Hanbok

So, since my hobby is sewing and I have a passion for pretty dresses, I knew as soon as I came to Korea that getting a hanbok, preferably made by me, was a goal of mine. And now that goal has been accomplished! Actually, it's been done for awhile, but I'm just getting a chance to post the pictures.

Actually, I stole this photo off of Facebook. It's one Hye-Jin took of me at Parents' Day at school, where I was convinced to greet parents while wearing it. I think most of the parents just wondered what the heck a crazy foreigner in a hanbok was doing there, but it was ok.
More photos after the cut.

Rather than buying lengths of fabric the regular way, the saleswoman at the hanbok store sold me a roll of fabric which contained most of the fabric I needed in one set. That means the colors are pre-chosen for you. I simply said I wanted a turquoise jacket, and she chose a set that would work. As you can see, the roll was very narrow and a little hard to work with. There was almost NO fabric left over. The fabric wasn't cheap, but it is 100% natural silk and very nice and easy to work with!

A shot of the collar. One of my co-teachers told me that this curve, which is the hardest part of the hanbok, was used in olden times to determine if a woman was a good seamstress. Mine actually has a small mistake, so I guess I am just average. The collar is really the only difficult part of the hanbok. Most of it is pretty easy.

Here's my chogori (jacket) laid out on the floor. At the tips of the sleeves you can see the purple cuffs. Unfortuantely, due to the narrow fabric I talked about before, the chogori was forced to have a back seam as well as sleeve seams on the top and bottom (usually they only have the seam on the bottom). I much prefer not to have these, but I had no choice in the matter.

Chogori sleeve after sewing the bottom seam closed. It's still inside-out right now, and the cuff has not been turned under.

Here's a shot that includes the lining material. Both the chogori and chima (skirt) are lined with thin material like this. I ended up not lining the sleeves because the pattern didn't call for it, and I had noticed before that the sleeves of some hanboks often appeared to be more translucent. I don't know if this is how you're actually supposed to do it or not.

To celebrate the weddings of some friends I missed at home, I took this photo in my hanbok with a sign saying "Congratulations on the wedding." Some students saw me doing it and wanted in on the photo.

Jung Mi-gyung, who took the above picture, took a turn getting a photo with me too! I took these photos at Chuseok and even wore the hanbok for a short time around school so the other teachers could see it. The rumor that I was making one had gone around, so I had to save face by proving I really could do it.