Sewing a Japanese Kimono - Part 1

March 18, 2025

The 113 Japanese Kimono is one of Folkwear's first and oldest patterns.  It was originally published in 1977 and has not really had any changes made to the pattern over those nearly 50 years.  Which shows what a classic pattern it really is.  Our Japanese Kimono pattern includes pattern pieces and instructions to make a traditional Japanese yukata, or informal kimono -- an everyday kimono.  This garment has a long history and the pattern goes into the history, as well as teaches sashiko embroidery (traditional Japanese running stitch embroidery), and shibori dyeing (traditional Japanese resist dyeing).  

Sashiko embroidery on the bottom of Folkwear's kimono sample.

The construction of our Japanese Kimono is different than a typical sewing pattern, and I thought it would be helpful to make one here so you could see how it goes together.  This is a pattern we sometimes get questions about since it comes together a bit differently than a typical Western-style garment.

Sizing

Our kimono pattern is sized for a "small woman" to a "large man".  Though this sizing seems a bit vague and there are no other measurements to see what the size might mean, the reason for this sizing also goes back to the traditional nature of this pattern.  Japanese fabrics were woven on 13" to 15" wide looms, so kimonos were made with 13"-15" wide panels of fabric (or panels that were half of that size).  The whole (or half) panels were used because if you have a hand-woven fabric, you would not want to cut small sections off to fit a smaller person.  Hand-woven fabric was precious and kimonos are usually made with very little, if any, extra cuts in them -- there's a small curve cut for the neck opening and a diagonal for the front overlap, but even that can be cut so that the two pieces could be cut from one half-width of fabric. So, instead of cutting a fabric to size, the kimono is made to fit the person, with seam allowances that grow or shrink with the size you want to make.  

The kimono is not a fitted garment.  It is supposed to be somewhat loose and straight, depending on how you want to wear it.  It is usually worn over clothes or undergarments.  I list finished measurements for the kimono below (these are without overlapping any of the front), so you can see what size you might want to make. Remember that the kimono can be overlapped in the front and the overlap on each side of the front is about 6" wide (see image above for what this looks like).

In general, you can pick the size that you feel you are.  There is a lot of room in a kimono so as long as you are not making it way too large or way to small, you should be fine.  I feel like I am a medium-sized woman, so that is the size I chose to make.  

Finished Measurements for the 113 Japanese Kimono:

Yardages

Yardages in this pattern are given for the height of a person.  Again, this goes back to the traditional width of a Japanese kimono fabric.  All the pieces of the pattern will fit on the width of the 13" wide fabric.  So all sizes are included in the pattern pieces.  And therefore the yardage depends on how long you want to make the kimono.  Yardage on our pattern is provided for a person that is 5'4" to 6' tall.

Our pattern has yardages for fabric that is wider than 13" also.  We provide yardage for up to a 45" typical commercial width of fabric that you can find in the US.  For my kimono, I used a hand-batiked fabric from Ghana that was 45" wide.  I was able to get nearly the whole kimono cut from only 3 yards of the fabric.  I cut the inside yoke from a white muslin and the overband for the neck.  Since this part shows, I would recommend cutting the overband from matching pieces of fabric, but I just hand stitched a section of the main fabric over the overband to cover the white part.  

So, take the yardages as a suggestion -- you can probably get away with less yardage for wider fabric, but be prepared and maybe measure first.  You mainly need enough yardage to cut the whole front and back length of the kimono plus the length of the sleeves.  Then you can likely cut the rest of the pattern from what is left over.

Sleeve length makes a difference.  If you are cutting the longer, more formal sleeves, you will need more yardage.  Since I only had 3 yards, I could only fit the shorter sleeves (and I had to be creative about how I cut them as I only had room for one sleeve after cutting the front/back, so I cut the only sleeve on the cross-grain from the leftover fabric.

Fabric

As mentioned above, the kimono is sized to be cut from traditional 13" wide fabric.  However, since it is often the case that people don't have traditional Japanese kimono-width fabric, the pattern also has options to cut from wider fabric.  With the 13" wide fabric, it is basically a no-waste pattern.  But you can cut your kimono from just about any type of fabric.  Cotton is a traditional yukata fabric to use, especially in blue or indigo. But silk is also popular.  You can make your kimono from a wide variety of fabrics.  Generally, a medium to light weight fabric is best.  Since the front and back are cut as one piece, you don't want a fabric with a one-way design or nap/pile.  Otherwise, there are loads of options.  

I chose to make my kimono with a hand-batiked cotton that I got from Ghana.  This cotton is lightweight and does not have a one-way design.  The large leaf-like fronds remind me of the plant prints you sometimes see in Japanese fabrics.  Again, I only had 3 yards of this 44" wide fabric and it was just enough to make my kimono with some creative cutting of the sleeves and overband.  You'll want at least 3.5 yards or more if you are making the longer sleeves.  

A sample of the fabric I used to make my kimono.

Notions

The only notion you need for making a basic kimono is thread.  Use polyester or cotton thread.  You will machine sew most of the kimono, but some parts require hand sewing (whipstitching).  Our pattern teaches sashiko embroidery and shibori dyeing, and you will need extra supplies for those techniques if you want to incorporate those in your kimono.  If you want to use these techniques, you should read about them in the pattern before starting on your kimono.

Part Two will show how the kimono is made! Stay tuned!

If you are inspired to make your own kimono, check out our pattern here, 113 Japanese Kimono.

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