THE BASIC KIMONO

The most common fabrics are printed cottons and silk crepes, because they don't try to slip out of position. After them come brocades, since they have their own mild tooth. Trying to use taffetas, satins, or other slithery fabrics for kimono creates a challenge for the dresser. Some items never used in traditional dress: velvet, plush, velour, and such pile fabrics; lace or any openwork; feathers, despite the use of feather patterns; leather (Buddhist abhorrance of dead animals; silkworms and fish are "insects" and don't count); soft sheers, though crispy sheers have their place in some religious habits and summer costumes.

Fabrics will have to be lighter and softer than actual kimono fabrics, since the thickness as well as the lengths and widths have to be scaled down to get the right hang. You know the routine: thin scarf fabrics will be fine for light-weight doll kimono, heavy kimono silks for medium weight doll kimono, heavy dress fabrics for stiff obis, otherwise stiff fabrics -- pass them by.

In female costume, the obi should generally be of the richest fabric in the outfit, or as rich as the kimono fabric. That is, you can put a brocade obi on a cotton or printed silk crepe kimono, but you would not put a cotton obi on a brocade kimono. Male dress demands that the obi and kimono stay equal: cotton on cotton, silk on silk, brocade with brocade.

Some mini fabrics that have the Japanese feeling. All are from sewing shops or vintage clothes -- you don't have to go Japan for something that looks right. Simple small stripes always work.

Japanese fabrics come in bolts called tan which are usually only 16" (40 cm) wide, though this can vary from 13" to 18" (32.5-45 cm). This allows clothing to be cut and have the selvedges act as seam binding. To preserve the selvedges and still fit the garment, Japanese seamstresses are used to using variable seam allowances. If you can find a soft 2.5" to 3" ribbon (6.25-7.5 cm), you can do the same.

Because Barbies^� in general and the gymnast bodies especially are long limbed and narrow, we will cut the body with a 2.5" tan and the sleeves with a 3" tan. Otherwise, the sleeves barely cover the elbows, or the seam allowances are huge. If you're sick of itty-bitty seam allowances being sucked into your feed dogs, you may like the 3" tan! In that case, you will have to mark in your changes to some of the measurements I give, and increase the seam allowances to take up the excess width.

Because I am dressing several Japanese dolls, I cut several strips a couple of yards long in each tan width and keep them on mini-bolts. Be sure whenever possible to cut to a thread for really straight fabric. In this scale the slightest wandering can cause you far too many challenges.

These are the pieces you will cut:
(Note: conversions to metric are base on 25mm to the inch. This isn't rocket science.)

MALE DOLL

PART	SIZE AND SHAPE	BODY MEASUREMENT
Body half (cut 2)	2.5" x 26" (6.25 cm x 65 cm)	Tan x (shoulder to ground + twice crotch depth + hem)
Front extension (cut 2 as mirrors of each other)	1 1/4" x 12 3/4" (31.875 cm) on one side, 11 1/8" (27.8125 cm) on the other	Tan x (bustpoint to ground + twice crotch depth + hem)
Neckband (cut 1)	1 1/8" x 12" 2.8125 cm x 30 cm	Scale percentage difference from 1:6
Sleeve (cut 2)	3" x 5" (7.5 x 12.5 cm)	ditto

These are general-purpose sleeves. Kosode can be as small as 3" (7.5 cm) and the furisode much, much wider.

If you are doing the red-hemmed hadajuban, in Barbie^� scale there is only about twelve inches of white used, total. You will save yourself seams, time, and fuss by just making the whole hadajuban in red crepe. Ditto for smaller dolls. For larger scales, make the red come up to the doll's knees on all pieces, and cut the neckband and sleeves in red.

Those familiar with kimono construction will note that I have omitted the inner shoulder yoke, the overband on the neckband, and the facing for the sleeve opening. All three of these are pieces designed to take wear and tear, prolonging the life of the kimono. Dolls just don't put that much mileage on the clothes, so this simplifies life for the sewer.

If you are putting these on slimmer bodies like the gymnast-type Ken^� doll or a Gen Girl^TM, you should note that the only different measurement is in sewing the body pieces. The kimono should be wide enough across the back (when sewn) to equal half the largest body measurement, the chest in this case. Gene^�, Dawn^�, and Brenda^� dressers, take note that in your case the hip measurement will be the important one. This extra is taken up in the side seams, not the back.

Side, back, and sleeve seams, and attaching the front extensions and the sleeves, can all be done on the machine. Attaching the band and hemming must be done by hand. Topstitching can never be used in visible kimono construction, and in this scale getting a presser foot to sew in the neck band without eating it or messing up the delicate placement would not be worth the effort when you can stitch it in a minute by hand.

Overall stripes should always run vertically on the body and sleeves (and usually on obi, too!), never horizontally. If the stripes are not symmetrical, lay the pieces out so the pattern marches uninterrupted from one wrist opening across the sleeve, the body, and the other sleeve. Do not lay the two sides out to mirror each other. An irregularly printed pattern should be laid out so the big motifs or centers of interest fall on the lower left and the upper right (as you look at it). Oriental-type floral prints too splashy and big for any other Barbie^� use may be just right! Border prints can also be used.