Japanese sewing patterns

Want to dress up in a Ninja costume for Halloween? This free Japanese sewing pattern is the real deal. It includes a traditional top and hakama pants, as well as the authentic head gear, mask, hand and shin guards. It’s been produced by my friend over at DR-Cos, an awesome website with a ton of free Cosplay sewing patterns.

This Ninja costume is available in kids (100 to 140 cm) and adults sizes (S to LL). To make sense of Japanese clothing sizes, download a free sample of my eBook, How to Sew Japanese Sewing Patterns. There’s a size conversion chart in there you’ll find pretty useful!

For the purpose of translating this Ninja costume sewing pattern into English, I’ve used the Kids 100cm pattern. The instructions should be the same for all the sizes. I’ve decided to do the translation in 4 parts, otherwise this blog post becomes WAY too long.

Part 1: Printing and cutting
Part 2: Sewing instructions for the Hood and Mask
Part 3: Sewing instructions for Hakama Pants
Part 4: Sewing instructions for Hand Guards and Bodice

Part 1: Printing and cutting

(Please visit DR-Cos to download the Ninja costume sewing pattern in your size

1. Print the sewing pattern on A4 paper. If you are in the US, you can use Legal size, as it’s slightly bigger than A4. Just make sure you don’t resize the image to fit the paper!

   

2. To glue all the pattern pieces together, you need match up the letters on the edges of each page. For example, AA circled in RED below should be lined up with the pattern piece which also has AA printed on it. Same goes for the two B1s, as circled in GREEN.

   

3. After a bit of experimentation, I found the fastest way to construct the sewing pattern was to stack 4-5 sheets together and cut the top and right edge using a Stanley knife.

   

4. You can either glue or tape the pattern pieces together.

   

5. Cut out each pattern piece. There are 18 pieces all together.

   

Go to Part 2 to see the sewing translations.