https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/make-a-kimono • Posted by Erin H.
Kimono's appear to be all the rage at the moment, and that means one thing: shops are selling them at insanely high prices. So why not save your wallet some pain and make one instead! Cheaper AND unique!
Kimono's appear to be all the rage at the moment, and that means one thing: shops are selling them at insanely high prices. So why not save your wallet some pain and make one instead! Cheaper AND unique!
Find a fabric that you want for your kimono. My fabric is pretty thick, but you can always use sheer fabrics if you want to wear your kimono on warmer days. About 1.5m of fabric is all you need, and you can always cut it down if you wish.
Fold your fabric in half horizontally (right sides together) so that the two shorter ends meet.
Fold your fabric in half again, but this time in the opposite direction (vertically) so you are left with a rectangle 1/4 of the size you started with.
Position your fabric so that the two sides that have all of the open ends are at the bottom and on the right hand side of your fabric. Now you will start cutting, there's no correct measurement to cut, so there's no need to be exact! For my kimono I left 12 inches of fabric along the bottom and then started cutting straight up until I was about 15 inches from the top. Once there I started cutting at a right angle to where I had been, (so I was now cutting horizontally) until I reached the edge of my fabric. If you want the sleeves of your kimono to not be so big and flowy you can leave less than 15 inches at the top.
Now when you unfold your fabric it should look like a giant "T". From here you need to sew along the cuts you just made. You can also overlock the edges to stop them from fraying if you wish.
Now that your sleeves are all sewn up, lay your fabric back down so it is sitting flat. Making sure that you're only cutting through one side of the fabric, cut right up the middle of the "T" shape until you reach the top. Once you've cut to the top, also cut approximately 5 inches across on either side of this vertical cut.
From the edge of these 5 inch horizontal cuts that you just made, cut a diagonal line down to the vertical cut and repeat this on the other side. This will help your kimono sit nicer around your neck. After that, all that is left to do is hem the bottom if you want it to be shorter, and make sure that no edges are going to start fraying! Then you're done! Enjoy your new kimono. How easy was that! (As you can see in the photos, I also made a sheer orange kimono and added sherring to the endings of the sleeves. If you don't want your sleeves to hang down so low you can always do this so it sits tighter against your wrists!)