Making Kimono & Japanese Clothes Hardcover – Illustrated, January 1, 2004

Aside from providing a detailed, awesomely photographed, history of how kimonos changed over centuries, a practical discussion of different types of kimonos, how to use traditional construction techniques, & how to adapt traditional designs to your measurements are included. It is the most complete book on construction I have discovered. Templates for various types are included along with Construction for Japanese-style pants & “Cummerbund” wrapping, wide waistband/obi often used with formal kimonos. Decorative techniques such as silk painting & traditional Japanese shashiko stitching, as well as pieced & quilted kimonos, are briefly covered.

This book had all the information I needed to construct the kimono. Some good history thrown in. Need some sewing experience to get the most out of the book.

Exactly as presented in the description, this is what I have been searching for.

I found that the instructions to sew a specific garment lack a lot of basic information, I had to use a lot of extra resources to be able to make the kimono. At the end, I ended up disregarding these instructions completely, as better information is found elsewhere. Furthermore, upon more research, this is not even close to the traditional way to make these pieces, these are heavily adapted. I would expect these to be faithful to original examples, but unfortunately they aren't.

This book arrived sooner than stated👍. Although I bought it as a “used” book it was in perfect condition. It has everything I was looking for. Thank you!

In addtion to photos of beautiful fabrics, the section with measurements was exactly what I wanted.

This is a fine book for those who enjoy knowing more about and actually planning to construct Japanese clothing. It is well written, beautifully illustrated with fine photography, and finely detailed in the basic elements of all the parts to finishing a traditionally styled garment.

This is an excellent book for anyone wishing to start making Kimonos. Has an explanation for how to make "That" sleeve. Also good history on the kimono and other cloths.

With lovely photography and some great illustrations of antique kimono (including the one on the cover) this book seems promising, but the approach to sewing kimono is not authentic - the entire construction of the lined kimono is non traditional, for example (perhaps to try to make it easier for machine sewing?) The author's knowledge of kimono also seems a little shaky in parts (such as labelling one example of haori as a child's kimono). A large amount of the book is taken up with Japanese workwear and seems to be trying to cover much of the same ground as John Marshall did in "Make your own Japanese Clothes"; indeed, some of the non-traditional sewing "shortcuts" that are used in his book but not in genuine Japanese sewing (such as sleeve linings being made 100% separate from the sleeve and only attached at the cuff and back) seem to be copied here. Probably more for the quilter, embroiderer or dyer who wants to make a Japanese style garment than for true kimono afficionados, for whom Marshall's book would be the better buy.

An interesting book, and with a little inspiration it is easy to create new versions of this comfortable and elegant clothing that never dates. Beautiful photographs.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the construction of Japanese clothing. I especially like the child's jacket. The photographs are of a good quality and the diagrams are helpful. The westernised versions of garments were of less interest to me, but worth having anyway

This is a beautiful book, and I can not wait to make a Kimono or jacket, I just need to decide on which one first!

Lovely book with beautiful pictures. I look forward to using it's patterns.