Time for more research.
In general, I’m trying to answer questions with the outfit. The Who, What, When, Where and Why of it.
We know it’s a travelling outfit, worn when a Heian lady was travelling on foot, likely to a shrine. The Nuikata (the book I’m using for patterns) gives technical instruction, so I have resources for how it was made.
I was curious, who would actually make this outfit in period?
And I found an answer in The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon. Hooray for primary sources!
“[90]Infuriating Things. … Having hurriedly sewn something, you’re rather pleased with how nicely you’ve done it – but then when you come to pull out the needle, you find that you forgot to knot the thread when you began. It’s also infuriating to discover you’ve sewn something inside out.”
She goes on to describe a time when the gentlewomen were given a rushed sewing task for Her Majesty and someone sewed a sleeve backwards and then refused to correct her mistake.
We see from this snippet that women of rank who served as gentlewomen were well practiced at sewing and constructed garments for their mistress. It is reasonable to assume that they would do their own sewing having no gentlewomen to do it for them.
That may not seem like a lot, but the information helps to tell the story of the outfit.
And it’s a good reminder to make sure your thread is firmly knotted when starting to stitch!
