I get a lot of questions about sewing hanfu and where I’m getting my patterns, so I thought I’d share the 2 books I’m currently referencing.
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Traditional Chinese Clothing Making
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Traditional Chinese Clothing Making is in Chinese, and has historically based patterns and construction methods. It has really good progress photos and completed garment examples. A lot of the patterns can be used for both male and female clothing, but they are all modeled on females in the photos and more male-specific garments are not covered in this book. There are a couple weird construction things because of how it was done historically. For example, the beizi collar construction is very odd by modern standards. If you have some background in sewing, with a little help from Google Translate, you can mostly figure out what’s going on.
Hanfu Pattern Making is in English, and has more modern patterns and construction methods. The patterns are drafted with curved side seams which make them more form fitting. Historically this wasn’t done, but it makes for a more flattering silhouette to the modern eye. There are patterns for both male and female garments. This book is great for pattern drafting because it has all the calculations you need to draft a pattern to fit your size.
I use the Hanfu Pattern Making book to figure out my measurements when I’m drafting my patterns, and I use the Traditional Chinese Clothing Making book to get my pattern shapes. I’m prefer using the traditional/historical pattern shapes but assembling with modern sewing techniques.
I hope people find these book reviews useful, and if you know of any other hanfu sewing or pattern references, please let me know!
