DIY LOVE KIMONO

Happy Sunday my little kittens,

I wanted to say thank you for your words and comments on the previous post, which I read with delight, it's so indescribable the pleasure I take in reading you! So thank you! Today I'm showing you a DIY that's very close to my heart. During the wedding preparations, some friends told me not to leave anything to chance, and to anticipate every detail of the big day. It's the kind of advice that only fuels my control freakishness, so I gladly jumped on board. After all, I knew that during those two days, things would happen that I wouldn't be able to control, so the only way I could reassure myself was to fine-tune the aesthetic details beforehand.

I knew we'd be doing "preparation" photos, and thought it would be a shame to wear my bathrobe all softened up and not really white anymore, so I thought, what if I made a DIY Kimono. I talked it over with Laure, our pattern queen, and we came up with an easy, even super-easy, pattern to make your own dressing gown for the big day. Here it's in lace and cotton satin, but it can be made in any color for everyday wear.

For this DIY, you'll need;

• - download the free pattern here and print and cut it out.
• - 2.50m of fabric for a width of 1.10m. If you're using lace, I'd advise you to use a "stronger" fabric for the collar, cuffs, waistband and pockets.
• - a sewing machine,
• - pins and love.

Cut the pieces according to the pattern. If your fabric isn't wide enough, don't hesitate to make the waistband and collar in two parts, as well as the "body" of the kimono, which you can also cut in two parts: two fronts and one back. However, don't forget to add a seam allowance on the top line (shoulders and sleeves) and assemble these pieces first! Just in case, we've left you a little diagram.

Fold your kimono in half along the shoulder and sleeve lines, so that the front and back are wrong sides together, as we're going to do an English seam! Pin the underside of the armhole (the curved part), and stitch at 0.5 cm.

Once sewn, fold right sides together and pin to trap the previous seam.

Stitch at 1 cm. That's it! Your first English seam all nice and clean! At this point, you can also hem the bottom of the kimono, twice by 1 cm.

Moving on to the cuffs, right sides together, pin the two short sides, stitch at 1 cm, then press, opening the seam.

Fold the 1 cm seam value along the entire circumference of the wrist, on one side only. Take the other side and pin it right sides together with the bottom of the kimono sleeve.

Stitch at 1 cm all around. Fold the cuff in half, and pin, taking care to hide the freshly stitched clean edge sandwiched between the two layers of cuff fabric.

Pin to hold everything in place, then machine-stitch 0.5 cm from the inside edge of the cuff. Your finishing touches will be impeccable!

Iron well to flatten. Make the other cuff, then move on to the collar. Stitch the collar to the neckline at 1 cm right sides together, then fold the bottom of the collar to coincide with the bottom of the kimono. Fold in the seam allowance using the iron on the other long side, exactly as for the cuffs.

Fold the collar in half and secure with pins, then stitch at 0.5 cm all around.

Let's move on to the pockets. Iron the seam values. On the top of the pocket, fold in 1 cm, then 4 cm. Secure the fold with a seam. Place the pocket on the front of the kimono and pin. Stitch all three edges at 0.5 cm.

Don't forget the belt and TA-DA!

Photos of Martin de Say Cheersat the Hotel Bachaumont which we chose to spend our two wedding nights!

To read this post in English, click here!