potd - Remnant Bundles

I've been having fun making up bundles of old remnants - mostly  early-mid 20th century cotton and  a few bits of  sakabukuro and silk worm netting.

potd - Old Vest Lining

When I was going through some old plain indigo I came across this patched vest lining. Just a little bit boro and with lots of potential.

potd - Patches

I'm ironing up pieces of old indigo cotton (sorry, the colour is never right in the photos). The patched pieces are my favourites...

potd - Antique Cotton Bundles

I'm just making some more antique cotton bundles - perfect for boro projects, These are available in the shop and online.

Potd - Tsutsugaki Noren

Our website upgrade has finally been finished  so I've started putting some more items on - including this late 19th- early 20th century tsutsugaki dyed noren doorway curtain.

More information here.

potd - Katazome

Just putting  this beautiful ginko leaf fabric in the shop. Early 20th century katazome (stencil resist) indigo cotton.

potd - Ebi

Antique e-gasuri  (picture ikat) with ebi (prawn) design...

potd - Antique Cotton

Just about to price some more antique indigo cotton pieces...

potd - Indigo Shibori

I just put out some more rolls of indigo cotton shibori. To be made into usable  yukata (cotton kimono) fabric these would be steamed and stretched -  and lose much of the texture they have now. In their scrunched up state they're popular here for scarves - though I always warn customers that some colour might rub off (crocking).
The centre for this type of shibori since the 17th century has been Arimatsu  in Aichi, now part of Nagoya, where you can have classes in shibori dyeing.

 

 

 

potd - Tsutsugaki Futonji

I try and post a photo of the day here and on facebook every day that the shop's open but sometimes I just don't have time and sometimes the commentary is rather brief.  The brevity  of yesterday's post amused some of my  facebook 'friends' so today I'm trying to be more informative...

This is a  wonderful   tsutsugaki dyed futon cover panel with a dynamic peony and karagusa ('chinese grass') design. It has been taken from the kake-buton top part of the futon (the equivalent of a doona).

 

In tsutsugaki the design is drawn on the fabric with a rice paste resist using a cone-shaped 'tsutsu' that is a little like an icing piping bag. When the fabric is dyed in indigo the resisted areas remain white. The fabric will be dried and re-dyed a number of times. During this process the areas to remain light indigo will be covered with more resist before re-dying to achieve the dark indigo on the rest of the piece.  Then the resist will be washed out. This will have been professionally dyed at a local dye shop (traditionally a male job) for a relatively well-off  family in the late 19th - early 20th century. It's still in perfect condition. It's obviously been treasured over the years and probably only used for guests.  It's available in the shop or online.

potd - kasuri

Not very old kasuri (Japanese ikat) ... mid to late last century:

potd - Chrysanthemum Katazome

Chrysanthemums  (kiku)  were introduced into Japan from China over a thousand years ago. They're the  most common motif that I see on katazome (stencil resist dyeing) indigo futon cover fabric. They symbolise nobility, purity and longevity  - and they're beautiful.  Here are a few I've got in the shop at the moment. They date from late 19th - mid 20th century.

 

 

potd - Sekka Shibori

Sekka  (snow flower) shibori  is made by folding the fabric and clamping between boards (itajime) before dyeing. It's done on a quite open weave white cotton fabric and was traditionally used for nappies and some  simple clothing. We just got in this beautiful full roll. I spend my days with indigo fabrics but rarely as vibrant as this...

More about sekka shibori here.

potd - Antique Japanese Cotton

I've been putting out more antique  indigo cotton. These are mostly hand-dyed and  handwoven kasuri and katazome. Kasuri is Japanese ikat in which the threads (warp and weft or just weft) are tie-dyed before weaving. Katazome ('stencil dyeing') involves stencilling a rice paste resist before dyeing, creating designs such as these flowers and cranes.  These date from the late 19th to mid- 20th century and are taken from old bedding and clothing.

potd - Egasuri

I just put out this panel of egasuri ('picture ikat' ) indigo cotton with a wonderful koi carp design.  It's handwoven and  probably  dates from  early-mid 20th century but the  bubble pattern is very modern.

potd - Katazome Boro

Antique patched and stitched boro ('rags') futon cover panel. The base fabric is very old katazome ('stencil-dye') cotton which is stencilled with a rice-paste  resist before dyeing in indigo. It probably dates from late 19th or very early 20th century but some of the patches don't look as old as the others - so it may have been used and repaired for many years.  The katazome was made as a futon cover fabric but is a more expensive fabric than the plain indigos, checks and stripes that you usually see on patched boro pieces like this,  which makes me wonder if this  belonged to a family that may  have seen better days. Most of the katazome futon cover fabrics we get come in much better,  un-patched condition.  The first  patchy photo shows the reverse side of the panel.This piece is available in the shop and on my website.

potd - Antique Cotton Bundles

I made up more of these  bundles of antique indigo cotton remnants today.  They're small  pieces from old bedding and work clothes and come in varying conditions (some patched, stitched, holey or faded). The pieces all date from late 19th - mid 20th century (up until about the end of the war).  I sell these online as well  and they're  popular with patchworkers who are interested in traditional Japanese stitching and boro textiles.

potd - Laundry

Summer is a good time to clear the shop laundry basket and I've been washing old indigo fairly constantly for the last week or two. These are  old  futon cover panels and some garment linings dating from early to mid 20th century (some a little older) - some hand woven, some not.   I unpick the panels, defluff  where necessary, cut them into usable pieces,  iron and sort  according to their condition, size and use. There is no waste at all. This is a little bit time consuming so I never have as much old plain indigo in the shop as I'd like.  Hopefully this summer blitz will remedy that.
At the textile auctions this  plain indigo is just  called  uraji ('lining') and is what has traditionally been used for sashiko stitching for 300 years or more since cotton and indigo both became widespread in Japan. As well as sashiko, cotton was recycled in traditional rag weaving (sakiori), made into bags, cords etc -  and the  rough patchwork that we now value as 'boro'. In the north of Japan,  where it was too cold to grow cotton,  bales of fabric  remnants were imported from the south.  My customers are using the fabric for sashiko and  patchwork projects and I love knowing that we are continuing the recycling tradition.
 The women who first dyed, wove and stitched these pieces couldn't have imagined them ending up on my  clothesline in Tasmania ...which is today's photo of the day...

potd - Sashiko Furoshiki

Large, late 19th - early 20th century  well-used  and patched  furoshiki wrapping cloth with sashiko stitching

potd - Katazome

In katazome (lit. stencil dyeing) a rice paste resist is stencilled on to the fabric before dyeing. Most of the indigo cotton katazome we get is old futon fabric but a very small fine design like this is more likely from clothing.  This is quite a quirky piece with chairs, eggplants, walking sticks, and butterflies. It  dates from the late 19th century when there was a huge influx of western culture in Japan. (Sorry the colour is a bit washed out in the photo)