How are robes made? Should a monk learn how to make his own robes? Is a monk’s robe similar to a hermit’s robe?
This is from the Great Chronicles of the Buddhas. It explains the robe of a hermit.
The Fibre-robe
The fibre-robe means the robe made of fibre, which is obtained from a kind of grass and fastened together. (This is described in the Aṭṭhasālinī.)
According to the Hsutaunggan Pyo, fastening the fibres together itself is not the complete making of such garment. It must be beaten so as to make it soft and smooth. That is why it is called “beaten fibre” in Myanmar.
Vākacīra literally means “a robe made of grass”, and, therefore, it should actually be translated “grass-robe”. But traditional teachers translate the word as “fibre-robe”.
The remaining two names, vakkala and tirītaka, refer to a robe made of fibres that come from the bark of a tree. Though the word vakka of vakkala means “bark of a tree”, it does not denote pure, thick, outer crust of the bark, but the inner layers made up of fibres covering the wood-core. It should be noted that, because such fibres are taken off, fastened and beaten for softness and smoothness, the robe made thus is called fibre-robe. Though vākacīra has the meaning of “grass-robe”, the process of making the robe out of fibres taken off from trees is more common than that of making it out of grass and the name “fibre-robe” is better known that “grass-robes”. That is why the word “fibre-robe” is adopted in the Hsutaunggan Pyo. The Renunciation of Sumedha [Chapter 4]
SBS has robe sewing classes. It’s not something I want to explain step by step how to do it online. But it involves clothes, scissors, rulers, sewing machines etc…
When you choose your monastery, ask about who can teach you robe making skills.
It is good to know how to make robes, but these days there are so many manufacturers of robes, and good quality ones. For instance in Myanmar, Mahasudassana is very good, but you have to be careful about the cloth. They even once sold “leaf cotton” to my donor which was really Rayon. They also make custom sizes. The “Yodana Linen” (Thai cotton) robes are very inexpensive, even if you have them mailed to the usa. They also have a thing they call “super cotton”, which is also cotton but less breathable. They just make up the names, so you need to be careful. And Mahasudassana is the better company. They were one of the first companies for Pa-Auk standard robes. Now it is a business and many companies try to make them.
Nevertheless, the sizes are not always right and a custom sized robe is good to know how to make. It is common to make robes out of cloth and then dye them yourself in Sri Lanka. These days donors often are willing to make them and they make varying sizes based on the cubit size. (The size from the back of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger). Even so, I like them a little bigger especially in the width.
I once made my own set of robes with a needle and thread. To this day, I can still thread a needle without glasses because of all of the times I did during that massive project. It was nice. In this way, the machine never broke on me I offered the first part to Pa-Auk Saydawgyi, but he refused. Then my friend from S Korea agreed to take the set when finished. Why? Because I was attached to it and wanted to give them away. After I gave it to him, he put the robes on the ground and said he didn’t want it. Making it discarded robes which I took, dyed and then wore myself. While it was white, it was like art. You could see 100% of the ~150 hours that went into it. Sometimes good friends are just really good friends. I kept track of the time because someone asked me to. It is an approximation.
I made a spreadsheet to help people figure out the sizes. I’ll post here when I dig it up. You can decide how many sections you want (khandas) and the size of the seams, shrinkage allowance, border size etc. Then it calculates it out for you. After that, you sort of have a fudge factor to make everything fit within the loom length of the cloth you are using. One big tip… always make sure the grain in the loom is going the same especially for the borders. Many companies and even donors and monks who make them the first time, cut continuous strips along the long way. However, that only works on the sides. When you do that for the width, it will have the grain going in a different direction and shrinkage will be different. Your border will bunch up. If you ever see a robe with bunched up borders, that is the cause. Another way is to wash it a few times before sewing, but it is easier if you have new cloth for sewing.
I should note, that coming from both the sri lankan and myanmar traditions. I think that the Sri Lankan methods of seams are more inline of what matches what is written down in the texts. A practice still in use today is to draw lines with a sewing machine. It is my belief that two lines were to make the divider thing (called a kusi). Later someone said, hey they should be cut… and so that is where you get the deeper folds. Because they became seams instead of lines, I think they spread them outward and apart further. This is just my theory. In any case, look at a rice field and look at myanmar, thai or sri lankan robes. You can decide for yourself.
I was given a pair of Sri Lankan style robes actually made by a company in Myanmar. One monk had a set and gave me since he knows I like that style.
It is very common for monasteries to have sewing machines. There are often always “sewing” monks to teach you at any monastery. Sri Lanka it is more common than Myanmar to make robes though since there are so many companies available with varying qualities. I have not made anything in a while. We have many sewing machines at IIT. Now-a-days, many monasteries have commercial grade “Juke” style sewing machines.
Yes… that is what I said I did. Surely it is legal since they didn’t have machines then, although they did have a kathina frame which we don’t know what it really was.
I offered the first part to Pa-Auk Saydawgyi, but he refused. Then my friend from S Korea agreed to take the set when finished. Why? Because I was attached to it and wanted to give them away. After I gave it to him, he put the robes on the ground and said he didn’t want it. Making it discarded robes which I took, dyed and then wore myself. While it was white, it was like art. You could see 100% of the ~150 hours that went into it. Sometimes good friends are just really good friends. I kept track of the time because someone asked me to. It is an approximation.