Learning how to Make a Yukata - Part One: The Bolt

浴衣の作り方

Yukata no tsukurikata (How to Make a Yukata)

When I first tried researching how to make a yukata, not only was it difficult to find them in English, but I could barely make heads or tails of the ones I did find. I've also seen this same frustration get echoed in online kimono forums from time to time. After several years of casual research and digesting bits and pieces of history and information on kimono, I've been able to produce one.


So now I'm going to write my sewing tutorial in a unique way. Instead of making it simply a sewing tutorial, I am making it descriptive with historical references and context. This will make it quite long and wordy, but bare with me. I believe that if you understand how the kimono "works", sewing instructions for it will be considerably easier to follow, at least that's how it worked for me. :)

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浴衣の反物

Yukata no Tanmono (Yukata Fabric)

Yukata  浴衣 ["yu" (bath) + "katabira" (under clothing)], are constructed from long, thin bolts (called "tanmomo" 反物 or "boruto" ボルト) that are a standard size, usually around 36 cm's wide (14 to 15 inches) and 1200 cm long (472.5 inches). It is usually constructed of cotton and the print, which is usually hand dyed, shows on both sides.

Image from Ichiroya

The size of the yukata, particularly the width, is restricted to the width of the bolt. This width has been standardized in Japan for a few hundred years now, originating in the Edo Period around 1603 AD. All yukata, kimono, and haori construction is based on it. The images below illustrate basic kimono construction.

The basic design of the kimono was influenced by several historical factors. One of them was the need to conserve as much fabric as much as possible. Traditional construction methods consists of the absolute minimal amount of cuts possible to the fabric. This optimized its usability in several ways. For example, the traditional means of washing a kimono was to take out all of its stitching and baste it back into a mock bolt.

 

 Old photo showing Araihari 洗い張り; taking apart a kimono and washing it in a bolt.

Putting it back together was easy and the seams could be adjusted if the wearer had grown. The same could be done if the garment was passed to another person. Panels could be replaced if a section had worn out. When the garment was no longer suitable for wearing, it could be made into a work jacket or a futon cover.

Another factor is the width of the bolt that I mentioned above. As you can see in the image below,  how the loom was used to weave cloth (being tied to the waist) impacted the width.

 

Stay tuned for part 2, which will be about how to layout the panels on a fabric.

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Here is one of my references, a page called "How to make a Yukata".