Vintage Hakama

I just found a great Vintage Hakama and Obi set over at SFI. Having made my own hakama a few months ago, I was amazed by this 1900's Tokugawa Mon men's Hakama and Obi. The colors were, to me at least, fantastic and made me think that our uniforms for aikido / kenjutsu are boring. What do think? Would you give this hakama and obi a thumbs up or down?

Making your own hakama part two

So, my camera was a bit messed up last week and I wasn't able to take any in between shots of the hakama construction. But, here are a couple images of the hakama right now. As you can see I have completed the front ties and the pleats are where they are supposed to be. The back is also finished and is at the moment waiting for me to attach the koshi-ate. Once the hem is finished and seams are cleaned up, I will have a nice new hakama.

Making your own hakama part 1

So, as some of you may remember I decided to make my own hakama for my ken-jutsu class. I already have a navy blue hakama for aikido but my ken-jutsu sensei requires beginners to wear white hakama and gi. So, instead of buying I decided to make my own.

To start I purchased four yards of sixty inch wide white duck. I also purchased a hakama pattern from Round Earth to help me in my hakama making. Oh yeah, I washed the fabric on hot and machine dried to pre-shrink it before proceeding. Once your fabric is washed and dried you can start cutting.

First I cut out the legs of the hakama, cutting four 30" wide by 45" long. These panels will be the front and the back of the hakama pants. Next, I cut the two ties; one for the back that was 5" wide by 125" long and a short one for the back that's 65" long by 5" wide.

At this point I have tacked the front panels together and hand sewed the pleats in place. My next step will be to machine stitch the front seam and pleats in place.

Stay tuned for part two (with pictures!)