Nihon Monkey Baby Blanket

I made this baby blanket for a friend of a friend whom had a baby last month. The couple is from Japan and they named their little girl Hanna. I have been eyeing this monkey-karate print at Joanns for a while, and I thought it would be perfect for a baby Japanese girl. The kanji script on it says "Nihon" which means "Japan". I used a cuddle flannel print for the back and tied it with white yarn.

I had a blanket like this someone in my family made me with Carebears for years and I'm sure it's still floating around somewhere. They're pretty easy to make but they're a lifetime of memories. I hope they like it!

It's been a few weeks now, but I made this dress for my friend Shannon. We went down to Lake Street Mercantile and she picked out this lovely blue and black plaid from their sale vault with every intention of making it for her and teaching her a little bit about how to sew.

I whipped this one out in a few hours, but considering it's the third time I've used this pattern, it was pretty much a cakewalk.

The pattern is from New Look. I love the cut and the way the bodice fits. Of course there are 3-4 different ways you can make it, but I've been pretty much using the same style every time and changing how I put the back together.

For Shannon's I used a criss-cross in the back so that it gave her a little more support. I also ommitted the zipper because it's just a casual sundress and, really, do you always need a zipper in these dresses?

Assembling the Hakama: Part One

Fabric

If you haven't yet, you will need fabric for your Hakama. Traditionally they were either a solid color for casual and stripes for something a little more formal. If you need ideas for what is most traditional, I suggest browsing Okinawa Soba's Flicker page for ideas. The colors might not be right, but it will demonstrate what patterns are best.

I am using a hefty synthetic khaki green fabric, it is not very traditional, but has a nice earthy quality to it.

Cutting, Assembly, and Pleats

Drafting A Hakama Pattern

For the longest time I have wanted to make a Japanese Hakama properly. I made one once before but I can't say that it was exactly accurate, considering I just kinda bought a whole lot of red fabric and made giant pleated pants. A friend of my has a birthday coming up and he is (literaly) my resident ninja, having spent years studying a form of Ninjitsu. So, what an excellent excuse to make him some Samurai inspired garb and whet my appetite to make Japanese clothes.

The first thing I needed to do is draft a pattern for the pants. I found this image a while back during one of my many long sessions online looking at Japanese traditional clothes. This one I found on sarcasm_hime.net Yes I am that kind of geek.

For the most part, Japanese clothing is made by piecing together long rectangles that create the sleek shapes we're so used to. This is evident by the way their fabric is made and dyed in long bolts usually 14-18" wide. Keeping that in mind, I didn't think that the flouted pant-legs in the pattern construction I found was necessary, so when I started making measurements and doing math, I decided I didn't want to make them taper out much from the hip.

Hakama are more than just baggy pants with some pleats. The pleats actually have a meaning,

seven total to represent each of the seven tenants of bushido. There should be five in the front and two in the back. In addition to representing the tenants, the extra baggyness of the pants is used to hide their movements during combat so their opponents cannot predict their next move. There is no need to make the pants any larger than necessary to include the pleats. I figure about three inches between each pleat, which adds quite a bit of fabric to each side, making them baggy enough.