BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Sewing Need a pattern for a long-sleeved kimono!

A few of my good friends and I are getting together for a sushi party. We're dressing up in formal kimonos and I'm making mine. The problem is, I don't have a pattern for a long-sleeved kimono. Sleeves traditionally show marital status in Japan. Short-sleeves are for married women, and long-sleeves are for unmarried girls, or a sign of elligibility. The pattern I bought, (to my slight horror) is only for short-sleeved. If anyone knows of a pattern for longer sleeves, please post here!

Thank you very much!

You should be able to draft the longer sleeves just by extending the sleeve pattern. Finding a long-sleeved kimono pattern in the US is hard.

According to the three books I have that dicuss the kimono, it's the obi that really denotes a woman's single or married status not the sleeves. Sleeves are longer on the young and for more formal occasions.

Oburisode is the name given to the most formal kimono worn by unmarried women, and the sleeves fall to the hem of the garment. This style is worn by brides or for extremely formal occasions. The most formal garment for a married woman is the black tomesode and the sleeves are a bit shorter than with the oburisode. The kimono is simply decorated with five crests and a design along the skirt.

Also, men's kimono have square sleeve ends, adult women's are rounded and children's are so rounded as to be almost circular.

Hope that helps.

Hi Trinity,

I found a web site that has a beautiful kimono pattern you might take a look at. The site is Sewing Central, historic patterns and fabric. The pattern is priced at 12.00.

http://www.sewingcentral.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=japan.html&cart_id=

Rae's suggestion is the quickest way for you to solve your problem. You can just draw out additional length on some tissue paper to extend the length of your paper pattern before cutting out your fashion fabric.

Good luck and let us know how you made out! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />