THE OBI

Male obi are narrow and stiff throughout. Normally this is because they use a very heavy, often double-woven fabric. This is a good place to use something interesting but too stiff for clothes. Male obi are always low key fabrics.

Female obi are wider, but for the majority of their length are folded in half -- often blindstitched on the loose edge -- and only released at the bow end.

You must cut the obi on the grain of the fabric or it will tend to twist when you have made it into a tube -- the narrow male obi especially. I had a fabric where the stripes were not printed straight to the grain, which was terribly slanted, and made the obi anyway. Swear, swear, cuss, cuss, whether pressing or dressing.

Cut the male obi 18" (45 cm) by 1 1/2" (3.75 cm), the female 24"-30" (60 75 cm) by 4"-5" (10-12.5 cm). Stripes may run lengthwise or across the obi, as you like.

Right side to right side, seam it along both ends and the length, leaving a 2" (5 cm) gap around the middle. Press this seam open, then turn through the opening. Fold in its edges and blindstitch closed. Press flat.

The male obi is now finished.

For the female one, fold it in half lengthwise. Blindstitch the edge from one end to within 8" (20 cm) of the other.

HIMO

Figure two per layer of kimono, one per false neck band. You want any cotton-like thin fabric or tape, 1/8 to 1/4" wide (0.3125 -0.625 cm) by four times the doll's hip measurement. Satin ribbon is too slick. Grosgrain is a bit stiff. Twill tape, 1"-1/2", folded by the following method, is great. You can cut light broadcloth to a thread to make certain you are on the grain, 1" (2.5 cm) wide. Press it in half lengthwise, then press the edges in towards the center to hide them. Top-stitch the length and ends -- himo should never be seen, anyway. This is exactly how Kabuki Hawai'I made himo out of unbleached muslin, by the hundred. Human-size himo are an inch wide, so scale down from that for other dolls.

SOME MALE OVERGARMENTS

A red plaid coat adds brightness over the dull green, dark blue, and light blue kimono of the gentleman in the center. The woman standing wears a similarly green kimono with calligraphy printed around the hem, a black obi with gold-embroidered end, and a light blue under-kimono with medium blue spots. The other three have mon, circular heraldic designs printed on paper, sewn to the center back, back sleeves and each front of their kimono. She has a hem print on her kimono, over a two-toned brown striped underkimono. At the time of this cherry-blossom-viewing picnic, women were wearing their kimono trailing more often, which means you cut it longer, not leave out the drape at the hip. You must still pull upwards as well as inwards when you tie on the kimono. You just leave a bunch trailing below the doll's feet. As you might guess, this requires fairly soft fabric.

The haori is a shortened kimono, worn open over the kimono and obi, that has a cord fastening sewn at chest level into the seam of the front extension. A hapi coat has no fastening. There is also a sleeveless vest based on the kimono body, with a front cord fastening.
Two points you should watch when adapting the kimono to these garments. Be sure to extend the neckband piece so it goes all the way to the hem, which should fall at mid-thigh. Second, if the gentleman is a sword wearer, the back seam should be open from the waist down to allow his swords to go through.
These are all male garments. Female samurai ready for serious action may dress male, putting hakama and hapi or haori over their kimono tied with a boy-style obi. They may also just himo their kimono on knee length, wear red leggings, and tie back their sleeves with a cord or scarf.

THE JAPANESE IDEAL
Fashion dolls don't fit it! The ideal female figure is not hourglass, but cylindrical and flat-chested, and not square-shouldered but round shouldered. The male ideal figure is not the broad-shouldered inverted triangle, but more like a sea-lion: shoulders not so heavy, with a bit of belly! Japanese women nowadays wear a sleeveless undertop that includes padding to fill out the waist and has little shoulder pads *up by the neck* to round the look of their shoulders. In kabuki, we didn't worry so much about shoulders, but we would tie layers of folded bath towels around actors' waists to pad them out. A woman playing a young man (common at Kabuki Hawai'i) carried quite a few on stage!

So you might consider applying a wrapping of felt to a doll. First, try out the costume as sewn to see if the underlayers aren't padding enough. If they aren't, cut a strip of neutral-colored felt -- white, beige, peach, grey -- 2" (5 cm) wide by enough to overlap hip-point to hip-point in the front and wrap a few on until the waist disappears. The reason for not just wrapping it around and around like a bandage is that it would make the thickness equal all around, when the place that you need to fill in extra is in the front, always, on account of a plastic bust that can't be compressed.

The Japanese ideal is pale -- very pale. This is another reason to resculpt or repaint light vinyl Milleniums^TM, Mackies^TM, Steffies^� and Divas^�. The Kiras^� are all brown like field workers, since this Asian-American spends a lot of time outdoors with Barbie^�. Ladies from Tokyo have pink and white complexions lighter than many a blonde on the beach has. Since autumn is chilly, the girl in this print is again wearing a padded kimono with the lining showing at the neckband. Her under-kimono is pale blue-violet as you can see at wrist and throat. One wooden hairpin is balanced with a ball of silk flowers. The two blue cylinders are the ends of a single rod put through the hair in front of the wooden comb. The tassels sticking up at the back are the paper band with fringed ends that helps tie her gummed and rigid hair in place. The red and white ends are also paper, fastened lower down.

The accessories ideal is also very different. Off the hair, a woman has very few. (Hairdressing and hair ornaments are a whole other book.) Absolutely no jewelry is traditional, and modern girls will still eschew it in traditional dress. The fan is always and only the V-shaped folding fan, never a round fan and certainly never a feather fan. That's Victorian European! A woman tucks her fan into her neckline at the obi, so it can be considered part of the dress. She may carry a tanto there, too, but with the hilt pretty thoroughly hidden. If she has a little silk purse for money, it may go into the space in the front of her obi, under the scarf. A larger purse, a folded-over square of fabric with tasseled ties, will go right in the front of her neckline.

Samurai and chonin swords are worn with the scabbard thrust down through the left side of the obi. There is no separate sword belt. A man usually carries his fan in his hand, but he may tuck it in his obi, wherever it is handy. His paper handkerchiefs, tobacco, money, car keys, and other loose gear are in his kimono sleeves. To get them he pulls that hand inside the sleeve, then emerges with the wanted object. No pockets or purse required.