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List Price: $28.00
Best Price: $12.90 (new), $9.70 (used)
Availability: New (30), Used (25)
Author: John Marshall
Edition: 1st ed
ISBN: 087011865X
Number of Pages: 136
Publication Date: 1988-11-15
Publisher: Kodansha International

Customer Review

Wonderful Book! Invaluble Reference!! (note some patience required)
by Customer A3FIW1PGC1H599 at February 12th, 2006
The book outlines how to make different styles of Japanese garments for both men and women. It also provides instructions on lining and padding garments, and types of stitches used. The author often gives both the traditional method of making a garment and modern alternatives to make life easier.

The author provides short instructions and diagrams to instruct you how to make your chosen garment. At first glance I found the instructions could sometimes seem unclear (and I am a fairly experienced with sewing!). This is not a book for someone who wants an "easy sew" 1 hour project. However I usually found that once I read over the instructions a few times they made sense. You will have to flip back and fourth between pages in the book (once section for lining, once for making outer garment...). I just had to have a little patience, since I am not as familiar with sewing Kimono. Anyone can make these garments with a little patience. These garments are made from very simple pattern, and basic sewing skills, but yield beautiful results! The main thing to remember is that it may take some time to go through the book and really make certain you understand all the steps in the proper order.

The book is a wonderful reference because you can make all these garments without buying patterns from the store but just using grid paper and taking your own measurements. At its most basic, a Kimono is essentially made by sewing different size rectangles together. So the basic pattern is very simple to draw. I did find it helpful to practice making a miniature version of the kimono out of inexpensive cotton fabric and lining to practice some of the techniques the book describes, before actually making a kimono out of expensive fabric.

www.ichiroya.com is a wonderful source for relatively inexpensive kimono fabric and other Japanese fabrics by the bolt (1 bolt=1 garment). They also have partially finished, and finished garments as well that can be helpful to look at.

You should note that this book does not provide much instruction on how to wear kimono. Formal Kimono dress can be very complicated, for example in Japan they offer classes in how to wear kimono, and many people are assisted by licensed kimono dressers for formal events! You can buy a book on how to wear Kimono or use one of the many websites which can provide you with instructions on how to wear basic cotton kimono called yukata and even simple formal Kimono and Obi.
One helpful example for Women's Formal Kimono http://japan-cc.com/kimofaq3.htm and Obi http://japan-cc.com/kimofaq4.htm

I recommend this book very highly to anyone really interested in learning more about or making Japanese garments. Especially since comparatively this is one of the better resource books on sewing japanese garments available at the moment! :-)

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