A few years ago Carmen asked me to sew her a Japanese-style smock for a photoshoot for her book, The Spirited Kitchen.
At that time at least there were no free patterns and even very few blogs or rough guidelines. I cobbled together a pattern from a few sources, and made a muslin out of an old bedsheet to adjust the fit. The straps cross over the back, and I added two patch pockets on the front. I sewed the smock in charcoal linen, lined with light ash grey linen—it turned out quite nice.
Japanese smocks came up in conversation recently, and I volunteered to dig out my old pattern and digitize it. The pattern is inconveniently large even for poster printers, at 26″ wide and 34″ tall, but you can tile print it at home, or scale it by hand on a grid. Download the pattern in metric or inches below.
This is not a difficult project, but my instructions assume you have some familiarity with sewing. The pattern is sized to fit someone 170 cm. or 5’7″ tall, with measurements of 117-102-117 cms., or 46-40-46 inches.
This pattern needs one yard of 54″ wide fabric, plus lining if you choose. I think fabric with some body is best, so the smock drapes nicely.
