What is WA-SAI 和裁?: The Art of Kimono Sewing Series with Evelyn Leung
Image: Sewing, Japan, Meiji period, 1880-1900, albumen print, Honolulu Museum of Art.
Over the course of spring 2024, Dōjin Arts was pleased to host Evelyn Leung, professional costumer and certified Kimono Dressing Instructor, in a 3-part lecture-demo series exploring what makes kimono sewing techniques distinctly different from those in the West.
Each workshop served as a deep dive into a different aspect of the art and craft of sewing kimono and could be attended as stand-alone sessions or as a series.
Kimono Sewing vs. Western Sewing: An Overview
Image credit: Xun Yu 六入處感官美學研習社 The Six Sensorial Lab
Session one began by comparing the foundations of Kimono and Western clothing. From the philosophical to the practical, kimono are fundamentally different from Western clothes. In this session Evelyn guided us through analyzing those differences using examples from film, the fashion industry both historical and modern, as well as bringing sample kimono for us to handle and examine.
Fabrics for Kimono: Will Any Fabric Do?
Image credit: Xun Yu 六入處感官美學研習社 The Six Sensorial Lab
The second session was in-depth look at the important role fabric selection plays when creating kimono. Kimono fabrics are very different from Western fabrics and in this workshop we learned how those properties effect the final garment. Armed with an abundance of sample fabrics and kimono, Evelyn walked us through what to look for in order to make our own kimono or to repurpose old kimono into modern garments.
Tools of the Trade: Looking at Kimono Tailoring Tools
Image credit: Xun Yu 六入處感官美學研習社 The Six Sensorial Lab
The final session was a very hands-on exploration of the specialized tools used in kimono sewing. Participants had the opportunity to try using a kote コテ iron for marking fabric on the hera dai ヘラ台 (folding marking surface), as well as hand sewing using a kakehari かけはり tension clip. Learning and experiencing how kimono are made by hand with traditional tools was wonderful way to end the series and left us with a deeper appreciation for this deceptively simple garment!
More About the Educator:
Evelyn Leung is a certified Kimono Dressing Teacher and professional costumer with ten years’ experience in the film industry.
Evelyn began her education in fashion garment construction at an early age while at Eric Hamber Secondary, continuing on to study Theatre Costuming at the University of British Columbia. She earned her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, specializing in Asian Theatre, before moving back to Vancouver to work in film. In 2017, she was awarded the Monbukagakusho MEXT scholarship to research 2.5D Theatre in Kyoto, where she also obtained her Kimono Dressing Teacher Certification (着物着付け師範). Recently, Evelyn worked as an integral part of the costume team for the Vancouver-shot limited series Shōgun.
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Community Fund of the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society.