Tutorial: Make your own hakama

If you are having problems still with this PDF, I'm sorry that there isn't anything more I can do to help - yes, it is an absolutely huge file to download, because it is full of photographs of many of the steps. Be patient.


You need Adobe Acrobat Reader or similar to view this PDF
Also! This is a big file (almost 40mg) compressing it was causing problems with it being downloaded, so I'm reuploading it without any compression~

Please, if you make something with this tutorial (or any of my other one's), send me a link to it - I really want to see it!

OMFG. Okay, I've been working on this on and off for the past week, and really wanted to get it posted before I leave for the weekend. Not to mention, it has been my most requested tutorial, too. And, I have to say, I'm very happy with it.

Just like my kimono pattern tutorial, this is my methodology for creating (fake) hakama for cosplay purposes.

The pictures for this were taken while I was working on my Mai from Avatar: The Last Airbender commission, and that is where I got the methodology down.

It is long, and you do have to do math. Read through the whole tutorial first, before attempting to make it, so you understand the points.

As with all of my tutorials, they're wordy, because I want you to understand everything that you are doing. I abhor tutorials that are "and then do this, and then do this, and then this, and then you're done," especially for things that are sewing based off of measurements. You need to understand what you are doing.

This also may be more advanced than some peoples sewing skills are at, I would tag this as a "MEDIUM" tutorial, in terms of difficulty. You need to know how to hem something, press something, and what words like "seam allowance" mean.

These are not historically or Kendo accurate hakama, so there is no need to point that out to me in a comment - I know, that's why the word "fake" is on the preview image!

If you do want to make more historically accurate hakama, Folkwear has a hakama pattern available, just do a google search for it. These are meant to be more dramatic and stylized for cosplay purposes, because for many applications, traditional hakama are no where near as full as they should be.

There are two different styles described in this tutorial - ones that have elastic in a waistband for comfort, and where the hakama aren't going to be seen, and ones that have side slits and ties to close them, so they look more accurate to traditional hakama _{(they do not, however, have a backboard - you're going to have to figure that one out on your own if you want to add one)}

I would ask that you do not sell anything you make with this tutorial~

I know that there isn't any way to enforce this, but if I do see this happening, it's going to keep me from writing or making other one's, or even deleting what I have done already, okay?

I'm appealing to your conscience.

© 2009 Samantha Lemieux/Taeliac Studio
Do not edit in any way, repost or redistribute without permission. DO NOT STEAL!