If you haven't noticed yet, I am passionate about Japanese culture and their beautiful fabrics... in fact, it's partly thanks to this that C'est du Joly was born! 

So with the upcoming opening of the physical store and workshop, I wanted to highlight the Japanese fabrics that I love so much and obviously add a Japanese touch to the shop. So I decided to make a noren... Do you know this traditional Japanese item? 

In this article, I tell you what a noren is and especially how to sew your own! 

What is a noren?

Norens are short traditional Japanese curtains. They are placed in a door frame. They have one or more slits to allow passage. 

They are used commercially but also privately.

What is it for?

The noren is most often placed at the entrance of a business: restaurant, café, store... to mark the entrance. It also serves to display the business name and sometimes additional information like the phone number... but it also blocks sunlight (intense in the Land of the Rising Sun 😊), keeps out the cold in winter, and limits dust entry! The noren is therefore very useful for Japanese merchants! The noren is put up in front of the store or restaurant when it opens and taken down when it closes. 

Norens are also found inside homes to hide the entrance to stairs, a storage room, a laundry room... They help break the view of these places you might not want your guests to see. 

Sometimes, they are also used to "block" the kitchen entrance to reduce food odors in the living area. 

Finally, they are also found inside shops, hotels, and onsen (Japanese baths) to provide directions: for example, the very useful "men" and "women" signs to guide you to the "right" onsen. 

A bit of history: where does the noren come from?

Originally, norens were made from braided straw and were mainly used by izakayas: Japanese "bistros."  

It was during the Edo period, in the 17th century, that fabric noren began to appear. They were then used by the Yatai: the food trucks of the time, which were often hand-pulled carts where the owner offered only one type of dish: noodles, skewers, or even "pots au feu" called oden. 

The noren then allowed the name of the yatai to be displayed as well as the dish offered to customers. 

The meaning of noren is really linked to commerce because it also means "reputation." In fact, many expressions related to commerce use the word noren, like "noren wo ageru," which means "to raise the noren" and by extension to start one’s business... Now you understand why I absolutely had to make one to put at the entrance of the store’s storage room!

A noren for the door of the storage room of our new store

So I got to work, here are the 5 preliminary steps to making any respectable noren 😊! 

1. Measuring the door width: 80 cm

2. Choice of noren length: 160cm

3. Choice of number of panels: 2 panels

4. Choice of hanging system: self-fixing rod 

5. Fabric choice: obviously a Japanese fabric and a fabric dear to my heart because it was used as the banner for the Facebook page "couture conseil," which was the start of the blog... I thought it was a project that perfectly suited this fabric full of many emotions.  

It is also available in the shop in several beautiful colors. Feel free to discover them!

How to calculate its dimensions?

A noren is a panel, meaning it is "straight," "without pleats."

My "finished" noren should therefore measure the door width: 80cm by 160cm, which is the length I chose. 

Since I have two panels: I will have two final panels of 40cm by 160cm to which I must of course add seam allowances: 1cm for the inside of the panel, 3cm for the outside of the panel, 3cm at the bottom of the panel, and I chose to add 17cm at the top of the panels for my hanging system. 

Necessary supplies

To sew my noren, I needed:

• 180 cm X 110cm of Japanese cotton
• a spool of matching thread
• cones for overlocking (optional)

And for the materials: 

• a standard sewing machine needle no. 80
• a pin cushion
• a Japanese ruler 
• a chalk
• a curtain rod

My sewing experience: the steps

Here are the steps to follow to sew a noren:

1. After ironing your fabric, cut the panels to the dimensions you calculated

2. Overlock the inner edge of the panels

3. Pin right sides together the top of the panels (inside side of the noren). To determine the length to sew, add the height for the rod placement (in my case 17cm) + the desired closing height of the noren (in my case: 30cm). So I sewed the panels together over 47cm. 

4. Open the seam with the iron and continue pressing the 1cm on the rest of the panels to form a hem. At this stage, you have two options: 

- Sew the hem with a single fold 

- make a second fold. You will then have a narrow 0.5cm hem. This is the option I chose because I find it cleaner and better finished. 

Sew at 1cm or 0.5cm depending on the option chosen to make your hem. 

5. Make the hem on the outer side edges of the panels by folding the fabric twice over 1.5cm 

6. Sew your hems

7. Make the top of the noren by folding in 1cm, then folding your fabric to form a casing. In my case, I had 17cm to make this casing. 1cm for the fold, then I folded the fabric to 8cm. 

You can pin the casing and test at this point that the rod fits well. 

8. Stitch the casing. 

9. Sew the hems at the bottom of the panels

10. Iron your noren and tada... all that's left is to hang it up! 

I'm thrilled with my creation tested at the salon, which doesn't do it justice... I can't wait to hang it in the shop after the big cleanup that's getting closer and closer!

Ready to come see it "in person" at the shop? I can't wait to show it to you and especially to meet you! 

Get your needles ready!