Now that I’ve been wearing facemasks for a while, I decided I should have something more polished. I can sew after all. So here is a more polished version. It was made using these very detailed instructions.
It looks great, but I don’t like the fit as well as my old pleated rectangles. They cover much higher on my nose and way down on my chin.
Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings and travel, the SCA Kingdom of Aethelmearc decided to have spring academy online. Now comes the question of what I should teach. Fortunately, one of the regular attendees of online sewing asked for instructions to make a simple Japanese skirt.
Why a skirt? Well, for a woman, hakama pants are pretty challenging to manage when using the toilet. In a port-a-john that may have muddy/wet floors, it’s worse. Now what about a simple kosode? Well the concern is freedom of movement especially if you are cooking, or carrying things around. So an ankle-length skirt over a loose-fitting top would be better.
I have two Japanese skirts that I make and wear. The first is a hakama, but sewn as a skirt by sewing the front left and right from waist to hem. Same for the back left and right. Do this instead of creating split leg hakama with a gusset or a long inseam panel. I have seen one or two examples of hakama skirts in books and display, but they were from the Heian period, were red, and the skirt length was longer than floor length. Mine are ankle length and not red, and they are good working clothes.
The second skirt is a wrap-around skirt called a mobakama. It is shown in the costume museum website and book and in another book. It is from the Kamakura period, and was a maid’s garment. The skirt length was just above the ankle. That sounds like the perfect working garment. Better still, there are examples of this garment in historical costume books. This is the garment that I researched, made, and taught.
The pictures all show a wraparound skirt with the tie, or himo, worn slightly above the natural waistline. The garment hem is just above or at the top of the ankle. One example is clearly a silk jacquard weave, but the others may have been silk, raime or hemp. All are shown with simply dye patterns, although the plaid skirt was probably woven.
How many pleats, how deep, where they were positioned and whether they were box pleats or knife pleats seems to have varied in the garments that I saw pictured. My recommendation is that the finished skirt wrap at least 1 1/2 times around your waist and that the starting panel should be at least 3 times your waist before pleating.
I made a sample garment, to make sure I had reasonable instructions for assembly. I assumed modern fabric width and that you were using a sewing machine. I also did a simple dye pattern on the fabric. Both the construction, and the dyeing efforts were instructional for me and I made sure to include lessons learned in the class.
The waistband isn’t centered at the top of the skirt. The bow is tied at outer edge of the wrapping, so you need to figure out how to attach it so that you have two equal lengths when tieing the bow. It took me a while to realize that the waist tie wraps twice around the waist and ends at the bow, so that the midpoint of the waistband should sit right under the bow. Then I take the pleated skirt without the waistband attached and wrap it so that the outer edge is where I want it. Then attach the midpoint of the himo at a point just below that outer edge.
Regarding the dyeing lessons. I had a few. 1. Thiox can go bad with age. It is used as a reducing agent with pre-reduced indigo crystals. There are alternative reducing agents that don’t expire as quickly, so I should pick one of them next time. 2. If you want to do a fading dip dye pattern, indigo isn’t the best choice for a dye. You want to reduce the amount of oxygen that you introduce to the dye vat. You also need to keep the fabric free-moving in the dye so the dye is even but that is difficult when you are dip-dyeing. 3. I had a medium weight hemp, so it won’t bleed as much as say a silk especially a lightweight silk.
Anyway here is the finished product. And here are the instructions:
