How to Make Kimono, Hakama, and Haori

See what I'm wearing above you? That's a typical ensemble from the Japanese TV show, Bleach. And it isn't all that hard to make, I promise.

We'll start with the most essential piece, the kimono. Kimono, broken down, is "ki" from ""kiru" which means "to wear" and "mono" which means "things", so "wearing things" or "things to be worn".

Incredibly enlightening!

Since I've already written a set of instructions on kimono making on the Anime Pulse forums, I'll reiterate them here with some added photographs.

A. Measure shoulder to floor, shoulder to chest, and girth (widest part around

B. To size the pieces: Take girth measure, divide by 4, and add 2.5in. This is the body width (Traditional kimono are usually 13 inch wide panels, that's how I make mine, but if you're larger, you need to do it this way, smaller folks can stick with the traditional 13 in panels, or fit them to their bodies). Height: add 5in to shoulder-to-floor measurement, then multiply by 2. If making a furisode, add 20in.
Cut two pieces rectangular using this height and width. This is the body.
Take chest-to-floor measurement, add 5in (again, 20in for a furisode). Use that as the hight and 7in s the width for the side pieces. You need two.
For the sleeves, you need two pieces 18x30. If your arms are really long or really short, alter the 18in measurement as needed, not the 30in. Likewise, if you are making furisode, make the 30in side as long as you want. That will make the sleeves fall to the floor for a formal unmarried women's kimono.
The last piece is the collar, 10x60. There are no alterations to this piece unless it is a child's kimono.

C. Now that you have the pieces, assemble.
Take the two body pieces and put the long ends side-by-side and sew halfway up. The seam is the seam running down the back. DO NOT SEW MORE THAN HALFWAY. Otherwise, you just made a wide piece of cloth. If you did it right, you could put it on you where the seam is at your back and two flaps in the front.  

D. Cutting along the seam you just made, cut one inch. from where you had originally sewn, cut two inches off either side, making it a U shape for at the back of your neck. This is where the collar will go at the end. 

E. Attach sleeves. Attach them on the 30in side to the outer sides of the kimono, then sew the 18in side shut.You can hem the sleeves now, if you want.

F. Sew the sides of the kimono shut, but not the front. You now have an open bag with sleeves, basically. 

G.Starting from the bottom, attach the two extra panels, one to each side, to the front of the kimono.  

H. Sew the collar in half so it is now 60x5 instead of 60x10. This gives it extra strength to stand up. 

I. Starting from the middle of the U, attach the collar. It should slope down. Sew the collar into itself to make it 60x2.5, and very firm. Hem the bottom and sides to finish.

 Hakama:

Hakama are the pants/skirts worn by samurai to prevent chafing from the saddle and  leg rash from rubbing against underbrush. Eventually, they became a common staple of clothing, worn over the kimono by both men and women.

A. Measure waist-to-floor and girth (width around) at the waist. The waistline for the hakama does not have to be at your natural waist- for women, especially, it falls much higher, sometimes even to the breastline. Look at what you are trying to emulate and measure based on that.

B. Cut the fabric. If you're using a piece that is the width of a standard Western bolt of fabric (42 inches, usually), just measure the length down from step A, add five inches, and cut straight across. I'm a little over 5 feet, so say my hakama is 2'6" after adding the 5 inches. The piece I now have would be 30x42. Do this a seccond time, then split the width of each piece in half, making my own hakama pieces 30x21.

C. Hakama need to be worn with kimono; they have deep slits in the sides that let the kimono show through. So:

Cut away the top of the hakama pieces so you have a tab at one end on each. Fold this tab down, two towards you and two away, and sew on that line.

This creates the slits.

D. Match up two of these panels so that the rough edges and extra fabric are on the outside, and sew all the way down the outer side. Do for the other set, too. You now have two pieces of fabric that have a "v" in them from the slits.

E. Sew the middles shut. It will look like this:

Congrats! You now have a huge pair of loose pants! But, other than the side slits, they don't look much like hakama, do they? What re they missing? Hakama are pleated.

F. Ignore the ribbing behind the pleats, that's just the unfinished backside. Look at your picture of the kind of hakama you want and count the pleats, pinning them at the top of the hakama. Measure a long band that goes twice around your waist and then some for the hakama tie, and sew the tie into the pleats at the top. This is about the best description I can give, sorry.

G. Pleat the back, and add a piece of looped piece of cloth (the belt loop, if you will) so the hakama belt can loop arount the back, through, and to the front to be tied. Some hakama, like Ulqiorra's from Bleach, don't tie in the front, and handle accordingly. As with the kimono, hem all rough edges (The bottom, here), to finish.

Learn how to wear a kimono properly here!