Hi everyone! I recently bought a few silk kimonos using an app called “Mercari”. It is an app where you can buy and sell pretty much anything, new, or second hand! I picked up three kimono jackets (shorter length than regular kimono) from one seller for an amazing price, so wanted to show what I got in mail. She even included a fourth one as a thank you gift. Since they are jackets, I have less fabric to work with when upcycling it, but I was able to get one camisole style wrap dress from one kimono jacket.
Since the app is in Japanese, and lots of sellers don’t post listings in English, it might be difficult to shop from overseas. But if you are in Japan and can get some Japanese language help, it is a good place to score kimonos for a reasonable price. I usually search by “着物（kimono）” and “正絹(silk)”, and sort by price. Some price includes shipping fee and some don’t, but usually sellers are willing to negotiate those terms, which is another fun part of shopping on Mercari.
Hope you enjoy the video!
Watch video here
Table of contents
0:00 Intro
0:34 Red kimono dress
0:58 Where I bought these kimonos
2:28 Crane print kimono jacket
3:53 Red bean color kimono jacket
5:45 Cotton fuschia pink kimono jacket (free gift from the seller!)
Resource list
- Mercari (the app I used to buy the kimonos)
- Tips on sewing with kimono fabrics
- What I made with kimonos in the past
Red kimono dress
Shop here
Crane print kimono jacket
Red bean color kimono jacket
Cotton fuschia pink kimono jacket 
At the beginning of the Summer, I purged some of the clothes in my closet. That purge included ridding some clothes I hand made in the past like 
{worn with 
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. 
