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Kimono Project: Juban Progress

The foundation of my other kimono are currently sewn together. I have a few minor things to do with them. 

For the black hanjuban, I have to...well...want to hand sew the han eri (collar cover). 

For the white nagajuban I am waiting for my emon-nuki to arrive in the mail. (USPS has really been a pill lately. While tracking I saw it was IN my city and now it's in New Mexico. LOGISTICS!?) I decided for my white nagajuban that the han eri will be left un-sewn for now. I'm attaching them with safety pins. Although, I may sew down the plain han eri by hand and leave the more colorful one as a pinned version. 

Here are some pictures! 

Masculine Hanjuban

Back of the collar

White Nagajuban. 
Nagajuban with embroider ribbon han eri. 

Some thoughts about what I learned making these two garments. 

Sleeves

I have this preconceived notion about the different sleeve construction for male and female juban. I had assumed that the armhole on the main body and on the sleeve were both smaller for men's sleeve. So, for the hanjuban I sewed my side seams up to a marking on the pattern that said "female sewing line" because I thought "Oh, maybe the pattern is mislabeled. There were a couple of confusing things in the instructions." However...
That preconception was a bit incorrect. See, on female garments there is an opening up the side called "miyattsuguchi" that's about 14 cm (5.5"). However, the "armhole" is the same size on both male and female garments. The opening is made because you only sew half the armhole for female sleeves but the full armhole for male sleeves. 
So I kinda goofed my male juban except you can also use tube sleeves on juban which is what I did. I wanted small sleeves on that in the first place. So that was the other hot tip I learned so I could say it was happy accident. 

Seam Finishing

For the hanjuban, I did not feel like doing anything more than pinking and pressing, so I did. 
But I knew I wanted to do French seams for the nagajuban...OMG...what a difference it makes! I think it'll be the method I use for my other garments! Except for the yukata. That will still use the serger. 
I also ended up doing something I don't often do...press my seams. This is a LAZY habit and it's no good. However, in my defense, pulling out my heavy iron and ironing board just to have on hand is a hassle and tires me out. Soooo that segue ways nicely into...

The Gadgets I Got

I got some nifty gadgets to help with my sewing for these projects.
  • Hera Dai Board
  • Ironing Pad
  • Mini Steam Iron
  • Mini Seam Press Iron
  • Magnetic Stitch Guide
  • Blind Foot
  • Wide Hem Foot
The ironing pad + Hera dai board have been great helping press seams in a convenient way. It's way bigger than my ironing board and having it on the floor actually helps. 

The mini steam iron is so nice for seams. It's light-weight so it's great for seams and bouts of steam. 

The seam press iron looks kind of like a kote or Japanese iron. It has a small trowel shape to it which means it might work for marking on my hera dai. But it's size make it perfect to keep near my machine as I sew to quickly press a seam. 

The Stitch guide has sorta helped. My uneven cutting is troublesome and if I don't put it in the right spot it can move because there's not enough metal to cling too. BUT it has pulled its weight with helping me feed the fabric evenly. 

Wide foot hem took a bit of trial and error. After a couple of YouTube videos I was able to get a better handle on it. It does make for a nice finish for the hems! 

Blind Hem Foot was a secret weapon I didn't know I had. Because the foot has a built-in guide it's been amazing for top stitching. I tried to do a blind hem but I got my folds confused. I will attempt that again. 

The Pattern

This was a great pattern, but it did include instructions for a lot of things at once. Because Hadagi and Juban are very similar in construction, the instructions mixed steps for BOTH within the same section. And I think there were a couple of times where it said the step was for hadagi when it was probably for the hanjuban. However, just like in most of my patterns, I just highlight what I'm working on to try and avoid confusion. I mean, there's SO many parts of the kitsuke kit you can sew based on the pattern and instructions. It's honestly worth it! 

My Schedule

Starting this new year, I decided to plot out which days I would work on projects so they all make progress at least bit by bit. And so far, it's helped keep me disciplined and making good progress. I got these two juban sewn quicker than I'd thought but still pacing myself and only working when I could concentrate well. (Had a few migraines this month.) 
Even if the schedule is more of a guideline, I'm actually making steady progress!
It's my hope to make a full kimono in time for a multi-culture festival at my church in March. I'd like to wear my green Polish design so I may bump it up the process line. 
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