Japanese Kimono

Archive for June, 2010

Question: What kind of material goes into making a silk or satin Kimono Robe?

I would like to have a silk or saten kimono as a robe for around the house, but i'm 6 ft 2 inches. I would like to it to be very long. There are none sold in my size and to have it custom made would be ver expensive (i think). So i've decided to do it myself.

I've found a pattern to sew, but i need material. Does anyone know what kind of satin, or silk goes into making lingerie negliges? That's the texture i'm going for. Also, where can I get it.

Does anyone have any ideas.

Answer: Just walk into any fabric store or dept store that has a fabric dept and tell them you want to look at silk and satin material for a neglige. Then pick out the color or print you like and always purchase a little more than you need, in case of mistakes, or if it is at the end of the bolt and there are only a couple of yard left, buy them, you can always make something with the leftovers if not needed. But better not to have them run out, and then need some more.

Mary Green Satin Doll w/ Lace Kimono on a Las Vegas spokesmodel @ www.SheeaB.com

Question: What needle should I use to sew polyester and silk together?

I'm trying to make these really cool asian-like leggings. I bought a kimono (well, a japanese dress, but not really the original kimono...) which is 60% silk and 40% rayon. I want to sew this to another dress which is 100% polyester. (In other words, walmart doesn't offer enough variety of material and there are no other local places to buy it, so I'm compromising.) So, any suggestions on what size needle or any certain thread I should use?

Answer: If you can find a decent lightweight thread, use that. Otherwise, general purpose polyester thread should do nicely. Make some trial seams on scraps, paying special attention to stitch length, as closely woven (I'm assuming that's what you've got) fabrics tend to pucker from "thread jamming" fairly easily.

http://www.schmetzneedles.com/sizingguide.html

Again, assuming you're sewing wovens, I'd try a fairly small sized sharp needle. Needle size is related to fabric thickness -- I'm going to guess size 9/65 to 12/80 from what you've said. Use the smallest needle size that sews without skipping stitches. If you're buying Schmetz needles, the first point style I'd try would be Microtex, followed by Jeans. In other brands, choose a sharp.

But if you're in an area with a dearth of sewing supplies, chances are that a size 12/80 Schmetz universal needle will do fine. The others will do better, but the 12/80 universal point will sew virtually any garment weight fabric, knit or woven.

If your fabrics are knits, however, you want ballpoint needles -- universal, jersey or stretch points in Schmetz's terminology.

Handy needle/fabric matching guide:

Puckering and pulling threads are probably going to be your worst problems with these fabrics. Thread pulling usually stops with the right needle point and size. And here's an excellent tutorial on puckering here:

http://www.amefird.com/seam_puckering_bulletin.htm

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