The more I work with Kimono fabric, the more comfortable and the faster I get with it. Practice makes perfect! This mint green one was particularly fun since the colors are so vibrant. I had a roll of kimono fabric (tanmono) to start with. First, I look through meters of fabric to see where the prints are and try to find the matching print. Then I connected the matching print just like you match stripes or plaid. The width of the kimono fabrics are usually narrow like 36-38cm (more here) so depending on the pattern you are working with, you first have to connect the fabrics to figure out the fabric width. Once I have the width I want, I think of the print placement. Should the main print be in front? back? skirt area? You might be limited with the options depending on how the print is placed or shape of the pattern pieces. I try to mix up the print area and solid color area so that the dress does not look too busy or borning.
These solid color dresses were much easier required less thinking. Still, there was some stripes going on so I cut carefully not to disturb the stripes. 
Of all six dresses, I am most drawn to this cream color one. The silk is so soft and drapes beautifully. For this one, I could not find the perfect print match, but still went for similar print so that you can see the continuity. You can see the picture above that the pink (orange?) clouds matches but the purple cloud right above does not. Sometimes you just have to make the decision based on which mismatch is less noticable. You can see more of my kimono upcycling projects here.
反物からモダンなワンピースにリメイクしました。
反物は生地の幅が狭い（大体３６～３８㎝程度）ので、洋裁に使う際には色々工夫が必要になります。
特に柄が入ったものは、出来るだけ柄合わせをして、できないものはなるべく柄が合ってないのが目立たないようにします。
柄合わせは大変ですが、綺麗な着物の柄を楽しみながら仕事をするのは製作の醍醐味でもあります。
一番の個人的なお気に入りは下記の写真のクリーム色のワンピース。
柔らかいシルク生地で、流れるような質感がカシュクールスタイルにぴったりです。
Find me elsewhere:
I made silk pajamas! After making my 
Silk PJ feels so luxurious! I am not sure how they will care for it since silk satin loses the shine once you wash it with water, but I am assuming this is for a special occasions. Any thoughts? 
結婚プレゼント用に、男女お揃いのシルクパジャマを作りました。
Winter is my least favorite season. Not only do I hate being cold, but also fashion wise, I get sick of multiple layers. Usually I end up wearing jeans and a Uniqlo sweater. So boring! But…..I had a chance to get to Nippori last weekend and that gave me some sewjo to make myself something fun to wear. After going through piles of knits on the second floor of Tomato fabric store, I ended up with this beige knit. It is medium to thick knit made out of 80% of rayon. The rest of the fabric content is a mixture of polyester and polyurethane, so the knit does not go too stretchy after some washes. The wrong side of the fabric is flannelized to keep it warm and it feels good against the skin.
The pattern was from a store bought dress I had. I did not do anything special except for lengthening the sleeves. I sewed the front neckline with an elastic so that the neckline would not get stretched. The whole thing is serged and the hem was done by hand. This way the hem sewing line is invisible. Sewing was simple and in total it took less than two hours to make.
I’m planning on wearing with cardigan, long boots (from Zara) and plaid scarf for now. Once the weather warms up, I want to pair it with white sneakers and leather jacket. 
