hemming hakama

[namabiru]

I have a hakama I purchased from e-mudo.com, and had embroidered (so no returning). The waist/hip are a good size, but the length is perhaps 5 or 6 cm long (or I think so anyway). Sure, I could fold the top down and wear it that way, but I think I'd be more comfortable hemming it a bit. Finding it to be a bit long, by the way, came from wearing the hakama up a bit higher than I normally would, just past my belly button (no, not high water golf style, but just a smidge). Ideally I'd prefer to wear at belly button or below. You know, in the proper spot.

I'm a thousand miles from nowhere in Western Montana, so don't believe I'll find a tailor who can work, or is willing to work, with the garment. So it looks like I might have to do this myself.

I purchased an inexpensive hakama, and haven't tried soaking/washing it yet, and the fabric content isn't listed on the site. I'm assuming, though, it's a combination of polyester/rayon. So don't know if it will shrink up or not.

Does anyone have any good tips for hemming hakama so you don't get a hem which your toe can get stuck in following seiza, or the "bunchy hemmed look" on the bottom? Or something you found which worked well?

[pgsmith]

I'm a thousand miles from nowhere in Western Montana, so don't believe I'll find a tailor who can work, or is willing to work, with the garment.
You'd be surprised! Actually, if there is a dry cleaning shop in any city anywhere around, it will probably have someone they can recommend to do alterations. It is actually a pretty easy alteration but, unless you are fairly experienced at hemming, you will end up leaving it puckered or catching your toes. Especially if it's a manmade fabric, as they are harder to work with on the sewing machine. If you were still in Tucson, I could tell you exactly which dry cleaner to go to to have it altered. They did a couple of mine while I was there.

Just my two cent's worth. :-)

[sminch]

i've certainly never asked a tailor to hem hakama, but i can't imagine an enormous pair of trousers would be much different to doing two skirts which just happen to be attached. i reckon any semi-competent sewer would be able to do it very easily, though they may look at you funny...

sminch

[pgsmith]

i reckon any semi-competent sewer would be able to do it very easily, though they may look at you funny...
Yup!
Got a great look when I went in and said to the girl behind the desk that I needed her to hem my skirt!! :D

[Alison2805]

WASH IT FIRST

chances are it will shrink a little and you wont have to get it taken up as much.

[Rob W.]

WASH IT FIRST

Second that, my hakama was a little too long, the first time I washed it (no dryer even!) it shrunk to perfect size. Probably lost 4 or 5 cm, it was all cotton, not a tektron or synthetic mix.

There are threads in the forum and tutorials around the web that illustrate correct washing style, how to maintain pleats, etc. I wash it in the tub, but some just throw it in the machine.

[namabiru]

Yeah, I soaked in vinegar to help set dye and just finished washing my hakama. I thought perhaps washing would help, but was asking in case I didn't lose what I expected to/wanted to in the shrinking. Will try on again when my hakama dries and see what happened. Just want to make sure I only lose length, not width. Width is almost perfect now.

[Neil Gendzwill]

the fabric content isn't listed on the site. I'm assuming, though, it's a combination of polyester/rayon. So don't know if it will shrink up or not

Yeah, I soaked in vinegar to help set dye and just finished washing my hakama.
These two statements don't add up. Either it's cotton, needs to have the dye set and will shrink, or it's tetron, has permanent dye and won't shrink.

[Hank]

I've hemmed a tetron hakama by hand (took quite a while-never again) and had my local dry cleaner hem a cotton one. Both came out great. It's just like hemming anything else - nothing special.

[namabiru]

These two statements don't add up. Either it's cotton, needs to have the dye set and will shrink, or it's tetron, has permanent dye and won't shrink.

Anything that is dark-colored, be it slacks, a sweatshirt, a keiko-gi, or a set of bedsheets, will more greatly resist fading from wear/wash if you soak in 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar before washing. Others choose to merely wash the first time in cold water and vinegar, but I find soaking overnight, and then washing in the water, and then rewashing with cold water and a little soap to remove the vinegar smell works quite well. This is a basic household hint which does not pertain specifically to the necessity of setting dye on certain types of hakama.

If you don't believe me, you can read it here. Tip#18:
http://www.halfvalue.com/Vinegar.htm

The article does not mention 4/1 water to vinegar, but this is what I was taught by a ranching mom with 5 kids and a small budget for clothes shopping, and her kids' clothes always looked clean and neat enough.

[Sparv]

Synthetic fabric is not dyed: the plastic itself is colored: if the dye is going of, you're just dissolving your fabric. Not a good thing... So you can't set it more than it is already.

[namabiru]

Call me obsessed, then--I still just insist upon using vinegar the first time, and will continue to do so. I do think it's made a difference with a blue keiko-gi I have, though.

Anyway. Yeah, the hakama shrunk up just a tad, but nowhere near close enough to the 5 miles excess which needed to disappear. Tailor time :)

I did a black hakama by hand when I was in Japan, and can't say I'm too pleased with my work, so will be giving someone nice business. Should be all right, and nothing will get ruined. I hope.

Thanks all for the advice.

[neko]

i have hemmed probably 15-20 hakama over the last three years. all you need to do is take it to a tailor/dry cleaners and have them mark where you want it shortened. mark it just below the ankle bone. make sure you are wearing the hakama at the point you want to wear it. then have them take off an equal amount all the way around. no need to mark it in more than one spot. do not let them make the hem even to the floor. remember the hakama should be longer in the front than the back.