How to Sew a Nagoya Obi for Kimono from Scratch

Hello! My name is Sasa and welcome to my channel. I make cooking, sewing and cosplay related videos. Today I'm showing how to sew a Nagoya obi and just a note I'm not a professional kimono teacher or historian or anything. I'm just a person who likes to wear kimono and I wanted to make a few of mine so I could have my own specific pattern and design. I made the backing with a thick canvas to give it some more stiff shape. I also added some stiffening which is interfacing. I used some vintage obi as a base and I copied the measurements of that to create my own. The outer main fabric is 100% cotton however you can choose to use a different kind of fabric or something more thicker or you can even use a polyester. So here is the pattern. All of it is one centimeter seam allowance. If you're a little bit bigger or smaller you may need to adjust these numbers. My pattern is divided up into the end, the middle, the front piece and the back. I included measurements for if you plan to have a seam allowance on the top and the bottom or if you plan to just fold it in half. So starting with the back piece. So this is the otaiko, the part that is at the back of your body and you want to make sure that it's more stiff. So I'm doubling up an extra piece of canvas on the back and I cut it up a light slightly smaller than the back canvas piece because I don't want extra fabric into the seam allowances that will make it too thick. This black and white checkered obi I made it 34.75 inches long but however the second one I made I made it extra longer at 40 inches. So I think it's better to be a little bit longer. So the back layer consists of the full back canvas piece, a piece of interfacing and an extra piece of canvas. So there's three layers that I'll be basting together. So next I pin the back piece to the main fabric piece with the right sides together and I'm going to sew a one centimeter seam allowance all around the three edges. So the two sides, the bottom and then the top part you leave open. So I clip the corners of the end and then I flip the back piece right side out. If you can I understitch the sides so the two sides. Understitching is sewing all the layers of the seam allowance to the back lining piece and this helps to keep it more flat. So next I'm doing the front piece and this is the piece that will see in the front where your stomach is showing. So if you're doing any kind of pattern with lines or stripes you ought to make sure that the front piece lines up well and look where the seam allowances are so you know how to cut. So I noticed that after sewing it I didn't like the front piece. With just one layer of fabric and canvas I didn't find it stiff enough so what I did I added an extra layer of canvas as well as a piece of interfacing for the front section. So I basted those extra layers to the seam allowance and to the back fabric so that there's no stitching shown on the right side. So for the front piece with the right sides together with the main fabric and the canvas you sew only one side of the long edge. So now to work on the te which is the end piece it's one piece of canvas with one piece of fabric and I pin them down together already. So first you baste the two layers together and when you're ever combining two different types of fabrics together it's best to sew with a tighter piece on top so that the it doesn't buckle as much when you sew. So next is the middle piece and this part is hidden because you wrap the obi around twice so if you want to save some fabric you don't have to use the fashion fabric you can just use the canvas piece. So now I'm connecting the pieces together to make a long tube or strip. So first you sew the middle to the te which is the end piece then I sew the other end of the middle piece to the front piece. Very important to iron all your pieces and your seams to keep it nice and flat and it looks more professional. It also makes it much easier to sew. So I understitch the front piece section and that's sewing the seam allowance to the lining piece. For this project understitching is totally optional so that's up to you if you want to do it or not it's just an extra step. And just a note you're only going to be able to understitch one side of the front piece because it makes a tube and then it's difficult to get to the other side. For the connecting seams of each middle uh the front and the te I topstitch the seam allowances flat. So on the front piece on both sides I mark about nine inches. I use my serger to finish off these raw edges from the nine inch mark. So now we take our long tube and fold it with the right sides together and this time we're going to mark 6.5 inches and that's where we want to start and stop sewing. So starting at the 6.5 inch mark we sew all the way down with a one centimeter seam allowance and when you get to the te you pivot and you sew down across that as well. So I clip and trim the corners of excess fabric to remove some bulk and then I take it to my ironing board and it's helpful to iron the seam before you flip it right side over. So after ironing you open up the front piece and you pin it to the back. So you sew this down together. I finish off the raw edge with my serger. If my videos and tutorials helped you create something please tag me I would love to see your work. Please check out my channel for playlists on cooking, sewing, cosplay and other tutorials. You can support me by buying me an online ko-fi which is a donation of increments by three dollars or you can buy anything from my etsy shop. It's all handmade by me. I really appreciate your support. Thank you so much. I hope you have fun with your projects. Bye bye!