say too, that a hakama is very "zero waste" sewing, since it was rectangles, the full width of the material, just cut to length and then sewn on to a waist band. Honestly, love this thing so much. The Ikea fabric was 100% cotton, but a heavier weight of fabric. Still, lighter than the wool one. I'd still like to make an even lighter cotton one, but for now, this is good. 

Happy days!