Awhile ago I wrote a bit about John Marshall, a fabric artist and clothing designer who is very influenced by traditional Japanese clothing and dyeing. He is the author of an excellent book on traditional Japanese clothing construction, Make Your Own Japanese Clothes. In his own work, John moves beyond the ordinary into the extraordinary, with an excellent eye for detail and color. As an instructor, he is well-organized and clear, and very knowledgeable. As an artist, there are few to compare. His book is just like him – full of information that is detailed (but not annoyingly so) – and moves a traditional clothing into a modern vein.
Traditional Japanese clothing is made from fabric measuring about 13-14 inches wide. As a result, buying fabric requires buying yards of it! It comes in varying lengths on bolts, depending on what the final product is to be. There are traditional lengths for haori, for kimono, and so on. Modern Japanese stores carry modern fabrics, but probably have access to traditional fabrics. In the U.S., patterns for making traditional Japanese and Asian clothing may be found at Folkwear, a company with patterns for traditional clothing from around the world. These patterns allow you to use modern fabrics in modern widths, such as 45″ wide. The beauty of John’s book is that if you have Japanese fabric in traditional widths, you can use the patterns he provides without too much work. The selvages of the material are incorporated into the clothing construction, and sewing is minimal. Seams do not need to be finished to prevent raveling. The range of clothing is narrow, but the variety comes in the patterns of the fabrics themselves.
The hippari is a wraparound top, essentially unisex according to Marshall, but generally worn by women. The male version of the hippari is the jimbei, another wraparound top but with side vents for coolness. The illustration on the above left is from page 83 of John’s book. He writes:
Of construction similar to the jimbei, except for tapered sleeves that stay out of the way and sewn (closed) side seams, the hippari is an infinitely practical as well as attractive top.
The hippari I made is an amalgamation of the two styles. I created vented sleeves for coolness, as I use it as a sort of smock over my regular clothes. The sleeves are gathered to keep them up and out of the way. The fabric is a modern kasuri fabric woven in the traditional width. The bolt measured about 10 yards in length, and using the layout in Make Your Own Japanese Clothes, I created a custom-fitted top.
I decided to sew my entire hippari by hand. I used 100% cotton thread and tested out some of the techniques illustrated in John’s book, as well as techniques I improvised and use in my own home-made clothing.
The idea of sewing clothing by hand probably seems daunting. I know for a fact my own handsewing is not what it could be with hours and hours of practice. I can do tidy little stitches, but sewing a backstitch for yards is not easy to do. The material needs to be stretched taut for the stitching to be easily accomplished. I stretched mine out on a large embroidery hoop at times, and at other times I just held it, stitched, and hoped for the best.
Sewing birds and clamps have been used for centuries to make this job easier, and traditional Japanese sewing boxes come equipped with just such items. If you wanted, you could use a C-clamp to hold your material in place. The nice thing, though, about sewing the hippari was the crispness of the fabric – it really allowed me to sew much more easily than a soft, drapey fabric. Washing has softened the material, and, yes, it did shrink, but not too much.
This photo shows the open armhole, which actually is very nice if you are planning to wear the hippari over other clothes. It gives a little more room for movement, as well as helps keep you cooler. As I tend to get warm easily, I decided to do the vented sleeves found in the jimbei. If you do this, be sure to reinforce the vent, otherwise you may need to re-stitch your seam.
A running stitch or back stitch may be used for the majority of the seams. The same can be used to hold the seams in place, such as under the arm. The straight edges of the selvages mean no finishing of cut edges, as you can see from the final photos below. Below, the running stitch is shown for the back center seam of the hippari in the left hand photo, and to the right is illustration of the selvage edge. The selvages are also seen in the photo above.
For greater detail of the hippari, click the next photo.
Altogether, this is an easy project if you want something different to do.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 