DIY Short Kimono

All week I've been posting inspiration for the kimono and today I have my own version to share with you. Inspired by the many DIY kimonos on the web and my summer stashbust pledge, one night I grabbed this sheer print from the fabric stash drawer and set to work. It's not a perfect make but I think I learned some things in the process and now know what I would do differently next time.

The fabric is a remnant that I picked up a few years ago from Michael Levine (??). I like the print but never really found the right to make with it. I've also now realized that I have too many sheer prints in my stash and need to practice resistance when encountering those beauties in the bargain bin. Put down the fabric and back away! The fabric was fairly easy to work with – not too slippery. Because of the sheerness, I used french seams.

I devised my own pattern for this using this vintage kimono as a guide. I took measurements of the sleeves and body and put it in Illustrator to see how much fabric I would need. I made all of the pieces rectangles so that I could just rip pieces from the fabric. Yes! A no-scissors pattern! In retrospect, it would be nice to have a little bit of curve around the neck but this was a great experiment! I tore pieces for the front, back, sleeves, sleeve bands and neck band.

The only other change I would make is the length of the body. Looking at the pictures now, I really wish that the body was longer than the sleeves. I have some black sheer fabric leftover from lining this dress that I'm thinking about using to extend the hem. What do you think? Should it be longer with a contrast hem?