I spent the weekend out at Naka-Kon, a local Japanese cultural and anime convention and I wanted to share something new I made up for my niece to wear to her Very First Con! Ahem. Proud aunty, much? You betcha.
A friend and I had agreed in advance that we'd wear our hanbok together at some point over the weekend, and once it became confirmed that my 14-year-old niece was going to join us, I wanted to make one for her, too. Cue the last minute side-lining of the court gown project to work on this. It turns out that I'd loaned out the Folkwear hanbok pattern that I'd used, but I lucked out in that the individual pieces from my own mockup were still in the drawer. Having know measurements, but a vague notion of my niece's dimensions, I just sewed any of the broken down panels together and then sewed a one inch fold down the center of all of the pieces. It came out, not actually that bad.
The fabric was a yellow synthetic organza with screen printed roses in silver from the stash of fabrics that my friend D brought back for me from South Korea. Like the other samples intended for jeogori, the fabric was sold in one length and the designs were pre-arranged specifically for that garment. The black of the cuffs and matching chima look pretty dark in pictures, but in natural lighting, she made quite an impact. The chima is organza over bridal satin, with the organza tucked up and stitched onto the satin base to give it that fluffy look.
The Challenge: #4 Bodice
Fabric: pale yellow synthetic organza with silver screen printed roses, synthetic black taffeta cuffs, synthetic silver satin for piping and white cotton sheeting for lining.
Pattern: Folkwear 147
Year: modern adaptation of the jacket length popular during the mid- to late- 1800s.
Notions: cotton cord for piping, black satin blanket binding for ties (shut up, I had some leftover from a Christmas present and it's stiffer than ribbon), and white tailors tape for finishing the sleeve seam and the bottom hem..
How historically accurate is it? Meh, I'm kinda stretching it with this one. While the shape is technically fine, the materials are a purely modern adaptation.
Hours to complete: 8, but only because I let myself hand finish all of the internal seams and hem facing.
First worn: just today for the panel on Korean clothing at Naka-Kon
Total cost: while I had to make a last-minute run to get the materials for the chima, the jeogori was entirely from stash.
