#hanfu pattern

[peekofhistory]

hello! I saw your post about the layers of hanfu, the one with the pants that tie around the waist. I really want to try to make them, but I can't seem to find a pattern. Is there a term for that article of clothing that I can use to search? Or better yet, do you have any pattern recommendations?

I was recently introduced to hanfu through a c-drama, and I'm really curious about it, so I'm glad I found your blog!

AHHH!! My first inbox message!! I'm so happy 😃😃

The name for that style of pants is (unfortunately) just "pants" (裤/ku in Chinese, which literally translates to pants).

I searched around for patterns and pieced one together (luckily it doesn't seem too complicated :D). You'll have to play around with the measurements so they fit you best, these were based on a video of someone who made this for a client (I'll link the video as a source but it's all in Chinese).

Here's some screenshots of videos demo-ing it (also linked in sources). The most important take-away I got is to make sure the width of the pant legs is enough to wrap ALL the way around your body and overlap in the back so your butt doesn't show xD

The earliest artefacts for this style of pants is the Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD, 25–220 AD), but it was also discovered in tombs of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), which had more samples and were better preserved (I heard in one Song tomb they found 24 pairs of pants, 15 of which were this style O.O). So all of these were made using the Song Dynasty version, but they look basically the same and were also worn as under garments.

Sources: Sewing patterns https://www.sohu.com/a/406159256_620719

Sewing full process (with measurements) 慕少蓉 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1sg4y1v7jZ/

Demonstration: Xiaohongshu 曾嚼子 Video

Xiaohongshu 宾义儿 Video

If you're interested in hand-making Hanfu (BIG kudos to you, btw, that is AMAZING!) I recommend this book （it's all in Chinese but it does provide patterns for many Hanfu styles): 中国古代服饰结构图集 (Patterns of historical Chinese clothing)

You can also use Xiaohongshu (Little red book), it's both a website and an app that a LOOOT of Chinese people use for everything: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/

If you searching "[dynasty or clothing name] 结构图" (结构图 means patterns) you'll usually get a lot of results.

[redsugarx]

宋抹胸 Song Moxiong Sewing Construction

(not really a tutorial bc I don't go over how to hem/seam stuff together but close enough)

Yesterday @dragonaeve asked about the pattern for the triangle pleat moxiong in the server so I thought I'd just post it in here too lol, it's dead easy to make (coming from the clothing designer who can barely actually sew)

Some data from 花山墓 for your viewing pleasure:

Here, off Twitter but data has been corroborated with at least 3 other sources, shown is 菱形朵花紋絹抹胸, the last one in the table. This one doesn't have a chest band but a lot of people prefer having it these days bc of friction and also wear & tear purposes so I added it

onto the making

Step One: Make Some Wrecked Angles

Cut out 4 rectangles:

1x MAIN BODY: H = however long you want the garment to be (usually 30-60cm), W = your chest circumference * 1.5

1x CHEST BAND: H = chest band width (usually 3-5cm) * 2, L = (chest * 1.5) - (d¹ * 2)

2x RIBBONS: H = ribbon width (2-4cm) * 2, L = ribbon length (usually like 50-150cm, kinda whatever)

¹ d is half the difference value in the top/bottom lengths. You can either do a triangle pleat, inverse box pleat, or no pleat. The bigger the d value is the more pronounced the curvature. See next step for d value.

ALSO ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE AND STUFF

Step Two: Choose Your Fighter

Choice 1: No Pleat

d = 0. You don't have to do anything queen sit back n relax

-

Choice 2: 三角褶 Triangle Pleat (aka dart)

d = 5cm if you're mimicking the Huashan artifact but most people like to go smaller than that so u can adjust if u want

Fold that shit in half (wrong side out)

2. Sew this line to make this triangle in the corner (w = d, h = 2*d)

3. Unfold it (still wrong side out)

4. Either press the triangle thing to one side or squish it flat.

Tada

-

Choice 3: 工字褶 Inverse Box Pleat

d = ~2-5cm ish up to you

Fold that shit in half (wrong side out)

2. Make a W that's d/2 tall

3. Flip it and reverse it

4. Open the book and smush the ears flat

-

Step Three: Make A Sandwich

(You can add interfacing to the chest band first if u want it makes it easier. The ribbons are just tubes)

Obviously hem stuff and sew things together like normal lol otherwise that's it

Optional Toppings:

Make a vertical slit in the chest band at the 1/3 point for the ribbon to pass through when u tie it

If you don't got them Tang Dynasty sized titties, add loops for straps and/or sew straps directly onto the band

Add a lining (literally just another big rectangle that u sew to the main body and then proceed as usual)

Use different fabrics for the band and the body for funsies

Add trim between the band & body for decor

No chest band, sew ribbons directly to main body (more accurate to Huashan moxiong)

Fabric not wide enough for the main body? Sew a bunch of smaller rectangles together to make One Big Wrecked Angle. Make them out of different fabrics if you're feeling adventurous

Use already-made hair ribbons or satin ribbons for ribbons if u don't wanna sew tubes

[icancdramahanfu]

Maomao's undershirt/zhong yi?

I had procrastinated on making an undershirt for my Mao mao outfit. Finally got around to knocking this out in an afternoon. I'd say this took me about four hours with some grocery shopping in between. In the anime, she does not have a long sleeve shirt underneath her aoqun so my goal was to make something long enough to cover my armpits. I am a sweaty person. I went back to my old pattern from my WKX cosplay, and cut it much shorter.

This is scrap fabric which I had left over from making my WKX outfit and I was getting down to some odd shapes. I had to cut it out as two back panels and front panels.

To keep it crisp, I pressed all the seams and the top stitched it down for more security. For the sleeves, I just made them long enough cover my shoulder and armpits. The neck placket was reinforced with fuseable interfacing.

I'm not going to bother with adding in ties since it is not going to be seen and also tucked into the high waisted circle skirt.

This isn't the best shot but I'll need to fuss around with it a bit more. I also wonder if since I'm using cotton which is sort of stiff, it keeps getting stuck in a weird angle. I still have no idea how all those cdramas have perfect layers but it will do the job of keeping my skin from touching the fabric which is the point.

I may got back and add one more tie on the side to keep it a bit neater. But she's ready to go with 2 weeks to spare before my local con.

[icancdramahanfu]

Maomao's skirt

Since I have decided to torture myself and do a cosplay in just over a month, I figured I would start with the easier part - the skirt.

In my intro post, I mentioned that her skirt isn't Ming accurate being vaguely mamian-like but not really. For this I played with two main ideas, using one of my other skirt patterns that has pleats and would be mamian-like or go for the circle skirt.

The fabric I selected was around 2 1/3 yards - less than I'd like but it was the entire remaining bolt and the color was perfect - don't trust my indoor lighting here. With the limited amount of fabric I had to do a little tetris to decide what pattern pieces to use. I washed and dried the fabric before ironing it.

My first and preferred pattern was this one:

Simplicity #2710 - 1949

I have already made this skirt, it has thick pleats and falls nicely. I figured it might be a good selection and I'd get that extra Ming style with lazy pleating.

Circle skirt

Less complicated since all I had to do was determine my waist, put it as the circumference and make a 1/4 circle pattern with my pre-marked cutting board. The bolt was 46" from selvage to selvage meaning if I kept one strip I had more than enough for a waistband. I am currently assuming a 4" wide waistband and went with 42" for the skirt length.

Unfortunately for my original plan, the vintage Simplicity pattern was too wide with the pleating. I'd need 3 1/2 yards of fabric and my current pattern pieces were set for a length of around 36" as well to the hem.

Circle it is!

Made my pattern pieces, two so that I could see how to fit them. The fabric has a decent thickness and I didn't want to fold it over and cut, opting to instead chalk out each piece individually on the fabric.

And yes, that is wrapping paper as usual with the square grids on the backside. I love this type of wrapping paper so handy! I cut out my fabric and took it to the sewing machine.

Next, I went ahead and did a zigzag stitch along all the edges except for the selvage. This fabric was showing how it would fray immediately. I washed it in the machine and this is what the edges looked like after drying.

Somehow, I messed up on the waist portion of the skirt panels and I had to take them down by 2". Not sure how I messed that up since I had the radius calculated. I tested this by holding them up to my body and realizing it was off.

Recall, that I have a very limited amount of this fabric, fearing something odd, I went ahead and sewed the front pieces together selvage to selvage and then the back ones. When I held them up to my waist they were still slightly off. I put in the right side seam and made sure all my seams were pressed. Something about my top of the panel pattern is off by a smidge and I need to put in about 3" of a spacer. I decided to put it down for the day and I'll figure out how to put that piece in, since the hips are okay?

It will also allow for me to decide if I want to be lazy and put in a side zipper. I'll go back and put a pocket in the right seam for sure. The next day - I went ahead and made a triangle to wedge into the gap area before putting in the zipper. I held the skirt up to my waist and measured it with my measuring tape. I zigzag stitched it and put it in the spot.

I also pressed the seam well. Then I decided to put in an invisible zipper in the spot for a side zip. I had to unpick the seam a bit to fit the zipper in further and get it up around my hips. Whoops.

Due to adding in the wedge the zipper is at a bit of an angle as shown here. I estimated the zipper coming up higher on the waistband so, I but in a hook and eye on the top to pull it together.

It turned out fine, I'm so limited by the fabric I have to work with. I still have enough to put in pockets on the right side. However, with the skirt cranked out in less than 24 hours, I have it now hanging to even out the hem. It hangs the right way so I'll take it.

Always remember to let your garment hang before hemming. I'm likely going to put some bias tape on the bottom, since this fabric is very prone to fray and then fold that up as opposed to a double folded hem. It is in place and will hang out in the closet for a day or two!

That's all for now! I'll start working on the aoqun this week as a modified pattern from my previous ones.

[icancdramahanfu]

I live! Time to sew another hanfu cosplay.

So yeah, SQQ sewing project - um got relegated to the back burner last year for reasons. And will likely never happen unless I really feel like challenging myself more . . .

But I already have the fabric on hand and I was feeling like I'd be stuck not using it until I saw her.

That's right! I have a con in just over a month and I'm gonna do Mao Mao from the Apothecary Diaries. I love me a pragmatic plant nerd.

I'll use my green fabric I already bought for the SQQ project, I found burgundy cotton/linen mix at my local fabric store getting the last of the bolt, and figure out the few accent pieces.

I'll try to post my process as I draft the pattern pieces and then sew it together! This will be much easier than my previous one since she wears what appears to be a simple wrap circle skirt.

Even though the series is set in a pseudo-Ming dynasty setting (it has to be after 1492 since chocolate is a luxury good), she is not wearing a Ming style outfit completely.

We can break down her outfit to: Aoqun - green top layer which falls around her hips. Narrow sleeves and a simple style. The neck placket has a dark green strip that goes to the end while a spring green strip on top for part of it. The white underlayer is a mystery - we can see the collar but nothing else. The design is pretty simple and we never see a white sleeve underneath, the light green are cuffs on the sleeve of the aoqun.

Circle/wrap skirt - burgundy skirt that is either a circle or wrap skirt. Not the historically accurate mamian skirt (with all the pleats). This could be due to the fact that animating it might be more annoying or to keep the Ming time period vague.

She also does not wear anything under the skirt in the anime or nothing that doesn't move as a part of the skirt, so I'm gonna skip trying to put something under the skirt.

Things to do: 1.) Draft aoqun pattern. I will use one of my old patterns from WKX but cut off the long skirt part. 2.) Draft skirt pattern. I am going to be a bit lazy on this one and either will do a full circle skirt or pull out a regular skirt pattern (4 panel) and use that. 3.) Determine placket pattern. Just rectangles, but what is the right size of rectangles on rectangles?

4.) Figure out white underlayer? Make a full top like my last one with short sleeves to hide under the aoqun?

Anyhoo, that's all for now!

[icancdramahanfu]

Maomao's aoqun

Next up, I need to pattern her aoqun top. I always like to do a quick sketch to get an idea of all the pieces that I'll need. The main body of the garment only consists of two pieces that criss-cross in the front to tie on the sides and a center seam in the back.

There is the neck placket that makes the contrasting collar, sleeves with slight puff between the elbows and wrist and then the yellow-green cuffs.

I've already patterned something similar to this - so I'm taking my previous 3rd layer which will be more loose fitting and making it shorter and giving it a touch more flare out than close fitting to be snug with the waist.

I added 7 inches to the main pattern piece and did a mock up. Here is the result.

It is pretty close but I decided to take a bit of the flare out of the sides and added another inch to it.

Here is the modified pattern piece.

I then laid out the pattern pieces, marked them, cut the fabric out and then zigzag stitched all around the edges to prevent fraying. This time I used light green and light blue thread so it won't show up when I press the fabric this time.

I went ahead and sewed the sleeve onto the shoulder and then pressed it open here. I am much happier with the thread color for the zigzag stitching as well.

After sewing both sleeves onto the half of the bodice the next step is to sew the side seams. Before that, this is what one of the sides looks like with the sleeve on before I pinned it along the sleeve and side seams.

After sewing both sleeves onto the half of the bodice the next step is to sew the side seams. You start at the sleeve cuff and work your way along the bottom of the sleeve, to the armpit and then back down around the side. To get around the armpit, increase your stitch length to handle the curve.

I was able to get the left side sewn as shown here. I pinned the right so tomorrow I can sew up that side as well. I then pressed the sleeve and armpit area with my iron. I also used the corner-pokey thing. I totally forget that it is called but it is the point on what looks like a knife that you use to press open a seam.

I am going to have to make a trip to the fabric store soon to find material for the cuffs and the two-toned neck placket. Whoo. But really, the fabric store is 1 minute from work. I'll keep you posted on the progress but really trying to avoid con crunching myself here.

[icancdramahanfu]

Mao Mao cosplay report

I wore my Mao Mao cosplay this past weekend. All in all, I'd like to report it went alright. The wig stayed in place due to using the drag queen hack of spraying Gorilla Glue on the back bun at the advice of my hair stylist. It worked well. I kept the bangs glue free so that they'd hang normally.

I still can't figure out how to make the under shirt not get sucked under the collar of the top layer. Maybe I need a fabric with a little more give? Or make the aoqun have a less stiff collar? Or a combination of both?

It turned out decently! Though I'm tempted to give it another go at making the top in linen instead. . . .

[icancdramahanfu]

Finishing the aoqun

After getting the main panels of the garment together, I went to my local fabric store to get some different pieces for the collar and cuffs. I bought 1/3 of a yard of each, even if I didn't need that much but asking the staff to cut anything smaller is silly. Plus, I never quite know what the size of the bolt will be selvage to selvage.

I washed all the fabric and ironed it out. I started with the cuffs, the circumference of the cuffs was 12" so I made a rectangle that was 13" long, folded and pressed the edges, sewed it down to remove all the raw edges. Right sides to right sides, I sewed the length of the cuff to the actual sleeve cuff, pressed it down and then tucked the rough edges after the seam into the sleeve. I removed the flat part of my machine to have the free arm and then top stitched all the way around to attach the inside of the cuff to the inside of the sleeve. For the collar/placket I started with the long dark green strip. It was to be 52" long so added extra on each end, pressed down all the edges, sewed them down securely and then did the exact same thing as with the cuffs. Do right side to right side on the garment for the outside seam, fold over add in interfacing if you want, press and then sew down underneath. For the lighter strip, I made a tube sewn right sides together, used a safety pin to pull it out, pressed with my iron and then sewed it on top. I debated sewing both before attaching them but I wanted the ratio to look decent.

If you want to see what I did, look back at my WKX posts where I do the collars for each layer.

This time, I put a lot of effort into figuring out where exactly to put the ties, I'd estimated I futzed around with the ties for about 2 hours, sewing them in, using the seam ripper, putting the ties back in etc.

Here are a few more pictures of what the aoqun looks like in more natural light.

Here is it laid out.

All that I need to do is hem the skirt and I will pretty much be done. I'm still debating it I want to make a tank top for the white undershirt. We know that Maomao doesn't have another long sleeve shirt under her aoqun and I also need to have some white fabric for her arm.