My First Garb

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

Nope.

No photos.

But here it is in a nutshell.

-White karate gi pants.
-White karate gi top.
-Purple knee length bath robe with sleeves cut off and the material used to cover plastic 'epalauts' sewn in at the shoulders for a rudimentary kataginu.
-White karate belt (?)
-Whatever sandals I happened to own at the time.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Proof that the SCA is a journey, I have photographic evidence of some of my earliest European stuff, worn at my first Pennsic. That's me on the right in the burnt orange Ultrasuede bliaut with the craft store Christmas Trim all over it:


If memory serves, at my very first event, I wore a really huge man's white shirt, belted, English riding breeches and boots.

I have since succumbed to all natural fabrics and hand-sewing for both European and Japanese, but at the time I not only didn't know what I was doing, I HATED sewing.

Makiwara

[fujiwara]

My first garb was a navy hitatare/hakama combo with white kosode, and my second ever sewing project (the first being a Renaissance Italian rig for a college Carnivale party). See Below:



The hitatare wasn't so bad, but the hakama were pleated POORLY ;D and the kosode was horrible. You can't tell in the picture, but I totally goofed the collar. Its not even suitable to sleep in I've since made a much better kosode and hakama, now that the patterns and construction instructions (say that three times fast!) make sense...and yes, those are BOOTS hanging out of the bottom

[Toastygawa]

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

I cannot find the picture yet, but I must share my first garb...

White gi, obi and gi pants (tucked into the socks)
Sandals (goodwill)
Haori (the only accurate piece, snagged on ebay for $15)
A black mesh fabric that I had been using as a curtain as my obi

and the final insult...

Women's dress pants size 26, the inseam cut out and pleated with a stapler for my hakama.

(How's that for a first impression?)
;D

[Saionji Shonagon]

fujiwara said:

My first garb was a navy hitatare/hakama combo with white kosode.

As first attempts go, this is fairly decent, particularly for a sewing novice! Simple solid colors were your friend and the scale looks right in proportion to your body size.

M.

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

Toastygawa said:

Women's dress pants size 26, the inseam cut out and pleated with a stapler for my hakama.

Stapler? How did that work out for you?

I also thought that if more men sewed, we would have a decent 'fabric duct tape.' Lord knows I've hemmed a few pieces with duct tape now and then.

[Toastygawa]

Otagiri said:

Stapler? How did that work out for you?

I also thought that if more men sewed, we would have a decent 'fabric duct tape.' Lord knows I've hemmed a few pieces with duct tape now and then.

The women's dress pants (another goodwill find) had no front closure; they zipped up the back (pretty handy, actually). So I folded the pleats from the center point and got to stapling. The backs of the staples faced in toward me, and the pointy parts aimed outward. 5 or 7 staples per pleat kept them in place well, and a pair of pliers is all it took to make certain no extra staple points were threatening. The rows of staples then looked like stitching.

Once the inseam got frayed on my makeshift hakama, I used gaff tape to close it up. The black gaff actually gave a decent weight and sturdiness to the fabric edge, and was not noticable. Gaff tape fixes everything (and to a greater extent than duct tape, I might add). Of course, for 12 bucks a roll, it had better!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Otagiri said:

Stapler? How did that work out for you?

Me, I'm thinking, "Ow!" the first time one of those bad boys works loose.

Lord knows I've hemmed a few pieces with duct tape now and then.

So, how did that work out for you? ;->

Makiwara

[Please Delete]

Here you go. This is my first set of Japanese garb. I still have the pants--use them as sashinuki these days because they were made off of a pattern in Jidai Ishou no Nuikata that were really more of a man's nagabakama. The 'hitatare' was sewn together at the sides. The whole thing is made of an awful cotton fabric. The sword was nice--I got that in Japan.

[fujiwara]

Makiwara said:

As first attempts go, this is fairly decent, particularly for a sewing novice! Simple solid colors were your friend and the scale looks right in proportion to your body size.

M.

You embarrass me with your praise, Makiwara-hime. Arigatou gozaimasu! ;D

[Ujimoto]

These are the 2 sets of garb I made for Grand Outlandish last year. It was the first year we decided to go as a Japanese Household, and my first attempt at any garb





Cheers
~M~

[Saionji Shonagon]

You embarrass me with your praise, Makiwara-hime. Arigatou gozaimasu! ;D

Please get your nose off the floorboards, Cousin. You should be proud of your first outfit. You made clothing with your own two hands. In this day and age that's a big deal, which we of the SCA sometimes forget.

When I looked at your photo, it seemed to me that you started your project with some idea of what "right" is supposed to look like, because even with all the mistakes you've inventoried, the silhouette looks OK.

I remember what it was like making mistakes on buck-a-yard broadcloth from the discount mill. I still find things I'm not happy about with more recent clothing. But those mistakes we make as we try to construct something from scratch are often valuable lessons too on how to do it better the next time around. I am also lucky enough to have started making Japanese clothing AFTER doing several years worth of damage, er, I mean, honing my skills on tunics, sideless surcoats, and even a Regency ball gown that had a zillion pleats in it.

Makiwara

[Please Delete]

mapadoo said:

These are the 2 sets of garb I made for Grand Outlandish last year. It was the first year we decided to go as a Japanese Household, and my first attempt at any garb

Nice job on the clothing. If you tuck it in under the hakama, you will have a very nice looking hitatare kamishimo sugata on the first one (I assume you are in the blue-black [hard to tell which from the picture and the lighting]). The other one looks nice, but I don't have enough of a picture to tell what it is. If it is a kataginu, then the same thing, just tuck it in.

Either way, the sewing looks great, and it is the type of stuff that we all want to see more of.

Everyone here (well, except that guy in the light pale green with half his top sliding down his shoulder--who does he think he is?) has some wonderful looking clothing, imho. May not be fancy, but it is functional and goes beyond most people's 'reasonable attempt'.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Ii said:

Everyone here (well, except that guy in the light pale green with half his top sliding down his shoulder--who does he think he is?) has some wonderful looking clothing, imho.

Yes, Dear Friend, but you score points for the eboshi. ;->

M.

[Date Saburou Yukiie]

My first garb was (no pics, thankfully so) a new modern martial arts hakama of a polyester blend, and a well worn heavy keikogi. I was fortunate that after only one event, a lady took pitty on me and sewed three cotton kosode with sleeves that were small.
I proudly ironed them, and folded them properly after each use, and looked as good as I could. I had a blue hachimaki securing my eboshi.
(shudder)
We learn, we research, we grow, we get better and better.
I applaud the effort people make, and would never even think of saying anything dispariging to anyone wearing something they really tried with.
The pics shared here are good to look at.
Date